Mind Blogging. Mind Boggling.

Till halfway in, I thought this book was Fiction which is 'inspired by' a multitude of such events, but well, that's the movie "Article 15" starring Ayushman Khurana. The movie's main influence is this episode but also draws from some other episode. 

This book itself is masterly non fiction that tells the tale of the horrifying and sad episode of the death of two girls in rural Western UP. The book portrays the toxic mix of misogyny, casteism and illiteracy that leads to the episode, and documents the ineptitude of the local police and politicians in their response. The code of "honor" that underlies the day to day life in villages is suffocating. The author intersperses the narrative with sad-but-true stats about crimes against women in India. 

In the village, women are relegated to indoor spaces and are forbidden to head outside the house. It reminds me of P's college project at Journalism school called "Her Jagah" (link ) which "is a webportal that talks about how women in cities claim their right to public spaces" . Ap went to Vietnam last week, and when I asked her if she saw many more women in public spaces in Hanoi than in Bengaluru, her answer was a sad but expected "Resounding Yes" . An intriguingly titled book that P recommended on this subject is called "Why Loiter?" which looks at women's access to public spaces in Mumbai.  

While overall the situation painted is grim, the only hope is that the book is about an episode from 2014. Since then, the data revolution has swept by, making India the highest per capita internet data consumer in the world. Maybe, just maybe, the internet is spreading awareness on these issues and removing some of these ingrained social problems. 

Labels: Books

# posted by Ashwin Ravikumar @ 7:08 PM