The hope that the book evokes is that the next generation will acknowledge the previous generation’s culpability in the violence and will work to bridge hearts. The book moves and even upsets the reader but that is needed if we have to work towards a society that chooses not to bury its ugly past. As a fight for justice, if victims, arguments, and evidences are the three basis on which the law acts, then the book does a fine job of expanding the canvas of the narration of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom. My hope is that the possibility of justice evoked in fiction comes true in reality.
Tags: Amandeeo Sandhu, anti-Sikh, Helium, Jaspreet Singh
My interview with Canadian Indian author Jaspreet Singh on the publication of his new novel Helium on the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom from the point of view of a son of a senior police officer who facilitated the communal violence.
‘Helium is informed by survivor and relief worker testimonials and is based on oral histories and private archives. The hybrid form allowed me to pose questions like: ‘What happened?’ and ‘What could have happened?’ It also allowed me to create distance. Despite all this it was not easy to write. I often tried to abandon the project.’
Tags: Amandeep Sandhu, Helium, Japreet Singh, The Hindu