Ace journalist Barkha Dutt launched her book, The Unquiet land, a narrative of moments in her life that left a mark on her. Nishant Singh tells you what to look forward to in the book
If you remember Priety Zinta as a female journalist reporting on the 1999 Kargil conflict in the movie lakshya, it would be a little easier for you to understand and relate to Barkha Dutt and her book, The Unquiet land, which was released by Vice President Hamid Ansari at the Taj Mahal Hotel.
Dutt, who is currently working as a consulting editor with NDTV, gained prominence for her reportage of the Kargil War. In her book, she has revealed some interesting insights about the Kargil war and the political talks in the sidelines of the war that occurred between Indian PM, Pakistan’s PM and US President.
She has bluntly written about being sexually abused by an old distant relative. She reveals in her book that at the time of this abuse, she was not even 10 years-old. An excerpt from her book reads — “Ridden with guilt, unable to shake off the feeling of being dirty and trapped in a sink of fear, I finally told my mother that something terrible had happened. My assaulter was immediately thrown out of the house and I buried the awfulness of the memory in a deep, dark place that I hoped I would never have to revisit.”
She has also written about her abusive relationship with one for her fellow classmates in her college. She writes: “I don’t quite remember how I ended up straying into an unlikely involvement with a fellow student who was studying to be a cinematographer. Quite soon I knew that the relationship was wrong for me. Warning bells began sounding the day the man suddenly grabbed a razor blade and opened up his wrists when we had an argument and I told him I no longer wanted to be with him. In absolute horror I watched him wrap his scratched wrists in strips of white Band-Aid and calmly smoke a cigarette........ I knew I was being manipulated and blackmailed, yet I was terrified. I didn’t end the relationship that day.”
The stories in the book are not just about Barkha, rather dozens of stories in the narrative map India’s fault lines. She only recounts the ones that have left an indelible mark on her. Taken together, they provide a vivid, devastating and unforgettable portrait of our unquiet land.
To lend their support to her and her book, many eminent personalities were also present at the book’s launch —
P Chidambaram, Jay Panda, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi and many others. There was also a panel discussion with eminent personalities including Farookh Abdullah, Digvijay Singh and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.