Anu Reviews is one of the early Indian websites devoted to book reviews. Anuradha Goyal turned her passion into her life work. Her dedication to both book- and travel-related writing is inspiring. She is also a city walker and often organises walks to places of historical importance. I feel honoured she features an interview with me this month after carrying the Roll of Honour review last month and the Sepia Leaves review a few years back.
Archive for the ‘Roll of Honour’ Category
A brief review appeared in the Afternoon – Despatch and Courier. Read on.
Friends, all the years since 1984, while Roll of Honour churned inside me, I wondered if it was relevant. The events of the last few weeks shows us that it is, here is a journalist who mentions it.
‘Roll of Honour landed on my table at a time when the news of former Indian Army General KS Brar surviving a bid on his life in London flooded the newspapers. Brar had sustained injuries but survived the assault. Many believe the attack was meant to avenge Operation Bluestar. A mere mention of Operation Bluestar demands the topic be handled with care. Such is the emotive appeal of the issue that even 28 years after the storming of the Golden Temple, it continues to haunt the memory of Punjab.’
A few days back I was surprised when Shankari Murali picked on this aspect of reading Roll of Honour: the most disturbing idea for me was that I was there in the book as a voyeur – vekhan chali.
It made me reflect again if I had in my pursuit to not be a voyeur of other people’s pain in fact created voyeurs out of readers. There is a little bit of voyeur-ism in all our reading and listening. We also often seek pain to define ourselves. Happiness can be unlimited but often pain has boundaries and threshold levels and those define us. In the following account Shankari shows immense courage by recording her story, a sort of my experiments with pain.
This is more a result of the trigger that the book gave her, her musings, than a review. Please read.
Santosh Singh is an award winning development journalist based in Patna. Santosh focuses on real stories, he has been mapping Bihar for the last decade, and this is his first public review of a book. I take it as a compliment that he felt the book was real enough to be discussed.
‘…blunt and honest where characters do not wear masks and where others are expected to shed them. It also exposes the hubris of military discipline, which cares more about crease-less uniforms and well-polished shoes than inculcating real values.’
Nandini Krishnan, who we met through an earlier review of ‘Roll of Honour’ actually spend half a day with me talking about the book, the Sikhs and other issues. This piece, available below, has been edited. The interview, to me, is also an experience of what the Internet can give us – unlimited storage space and thus a relief from the tyranny of what editors assume the readers need. Read this at leisure, over the next few days maybe, write in any thoughts, queries. In this conversation, I feel I have spoken. Thank you Nandini, this is the kind of journalism I grew up with and miss today. Read on.
Here is the edited piece which appeared on sify.com.
What Pujo gifts! More reviews this week. Aditi Das reviews the book. Read on.
Friends, I was surprised when I caught myself welling up upon reading this heartfelt review of ‘Roll of Honour’ by ‘The Hindu’ Playwright award winner and journalist Nandini Krishnan.
‘The story isn’t simply about the dilemma that the idea of treason poses. The focus is on bullying, where the victim and the perpetrator are trapped in a cyclical relationship, fuelled by a particular kind of insanity – the insanity induced by fear of the unknown.’
Faiz said, ‘Bol zubaan ab teri hai …’ (Speak, the tongue is yours.) Roll of Honour review from the site where it all happened – Punjab.
‘The account feels intensely personal with a raw visceral quality.’
Vinod Joseph, writer of ‘When The Snow Melts’ reviews the book.
‘Where ‘Roll of Honour’ scores is its excellent depiction of the heartache brought about by Operation Blue Star and the subsequent assassination and riots, the break-down of trust between the Hindu and Sikh communities and the questions of loyalty it created for the Sikh community in India.’