Violence in paradise
I read this book
because my daughter recommended it. It meant I was assured of a really good read; what I did not expect was that it would be so strewn with unhappiness. After
all, the central character, Debu, is just 14.
Like most people
who lead insular lives preoccupied with their own minutiae, I was unaware of the
civil unrest in Shillong at around the same time that I was growing up in the
peaceful Nilgiri Hills. When I read Murli Melwani’s book Ladders Against the Sky and interviewed him, he told me that his family had left Shillong at this time and on account of the strife.
I did not ask for details, and barely
sensed the pain of disruption his and so many other families experienced. Reading this book brought
the situation starkly alive. I wasn't surprised to see Murli's name in the author's acknowledgements, and when I emailed this to Murli he replied saying that he had suggested people for Nilanjan P Choudhury to interview. Murli wrote a review too and you can read it on this link. He told me that the title of his review is a line from one of Bob Dylan's songs and that Dylan is very popular with the Khasis of Shillong.
While this book skillfully presents social problems and human suffering caused by human greed and
political vested interests through an interesting story, it is more
than just a device to do so. One of the things I enjoyed most was the way
it gripped me. It took me back to my younger self, bringing alive that old familiar feeling of resenting anything that
came between me and what I was reading. Beyond the story, there are also
passages of commentary which give context, sometimes in a thoroughly amusing
way. And the excursion to Mawphlang had me admiring the poignant symbolism of violence erupting in paradise, as well as hoping that I would one day be able to visit the ancient sacred grove.
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