[Urbanstudy] twenty years of pain

[sebastian Rodrigues]

Dear Priyasha,
Thought over your posting for two weeks! The predicament of research in 
emotionally charged and politically volitile situations could be really 
testing as in your case. You, towards the end mentioned as to how you "feel 
a part of it"; and with all the genuine reasons. I too had similar 
experiences. The point is how do we, besides emotionally being sensitive, 
where do we place theoretically such situation? I am reminded of Italian 
scholar as well as trade Union organiser during Musolini's facist rule also 
writing about his predicaments; and he is not apologetic about it. Instead 
he goes on to take a giant step forward in theory and comes up with his now 
well known concept called 'Organic Intellectuals'.  He outlines the role for 
the intellectual as being rooted in the community and express, reflect and 
theorise the major concerns of the community. Gramsci himself wrote about 
working class. Perhaps you could read up Gramsci yourself- his writing after 
being smuggled out of Prison are published in two vulumes called 'Prison 
Notes'. There are other publications as well.

The second point is about understanding the constructions of Facism itself. 
How streriotypes gets generated and they coud go to catastrophic extends; 
history hasproved this. Desmond Morris in his book "The Human Zoo" explains 
this beautifully. You may read this book too.

The third point is- besides demand for arrest of the guilty it is also 
important to open up important scholarly windows to let document the 
practices of mistrust, suspicion, gettoization and further initiate 
dialogues on shared memories- there are increasing trends in history today 
to consider memory as history. I understand you are placed in good position 
in your field to take on this task ahead; for breaking of silence of the 
surviving families is so very necessary for the life itself.

Wishing you all the very best Priyasha.

Sebastian Rodrigues

>From: Priyasha Kaul <priyashakaul at gmail.com>
>Reply-To: Priyasha Kaul <priyashakaul at gmail.com>
>To: sadan at sarai.net, urbanstudygroup at sarai.net,priyashakaul at gmail.com
>Subject: [Urbanstudy] twenty years of pain
>Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 22:34:04 +0530
>
>twenty years of pain
>
>My name is Priyasha Kaul and my research is on the Tilak Vihar area of
>west Delhi, as part of the Sarai stipendship programme. Tilak Vihar is
>a resettlement colony near Tilak nagar where the families of the
>victims of the 1984 anti-sikh carnage of Delhi reside. However if you
>were to get off at some nearby bus stand and ask the paniwallas about
>the directions or rickshaw wallas to go to "tilak vihar", in all
>probability they would not understand where you want to go. The
>residents in the nearby areas do not refer to this colony by this
>official name, they refer/ recognize it as the "vidhwa colony" (sic)
>since most of the households here are headed by the women who lost
>their husbands and /or sons in the bloody carnage that engulfed the
>city and its neighbouring areas following the death of Indira Gandhi
>in 1984.
>
>In my conversations with people here, mostly women, in this time I
>have wondered at the different meanings of citizenship in everyday
>life of people in a modern "democratic" polity. (I cant help thinking
>of Zainab's postings and the way in which ignored citizens of the
>state, 'gorment' in popular usage, make meaning of their shunned
>relationship with power in operationalizing their everyday, battling
>with direct or symbolic violence or both). As victims of state
>violence and marginalization, the residents of tilak vihar have a
>complex and emotionally charged relationship with the state. Satinder
>Kaur, an old woman in her late 60's whose young son was killed in the
>carnage refuses to talk about 1984, "sarkar to saddi zindgai hi loot
>litti".  There are deep scars of betrayal and anger at the government
>who within a few days changed the course of their lives forever. Women
>recount amidst uncontrollable tears how their husbands were killed and
>burnt in front of their eyes while the police just stood on corners
>and roadsides. Gurjeet Kaur told me how her children were very little
>when her husband died but her son who was two then still gets
>nightmares and often cannot sleep at night.
>  I feel an immense sense of guilt at such moments. Do I have the right
>to ask them about things which make them relive the pain and verbalize
>the agony that they live with every single day. Over the last twenty
>years these families have been continuously living through a sea of
>emotions anger, pain, hope for justice, anguish, disappointment,
>frustration……with every commission and report there was hope that
>maybe the guilty would finally be punished but they have only been
>disappointed every time.
>With the Nanavati report, the people of Tilak Vihar do not know whom
>to trust. Some tell me that they just now want to be left alone
>because the government will never really punish the guilty. What does
>one do when those responsible for destroying their lives are also
>responsible for bringing about justice, is this paradox ever actually
>bridgeable in actual practice or is its resolution limited to the
>level of rhetoric and hollow claims. This is a question that the
>people of Tilak Vihar (like the victims of naroda patia and the
>gulbarg housing society in Gujarat) have lived with for more than the
>past two decades.
>
>On a purely methodological level, I remember the discussions on field
>work in the workshop in January, and what has struck me is how we all
>talk of how to enter the field to love it and be a part of it, but no
>one ever talks of how does one actually at some point in time actually
>exit the field. I presume that it cannot be an easy task if one really
>does love ones field. I feel some times I cannot draw the line, it is
>people's pain, agony and life, and by sharing it with me I somehow
>feel a part of it.
>_______________________________________________
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>Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City

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