INVC NEWS
Chandigarh,
On the second day of the CLS Literati 2015, two prominent books were released here today. One was on the 1984 riots, “Sikhs: The Untold Agony of 1984” published by Westland-Tata (Priced at Rs.599), by well-known journalist Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, who worked for several newspapers and magazines like The Economic Times, Hindustan Times, Outlook and The Statesman, and currently anchors historical debates and issues on on Lok Sabha.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay walks us through one of the most shameful episodes of sectarian violence in post Independent India and highlights the apathy of subsequent governments towards Sikhs who paid a price for what was clearly a state-sponsored riot. Poignant, raw and most importantly, macabre, the personal histories in the book reveal how even after three decades, a community continues to battle for its identity in its own country.
Festival Director Sumita Misra released the book.
The second book Kiran Narain, née Kohli, is the author of a new book titled Kashmir: The Loss of Innocence, in which she traces the individual lives of the Kohli sisters, and their gradual estrangement from Kashmir. The memoir begins with an elaborate family tree and is interspersed with vintage photos of the siblings (with adorable pet names like Gulli and Pinni), their parents, and the men they married, all among the picturesque bounty of Kashmir.
The book, says 72-year-old Narain (who is called Ginni by her family), is the written version of storytelling sessions with Lambah’s daughter, Ambika. Hearing the tales of Kashmir in the 1960s and 70s, right from the charka-spinning of pashminato Baramulla’s mixed society, Ambika, now 13, urged her grandmother to think of writing it all down.
Family stories are important if you wish to know about your roots, Kiran Narain says. She however is resentful of Kashmir which abandons its daughters, especially those who marry non-Kashmiris, as six of the Kohli sisters did, depriving them of their share in property in the state. Married to Indian Revenue Services officer, Kiran Narain Kohli taught English at Women’s College in Srinagar but moved to Calcutta after her marriage, and was nominated to Delhi Consumer’s Forum in 1990s. She had been a freelance journalist and writing for various newspapers and magazines including The Tribune.
