Book review: The Burning Forest by Nandini Sundar
This is more a brief take than review of the book.
There are book and then there are books. The Burning Forest (Juggernaut Books) was the hardest read of my life.
Nandini Sundar`s clear-eyed look and calm but compassionate telling of just what atrocities are unleashed on the mind, body, spirit and dwellings of the tribals who live in the mineral-rich Bastar area of Chattisgarh was so hard to digest, I had to stop every few pages and put the book down, to mull over what I had just read.
None of this is new news, really. Only, we read the reports, feel that momentary sharp pang, then get on with our everyday living. Meanwhile out there, huts are torched, women raped, men beaten up brutally, their pitiful rations of rice and chickens stolen with sickening regularity by those who are hunting Maoists. Who in turn are a scared lot, for all the guns in their hands and the authority to wreak havoc vested in them.
These tribals really are the poorest of the poor in India. And of course, they are all not Maoists. Is this violence visited on them the only way to deal with the problem?
Sundar ends her harrowing account with a heart-wrenching epilogue where she writes up `an alternative happy ending.` I defy anyone to read that and not be terribly terribly affected.
This is not a review but like I said, it was the hardest read of my life. I found I just couldn`t write up a complete review. Just hope everyone everywhere is reading it.
Sheila Kumar • September 18, 2017