The Author Suchitra Vijayan is an American writer, essayist, activist, and photographer working across oral history, state violence, and visual storytelling. This book ate into so much of my life. 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. But its also important to constantly take account of who is writing about this India to an Indian and global audience. 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). L.L.B., Law, The University of Leeds, 2004 M.A., International Relation . Such writings have long been implicated in the history of colonial ethnographic practices, where native informants are poised to become the voices of the empire. Over the span of seven years, Suchitra Vijayan interviewed scores of individuals, jotted countless notes, snapped hundreds of photographs, and altogether made herself witness to the manifold absurdities (and atrocities) of who gets to say where one nation ends and another begins. Her distinct and bold voice made her very popular with the younger crowd. The show deals with interesting international happenings. Excellent interview, brave insights and critical reflections! Where does that leave us? Suchitra Vijayan | The Nation 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. These are no longer contradictory; instead, even criticism can be converted to views. Chopra is popular because she satisfies a certain need for validationthe trope of brown representation where the mere act of being represented is seen as a singular virtue worth applauding. Suchitra Vijayans new book, Midnights Borders: A Peoples 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. That was my starting point. In Midnight's Borders, Suchitra Vijayan meditates on belongingness, freedom and political implications of territorial demarcations 'The border making project is central to the capitalist and neoliberal logic,' Vijayan says. Its not comparable and should not be compared. She has a sister named, Sunitha. We need more such books. I feel very uncomfortable talking about this, or rather I dont know how to discuss this without centering myself. In retaliation, the Indian Air Force carried out an airstrike on an alleged militant training camp in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Ali lived right on the edge of the India-Bangladesh border. What are those ethical, moral, and political lines? We also need a fundamental reframing of language. Who gets to travel, tell stories, and, more importantly, publish them are all deeply connected to questions of access, resources, and privilege. This means that the capacity to see does not automatically become the capacity for action. We live in a surveillance economy where we are constantly just bearing witness we are record keepers, unwitting spies, and voyeurs. In her new book . Its feudal, entitled, and cannibalistic. Accompanied by this globally, democracies are becoming more authoritarian and stripping people of their citizenshipreducing them to subjects, entrenching the fault lines of inequality. Also read: Examining My Caste And Its History Is Eye-Opening: A Personal Essay On Casteism And Ancestry. In her book, she makes her intention clear at the very beginning, claiming that this endeavor is not to give voice to the voiceless but to critique the nation-state, its violence, and the arbitrariness of territorial sovereignty. She acknowledges that a book in its limited scope cannot really encapsulate the entirety of this journey, and it will remain more of a scrapbook, a collection of images, texts, poetry, and maps. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. They all have very specific and carefully curated origin/immigrant stories that cleverly exploit the model minority trope. Q: What struck me about your work was its immersive style. While Nehru was still declaring this victory, the slaughter began. Along the way, we meet the men and women of TASC, dissenting students, ISIS terrorists and Pakistani military officers. Those notes were raw and immediate. Part of this process is a need to turn the lens back at the powerful. It is the fragility of human lives that remains at the very center of the book. Qin took charge as Chinese foreign minister in December, succeeding Wang Yi. A: I lost friends, saw my father go through a transplant, and I gave birth. There is a lot to learn and unlearn, and a writer and a photographer should respond to a political moment, and the work should be a reflection of those practices. Updated Date: 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. All rights reserved. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. How do you think this inspiration from a variety of genres allowed you to tell underrepresented stories? Beyond the confusion over the death tolls at Balakot, news organizations variously reported that between 25 and 350 kilograms of the explosive RDX was used in the attack, when no such information was officially released. From the epoch of Empire to the nation-state, border making is fundamentally a political project that creates, sustains, and reinforces inequality. I think this book will change the global conversation about India and shape what gets written in the future about India. Professor Nandita Sharmas work is an excellent way to engage with this history. This is a tightrope that you walk so well. Some things are just not discussed anymore. Like most women, I learnt to navigate this toxic misogyny, the threat of sexual violence, and patriarchy by merely existing as a dark-skinned woman in this country. Co-founded the Resettlement Legal Aid Project in Cairo, Suchitra is also the founder of the Polis Project, a research and journalism organisation. It took a long time to get the voice right. Suchitra Vijayan is a barrister-at-law, writer and researcher. A British lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe set foot in India for the first time in July, 1947 to draw the borders and completed the task within seven weeks, engendering communal riots, a heavily militarized border, four wars and seven decades of violence and hatred between the two countries. But eventually we need all kinds of stories and arguments to emerge from what is now considered Indian American writing. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. Fear seems to be a constant motif in the book we see versions and types of it. More from this author , Tags: Aruni Kashyap, Asian American, bollywood, Brahmanism, caste system, democracy, Hindu, Hinduism, Hinduphobia, Hindutva, immigrants, immigration, India, Indian American, Indian American literature, Leni Riefenstahl, Midnight's Borders, Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India, model minority, Modi, Narendra Damodardas Modi, Narendra Modi, neoliberalism, photographs, photography, Polis Project, Politics, Priyanka Chopra, south asian, South Asian American, South Asian diaspora, Stan Swamy, Suchitra Vijayan, travel writing, Filed Under: Features & Reviews, Rumpus Original. Having been trained in law, Suchitra Vijayan initially worked at the United Nations war tribunals in Yugoslavia. The two press briefings by the foreign secretary and Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson entertained no questions. The word terrorism, for instance, is used almost exclusively to refer to a particular communitybut fails to refer to state-enabled terror or the terror deployed by majority communities. None of this helps in telling richer, more textured stories. 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. A: I dont agree with this kind of framing, because its not that underrepresented people dont have voices. NONFICTIONMidnights BordersBy Suchitra VijayanMelville HousePublished May 25, 2021. Vijayan began her journey in Kolkata. You can speak of confidence and body positivity and defend selling skin-lightening creams. And, in many cases, they are children of the literary, cultural, or political elite who have long been the beneficiaries of the Indian state. The pair experience similar situations in their lives: abuse, the death or absence of a husband, and the longing for a better future. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions?". Find him on Twitter at @AruniKashyap. She writes about war, conflict . The latter is an act of violence against people whose voice you are appropriating. He was arrested based on fabricated evidence in the middle of a global pandemic, and he was denied bail and medical help. When your investigations in Kashmir came to an end, what changes did you observe in your 'grammar of dissent'? The third thing is: were going back to relitigating everything. Midnight's Borders by Suchitra Vijayan falls in both categories. What we can do is attempt micro-histories of events, timelines, or local communities. I set out not to give voice to the voiceless, my aim was to put an ear to the ground and listen. 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. As Sari Begum's story [in the book] illustrates, 'A life where the violence of the border is not at the fence, or in the trenches, but at the center of 'their' and our 'universe'. You need a community of people to support you. Categories. Also, hope is a discipline. In politics, we will be recognising the principle of one man, one vote, and one vote, one value. What do you think the future holds? Rumpus: Were you trying to write a hybrid-genre book? History and memory is localwhich means its almost impossible to write about India. March 06, 2021 04:50 pm | Updated March 07, 2021 08:05 am IST. 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. Also, I am an unknown and insignificant entity. Especially when you can be charged with sedition for a tweet or arrested for the crime of committing comedy while being Muslim. A lot of travel writing is still written by a particular group of people with immense privilege, and they all tend to center themselves. The acts of writing, documenting, photographing, and archiving carry privileges of caste and class. Your email address will not be published. Aruni Kashyap writes in English, and his native language Assamese. Early on, the idea of bearing witness as a rhetorical tool and as a literary device became deeply problematic. Midnights Borders: A Peoples History of Modern India ; Suchitra Vijayan, Context/ Westland Books, 699. Reports also identified different people as the supposed masterminds of the Pulwama attack at various points without clear sourcing. Our investigation into the Indian medias reporting on the Pulwama attack found that many reports were contradictory, biased, incendiary and uncorroborated. There are two quotes I regularly use by Allan Sekula when I teach: "The making of a human likeness on film is a political act. So the question is not: will the future be borderless? Suchitra Vijayan is the executive director of the Polis Project. Suchitra Vijayan > Faculty > People > NYU Gallatin Lets take Indias English language media, cultural-artistic elite, and publishing. Rumpus: Why do you think the ever-growing canon of Indian American literature has barely tried to engage with these conversations through their stories? Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle. Say, for instance, do we need a James Nachtwey to fly to war-torn Bosnia? Suchitra was married to actor Karthik Kumar between 2005 and 2017. Suchitra Vijayan on Twitter: ""Fighting for justice and human rights in ( I hate this word, voiceless, by the way). Also read: Whose Stories Are Told In Indian History? Rohini Menon for Feminism in India, FII Interviews: Suchitra Vijayan Talks About Marginalisation, Institutional Violence & Political Imagination, Ananya is a chaotic humanities student with a deep interest in the relationship between art and society, a writing obsession, and way too many bizarre ideas involving their camera. We dont document violence against the privileged like we would report violence against those without power. Is that a probable solution? I want to flag two essays where I engage with this in an in-depth manner, Disaster Ruins Everything, on my work in Haiti, and what it means to photograph disaster, especially when it is Brown and Black bodies. There are also those who have previously been tacit, if not active, supporters of the right-wing Hindu nationalist Indian state. But the number of anonymous sources willing to disclose classified and conflicting information to reporters who cited them without corroboration points to a serious crisis in how information is reported to the public. The former is an essential act of dissent, even resistance, especially in these dark times. The stories were a way to understand how people struggled and survived. So lets be very clear that Indias intellectual literary landscape is deeply problematic, feudal, and alienating," says Suchitra Vijayan to FII, Featured Image Source: In terms of violence, there is also this tendency to photograph and display the bodies of marginalised communities when they experience violence. Suchitra Vijayan: The Indian state has always used excessive and extrajudicial violence on communities that resist, whether its the borderlands, peripheries, or mainland Now the international viewfor instance while the Gujarat riots of 2002 brought critical international media attention and criticism, and [current Prime Minister] Modi was banned from entering the US, India was able to effectively manage global public opinion. The emotional cost is something else altogether. 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. She is the founder and executive director of The Polis Project, and the author of Midnights Borders: A Peoples History of Modern India, recently published by Context, Westland. Who is expendable, and the manufacturing of rightlessness to render people expendable. Suchitra Vijayan (Author of Midnight's Borders) - Goodreads Required fields are marked *. So we might never know the true extent of this loss. These instances are also about border practices because modern states, especially liberal democracies, expend immense energy in creating and maintaining identity categories: who belongs, and where. " India's intellectual, journalistic, and literary landscape is profoundly problematic and alienating. She has a sister named, Sunitha. 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. Jawaharlal Nehrus 'Tryst with Destiny'is a speech I have returned to over the past 20 years. Dear reader, this article is free to read and it will remain free but it isnt free to produce. 'Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India' review: A How do you think your book contributes to the larger conversation about India? If you think about communities in resistance to immense violations, theyre all interconnected to climate justice. [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]. I wrote a book along with it comes love, scorn, and sometimes even ridicule. Q: What was your goal with writing the book in the beginning and how did it change and drive you throughout those 8 years? Follow our team of columnists and reporters who write about the media. This might not seem like much, but it is absolutely essential. No one can write a book alone. That capacity to be able to go away and then come back profoundly affects how you write because then you are still rooted. Vijayan is no stranger to stories of violence. A: Writers are very strange creatures. 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. If it does, I have failed. But also, to be clear in terms of what I wanted to accomplish: as I say in the book, I wasnt bearing witness or giving voice to the voicelessthe people in this book are eloquent and political voices of their lives and realities. More importantly, reporters need to engage with what it means to administer what has been called the worlds most militarized zone. Only then can the country answer a more fundamental question: Just what should be done to create conditions that allow Kashmiris to choose their destiny? Subscribe here. Vijayan has travelled 9,000 miles over seven 7 across India's borderline remote areas and has collected many bone-chilling, painful, myth-breaking stories of the people caught in between inter-state disputes because of the lines created by colonial powers who ruled over us for . Although Vijayan critiques the state and its complicity in violence and erasure of lives, she refrains from villainizing the men who serve the state. 2:16. In Midnight's Borders (Westland Publications, 2021), author and photographer Suchitra Vijayan travels the 9,000 miles of India's borders to understand what Partition did to individual lives and . She studied Law, Political Science and International Relations, and was trained as a Barrister-at-Law and called to Bar at the Honourable Society of Inner Temple. It has taken me over a decade to get here. ", "Documentary photography has amassed mountains of evidenceyetthe genre has simultaneously contributed much to spectacle, to retinal excitation, to voyeurism, to terror, envy, and nostalgia, and only a little to the critical understanding of the social world.". Suchitra Vijayan (@suchitrav) / Twitter He drops and picks up his kids from school, pines for his old job and is concerned about the newly-formed government in Pakistanall the while trying to salvage his crumbling marriage. Suchitra Vijayan - Amazon RT @project_polis: Writing fiction in a dystopian world - @kiccovich in conversation with @mohammedhanif https://thepolisproject.com/listen/writing-fiction-in-a . Midnights Borders is part investigation, part meditation on the lines drawn on land or water that separate India from its neighbours. There are so many nonfiction books about India published yearly but few are so important and subversive. I wrote the book, but those who have lived through this hell continue to live and navigate this hell. They create cleavages of fear, xenophobia, and insecurity. 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 trades. All along the border, the common refrain is, It feels like Partition is still alive., A story from near Jalpaiguri in north Bengal, that of a man named Ali, is heartbreaking. Firstly, when we talk about violence, we often talk about it only as communal violence, as if both communities have equal strength and power. Second, there is a clear distinction between speaking against the powerful and claiming to speak on behalf of the "voiceless". Siaan On Being Queer And Being Online, FII Interviews: Journalist Meena Kotwal On Minority Politics, Journalism Today And The Caste Divide. March 20, 2021 09:50:40 IST. Once we eliminated the spectacle, we realized that the Indian public got very little information about the Pulwama attack and its aftermath. Perhaps there are lessons to learn from that. Even those among us who will speak of BLM will not openly challenge Hindutva or the RSS. But, more importantly, I wanted my readers to walk away with a sense of empathy. Then my agent said, Suchitra, you know, I think youre hiding behind your academic language. Why the Modi government lies. If you want to support the work that goes behind publishing high-quality feminist media content, please consider becoming a FII member. The Indian State and the people of this Republic. Vijayan: Most Indian American writers, especially many of them who occupy the broad spectrum of literary to punditry, come from immense privilege of caste and class. These are stories of massive human rights violations committed by the Indian state in the countrys margins. Another name that came to my mind was 'An Outline of the Republic', only to discover Siddhartha Debs excellent book by the same name. Sari Begum, born of rape during the Partition and married off to a violent, alcoholic man twenty years older than her, is forced to part with her land to make space for an army bunker, while Natasha Javed stumbles upon a piece of family history that reveals her ancestor being killed in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919 and the subsequent trauma and loss of having to be forcefully emptied of history when they crossed over to Pakistan, and how talking about this would make them traitors in their homeland. 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. That changes how you write and photograph a place. 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. Suchitra Vijayan - KeyWiki As a lawyer, journalist, and human rights activist who has worked in conflict-ridden territories of Kosovo, Egypt, Rwanda, and elsewhere, she has often met people scrambling for bare existence, caught in a no-mans land. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. At worst, its navel gazing peppered with white guilt, but always politically vacuous. It is here that we subsume all that we otherwise celebrate under the demands of freedom, progress, liberalism, liberty, and secular ideals.". And yet, the research and the history never overpowers the flow of the narrative. The black and white pictures accompanying the chapters add a thousand words more. Rumpus: The book derives its emotional strength and narrative energy from the stories of people you encounter at the borders. And that violence is often abetted by the state and goes unpunished. In season two, a quick flashback resolves the plotline from the previous season. Now imagine how it would be for someone from a Dalit/Bahujan, Muslim, Adivasi, or working community to try to make inroads. Bhawan Singh, who photographed the Nellie massacre, said he had never seen anything like it. India and the US are discussing the possibility of jointly developing and manufacturing an extended-range variant of the M777 ultra lightweight howitzer, Qin's first in-person meeting with EAM Jaishankar came on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers conclave in New Delhi amid the over 34-month-long border row in eastern Ladakh.
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