The government, of course, denies this. Suchitra Ramadurai, known by the mononym Suchitra, is an Indian radio jockey, popular playback singer, songwriter, composer, voice artist, dubbing artist and film actress. 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 She sang her first song for the movie, Lesa Lesa under the composition of Harris Jayaraj and her co-singer was the legendary, K. S. Chitra. She is currently working on her first novel. In Afghanistan, Kashmir, and India, from one dangerous conflict zone to another, she spoke with people, ate with them, and listened to their stories. Now, border security policies are linked to domestic politics. We are all complicit in upholding and maintaining this fear. One of the ways she upholds the humane in this book is through her interaction with the men in the security forces. Suchitra Vijayan on Twitter: ""Fighting for justice and human rights in MacAdam reviews Suchitra Vijayan's book Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India Read More. This affects who gets to document, and whom. Suchitra Vijayan is the executive director of the Polis Project. Were there times when you doubted your own ability to record and document these people's stories? Author, lawyer and journalist, Suchitra Vijayan in conversation with Cerebration editor Smita Maitra on her book Midnight's Borders, maps, fragmented identities and postcolonial nation-states. In this stunning work of narrative reportagefeaturing over 40 original photographswe hear from those whose stories are never told: from children playing a cricket match in no-mans-land, to an elderly man living in complete darkness after sealing off his home from the floodlit border; from a woman who fought to keep a military bunker off of her land, to those living abroad who can no longer find their family history in India. 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. This is the age of erosion of citizenship rights, a kind of ongoing attrition against human rights, civil liberties, and in the case of India, an accelerated dilution of fundamental rights. There is no denying that the American media landscape is deeply racist, and while the past few years have seen more brown people take center stage, its nowhere close to where we need to be. None of this helps in telling richer, more textured stories. Like you train for a marathon, you train to be hopeful everyday. The taxi driver who describes the Egyptian revolution in five minutes to an American columnist (who speaks no Arabic) is sadly where the genre is today. So the first reflection is this idea of where we are right now: as people, as a society, as a community. 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. Rumpus: The book utilizes more than one medium: photography, narrative nonfiction, journalism. It definitely doesnt help when trying to hold a powerful state accountable. A place to read, on the Internet. I dont think theres just one emotion that drives a writer to finish writing. Instead, we need to ask what fate awaits us. How do you think this inspiration from a variety of genres allowed you to tell underrepresented stories? 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. The book was called ``a genre-bending book of nonfictionmade Your email address will not be published. Why do you think India has gotten away with this so far? She entered the show on day 28 as a new contestant and was evicted on day 49. The public is sold a lie as the attack is framed as a gas leak. In another essay from 2019, I write about the banality of bearing witness as an excuse to produce extractive work. These questions about documentation practices started long before I started this book project, and I learnt along the way. Suchitra Vijayan is a barrister-at-law, writer and researcher. Suchitra Vijayan (@suchitrav) / Twitter NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Vasundhara Sirnate Drennan is director of research at the Polis Project. Aruni Kashyap writes in English, and his native language Assamese. In her15,000-kilometre journey, spread over seven years, Vijayan mulls over the meaning of freedom, belongingness in a land of imagined communities, created by territorial demarcations. Legislations such as National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act threaten to render millions of people, especially Muslims, stateless. But its also important to constantly take account of who is writing about this India to an Indian and global audience. Suchitra was married to actor Karthik Kumar between 2005 and 2017. Panitars division is as cruel as it is arbitrary: here, the houses on either side of one dusty lane occupy two neighbouring countries. After being detained at one of the checkpoints for over two hours, I made my way to one of the villages closest to the Line of Control. Suchitra Vijayan (@suchitrav) / Twitter Follow Suchitra Vijayan @suchitrav Author: Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India. To them he is a man who has settled into a job that has no future. Updated Date: Her writing and award-winning photography culminated in Midnights Borders: A Peoples History of Modern India, which was recently shortlisted for the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF book prize. She still does a radio show called Flight983 on Radio Mirchi, on Sunday evenings (79 pm). I have no control over what comes next. Firstly, when we talk about violence, we often talk about it only as communal violence, as if both communities have equal strength and power. 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. The former is an essential act of dissent, even resistance, especially in these dark times. 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? Indias intellectual, journalistic, and literary landscape is profoundly problematic and alienating. Suchitra was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, as the daughter of Ramadurai and Padmaja. What connects these messages is deep empathy and a willingness to engage with the books stories, ideas, and arguments. Dear reader, this article is free to read and it will remain free but it isnt free to produce. Suchitra Vijayan - Amazon Rumpus: Why do you think the ever-growing canon of Indian American literature has barely tried to engage with these conversations through their stories? The pandemic showed us that crises and recurrent disasters that annihilate our lives are here to stay. SUCHITRA VIJAYAN PHOTOGRAPHY - 42 Photos - Manhatan, NY - Yelp 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. Barrister. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle. Who gets to shape these stories, what stories are chosen, what stories then are exiled? Also read: Book Review: Looking Through Dalit Sahitya And Ambedkar. It took me 8 years to write the book. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, GQ, The Boston Review, The Hindu, and Foreign Policy, and she has appeared on NBC news. There are instances when you and some voices in the narrative question their documentation practice. Vijayan began her journey in Kolkata. 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. Similarly, motherhood changed me; it radicalised me. I set out not to give voice to the voiceless, my aim was to put an ear to the ground and listen. And, in many cases, they are children of the literary, cultural, or political elite who have long been the beneficiaries of the Indian state. We play an ever more important role in these times when there is a fascist authoritarian regime in India and a deeply racist police state in the US. In Afghanistan, Kashmir, and India, from one dangerous conflict zone to another, she spoke with people, ate with them, and listened to their stories. By looking beyond maps to create a museum of forgotten stories, Vijayan has given voice to those who live on the fringes like Ali or Sari. Her writing has appeared in The Citron Review, Dukool Magazine, Cerebration, Feminism in India, Times of India (Spellbound edition), and others. Another name that came to my mind was 'An Outline of the Republic', only to discover Siddhartha Debs excellent book by the same name. 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. Listen to Season 3 on Apple, Spotify and Google podcasts. Also read: Whose Stories Are Told In Indian History? Photograph of Suchitra Vijayan courtesy of Suchitra Vijayan. She was part of a music band at PSG. Good, honest and non-polemical writing has always forced us to confront the lies we tell ourselves. The events in Hathras did not happen at the border; neither did the murder and gang rape of two teenage girls in the Katra village of Budaun district, Uttar Pradesh. Its a vicious cycle. Book reviews and author interviews with a Southern focus. As a bedouin who grew up listening to beautiful stories from beautiful storytellers around a fire, I was transported by her storytelling. Q: Since publishing the book last year, what reflections have you hadgiven that its relevance is increasingly ascertained by 2022s interpersonal and geopolitical violence? Global Ethics Review: Midnight's Borders, with Suchitra Vijayan How did you achieve empathy in your writing, without the privileged lens that is common in journalistic canon? Why I Grew Up Wishing My Mother Were Dead - The Bangalore Review Creative . Suchitra tweets @suchitrav. Despite the failures in investigation and prosecution related to criminal trials arising out of the pogrom, the judiciary has projected itself as an able and willing neutral arbiter of justice that is not complicit with the deep structures of Hindutvas anti-Muslim prejudice https://t.co/EFf5bxYEBt, True societal change has always emerged from the ground-up, with communities fighting for their own freedom and dignity. I had to cut those out, as my editor felt this might not work. Professor Nandita Sharmas work is an excellent way to engage with this history. 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. 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. Some things are just not discussed anymore. A consistent ethical framework within the media hasnt existed for a long time. Its impossible for a writer not to be affected by their personal life. 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. Second, as the media continued to promote government positions on the crisis, other critical political issues dropped out of public scrutiny. When fires burn down large swathes of what were peoples homeswhat borders will you impose when climate change will fundamentally remake them? The Indian media must learn to portray the conflict and human rights violations in the region in a more nuanced way, and not reduce Kashmir to a catalogue of death, destruction and emergency laws. She is actively involved in circulating urgent and underrepresented news from the world through her online platform. Suchitra Vijayan - KeyWiki I believe it can teach us to ask these questions again. Suchitra Vijayan. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, GQ, The Boston Review, The Hindu, and Foreign Policy, and she has appeared on NBC news. Its an immense privilege to be able to write and be published. Subscribe to the Rumpus Book Clubs (poetry, prose, or both) and Letters in the Mail from authors (for adults and kids). Whose Stories Are Told In Indian History? Apart from his long-suffering wife, no one else in the family knows that he is a spy. 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. How did writing this book affect you? I had to write and rewrite this book so many times. There is something deeply flawed in the way we live today. The Rumpus: It is shocking how unaware the world is about the violence the Indian government has committed since independence on its border citizens. Yes, Chopra does take a huge share of attention, but the real danger is how people like her whitewash Hindutva, and now increasingly co-opt the language of Hinduphobia to counter any critique of Hindutva. You've mentioned in the text that you've spent your entire adult life thinking about state violence and justice because of a troubling incident in 1994 when your father was attacked. 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. The book arrived in the middle of a pandemic and a devastating second wave [of COVID-19] in India. This idea of responsibility gets obfuscated in many ways. Suchitra Vijayan, Newspapers in a Kashmiri home In August 2014 I travelled to the border town of Uri while researching my upcoming book, Borderlands. When Vijayan meets him, he is inside his home with all the windows closed and sealed to snuff out light. She responded to an ad for the post of an RJ in Radio Mirchi. This income helps us keep the magazine alive. But it needs to do more for peace. What do these events have in common? The black and white pictures accompanying the chapters add a thousand words more. Suchitra Vijayan (@suchitravijayan) Instagram photos and videos [6], She wrote a short story, a graphic illustration of an episode in the life of a black peppercorn called Kuru-Milaku, called "The Runaway Peppercorn".[7]. To repurpose an old sayingall infamy is now good virality. This is where I believe literary nonfiction becomes a powerful tool. The act of recording and documenting cannot be divorced from the inherent question of power. There are so many nonfiction books about India published yearly but few are so important and subversive. 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. You dont need a Leni Riefenstahl today. I think this book will change the global conversation about India and shape what gets written in the future about India. You can speak of confidence and body positivity and defend selling skin-lightening creams. It has taken me over a decade to get here. I am repeating what I have said before, "Kashmir is Indias greatest moral and political failure. You can find them onYouTube&Linkedin,and can also check out their websitehere. Modi met with senior police officers and ordered them not to intervene as violence raged. What we can do is attempt micro-histories of events, timelines, or local communities. The photographs add another dimension to the book, and could have been used more. Can you write about loss without living? I have never lived under military occupation, curfew, or a looming threat of violence. 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. This contributed to the long-running, brutal silencing of Kashmiris and their struggle for self-determination.
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