Delhi '84
Thursday, 30 October 2014
A truth so painful that it had to be presented as fiction
The world turns topsy-turvy for Gita, a law student on October 31, 1984. The aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is catastrophic for thousands of Sikhs in Delhi. The lucky ones hide from marauding mobs. Others are killed and burnt.
Gita is caught in the vortex that Delhi becomes between the assassination and the funeral of a polarising Prime Minister. She, her father and her friends all have a role to play as events unfold and through the flames flickering in their eyes we see a dark period of recent history.
A book that lived in the author's mind for 30 years before it came out in the form of fiction. The factual events were still too raw and fictionalising them was one way of dealing with the trauma that came with being in Delhi in 1984.
Look Inside
The world turns topsy-turvy for Gita, a law student on October 31, 1984. The aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is catastrophic for thousands of Sikhs in Delhi.
Celebrating the Book
Sukant Deepak's interview and a book excerpt published in India Today's Simply Punjabi section in November 2014 marked 30 years of the horrific 1984 anti-Sikh violence.
Readers' Comments
Reader's Comments
A spare, elegant, and poignant work. Riveting, beautifully narrated, sad, and moving, all at once. A 'must read' for every Indian.
NIRANJAN RAMAKRISHNAN, author and columnist
A dramatic and fast-moving story of what it was like to be in Delhi in the days following Indira Gandhi's assassination, with the authenticity of eye-witness accounts. Well worth the read.
ANNE SINGH, London
For those of us who have lived through the nightmare of '84, the memories still haunt and wounds still suppurate. The prose vividly brings to life the sequence of events as they unfolded. Though written as a thinly disguised work of fiction, every event & timeline accurately reflects those fateful days.
PANKAJ P. SINGH, The Browser, Chandigarh
