Letter to Megha Majumdar, author of A Burning

6:07 PM (1 minute ago)

to megha.majumdar.author@gmail.com, 

cc: TodayStories@nbcuni.com

Dear Ms. Majumdar,

I have finished reading A Burning - thanks to Knopf for making it available through NetGalley.

You have received many accolades, through the New York Times, Time, and the New Yorker.  A Burning was selected as the #ReadWithJenna pick of the month for June 2020 on the Today Show  (I have copied Today on this message).  From the web page Jenna Bush Hager announces June 2020 book club pick, https://www.today.com/shop/jenna-bush-hager-june-2020-book-club-pick-t182874:

I started writing from a place of alarm and anger," Majumdar told TODAY about her inspiration for the book. "India has been changing in frightening ways and growing more intolerant of minority communities, more extremist. I definitely hope that readers will see resonances in the U.S. as well.

Indeed, the only victims in your book were Muslim: Jivan, the girl who was falsely accused of torching the train, and the Muslim family that was slaughtered on the suspicion that they slaughtered a cow.

Your Jana Kalyan Party is plainly modeled after the BJP, yet you know that the BJP has next to no influence in Bengal - never mind that its predecessor Bharatiya Jana Sangh was founded by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, and the BJP honors Mukherjee as its founder! 

It was also strange that the Muslim girl was named Jivan.  Jivan, or Jeevan, is a boy's name and moreover, a Hindu name.

I am convinced that the train burning was inspired by the 2002 burning of a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, in which 59 people, including 27 women and 10 children, were burnt to death, and 48 others were injured, at the rail station in Godhra, Gujarat.  Unlike poor Jivan, none of the perpetrators received a death sentence.

Do BJP rallies necessarily end with slaughter of Muslims?  I don't think so.  A friend told me that in UP, lynchings for cow slaughter might have more to do with cattle rustling, rather than Hindu-on-Muslim violence (really, the reverse doesn't happen?).

In A Burning, you said that textbooks were being rewritten to serve the Jana Kalyan Party's agenda.  Yet IRL textbooks serve other parties' agenda.  I see rewriting textbooks in India similar to rewriting textbooks in the United States to include discussion of atrocities toward blacks and Native Americans.

Lastly, I invite you to use the hashtag #HinduUnitedAgainstTerror to protest the murder of Ajay Pandita in Anantnag, J&K.  You have over 8600 followers on Twitter.  By calling for justice for Ajay Pandita and including the hashtag #HinduUnitedAgainstTerror, you can create a lot of visibility for this cause.

Yours sincerely,

Birth of the Maitreya

Book cover for Birth of the Maitreya

Birth of the Maitreya by Bani Basu, with translation from Bengali to English by Sipra Bhattacharya, is a novel that reminds one of the Mahabharata in its scope and range of characters. Part I sets the stage and introduces characters from all walks of life; Part II, which is much shorter than Part I, provides the denouement.

The novel is set around 500 BCE, during the lifetime of Gautama Buddha. Essentially, it is about the efforts of Chanak and Tishyakumar to encourage alliances among kings and establish righteous rule. Notable in this book are the debates about the dharma promoted by Gautama Buddha and that of what we now refer to as Hinduism, in terms of caste, Vedic ritual, asceticism, and self-defence and ahimsa.

Without betraying too much of the story (notably about what happens to Chanak and Tishyakumar), the ending is tragic, characterized by fighting among kings, palace intrigues and coups, and failed aspirations. At the same time, the Persian army is advancing toward India. (I can't help drawing parallels with India today: the infighting that characterizes politics prevents a unified response to external threats.)

Still, the novel ends on a note of hope for new life: in this way, it recalls Peter Brook's film adaptation of the Mahabharata, in which Lord Krishna saves the life of one woman so that the human race can continue.

You may find a preview of Birth of the Maitreya through Google Books.