In this country, where societies have crumbled, systems have eroded, ideologies have been bartered, I still believe in individuals who have risen above sectarianism to uphold what is the idea of a nation.

Of everything I have heard about Roll of Honour, one of the most precious is this by Nandita Haksar, the human rights lawyer. Though I met her only recently she has been my hero for decades.

Read the piece, one of the finest testimonial account of the 1984 violence. Here …

Aparna Banerji is based in Jalandhar. When we went there to participate in the Gadri Babeian da Mela, she caught up with Daljit Ami. It was covered the next day in The Tribune. Aparna is a second generation Punjabi. She was born in Jalandhar, speaks the language fluently, and example of what it means to find assimilation.

Please read …

Gwah de Fana hon to Pehlan was released by Rahul Singh, Rajesh Sharma, and Rajeev Kumar at the Chandigarh Literature Festival on October 31. The release marked the 30th anniversary of Mrs Gandhi’s assassination and seeks to bridge the gap between English and Punjabi, how the previous generation views the anti-Sikh pogrom and  how the next generation is dealing with it. Ms Nirupama Dutt also put the book to discussion with Daljit Ami and me.

Hindustan Times covered the event. Please read here …

It is with great pleasure I wish to let you know that ‘Roll of Honour’ has found home in Punjabi. The book is truly grateful to have Daljit Ami as our translator. I have had the honour of working with him through the translation. We are thankful to Harish Jain of Lokgeet Prakashan to have agreed to publish the book. Thanks are due to Rupa Publications.

The cover picture we used is the one which hung in my study as I wrote the book. It is by Sarika Gulati. The cover design is by Natasha Taraporevala.

The Punjabi text ‘Gwah de Fana hon to Pehlan’ will be released on October 31, 2014 at 10 AM at the Chandigarh Club. This event is part of the Chandigarh Literature Festival. After the release well-known author and critic Nirupama Dutt will be in discussion with Daljit Ami and me.

Here is the cover. We seek your blessings.

Punjabi Book Cover

On June 6, 2014, as the world watched the Sikh community mark the 30th anniversary of the Army attack on Golden Temple, Operation Blue Star, factions pulled out swords and there was a free for all  in the holy premises for one and a half hour. My piece in Tehelka on one of the deeper reasons behind this event.

‘Though Punjab has largely been peaceful after the violent 1980s, it remains a land with deep fissures. One of the reasons is that the Sikh community’s management body, the cash-rich SGPC, has over the past two decades been converted into an extension of the SAD (Badal). Instead of practising inclusive Sikhism, solving the community’s problems, furthering education and healthcare, and raising and solving the identity issues that had led to the separatist movement, the SGPC has become rife with nepotism and dynasty politics. It manipulates Sikh sentiments for political and commercial gains.’

Read more here …

My recent piece in Tehelka on the four seats that AAP won from Punjab in the General Election 2014.

‘For a party that was contesting the Lok Sabha polls for the first time, Aam Aadmi Party has done quite well. The only regret is that it set its own target so high that it fell massively. In Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party’s tally is equal to that of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and one better than the Congress’. Yet, before we congratulate Aam Aadmi Party, we need to look at the context of this victory.’

Please read …

On the thirtieth anniversary of Operation Blue Star my piece in IBNLive.in.com.

‘Democracies are based on a system of ‘social contract’ between citizens and a state. This social contract implies the citizens elect their government and expect the government to take care of their safety and well being. When a nation state attacks the sanctum sanctorum of its community, it hits the community’s centre of faith. Whatever is the intent, the message that goes out is: the state is against the religion. When Blue Star is backed by another Operation Woodrose in which hundreds of Gurdwaras in the state are raided and innocents captured and killed, the message becomes even louder. These events and the November pogrom brought about a change in the way the majority Sikhs, the moderates, now viewed the idea of Khalistan.’

Read full article here.

The anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984 is often invoked in political discourse but I did not know enough about all the literature that is available on the subject. So, I took my editor’s prompt as a trigger to research the documentation. Here are my findings. I am disappointed by how Punjabi did not really fully respond to the events and am impressed by how Hindi, English, even Assamese, Malayalam and Tamil have responded. Writing this article helped me create my own list, I do hope it serves as a map for your readings.

PS: My thanks to Rajesh Sharma, Daljit Ami, Surjit Singh, Nirupama Dutt, Chaman Lal, Deepinder Kaur, Abhirami Sriram, Kumar Anupam for immense help with information and guidance with this article. I am sorry I could not include everything but I am enriched by your support.

Please read.

Friends, acknowledging my work as a technical writer, a technology magazine was the first to interview me when ‘Roll of Honour’ was released last year. Techgoss.com, came back again now to check how I feel upon being nominated. The quote is linked to the earlier interview. Thank you Suneetha Balakrishnan.

‘Roll of Honour evokes the agony of not being able to resolve the dilemma of who is the self and what is the self’s identity. Yet, it acknowledges, that a space larger than the narrow partisan interest of a community is available and must be acknowledged. For that we have to move beyond the pain. We must learn to heed to the wounds. The nomination does that for me: it heals me, both personally and as a writer. I feel I have been heard.’

See full quote and link to an earlier interview here …