| The reason for recounting the box office performance of Hindi films as a start for this book review is very simple. One could not escape a similar feeling of dejà vu while reading this book that one got watching all those films. There is a cacophony of the written word on Naxalism, Maoists and the red corridor in India and even abroad, and this book unfortunately echoes it rather than standing out. There is no new information that Chakravarti doles out in this book than which is already available through public discourse. Nor is his book an academic tour de force like Rabindra Ray's The Naxalites and their Ideology, which by the way appears in Chakravarti's rather abbreviated reading list. |
| His preference for the travelogue style, which should have rescued him from the sketchiness of the information by some stylistic writing, also does not hold interest. Frankly, Suketu Mehta's Maximum City remains the Chak De of the Indian "discovery through travel" genre, which is so popular today. |
| Chakravarti's narrative unfortunately appears a throwback on a 1980s phenomenon in journalism, that of English-educated city journalists travelling to the boondocks, and writing about it, describing the unrelieved unloveliness of India's countryside in excruciating detail. The boom in television and the internet media has radically changed the way things are looked at, Mandal and the politics thereafter have transformed rural relations and the "gaze" of the rest of the country towards many issues. The simple 1980s dichotomy between the rural and the urban, plains and tribals, high and low caste has become complex and this complexity appears lacking in Chakravarti's narrative. |
| The Maoists and the Salwa Judum or even the state government apparatus are not the only players in this theatre. Political parties, Christian missionaries, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and their activities and the various tribes' own self-realisation movements through ecological movements are the facets through which this prism emerges. These don't form important elements in this book. |
| Chakravarti in his book talks about the "immunity" enjoyed by foreign and Delhi-based media people from the state's own censorship rules and norms. The outsiders, compared to local media personalities, are protected by high-reaching contacts, he frequently asserts. Foreign correspondents have a different "voice" while looking at issues affecting India "" one was expecting a more "Indian", more complex view from Chakravarti. This book would have been a triumph had Chakravarti been able to marry his boon of immunity with an insider's perspective. It does not transcend the feel of a field dispatch. |
| Having said that, the book is a read through, the style light enough to be read by those who want to attempt a short-hand reading of the extent of the Naxal problem in India. It is also updated, with incidents which happened as late as October 2007 being referred to in the book. |
| Journalistic and academic writing are miles apart. Journalists try and make up for lack of academic rigour by making stories deeply personal and bringing out the human angle, academics concentrate on the long-term view. Chakravarti has attempted to bring in the personal element through the travelogue and has also peppered the book with statistics and perspective. The blend is uneasy and only works patchily. |
| If you want a quick study on Naxalism in India, this is the ticket; if not, I would still recommend Ray's academic tome, easily the best book on Naxalism ever written in India. |
| RED SUN TRAVELS IN NAXALITE COUNTRY |
| Sudeep Chakravarti Penguin Viking Rs 495; 352 pages |
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