Books: Villain as Victim

THE BRANDED: UCHALYA
BY LAXMAN GAIKWAD
SAHITYA AKADEMI
PAGE: 233 PRICE: Rs 110

Laxman Gaikwad's book is a powerful social documentary on the trials and tribulations of the Uchalyas, a tribe classified as "criminal" by the British Raj. Independence could not remove the social stigma of the Uchalyas (literally: pilferers). This nomadic "denotified tribe" undergoes inhuman treatment courtesy law-enforcement agencies. It clings to the thieving profession to survive. Gaikwad's autobiographical novel was written in Marathi and won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1998. This translation is the work of P.A. Kolharkar.

It was Gaikwad's luck that his father was a watchman and, thereby, exposed to the outside world. He realised the value of education, especially with regard to his youngest son, "Lachchman". The son works as a cotton mill worker, moving on to become a powerful trade union leader and social worker. That apart, he produces a book which holds weight in the literary sphere.

Gaikwad describes a world where people survive on just water for three consecutive days, where food comprises cats, rats, roots and leaves, where life is abominably unhygienic. The Uchalya religion is crude. The indoctrination into the thieving profession is carefully described by Gaikwad. There are categories, classifications and techniques in stealing, which seems to reach the form of an art if one can use the word.

One has to commend Gaikwad's brutal honesty. The book is in some senses a soul-purging exercise. The author comes to terms with his excruciatingly painful past and the trauma of being born into a "branded community". The only flaw in the translation is its poor editing. The repetition of thoughts and ideas takes away from the literary quality. To be fair, the translator's note does argue that some of this may have been necessary to retain the "original flavour" of the story.

AUTHORSPEAK: H K BARPUJARI
Old Man RIver
Assam's historian laureate looks back in anger

At 86, there are few people who've seen the North-east for as long as H.K. Barpujari. There are even fewer who've looked at the region as hard: through over 20 books on its history. The most recent, North-East India: Problems, Policies and Prospects (Spectrum), was published earlier this year. "Historians should be blessed with long lives," says a smiling Barpujari, whose reasonable health still allows him five to six hours of work a day. The only thing he's sick of is the present breed of alleged academics. "Nobody seems to be serious about their studies anymore" he laments in a voice that tries to reach the back of the class.

After more than half a century of research, Barpujari has come to the conclusion that this malady hasn't affected just academics. "Take Assam," he says of his home state, "there's been a decadal growth in population because of illegal immigration, but there's been decadal retardation in values -- especially over the past two decades." The phase since the "Assam movement began in 1978-79 is the worst I've seen," he says, referring to the anti-foreigners agitation spearheaded by the All Assam Students Union: "The ruling Asom Gana Parishad is the errant child of this agitation and the United Liberation Front of Asom the grandchild. Together, they've plunged us into the dark ages."

Problems, Policies and Prospects is a remarkably current and critical account of the North-east. Barpujari the writer exhibits the same candour he does in person. His conclusion for instance: "The war is to be waged on two fronts: terrorism and corruption from the top to the bottom. This will necessarily demand a radical change in governance, if need be, by a spell of emergency." Drastic measures? Or the only solution? Barpujari is convinced which one.

The problem is there seems to be scant regard for preserving his work in this country. No matter that there aren't too many historians of his stature from the North-east. "Barring the National Archives," he rues, "none of the other libraries has a complete set of my books, not even the Guwahati University." But on a recent visit to the United States, he found 17 volumes of his works at the Congress Library in Washington DC. The lack of local interest goads him into saying that this is probably his last book. But then who knows? After all, Barpujari has age on his side: his guru, eminent historian R.C. Mazumdar, worked till he was 92.

- Avirook Sen