Monthly Archives: August 2010

TIME Makes a Mess of Past and Present

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Have you seen this?

It’s the cover of the latest issue of TIME Magazine, and its story details the horrific ordeal of Aisha, an 18-year-old woman who was abused by her in-laws. Although she managed to flee to Kandahar, they found her and took her to a mountainside, where her husband mutilated her.

“When they cut off my nose and ears, I passed out,” Aisha said, describing the attack. “It felt like there was cold water in my nose. I opened my eyes, and I couldn’t even see because of all the blood.”

Aisha is now in the US for reconstructive surgery, courtesy of the Grossman Burn Foundation.

But Aisha’s haunting face isn’t alone on the cover. She shares it with

What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan

No question mark, no room for doubt, no opening for a conversation. Rather, a declaration – and accompanying a noseless face, a conclusion: This is how it will be when we’re not there to save them.

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Five Reels Later

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96a8f5d0.jpg The media event today was Amardeep’s saying goodbye to Sepia Mutiny. Why, Amardeep, why? And why did you have to make your intelligent commentary on my novel your swan-song? menu_unda_chicken.jpg Have you read the comments section? What happened to the discussion of the point you had made, for instance, about provincial cosmopolitanisms? Talking of swan songs, you could perhaps have done this. Much better, nahin?. A friend ate a kati roll today and told me I should point this out in the comments section myself. Continue reading →

Clarke & Goyle: Two Wins Closer to Congress

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Last night there was a flurry of activity on the Sepia Mutiny tip line as two Desi candidates won victories in the their Democratic primary election.

Hansen Clarke Wins.jpgHansen Clarke, a fellow Bangladeshi-American (yay!) hailing from Detroit beat out incumbent U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick in a controversial bid for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. We’ve written about Hansen in the past here, and it’s safe to say that his victory yesterday in a largely Democratic district has secured his Congressional seat on November 2nd’s Election Day.

Michigan Democratic Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick became the sixth incumbent to lose re-election in a primary fight this year when State Sen. Hansen Clarke ousted the seven-term congresswoman 47%-41% on Tuesday.

“The baggage we’re getting rid of is the old political culture in Detroit which is about the politician being entitled to the perks of the office rather than being committed to serving the people,” Clarke said, according to the Detroit News… [wsj]

Raj Goyle Wins.jpgDown to the South of Michigan in the great state of Kansas, Raj Goyle of Witchita won his Democratic primary for the 4th Congressional District.

Goyle, who easily handled underfunded challenger Robert Tillman, drew repeated applause from the standing-room only crowd at his victory party when he vowed to work to end tax subsidies that help corporations outsource American jobs overseas…He also drew loud applause when he promised to hold Wall Street bankers accountable for their actions that plunged the nation into recession. [witchitaeagles]

As a Democrat running for a seat in a predominantly conservative district, it’s easy to assume that Raj Goyle is an underdog. But amid increasingly-negative campaigns run by the Republican candidates, Goyle is in excellent shape ahead of an almost uncontested primary. [kansan]

Congratulations on well fought elections. Here’s to another three months of battle till November 2nd. I’m really looking forward to doing Congressional visits now. Continue reading →

On Amitava’s “Nobody Does the Right Thing.” (and bye for now from Amardeep)

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“Write what you know” is one of those creative writing class truisms that actually happens to be true, if our goal is to tell a realistic story about a society at a given moment in time. Writers want people to believe that the kinds of fictional lives they’re asking them to live with and care about for a few hours, as they read, are actually plausible. Chances are, what makes a story seem plausible is the fact that it is based, even if only partially, on the truth.

But “write what you know” is also much, much harder than it might seem. At times, it can even feel like a chain around your neck — though that doesn’t mean you can just walk away from it. In his new novel, Nobody Does the Right Thing, Amitava Kumar acknowledges the problem directly in what might be my favorite line of the book: “If you could tell just any story you wanted, no demands ever needed to be made on your honesty.” [Another favorite line: “Bihari society was conservative; it was also corrupt, hollow to its core; you put a finger on its thin, distended skin and it split under your touch, revealing white worms”]

For Amitava Kumar, who was born and raised in Patna, in the Indian state of Bihar, it’s Bihar that encapsulates the memories and history that are what the author “knows,” and what he returns to (always slightly differently), in book after book. “Honesty” and “Bihar” live in the same site for Amitava, and yet the content of that Honesty — the Truth one seeks to represent — remains stubbornly elusive. Kumar’s recently-published novel Nobody Does the Right Thing, which was first published as Home Products in India in 2007, continues to develop this theme. It’s a terrific novel, which I think will be challenging to many readers in the Indian subcontinent as well as the West, but many of the elements that make it challenging are also what make it great. Continue reading →