BROKEN REPUBLIC (4 Essays) by Arundhati Roy

THE WAR WITHIN INDIA

India has been a republic for the past 65 years. But, by the turn of the century the very basics on which the country was liberated from the clutches of the English colonialists seems to have vanished. The free voices seems to be stifled in the throats itself, the blatant and rampant misuse of the Constitution by the government and The courts alike are becoming the highlights of today’s era.

“What is freedom?” is an oft asked and highly quoted question. I guess, neither did we know it in 1947 nor do we know it in 2015. The reins of power shifted from the British egalitarians to the kurta-clad desi romantics.  But the state of the poor remains the same. At least, in the bygone days we had the comfort of being looted by a foreigner, who looked foreign, ate foreign food, we could lament and curse under our breaths but in this age, it is our brother who loots us, he speaks our language, eats our food, has the same skin colour. But, what more he has is the money in his pockets.

Money buys everything, even free speech too. The media houses today are slaves to business barons, either the business owns the media or the media owns businesses. In this highly partial structure, only the rich get richer and the poor are left to commit suicide.

In the name of development, the poor are forced out of their homes, and the few who refuse to get forced are branded as terrorists and shot in “encounters”.

In the end, India is a democracy. By definition, it is a rule of the majority. Whatever the majority wants, it does. The fundamental rights of the Constitution are rampantly violated when the interests of the government or the corporate houses it caters to is at stake. Right to life is abused like anything. Rampant rapes, killings, murders, of adivasis and Dalits are common. The real concept of “divide and rule” is implemented. The policy of “divide and rule” was implemented by the British raj to efficiently manage the Indian mass without utilizing the resources of their own. In this age, it is used to create rift between different religions, different castes, and different regions.

In “Broken Republic”, Roy in her four essays exposes the rampant abuse of law and human rights to crush the local tribals in order to usher in the “New Development”. She doesn’t bat an eyelid in criticizing the policies of the right wing political parties to the leftists. She is also unwavering in criticizing the hypocrisies of some of the well-known social activists of today, Kejriwal, Anna Hazare, Bill Gates or even Nelson Mandela.

Most of the prose is easy on the brain and unfaltering in their essence. Though we may offer a different view on some of her theories, but we cannot ignore her overall message. The best part I like about her non-fiction is she doesn’t impose her views on the readers. She just bares the truth and leaves it out for the readers to judge. Sometimes, she can waver a bit in her accusations though.

In my opinion, all right minded, patriotic Indian must read Arundhati Roy’s non-fiction to understand what the government does and what it publishes.

HALF GIRLFRIEND by Chetan Bhagat

HALF GIRLFRIEND: SENSATION OR HYPE

Another hit novel from the writer who thinks he knows “What Young India Wants.” This book has been in lots of controversies right from its release on 1^st October, 2014. Accusations ranging from plagiarism to defaming of a royal family have been leveled against Mr. Chetan Bhagat, the author. I care less about them though. Those issues can be addressed by the concerned people.

Chetan has belted out five bestsellers before this and claims to be voice of new India. India, which speaks ‘simple’ English, lives in the village and understands only candy floss love. He had started well, writing his heart in his previous books, tried to bring out to notice the various vices plaguing our society. His vision was set. He wanted to bring a revolution and thus, declared a war on all bombastic users of English.

All very fine, he was going well. But, somewhere in between he lost track. He started feeling Indians were no good and only liked and understood cheap Bollywood flicks. His recent successes blinded him. His vision was lost; he tried hard to find issues to address. Finding few, he reverted back to Bollywood movies.

This, ‘Half Girlfriend’ is by far his worst creation till date. He hardly seems the writer who wrote “2 States” or “Five Point Someone”. He is just another Ravinder Singh or Devadutt who is after raking moolah after belting out nonsenses. Mr. Bhagat showed promise but he has lost it now.

His English is simple. Agreed and appreciated, but does this means he will write nonsense. Simple never means cheap. Sophisticated and good books can be written in simple English. Read some Ruskin Bond, Mr. Bhagat. Chetan Bhagat is just writing a script for some Bollywood flick, it seems. He has stopped writing for his readers long back.

Most of the book is pathetic. But the worst is lefty for the climax. I have never seen or heard anyone writing journals the way he depicted. Riya, the female lead, writes a journal and leaves it for others to find. Writing journals in direct speech is definitely an issue with me. We don’t speak to ourselves this way. We just write our views in first person, I guess. And what was the drama at the end, you have lost it, man, really.

Anyone who has a few hours to spare and has nothing better to do can go through his book. I love romances, love stories, but this one from him is several notches below his all other works.