FJ Kashmir

Book: Interrogating my Chandal life Author: Manoranjan Byapari Translator: Sipra Mukerjee Pages: 356 Inam ul rehman A poor man holds unto no ideology except that of bread. It is the lack of bread that haunts him and his family. But the burden of providing blood for any revolution, or change, is always on the poor men. Manoranjan Byapari’s autobiography is a tale of few decades but it encapsulates centuries of oppression that the upper caste Hindus have wielded on their lower castes . Byapari comes from the lowest caste of Hinduism , and as such is unschooled, and oppressed. He learns lessons of the life on the streets, through punches, humiliation, scares, cheated, stealing food from mongrels, every worse thing except never giving up on the life. He runs away from his family in order to work and feed them, but returns home dust handed a decade later cheated and duped by most of his proprietors. During his runaway a police official rapes him. Male rapes are...

inam ul rehman Politics is less based on morals and more on politicking. That is why political class mostly gets away with wrongdoings. In 1636, the Mughal emperor Shahjahan signed a deal with the Deccani states of Golconda, and Bijapur , promising not to conquer these states in future. This promise was reneged by Shahjahan himself.  But Golconda, and Bijapur kingdoms continued to exhibit some sovereignty although they accepted the Mughal suzerainty . Then came emperor Aurangzeb . He wanted both these states to confront Marathas , who were hassling his troops in guerrilla warfare. They refused, and Aurangzeb for the time being lost interest. Bijapur, and Golconda states acted as a buffer zone between the Mughals and Maratha. The latter would plunder these two states, and sometimes join hands with them against the Mughals. Aurangzeb’s repeated offer to Bijapur to join hands with him to destroy the Maratha was not acceptable to Bijapur, as it considered Maratha pow...