suchitra vijayan husband

I wrote the book, but those who have lived through this hell continue to live and navigate this hell. The first true peoples history of modern India, told through a seven-year, 9,000-mile journey along its many contested borders. 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. Vijayan: There is an elusive distance between the photographer and the photographed that cant be bridged. In India, that arbitrariness can be seen in how differently we perceive landboundaries with multiple sovereign nations. How do you think your book contributes to the larger conversation about India? Then my agent said, Suchitra, you know, I think youre hiding behind your academic language. 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. The border runs through him, his friend Jamshed had told Vijayan, He is almost gone, but I dont want his story to be gone too.. is a barrister-at-law, writer and researcher. Can you write about loss without living? 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 . Subscribe to the Rumpus Book Clubs (poetry, prose, or both) and Letters in the Mail from authors (for adults and kids). She is the executive director of the Polis Project . Lets start with a very simple statement that everyone can agree on: the way were living right now cannot continue. Suchitra tweets @suchitrav. But Pakistan responded by rejecting these claims and told the Associated Press that the area was mostly deserted wooded area and that there were no casualties or damage on the ground. My friend Ritesh Uttamchandani said this once, the lens that elusive distance between the photographer and the photographed is often impossible to bridge. Were there times when you doubted your own ability to record and document these people's stories? A: Writers are very strange creatures. Its about what people like me should do. They all have very specific and carefully curated origin/immigrant stories that cleverly exploit the model minority trope. Siaan On Being Queer And Being Online, FII Interviews: Journalist Meena Kotwal On Minority Politics, Journalism Today And The Caste Divide. 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. As a graduate student at Yale, she researched and documented stories along the Af-Pak border and was embedded with the US forces in Afghanistan. 6,253 Followers, 902 Following, 1,165 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Suchitra Vijayan (@suchitravijayan) As a bedouin who grew up listening to beautiful stories from beautiful storytellers around a fire, I was transported by her storytelling. We dont document violence against the privileged like we would report violence against those without power. Midnights Borders, a work of narrative reportage, is the fruit of this journey. What it means to photograph, write, report and document is an ongoing process. When the book finally came out, India was undergoing the deadly 2nd wave. 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. Co-founded the Resettlement Legal Aid Project in Cairo, Suchitra is also the founder of the Polis Project, a research and journalism organisation. Also read: Examining My Caste And Its History Is Eye-Opening: A Personal Essay On Casteism And Ancestry. 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. 'Music I Like', an album of Suchitra's renditions of Mahakavi Bharatiyaar's poetry, set to contemporary tunes and music, released by Universal Music, was a turning point in her career. She is the founder and executive director of The Polis Project, and the author of. She has also been appreciated for her honest and positive-humour-filled judging at reality shows like Vijay TV's Airtel Super Singer, Sun TV's Sun Singer, Asianet's Music India, and Bol Baby Bol on Gemini TV and Surya TV. Speculation and conjecture were repeated ad infinitum, and several journalists even took to Twitter to encourage the Indian army. What makes these lives so vivid is how Vijayan contextualizes them by placing them in the bigger picture of history. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. Suchitra is now a singer-songwriter as well, composing music on her own and in collaboration with Singer Ranjith. We live in a surveillance economy where we are constantly just bearing witness we are record keepers, unwitting spies, and voyeurs. Its not sustainable, it fractures who we are, chips away and erodes what it fundamentally means to be human. I test my practice of writing or being a photographer against this rule. You can find them onYouTube&Linkedin,and can also check out their websitehere. IWE is a body of work where the voices of Indias marginalized are still kept on the fringes; Midnights Borders is anarrative nonfiction book depicting a world that novels from mainland India have failed to depict. We thank her for her time, patience, and illuminating insights into her work. 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. Now imagine how it would be for someone from a Dalit/Bahujan, Muslim, Adivasi, or working community to try to make inroads. I set out not to give voice to the voiceless, my aim was to put an ear to the ground and listen. 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. So we might never know the true extent of this loss. Aruni Kashyap writes in English, and his native language Assamese. Stallings, Rumpus Original Fiction: The Litany of Invisible Things. Sign in. Again, in the India-China border, she finds a young army officer closely referring to a book that contradicts the official version of the Indo-China war of 1962, and concludes that perhaps, he recognizes that most of soldiering involved cynical subordination to ideas that no longer made sense.. In Midnight's Borders, barrister, political analyst, and writer Suchitra Vijayan documentsmany such telling accounts of lives both growing and barely getting by alongIndian borderlands. If you want to support the work that goes behind publishing high-quality feminist media content, please consider becoming a FII member. We once asked these questions, even if there were no clear answers or consensus. She's a good friend and kindly agreed to take our City Hall wedding photos. The book is a prelude to what was coming, and is also a impassioned plea to my readers to ask some fundamental questions of what it means to live in a country like Indiawhat is the function of a state when its primary preoccupation is no longer the citizen but a performance of an ideology? Chopra has long been neoliberalisms reluctant feminist, hawking giving a voice and sisterhood while silencing those who question her. Panitars division is as cruel as it is arbitrary: here, the houses on either side of one dusty lane occupy two neighbouring countries. Suchitra Vijayan is a barrister-at-law, writer and researcher. After her Twitter page was hacked in 2016, and the pictures and videos released by the hacker went viral under #suchileaks, following a spate of bad press owing to the fact that she only released a statement on Sun News saying she was focused on shutting the page down, Suchitra left for London to pursue culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu. It offers brief historical notes on how the nations current borders came into force alongside accounts of increasing militarisation, disputes, little massacres and forgotten pogroms, no-mans-lands, and the people through whom the border runs like barbed wire. 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. The photographs add another dimension to the book, and could have been used more. Book reviews and author interviews with a Southern focus. Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia In this era when Indian armed forces and the police act with absolute impunity, a handful of local news outlets play an essential role in reporting and. The images, however, are not all bereft of hope, as children from both India and Bangladesh use a border pillar as a cricket stump, while men on opposing sides of the war on terror in Afghanistan gather around in a cold evening, smoking and sharing stories. 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. It is the fragility of human lives that remains at the very center of the book. Subscribe here. Vijayan creates a constellation of micro-histories of people who have lived through the violence . Nonfiction, Travel, Fiction Member Since February 2021 edit data Suchitra Vijayan was born and raised in Madras, India. In 2020, Suchitra took part in the fourth season of the Tamil reality television show, Bigg Boss Tamil hosted by Kamal Haasan. No one can write a book alone. Early on, I was very careful to acknowledge this. It took me 8 years to write the book. Co-founded the Resettlement Legal Aid Project in Cairo, Suchitra is also the founder of the Polis Project, a research and journalism organisation. What connects these messages is deep empathy and a willingness to engage with the books stories, ideas, and arguments. Anvisha Manral March 20, 2021 09:50:40 IST Why do you think India has gotten away with this so far? Suchitra Vijayan talks to FII about Indian politics, communal violence, marginalisation and her book Midnights Borders: A Peoples History of Modern India. The two officers who avert the attack narrowly escape death but are left with broken bodies and broken lives. I came with my privileges, also lets not forget prejudices. Suchitra Ramadurai, known by the mononym Suchitra, is an Indian radio jockey, popular playback singer, songwriter, composer, voice artist, dubbing artist and film actress. Also read: Book Review: Looking Through Dalit Sahitya And Ambedkar. Author In Focus, Celebration, The Literary Journal. And, in many cases, they are children of the literary, cultural, or political elite who have long been the beneficiaries of the Indian state. Photograph of Suchitra Vijayan courtesy of Suchitra Vijayan. 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. I have no formal training as a writer or a photographer, I taught myself and learnt by doing, failing and creating my own grammar. Sometimes lost. Chopra cleverly uses womens empowerment, diversity, and the immigrant story as a facade to parrot and promote deeply problematic ideologies, takes, and stances. Its feudal, entitled, and cannibalistic. 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. She is currently working on her first novel. 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. 2:16. We also need a fundamental reframing of language. Our investigation into the Indian medias reporting on the Pulwama attack found that many reports were contradictory, biased, incendiary and uncorroborated. The former is an essential act of dissent, even resistance, especially in these dark times. I think freedom and dignity enables us to really go beyond in our political imaginationbeyond just electoral politics. Also read: The History Of The Colonial State And The Unmaking Of The Tawaif. Some things are just not discussed anymore. Ten years later, you were in Kashmir, where you 'hoped to find answers' by talking to a family that had lost a son. I left a few names out in the acknowledgment, worrying if it might direct more trouble towards them. 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. Suchitra Vijayan is the executive director of the Polis Project. Why is this particular time of the day intrinsic to the book? I have never lived under military occupation, curfew, or a looming threat of violence. Always. Updated Date: It is necessary to speak truth to power through our art. What is the emotional and artistic cost that one pays as a writer while crafting these narratives? Vijayan is no stranger to stories of violence. These are edited excerpts from the interview: 'Midnight' seems to be a metaphor for multiple things both freeing and frightening. Indias intellectual, journalistic, and literary landscape is profoundly problematic and alienating. For far too long, they and their progeny have held power to shape the political understanding of our social worlds. How does one think of violence, how does one make sense of all this, how does one retain a sense ofnot exactly humanity, but ratherempathy for the other? But its also important to constantly take account of who is writing about this India to an Indian and global audience. Suchitra Vijayan is the executive director of the Polis Project. It took a long time to get the voice right. The book was originally going to be a photographic body of work, which changed when I started writing. At a time when right-wing nationalism is crescendoing in India and across the world, Suchitra Vijayans Midnights Borders raises pertinent questions about the very foundations of Indias nationalism the cartography of South Asian nation-states defined by arbitrary lines drawn hastily by the British colonial administration. Good, honest and non-polemical writing has always forced us to confront the lies we tell ourselves. Also, hope is a discipline. 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. How violence against women and girlsand even how sexual violence against men and boys (something we dont even talk about enough) is depictedis all seriously problematic. 42, Moss Rose Heights, M.M Ali road, WASA Circle, Lalkhan Bazar, Chittogong 4000. Part of this process is a need to turn the lens back at the powerful. I dont think theres just one emotion that drives a writer to finish writing. 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. The publishing landscape, including Indian publishing, is deeply flawedit is upper class, upper caste, and deeply alienating for anyone who doesnt come from already established and existing networks of privilege. I wrote a book along with it comes love, scorn, and sometimes even ridicule. They dont. 'Suchitra's account of her journeys across the undefinable and ever-shifting borders between India and its neighbours is gripping, frightening, faithful and beautiful. The two press briefings by the foreign secretary and Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson entertained no questions. Suchitra Vijayanis a barrister-at-law, writer and researcher. The latter is an act of violence against people whose voice you are appropriating. Say, for instance, do we need a James Nachtwey to fly to war-torn Bosnia? There are enough stories of people parachuting into communities to do human interest stories. Suchitra is a BSc graduate from Mar Ivanios College (Trivandrum). Not mine. Husain Haqqani: Pakistan released the Indian pilot. So lets be very clear that Indias intellectual literary landscape is deeply problematic, feudal, and alienating," says Suchitra Vijayan to FII, Featured Image Source: 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. More importantly, as Babasaheb would argue, the political revolution was never accompanied by a social revolution. The constant making and remaking of who is a citizen, who is not, is accompanied by a profoundly dehumanising process. As a spy working for TASC, Tiwari has to juggle being an underpaid government employee as well as an absent husband and a perpetually late and distracted father. Apart from his long-suffering wife, no one else in the family knows that he is a spy. Midnights Borders is part investigation, part meditation on the lines drawn on land or water that separate India from its neighbours. That changes how you write and photograph a place. 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 . It's a disorienting time when your library or what books you read can become evidence of sedition . I feel very uncomfortable talking about this, or rather I dont know how to discuss this without centering myself. But, more importantly, I wanted my readers to walk away with a sense of empathy. But the inclination to still treat India as a democracy remains. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu.

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