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Literary Review
A book for our times
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Writers have always played an important role in strengthening civil society, and for that reason alone Bruised Memories is significant says ANTARA DEV SEN.
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I am an old fashioned sort, I say
the fire's place is in the stove
or in the earthen lamp in an alcove
or in a lantern...
YOU tend to agree with Gujarati poet Dileep Jhaveri there. These lines, from one of his "Khandit Kand Poems" (translated competently by Ranjit Hoskoté and the author) included in this volume, go on to lament how the Fire God has wandered and now "runs naked down the avenues, screaming." And no, this is not about Gujarat today, these poems were a response to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and the subsequent riots, a decade ago.
That, precisely, is the scary part. Bruised Memories offers a selection of poems, stories and articles on sectarian violence that all seem to be screaming out against the current trauma of our land and people — but in actual fact reflect times long past. From the pre-Independence Hindu-Muslim riots, these writings wind their way through the violence following Partition in 1947, following Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984, following the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. We have, of course, been killing, burning, slashing, raping, demeaning each other in the name of religion for decades. That's certainly not new, as our Defence Minister had so sensitively pointed out in Parliament in the wake of the horrifying events in Gujarat. But in the backdrop of that carnage today, these writings seem to leap out of the past and hit you between the eyes. In spite of all the lessons of the past, we have gone and done it again.
Which is why an anthology like Bruised Memories is important. It helps us understand how we have been fighting our demons of sectarianism for decades, and how often we manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
For, when we cringe in shock at the carnage in Gujarat, we can see the inhuman politicisation of religion or the bankruptcy of the administration, but we don't always identify the central weapon of destruction. The core strength of those who can engineer such a genocide lies not in their knives and guns, or even their hotline to political power, but in their ability to manipulate civil society. And this power of manipulation can be put to all kinds of use.
If exclusivist interpretations of sacred texts, history and present realities have the power to change civil society, so do more sympathetic and inclusive takes on fellowship and human bonding. As Vijay Dan Detha says in the excellent story "Roznamcha" (translated expertly by Tarun K. Saint): "A man may recover from snakebite, but someone taken hold of by an idea is unlikely to remain unscathed." It's about this man who calls himself "Pannalal Hindu" and is "first a Hindu, then a human being." A masterly piece of writing, the story has no bloodshed, no overt violence and depends solely on the power of a familiar event, the kind of conversation we have every day, and magical storytelling, to bring out the inhumanity with which the privileged exploit the underprivileged — charged by religious or economic power. And how pathetic they seem, as they trample on others to cheat their way to narrow gains, in comparison to their victims, who refuse to have their spirit broken, whose desperation to survive the assaults of poverty, disease, hunger and fellow humans makes them all the more determined to succeed as human beings.
Among the other memorable pieces — whether article, story or poem — are those by Bhishm Sahni, Mahasweta Devi, Amitav Ghosh, Ashis Nandy, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, K. Satchidanandan, Dileep Jhaveri and Hussain-ul-Haque. There is also an interesting panel discussion on "Notions of Communality and Communalism in the Imagination" which, in the manner of most panel discussions that make it into print, seems to leave the serious reader with more questions than answers.
However, in today's India, it is important to have such discussions, if only to keep us thinking about the subject. Because, the only way to contain the murderous religious majoritarianism that threatens to tear us apart is to strengthen civil society as a whole. Writers have always played an important role in that process, which is indispensable in the effort to stop the slow erosion of the democratic, pluralistic fabric of India. So, even though the translation is uneven, and quite a few of the contributions (which have been reprinted from other publications) may be familiar to the reader, Bruised Memories is a significant book for our times.
Bruised Memories: Communal Violence and the Writer, edited and introduced by Tarun K. Saint, Seagull Books, Calcutta, 2002, p.193,<243>
Rs. 475.
Antara Dev Sen is Editor, The Little Magazine.
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