NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. And our language helps us imagine a vision that is truly just, beautiful and ethical. I dont have apprehensions. I can see how religious Hindu fanaticism has started to spread its tentacles in both the Democratic and the Republican parties, and this is primarily because of an absence of balanced stories about India. @narendramodi & his role in the Gujarat Pogrom. How did you achieve empathy in your writing, without the privileged lens that is common in journalistic canon? Jawaharlal Nehrus 'Tryst with Destiny'is a speech I have returned to over the past 20 years. You need to write what you seethats why you started this project.. Rumpus: Toni Morrison said that she writes from a place of delight, not disappointment. We live in a surveillance economy where we are constantly just bearing witness we are record keepers, unwitting spies, and voyeurs. You can claim to be patriotic but not political, you can claim to support the troops but ignore the ongoing civilian casualty. She is the executive director of the Polis Project . She completed her MFA in Writing (Fiction) from the University of San Francisco where she was awarded the Jan Zivic Fellowship and is about to begin her PhD in English with a Creative Dissertation from the University of Georgia, Athens. Suchitra is a BSc graduate from Mar Ivanios College (Trivandrum). Stallings, Rumpus Original Fiction: The Litany of Invisible Things. Acted as the General Manager for a day and motivated employees to work for the same purpose to reinforce team . 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? RT @project_polis: Writing fiction in a dystopian world - @kiccovich in conversation with @mohammedhanif https://thepolisproject.com/listen/writing-fiction-in-a . It is meant to manufacture an underclass of rightless subjects. 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. Midnight's Bordersis an exceptional read, but one that may make some uncomfortable. She still does a radio show called Flight983 on Radio Mirchi, on Sunday evenings (79 pm). Q: Since publishing the book last year, what reflections have you hadgiven that its relevance is increasingly ascertained by 2022s interpersonal and geopolitical violence? I want to clarify that what I witnessed or the violence inflicted on my father is not the same as what over eight million Kashmiris have endured. Sharing borders with six countries and spanning a geography that extends from Pakistan to Myanmar, India is the worlds largest democracy and second most populous country. We believe that literature builds communityand if reading The Rumpus makes you feel more connected, please show your support! This is a tightrope that you walk so well. Now, along with the medias legitimization of an ideology that promotes violence including riots and lynchings its performance after Pulwama leaves severe doubts as to whether it is engaged in journalism or the propagation of Hindu majoritarianism. A t a time when right-wing nationalism is crescendoing in India and across the world, Suchitra Vijayan's Midnight's Borders raises pertinent questions about the very foundations of India's nationalism the cartography of South Asian nation-states defined by arbitrary lines drawn hastily by the British colonial administration. I particularly loved the fact that all our couple shots were very natural and came out truly . It definitely doesnt help when trying to hold a powerful state accountable. In the first season, when he and his team are tasked to thwart the terrorist attack Operation Zulfiqar, the plot moves from Mumbai to Kashmir. A consistent ethical framework within the media hasnt existed for a long time. This idea of responsibility gets obfuscated in many ways. The controversy surrounding the Rafale deal and allegations of corruption against the government were suddenly sidelined, as was the order for the eviction of more than a million forest dwellers (that was later stayed) and a hearing on the repeal of an important constitutional clause before the Supreme Court. There are so many nonfiction books about India published yearly but few are so important and subversive. These new worlds are already herethey are maps of survival, maps of resistance. We still argue if something should be a massacre, a pogrom, or a riot. He writes about how when the Constitution was adopted, "We are going to enter into a life of contradictions. This is a serious, often funny and deeply revealing book. M, An essential, beautifully written report from the hellish margins of a modern mega-state struggling to be a nation, of people whose lives continue to be shaped by violent political marches across age-old homes and habitats. Suchitra Vijayan talks to FII about Indian politics, communal violence, marginalisation and her book Midnights Borders: A Peoples History of Modern India. Its an immense privilege to be able to write and be published. The original vision of the book also has newspaper cuttings, and found maps. Rumpus: Why do you think the ever-growing canon of Indian American literature has barely tried to engage with these conversations through their stories? Her writing and award-winning photography culminated in Midnights Borders: A Peoples History of Modern India, which was recently shortlisted for the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF book prize. Indias intellectual, journalistic, and literary landscape is profoundly problematic and alienating. At worst, its navel gazing peppered with white guilt, but always politically vacuous. This means that, for the longest time, the depiction of violence and marginalised communities has been problematic. But who gets to speak for so many of us? I am repeating what I have said before, "Kashmir is Indias greatest moral and political failure. Later on she moved to Coimbatore for her MBA from PSG Institute of Management. There was an NDTV programme, where somebody said Should Indias constitution be secularist? He writes TPS reports for an overbearing boss who calls him the minimum guy. He has replaced eating vada pav at ungodly hours on the streets with overpriced salads. Q: What struck me about your work was its immersive style. Francesca Recchia, a researcher and writer and former director of the Institute for Afghan Arts and Architecture, is the editor and creative director of The Polis Project.. Suchitra Vijayan is a barrister, researcher and the author of "Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India." She is the executive director of the Polis Project. Thoughbordersare conventionally recognised as real or artificial lines of spatial and political demarcation, there may also be an arbitrariness to them. And join us by becoming a monthly or yearly Member. And this is always at the expense of others. They cannot be abusive or personal. Lets take Indias English language media, cultural-artistic elite, and publishing. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. Barrister. According to a new World Health Organization report, we lost as many as 4.7 million people in India. 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. Our borders had become a spectacle, and we the cheering mob, she says, as she calls for purging hatred for the sake of posterity. We're back with our flagship podcast 'Intersectional FeminismDesi Style!' 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. Professor Nandita Sharmas work is an excellent way to engage with this history. They took my land, they stole my life, they stole my future, they took my nightmares and they stole my dreams too. Ali went missing in 2018. A: This geopolitical violence is not new, theres a long bloody, brutal history to thisa cyclical, ongoing and never-ending history. What is the emotional and artistic cost that one pays as a writer while crafting these narratives? History and memory is localwhich means its almost impossible to write about India. This media blitzkrieg resulted in the erasure of two important political trends. Vijayans book begins a much-needed conversation on thinking about freedom beyond the idea of nation and its illusory lines. My friend Ritesh Uttamchandani said this once, the lens that elusive distance between the photographer and the photographed is often impossible to bridge. Suchitra is a BSc graduate from Mar Ivanios College (Trivandrum). My role, then, and this books role, is to find in their articulations a critique of the nation-state, its violence and the arbitrariness of territorial sovereignty.". In retaliation, the Indian Air Force carried out an airstrike on an alleged militant training camp in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Could you comment on how much our present border security policies have changed in the last few years? You can carefully craft a narrative of immigrant success but act tone-deaf about the ongoing refugee crisis. This income helps us keep the magazine alive. In an interview with Firstpost,Vijayan talks about her book, the militarisation of borders, ethno-nationalism, and the politics of documentation. Abrogation Of Article 370 Jammu And Kashmir Statehood, BSF foils another Pakistan plot, shoots down drone in Punjab's Amritsar, Light on weight, heavy on damage: India will be able to hit deep inside Pakistan with THIS ultralightweight howitzer, Put issues related to border in 'proper place', work for its early normalisation: Chinese FM Qin to Jaishankar, In Midnight's Borders, Suchitra Vijayan meditates on belongingness, freedom and political implications of territorial demarcations. We must realise that its the grassroots media, who represent themselves, document what mainstream media ignores, and bring to notice what is important. Its not sustainable, it fractures who we are, chips away and erodes what it fundamentally means to be human. Midnights Borders perhaps also critiques the widely read body of work available as Indian English Writing (IWE), a literary canon that has so far told the story of India but seldom demonstrated social responsibility by acknowledging the atrocities India has committed silently within its borders. I wrote the book, but those who have lived through this hell continue to live and navigate this hell. I wrote a book along with it comes love, scorn, and sometimes even ridicule. Also read: Whose Stories Are Told In Indian History? I spoke with Suchitra by email in July about Midnights Borders, the power of literary nonfiction, new possibilities of Indian American literature, neoliberal politics, and the importance of supporting underrepresented stories. One of the reasons I kept writing was of course all the people I met: their love and time and generosity. NONFICTIONMidnights BordersBy Suchitra VijayanMelville HousePublished May 25, 2021. The former is an essential act of dissent, even resistance, especially in these dark times. This language drums the idea of the fundamental importance of justice, and such language is inalienable: it can easily be defined and empathetically understood. Some people later chose not to be included because they feared repercussions, especially as the NRC process started playing out. 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. The events of 9/11 had profound effects on how border security projects and politics played out. The world we know is already being remade in ways we cant fathom. The Author Suchitra Vijayan is an American writer, essayist, activist, and photographer working across oral history, state violence, and visual storytelling. I'mdyslexic, but have visual and episodic memory, which means I dream and relive moments. Its impossible for a writer not to be affected by their personal life. So now, how do we respond to this? I wanted to make sure that I was writing in a way that was honest and true to my initial reactions, and capture that without centering myself. One of the reasons why this book was written was to step back: to say that this violence that you and I listen to and encounter is not new to say that this violence is not new. On Feb. 14, an Indian paramilitary convoy was attacked. She is the founder and executive director of The Polis Project, and the author of Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India, recently published by Context, Westland. The Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad soon claimed responsibility. Suchitra Vijayan (@suchitrav) / Twitter Follow Suchitra Vijayan @suchitrav Author: Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. What makes these lives so vivid is how Vijayan contextualizes them by placing them in the bigger picture of history. Vijayan creates a constellation of micro-histories of people who have lived through the violence . Vijayans lens not only captures the people but also the past through objects, such as the picture of Kotwali Gate, the remains of a medieval fort that serves as a border checkpoint rife with weeds and trees growing on it, symbolic of a state bent on rewriting history rather than preserving it. The Indian government bears some responsibility for this: Amid this brinkmanship between the two nuclear powers, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not address the nation directly. More Buying Choices 1,732.00 (16 Used & New offers) Audible Audiobook 0.00 Free with Audible trial 586.00 ( 9 ) Vijayan: The photographs were the heart of this project. At the end of it, I felt that I learnt more about myself, more about my home, I had becomeif not a better writer, an infinitely better human being, which is to say that one realises that theres always a Longue dure that one needs to consider, crave out time and space to think, train oneself not to always react. What I was most concerned about and still am are the people in the book and their safety. 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. Your email address will not be published. Like you train for a marathon, you train to be hopeful everyday. I believe it can teach us to ask these questions again. Suchitra Vijayan undertook a 9000 mile journey over seven years to India's borderlands to write Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India. Not mine. Follow our team of columnists and reporters who write about the media. This book ate into so much of my life. Apart from his long-suffering wife, no one else in the family knows that he is a spy. Thats part of the political imagination that I believe we need for political movements or any sustained acts of resistance. The two press briefings by the foreign secretary and Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson entertained no questions. It seems that they have a different eye for these women, who they describe as cunning, deceitful, and in some cases, prostitutes'. 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. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. Also, I am an unknown and insignificant entity. 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. How do you think your book contributes to the larger conversation about India? These are edited excerpts from the interview: 'Midnight' seems to be a metaphor for multiple things both freeing and frightening. The Indian State and the people of this Republic. The people in the text fear statelessness, unknown violence, and being forgotten. Suchitra Vijayan is an American writer, essayist, activist, and photographer working across oral history, state violence, and visual storytelling.