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[1] Career [ edit] Each of these subscription programs along with tax-deductible donations made to The Rumpus through our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, helps keep us going and brings us closer to sustainability. You will see very little critical commentary or public positions on Hindutva, its corrosive role in India, or how RSS works here in the USfunding and now interfering in US elections. She was part of a music band at PSG. Suchitra Vijayan is a barrister-at-law, writer and researcher. While Border Pillar No 1 becomes a convenient stump for children playing cricket along the land that India shares with Bangladesh, roughly 2000 kilometers away in Punjab a woman farmer watches on as the army builds a bunker on the few acres of land she owns. Lets take Indias English language media, cultural-artistic elite, and publishing. They are arriving from various cities and people I have never met. All rights reserved. A poll asked if its OK to be white. Heres why the phrase is loaded. He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Georgia and is the author of The House With a Thousand Stories, His Fathers Disease, and There Is No Good Time for Bad News. Later on she moved to Coimbatore for her MBA from PSG Institute of Management. She has a sister named, Sunitha. When fires burn down large swathes of what were peoples homeswhat borders will you impose when climate change will fundamentally remake them? So the question is not: will the future be borderless? You can find them onYouTube&Linkedin,and can also check out their websitehere. Speculation and conjecture were repeated ad infinitum, and several journalists even took to Twitter to encourage the Indian army. Indian Foreign Secretary V.K. The pandemic showed us that crises and recurrent disasters that annihilate our lives are here to stay. This article was published more than4 years ago. Even as 70% of the border with Bangladesh has been fenced, "smugglers, drug couriers, human traffickers and cattle rustlers continue to cross to ply their. Rumpus: How hard was it to write nonfiction about such a violent contemporary history? He writes about how when the Constitution was adopted, "We are going to enter into a life of contradictions. I'mdyslexic, but have visual and episodic memory, which means I dream and relive moments. After her Twitter page was hacked in 2016, and the pictures and videos released by the hacker went viral under #suchileaks, following a spate of bad press owing to the fact that she only released a statement on Sun News saying she was focused on shutting the page down, Suchitra left for London to pursue culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu. She is the founder and executive director of The Polis Project, and the author of Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India, recently published by Context, Westland. Suchitra Vijayan. I felt the same way when I would prepare legal petitions for my clients. In addition, she is an award- winning photographer, the founder, and executive director of the Polis Project, a hybrid research and journalism organization. There was an NDTV programme, where somebody said Should Indias constitution be secularist? They all have very specific and carefully curated origin/immigrant stories that cleverly exploit the model minority trope. Without any official statement on the number of casualties by the Indian government, the Indian news media reported that 300 terrorists were killed, citing government sources. It offers brief historical notes on how the nations current borders came into force alongside accounts of increasing militarisation, disputes, little massacres and forgotten pogroms, no-mans-lands, and the people through whom the border runs like barbed wire. Over the past 15 years, small democratisation through social media has enabled challenging these practices. We no longer ask if this will lead to a better society, if it will benefit the vast majority of those farthest away from power. More importantly, as Babasaheb would argue, the political revolution was never accompanied by a social revolution. Its feudal, entitled, and cannibalistic. Firstly, when we talk about violence, we often talk about it only as communal violence, as if both communities have equal strength and power. India and its Borderlands: Suchitra Vijayan in Conversation with Sharjeel Usmani, Book talk with Suchitra Vijayan, author of Midnights Borders, Crisis at the Border: Contestation, Sovereignty, and Statelessness. But it needs to do more for peace. 42, Moss Rose Heights, M.M Ali road, WASA Circle, Lalkhan Bazar, Chittogong 4000. Perhaps thats their victory. Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia In this era when Indian armed forces and the police act with absolute impunity, a handful of local news outlets play an essential role in reporting and. Vijayan: Chopra and others like her are a reflection of how popular culture and virality inform discourse and shape it. The book arrived in the middle of a pandemic and a devastating second wave [of COVID-19] in India. Instead, the Indian media has ascribed to itself the role of an amplifier of the government propaganda that took two nuclear states to the brink of war. At Fazilka near the Pakistan border, she ran into Sari Begum, who had a bunker on her land but had a darker story of pain and violence from the days of Partition. She's a good friend and kindly agreed to take our City Hall wedding photos. How did you respond to that environment being in an extremely challenging position yourself? Also read: Examining My Caste And Its History Is Eye-Opening: A Personal Essay On Casteism And Ancestry. Zoya, a young female officer, is now confined to her wheelchair, and Milind, who also makes it out alive, is seen at home with drawn curtains, battling trauma. Vijayan creates a constellation of micro-histories of people who have lived through the violence that India has committed in its borderlandsinjustice that has irrigated the glamour and prosperity we witness in what some of us in those borderlands call mainland India. Vijayan, a barrister by profession, is a founding director of Polis Project, a hybrid research and journalism organization in New York. As a spy working for TASC, Srikant Tiwari, played by Manoj Bajpayee, has to juggle being an underpaid government employee as well as an absent husband and a perpetually late and distracted father. Suchitra is a BSc graduate from Mar Ivanios College (Trivandrum). I still do. This is a tightrope that you walk so well. Fear seems to be a constant motif in the book we see versions and types of it. There are some brilliant writers writing on these issuesthe problem is always that these voices dont make it to the mainstream. I think these are fundamental questions of freedom and dignity. I had to write and rewrite this book so many times. Midnights Borders, a work of narrative reportage, is the fruit of this journey. Q: What struck me about your work was its immersive style. The stories were a way to understand how people struggled and survived. We need to think about border practices, policing, and national security policies within the larger historical and political contexts. In the first season, when he and his team are tasked to thwart the terrorist attack Operation Zulfiqar, the plot moves from Mumbai to Kashmir. How "The Family Man" champions the carceral security state. Also read: Book Review: Looking Through Dalit Sahitya And Ambedkar. So I dont know if it was empathy so much as just building a relationship with people. Vijayan began her journey in Kolkata. Co-founded the Resettlement Legal Aid Project in Cairo, Suchitra is also the founder of the Polis Project, a research and journalism organisation. These are edited excerpts from the interview: 'Midnight' seems to be a metaphor for multiple things both freeing and frightening. We are consuming subjects in a surveillance economy, not citizens. Its not sustainable, it fractures who we are, chips away and erodes what it fundamentally means to be human. India has consistently warred against its own citizens; this book is about some of these wars. A: I dont agree with this kind of framing, because its not that underrepresented people dont have voices. I spoke with Suchitra by email in July about Midnights Borders, the power of literary nonfiction, new possibilities of Indian American literature, neoliberal politics, and the importance of supporting underrepresented stories. In that process, her reportage unravels the cultural and political implicationsof our bordersonour 'collective conscience', as capricious as that might be, and on the lives of those sandwiched between two warring nations. For instance, a border security personnel tells her how he failed to capture a photograph of a porcupine after spending half an hour trying to fit a helmet on its head, because he is bored and lonely. We need more writers from Indias Northeast, Kashmir, Indigenous, Dalit, and Muslim communities to tell stories that help complete the canvas of narratives about India. Modi met with senior police officers and ordered them not to intervene as violence raged. He writes TPS reports for an overbearing boss who calls him the minimum guy. He has replaced eating vada pav at ungodly hours on the streets with overpriced salads. With profound empathy and a novelistic eye for detail, Vijayan brings us face to face with the brutal legacy of colonialism, state violence, and government corruption. I think this book will change the global conversation about India and shape what gets written in the future about India. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers readers already know and love. For instance, if you went to school with, say, Indias most powerful publisher, or your dad plays golf or socialised at the Gymkhana with the politically powerful and the culturally influential, then that system is built to get you the resources. In the popular depictions of India circulating in the US, we rarely see the stories that the nations jingoistic governments have shoved under the carpet. Then my agent said, Suchitra, you know, I think youre hiding behind your academic language. To make matters worse, between 2013 and 2019, editors of channels and publications have been sacked and replaced, primarily because of their criticism of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. None of this helps in telling richer, more textured stories. . Subscribe here. This also decides who gets access, awards and accolades. The interview has been paraphrased and condensed for clarity, at the interviewers discretion. Perhaps there are lessons to learn from that. The two officers who avert the attack narrowly escape death but are left with broken bodies and broken lives. The argument put forward was simple: India, like most countries, had its human rights violations, but these were characterized as the growing pains and maturation of the worlds largest democracy. The travel, the people they encounter, and the political events they record quickly become cameos. The mortality of someone you love affects how you write. It is also the site of the worlds biggest crisis of statelessness, as it strips citizenship from hundreds of thousands of its peopleespecially those living in disputed border regions. And that violence is often abetted by the state and goes unpunished. The pair experience similar situations in their lives: abuse, the death or absence of a husband, and the longing for a better future. She completed her MFA in Writing (Fiction) from the University of San Francisco where she was awarded the Jan Zivic Fellowship and is about to begin her PhD in English with a Creative Dissertation from the University of Georgia, Athens. But your book lays bare how differently India's borders are guarded from southern Bengal to the Line of Control. Suchitra tweets @suchitrav. This is a serious, often funny and deeply revealing book. M, An essential, beautifully written report from the hellish margins of a modern mega-state struggling to be a nation, of people whose lives continue to be shaped by violent political marches across age-old homes and habitats. Say, for instance, do we need a James Nachtwey to fly to war-torn Bosnia? Like you train for a marathon, you train to be hopeful everyday. What do these events have in common? You dont need a Leni Riefenstahl today. Second, there were times when I ran out of money, when some said that such a book would not be published, when some declared that such a book could not be written. Suchitra Vijayan's debut book, Midnight's Borders, is a genre-bending book of nonfictionmade of stories, encounters, vignettes, and photographsabout home, belonging, and displacement.The book recounts the author's recent journey across India's land borders covering 9000 miles over a span of seven years. Is photographing a woman, who was gang-raped by the Sudanese army and put on the cover of TIMEpractically naked, able to stop the war? On Feb. 14, an Indian paramilitary convoy was attacked in Pulwama in India-administered Kashmir, resulting in the death of 40 Indian officers. MacAdam reviews Suchitra Vijayan's book Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India Read More. The controversy surrounding the Rafale deal and allegations of corruption against the government were suddenly sidelined, as was the order for the eviction of more than a million forest dwellers (that was later stayed) and a hearing on the repeal of an important constitutional clause before the Supreme Court. But, more importantly, I wanted my readers to walk away with a sense of empathy. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, GQ, The Boston Review, The Hindu, and Foreign Policy, and she has appeared on NBC news. The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Supreme Court forms expert panel to probe any regulatory failure on Adani issue, India makes renewed push for consensus at G20 Foreign Ministers meeting, Hindenburg Research report on Adani Group | Supreme Court verdict on expert committee on March 2, High debt on Vedanta books puts investors on tenterhooks, Employees Provident Fund: How to activate UAN online, 1947: Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act passed, RMA 0-1 FCB, El Clasico highlights: Barcelona leads on aggregate after beating Real Madrid courtesy of a Militao own goal. Yes, men who act as petty sovereigns are everywhere. Born and raised in Madras, India, she is the author of the critically acclaimed book Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India (Melville House, New York). A: Writers are very strange creatures. I was also trying to tell these stories from a repertoire of skills I had, and some I acquired. Heartbreaking, and still, something we must all notice and understand. M, Unique and ambitious, Vijayans project gains urgency and significance from our moment of resurgent nationalisms, when borders are being aggressively reasserted, in India and across the globe. G, An intervention like no other when it comes to thinking through not just the history of India but for reflections on borders, migration, the elusory nature of nations. The photographs add another dimension to the book, and could have been used more. The world we know is already being remade in ways we cant fathom. A: I lost friends, saw my father go through a transplant, and I gave birth. @suchitrav. Good, honest and non-polemical writing has always forced us to confront the lies we tell ourselves. We have already chosen silence and obfuscation even before the pushback has arrived. Suchitra Vijayan's new book, Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India, takes a deep look at such stories by prioritizing the experiences of the silenced victims as well as lesser-known accounts from victims of state violence. What is the function of seeing and documenting? It was just a sad moment, and I couldnt celebrate a book when there was so much human tragedy playing out. The third thing is: were going back to relitigating everything. The entire episode is emblematic of a broader trend in Indian media. In this podcast, Vijayan discusses with host Alex Woodson her 9,000-mile journey through India's borderlands, which formed the basis of the book, and she discusses the violent and continuing history of the 1947 partition, the stark differences and similarities along South Asia's various borders, and what "citizenship" mean in India in 2021 and Christopher Clary: India and Pakistan resort to the diplomacy of violence and flirt with catastrophe, Hafsa Kanjwal: As India beats its war drums over Pulwama, its occupation of Kashmir is being ignored. A t a time when right-wing nationalism is crescendoing in India and across the world, Suchitra Vijayan's Midnight's Borders raises pertinent questions about the very foundations of India's nationalism the cartography of South Asian nation-states defined by arbitrary lines drawn hastily by the British colonial administration. Theyre screaming all the time, its just that we dont listen to them. [8] On 7 March 2017, she applied for divorce. It is always Bollywood, the ascent of Priyanka Chopra, or the diasporic loneliness. That changes how you write and photograph a place. How did you arrive at this stylistic juncture where you manage to tell the stories of these people who are radically less privileged than you without appropriating them? What we can do is attempt micro-histories of events, timelines, or local communities. I now think twice about calling friends, worried if this might put them at risk. What changeshave youobserved in the way you treat your subject after finishing your journey and book? Bigotry is also big business. Contributions for the charitable purposes ofThe Rumpus must be made payable to Fractured Atlas only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. I almost never forget, I remember entire episodes or events since I was six years old. Its a dangerous moment where the figure of the rights-bearing citizen is being reduced to a consuming subject. He was arrested based on fabricated evidence in the middle of a global pandemic, and he was denied bail and medical help. I think freedom and dignity enables us to really go beyond in our political imaginationbeyond just electoral politics. @narendramodi & his role in the Gujarat Pogrom. During the initial search, the BSF troops recovered a black coloured drone - DJI Matrice (made in China), in partially damaged condition, lying near Dhussi Bundh near Shahjada village. We perform rituals of freedom in a right-less societywe dont ask if the rules, laws, and policies that are put in place are fair, just, right or equitable. O. In her new book Founder & ExecDirector: @project_polis @watchthestate ; Teach @nyugallatin Writer Manhattan, NY linktr.ee/suchitravijayan Born April 14 Joined May 2008 8,013 Following 80.8K Followers Tweets & replies Midnight's Bordersis an exceptional read, but one that may make some uncomfortable. The result is a gripping, urgent dispatch from a modern India in crisis, and the full and vivid portrait of the country weve long been missing. But its also important to constantly take account of who is writing about this India to an Indian and global audience. On Feb. 14, an Indian paramilitary convoy was attacked. Second, as the media continued to promote government positions on the crisis, other critical political issues dropped out of public scrutiny. Our borders had become a spectacle, and we the cheering mob, she says, as she calls for purging hatred for the sake of posterity. Jawaharlal Nehrus 'Tryst with Destiny'is a speech I have returned to over the past 20 years. Photograph of Suchitra Vijayan courtesy of Suchitra Vijayan. NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Second, there is a clear distinction between speaking against the powerful and claiming to speak on behalf of the "voiceless". Check posts or bunkers were not part of the landscapes of my home. This is a profoundly alienating place for anyone without the networks of privilege and resources. Early on, I was very careful to acknowledge this. This contributed to the long-running, brutal silencing of Kashmiris and their struggle for self-determination. We are all complicit in upholding and maintaining this fear. Rumpus: I believe your book contributes to an important conversation about India we must have right now in the United States, for its own sake. As she travelled 9000 miles over seven years across Indias borders, some drawn so hastily that they cut across fields, homes and courtyards, she met men, women and children, finishing with endless notebooks, over a thousand images and more than 300 hours of recorded conversations. Her quest took her to the farthest ends of the India-Bangladesh/ China/ Myanmar/ Pakistan borders. In Afghanistan, Kashmir, and India, from one dangerous conflict zone to another, she spoke with people, ate with them, and listened to their stories. Similarly, motherhood changed me; it radicalised me. How do you think the media ought to responsibly report on peoples lives and experiences? I fear we are losing that cosmopolitanism of small places. Midnight's Borders by Suchitra Vijayan. Invariably its the writer who is the protagonist. The emotional cost is something else altogether. This Life Draws Attention to Life Behind Bars and the Transcendent Power of Rap, Wrestling with Reality in The Big Door Prize. She is the founder and executive director of The Polis Project, and the author of Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India, recently published by Context, Westland. 582.1K views. I havent spoken or celebrated with my friends in Kashmir or Assam. Tamil Movie Articles Trisha | Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya | Tamannah | Anniyan | Aishwarya Rai", "Bigg Boss Awards for each contestant in Bigg Boss Tamil 4", Suchitra: I can sound sweet, sexy, bold or sensual, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suchitra&oldid=1141096550, Crossover episode with Bigg Boss Tamil; Fearless Award, Nominated: Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer Telugu for the song 'Nijamena' from, Nominated: SIIMA Award for Best Female Playback Singer|Best Female Playback Singer for the song 'Sir Osthara' from, This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 09:35. My friend Ritesh Uttamchandani said this once, the lens that elusive distance between the photographer and the photographed is often impossible to bridge. In India, that arbitrariness can be seen in how differently we perceive landboundaries with multiple sovereign nations. Suchitra was married to actor Karthik Kumar between 2005 and 2017. Suchitra Vijayan is a writer, photographer, lawyer, political essayist, and a lecturer. So we might never know the true extent of this loss. The revolutionary Constitution not only created a social world made of contradictions, but it very soon became the tool of suppressing dissent, deployed laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), and Public Safety Act (PSA) in Kashmir. Follow our team of columnists and reporters who write about the media. I think the way that news and mostly disinformation makes its way to us, we think of violence in very particular waysas disjointed. ""The historical unity of the ruling classes is realized in the state." Antonio Gramsci" And join us by becoming a monthly or yearly Member. Suchitra is a BSc graduate from Mar Ivanios College (Trivandrum). Suchitra Vijayan was born and raised in Madras, India. One feedback I often got was that I had to put more of myself in this book. I cant think in terms of the future being borderless, I can only think in terms of fracturing. There are already about 20 million climate refugees around South Asias borderlands. While Nehru was still declaring this victory, the slaughter began. I think its the other way round, these communities have always been speaking, writing, documenting, teachingwe must simply listen rather than represent them in any way. Acted as the General Manager for a day and motivated employees to work for the same purpose to reinforce team . Its an immense privilege to be able to write and be published. Excerpts from the #BBC documentary telecast about PM . Feminism In India is an award-winning digital intersectional feminist media organisation to learn, educate and develop a feminist sensibility among the youth. Already a subscriber? Panitars division is as cruel as it is arbitrary: here, the houses on either side of one dusty lane occupy two neighbouring countries. It is necessary to speak truth to power through our art. The book is a prelude to what was coming, and is also a impassioned plea to my readers to ask some fundamental questions of what it means to live in a country like Indiawhat is the function of a state when its primary preoccupation is no longer the citizen but a performance of an ideology? Time to let the diplomats do the hard talk. India shares borders with a host of . Its been a little over a week since the book came out, and every day this week, I have woken up to emails, messages, and DMs from readers. ). So now, how do we respond to this? In politics, we will be recognising the principle of one man, one vote, and one vote, one value. 2:16. There is something deeply flawed in the way we live today. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. Vijayan: Its a very generous reading, and thanks for that. The two press briefings by the foreign secretary and Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson entertained no questions. Its a hard book to name, and I kept going back and forth. Take a look at theseevents: The vast infrastructure of detention centers being built in Assam and outside; a politician from a ruling party incites violence by saying, goli maaro saalon ko, and remains free; a minister, a Harvard educated technocrat, garlands and celebrates men for the grave crime of lynching; Dr Teltumbde and other BK 16 [the 16 arrests made in the Bhima Koregaon case] political prisoners remain incarcerated with little, no or manufactured evidence for being dissenting subjects; and a standup comic is arrested for the crime of existing as a Muslim. As I say in the book, Kashmir changed me, it gave me political and moral clarity to always stand with those fighting for their peoples freedom and dignity. It definitely doesnt help when trying to hold a powerful state accountable. Author In Focus, Celebration, The Literary Journal. Pushback is such a benign word, isnt it? is a barrister-at-law, writer and researcher. Firstpost - All Rights Reserved. Midnights Borders is part investigation, part meditation on the lines drawn on land or water that separate India from its neighbours. If you want to support the work that goes behind publishing high-quality feminist media content, please consider becoming a FII member. Without a political solution, Kashmir will undoubtedly emerge in upcoming news cycles. Some even dressed for the occasion in combat gear. I test my practice of writing or being a photographer against this rule. Conversations With Writers Braver Than Me, Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India, FUNNY WOMEN: Excerpts from George Eliots, Rumpus Original Poetry: Two Poems by John A. Nieves, RUMPUS POETRY BOOK CLUB EXCERPT: WHY I WRITE LOVE POETRY IN A BURNING WORLD by Katie Farris, The Freedom of Form & Re-Entering Myths: An interview with A.E. Its a practice. I had to cut those out, as my editor felt this might not work. A memorable, humane museum of forgotten stories that we must all read and remember. M, What experiences and lives unfold in these pages. In terms of violence, there is also this tendency to photograph and display the bodies of marginalised communities when they experience violence.
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