Page 58 - 15SEPT2018E

BOOK REVIEW

A caravan of love seekers current scenario, it

has almost become
a norm to newspa-
try to heal wounded faces pers to carry at least
one story on the
same. We come to
know that lynching
of humanity and kill hatred started in America in
the mid-nineteenth
century to perpetu-
ate the idea of racial
hierarchies. While
In Reconciliation, the authors talk about the Karwan E Mohabbat’s journey into the the theme started
hinterlands of India to find the faces affected by the hate crimes perpetuated against as a means to sub -
vert black people,
minorities in the name of adhering to class standards, writes BEDASREE DAS who went against
the prescribed social
norms of that time,
f you have come across peo- Harsh Mander. drown in a pool of hate. it continues in India
ple telling you that they have Reconciliation is about a jour- In the Journey, the writers chroni- through the subju-
stopped following the news, ney that explores the wounds left cle stories from people in the above gation of minority
you are not the only one. Also, on people who have victims of mentioned states. It is basically, a re- groups, be it religious
I you are not the only one who hate crimes across the country. cord of the day’s happenings which or otherwise.
thinks they are depressed by the sto- The journey starts in Assam and Mander kept to update his friends. The third part,
ries about mob lynchings. But, what winds through seven other plac- The story in Assam follows two Karwan Travellers is
happens after the news has passed es- Jharkhand, Coastal Karnataka, childhood friends, two lynching vic- a series of essays by
out of our news feeds? How does Tilak Vihar in Delhi, Western Uttar tims Riyazuddin Ali and Abu Hanifa a host of writers in-
a family cope with the burden of a Pradesh, Nuh in Haryana, Rajas - from Kasamari, a village largely cluding lawyers, re-
tragedy that would haunt them for than and Gujarat. The themes are populated by Hindus and tribals. Fol- searchers and activ-
‘RECONCILIATION-
the rest of their lives? Most impor- the same across the states but the lowing a rumour in the village that poverty and ramshackle memories KARWAN E MOHAB- ists, all of whom volunteered for the
tantly who are these faces behind names with which the media called they were cow thieves, the duo were of the 1984 communal violence that BAT’S JOURNEY Karvan E Mohabbat. Each of them
the lynch victims? These are the them are different — lynchings, mob mobbed and killed by a few hundred erupted in the capital 33 years back. OF SOLIDAR- tries to explain the idea of patriotism,
questions answered by Reconcilia- violence, hate crimes. The victims villagers. When they were found at In Reflections, Natasha Badhwar ITY THROUGH A secularism and kindness as per their
tion- Karwan E Mohabbat’s Journey could be the attackers and the a civil hospital, their eyes had been writes about the terrifying conse- WOUNDED INDIA’ personal experience and how the
BY: HARSH MANDER,
of Solidarity Through a Wounded attackers’ victims. Everywhere, it gouged out, their ears cut and there quence of accessibility. In Harya- NATASHA BADHWAR AND Karvan journey changed them. But
India. seems, people only want a reason to were knife wounds on their faces. na’s Nuh district, the author comes JOHN DAYAL the horror stories continue here, too.
An initiative that brings together While 10 men were arrested for the across Qayuum who shows her you- Publisher: Westland books There are cases of Dalit children be-
members of the civil society, Kar- lynching, they were released on bail tube videos on his mobile which ex- 171 PP; 399 ing thrown into the fire just because
wan E Mohabbat or Caravan of love Given the diverse almost immediately. Reconciliation plicitly instruct people on the ways their parents refused to say, “Rana
was launched by former IAS officer does not stop at those two victims to lynch a Muslim. And that was just Pratap ki Jai”. Then there are stories
and human rights activist, Harsh writers, the book and even connects with immigrants one of the innumerable videos freely John Dayal, who writes the story re- where entire families are butchered.
Mandar in September 2017. The idea does not confirm from Bangladesh who live in con- and easily available on the video veals that the bigger fear for the fam- Their crime? They are Muslims.
was to travel across eight states in stant fear of being dragged out in the platform. It goes beyond that. There ily is that of cross-cases, which the The bigger question that this book
India to meet families affected by to any particular pretext of being D voters or doubtful are real stories of people surviving police uses in such cases to ensure raises is whether by silently observ-
violence. Mandar is also one of the style of writing voters, an issue that has been raging fake encounter cases, thanks to them that the victims or their families stay ing the lynching and oppression of
editors of Reconciliation, along with in Assam for decades. Many under being from a particular religious quiet. For the uninitiated, a cross- minority communities, the major-
author Natasha Badhwar and jour- and focuses on the scanner say that the number community. Then there is the story case happens when a victims side ity is supporting these crimes even
nalist John Dayal. Given the diverse being a reportage of people being detained has risen of Mehmood Hassan from Kairana files a case against the attacker, while without being a part of it? As Harsh
writers, the book does not confirm up considerably after the present Uttar Pradesh, whose son Salim was the police also record a case claiming Mander signs off with stories of peo-
to any particular style of writing and as well as a set Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) came to killed by lynch mob. But unlike other they were attacked in the incident. ple hoping for at least remorse on
focuses on being a reportage as well of testimonials power in the State. lynching cases, Salim had given the Such cases, go on forever and thanks the part of their attackers, the above
as a set of testimonials of travellers The situation changes in Delhi, police a full account of his attack. to pressure from the higher-ups, the questions still live with the reader
they meet along the way. The book is of travellers they where working-class women be- However, the police refused to take victims’ side are eventually subdued. like a bitter pill.
divided into four parts- The Journey, longing the ‘widows’ colony strug- his testimony. Four years since then The book also offers a brief his-
Reflections, Karwan Travellers and meet on the way gle with problems like drug abuse, and the family still lives with fear. tory of lynching, given that in the LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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