Radius 200
Author - Veena Nagpal
Rs299
Navneet Mendiratta talks to Veena Nagpal about her new book, which depicts two contrasting realities, and the thoughts that encouraged her to pen this engrossing tale
Author Veena Nagpal recently launched her fourth novel, Radius 200, at the 11th Edition Jaipur literature Festival. A story of a fragile love caught in the crossfire between two nuclear nations warring over scarce water resources, Radius 200 is a richly imagined romantic thriller that grapples a deeper environmental issue. Set against the deadly power struggle within a tiny band of nuclear survivors, desperately seeking water within the 200-km radius of a devastated Exclusion Zone, the book depicts two contrasting realities and lives entwined. We spoke to Nagpal about her new book and the thoughts that encouraged her to pen this engrossing novel. Her earlier novels include, The Uncommon Memories of Zeenat Qureishi (Tara); Karmayogi (Jaico), and Compulsion (Sterling).
The plot of Radius 200 is too real and close to reality. How did you conceive the storyIJ
The novel is a total work of fiction. The only reality my book, Radius 200, springs from is that China is actually building the world’s largest dam at Medog, 30 km from the Indo-China border, to divert the waters of the Brahmaputra to its own lands and that concerns are being voiced by the experts. Several strategic studies experts have pointed out that China may well use the Brahmaputra as a “water bomb” against India.
To quote Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research and Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin: “Beijing is fashioning water into a political weapon by denying India flood-related hydrological data since May (2017), even as major flooding has hit the region from Assam to Uttar Pradesh.”
Currently in India, the combination of water scarcity, the possibility of a water conflict with a nuclear neighbour and a restless Defense Force makes for a potentially volatile mix indeed. Radius 200 is a fictional exploration of how human relationships could work out in such an extreme scenario.
What is your impression of the current situation in the countryIJ
It is a well-known fact that by 2025, half the world’s population will live in countries with high water stress. What is worse in India is our ‘couldn’t-care-less’ attitude. We have allowed our once revered rivers — Ganga and Yamuna — to become nothing more than glorified garbage bins, reducing their status to mere drains.
The powers that be may or may not turn a Nelson’s eye on the matter, but the fact is that politico-military relationships in this country are definitely seeing a southward trend. The ongoing protests at Jantar Mantar, where not too long ago a General was manhandled by local police; downgrading of military ranks in comparison with their civil counterparts; FIRs being lodged against Army officers for actions they take during their call of duty — these are witness to the deteriorating relationships. The Indian Defense Forces (I come from a fauji family) are a paragon of discipline, but the fact that growing restlessness could produce an aberration cannot be denied. This aberration is the scenario my imagination churned up — a General who decides to take unilateral action and sets off a devastating reaction.
How did you think of the titleIJ What does it signifyIJ
In the event of any nuclear attack or accident, due to the expected contamination, an Exclusion Zone is always declared. The area of such a zone is determined by the type of weapon used in the attack or the nature of the nuclear accident. In my work of fiction, China fires an 800 kt SS 18 ICBM. I did a lot of research before I decided on the weapon that could be used and the area of the Exclusion Zone that would have to be declared. It worked out to an area with a radius of 200 km. Hence the title Radius 200. The novel is an exploration of human relationships inside the Exclusion Zone and outside.
The book details out military strategy in particular chapters very carefully. Did special research go into writing those chaptersIJ How did you pan those outIJ
Oh absolutely! I had to do a lot of research for this book. Even after I had done my research, I validated my findings with professional advice that I have duly acknowledged in my book. Water is a very important resource. And while the book dreams of a larger fallout, is there a way people can begin to make a change at their micro levelIJ
While individual efforts are vital — stopping leakages, overflowing water tanks etc — the issue is actually too huge and has reached a critical stage where only determined, multi-level, multi-disciplinary action by the Government can make a dent. Certainly no photo-op type awareness campaigns will help! Sharing scarce water resources is also a critical international issue. One can only hope that sense and a cooperative spirit will prevail.
Your first book was set against the backdrop of communal tension, and this against an impending war with a neighbour over water. Why have you chosen close to real life situations as a set up for your booksIJ
My writing generally springs from some question that starts niggling at my mind, and slowly becomes so incessant that I start obsessing over it. The only way I can get rid of this relentless badgering is by imagining a universe where all this becomes an actuality and begin by pouring my thoughts out into my laptop.
With The Uncommon Memories of Zeenat Qureishi, it was this whole issue of why after so many generations of living together in one land, there is still this feeling of ‘otherness’ between two of our major communities — that is Hindus and Muslims. It’s a kind of tension that is somehow not palpable between other communities, say Hindus and Christians, or Hindus and Sikhs.
With Radius 200, it nagged me that the kind of water scarcity witnessed in latur could happen anywhere. It bothered me that no one seems to even want to talk of the way nuclear weapons are proliferating. like an ostrich, we have buried our heads and refuse to even think that there could be a clear and present danger that some maniac in power could just press the button to trigger a holocaust.
And, of course, as part of the fauji family, it upsets me that the finest force in the country and an epitome of disciplined devotion to duty is feeling so shortchanged.
You have also authored children’s books. Tell us more about that.
I do enjoy writing for children and interacting with them. The very first book I ever wrote was for children. Adventures in Space and Time Travellers was published by the India Book House. Since then, I have written three more books for children.
The last two books for children, Garbie Garbyhog — the Worm that Wanted to Fly and Tenderella and the FoFs, were never formally released in the market. These fiction books were written for two environment education projects that I was involved in. One project was aimed at creating awareness among school children against our garbage littering way of living through stories and hands-on vermin-composting. The second project was aimed at instilling in children the sensitivity towards nature, through stories and hands-on herbal plant nurturing.
Five thousand copies of each of the books, sponsored by various corporate organisations, were distributed to schoolchildren in the NCR.
Do you have a next project in mindIJ Tell us about that.
Yes, of course, I am already deep into research for my next novel. It’s too early to reveal the theme. All I would like to say is that there are a few ideas that have started forming in my head and once again I am being driven to explore how human relations would work out when individual lives — each with its own emotional baggage — collide with larger issues concerning the life of nations, even the life of this earth we live on.