Innehållsförteckning för October 2021 från The Caravan

THE LEDE 8 Neha Mehrotra is a freelance reporter based in Delhi and a graduate from the Columbia School of Journalism. Saranya Subramanian is a Mumbai-based writer and MFA candidate at the University of San Francisco. 10 Yeshi Dama is a former student of political science and sociology at Royal Thimphu College. Roderick Wijunamai teaches at the department of social sciences at Royal Thimphu College. 12 Dario Antonelli is an activist and freelance journalist based in Livorno. His work has been published in The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Il Manifesto, Domani, FQ Millennium and El País. Giacomo Sini is a photojournalist based in Livorno. He is primarily interested in the stories of refugees from conflict regions. His work has been published in several international publications, including Vice, National Geographic, the New…

A handful of people were waiting at the dock on Burano, an island in the Venetian Lagoon, and the approaching vaporetto—a canal boat used for public transport—was almost empty. The narrow streets were silent, while the traditional lace shops and restaurants on the facades of the brightly coloured houses were closed. “At this time of the day it’s usually full of tourists, but look at this!” Bruno, an 83-year-old resident, told us, pointing towards the church in the deserted square. Bruno’s story is like that of many in Burano. Born on the island into a large fishing family, he left the hard life at sea at a young age to work in tourism. He has worked at the Trattoria da Romano, a local restaurant, since the 1950s. “I’ve always been…

From 10 to 12 September, academics from various US universities organised an online conference titled “Dismantling Global Hindutva.” It was co-sponsored by various departments and centres in more than fifty universities, including Princeton, Harvard, Stanford and New York University. The conference brought together scholars of South Asia “specializing in gender, economics, political science, caste, religion, healthcare, and media in order to try to understand the complex and multi-faceted phenomenon of Hindutva.” In the lead-up to the event, pro-Hindutva groups began an unprecedented disinformation campaign and targeted attacks against the organisers and participants. Academic conferences rarely receive mainstream global attention, but in this case the vicious response made the world take note. The campaign was swift and coordinated. The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, a violent Hindu-nationalist group—whose cadre are charged with assassinating…

“You fought valiantly, comrade, Sacrificing yourself for the country. Your blood, now, Paints the spring red.”Junmaya Nepali, “Hot-Blooded Vengeance” FOR MOST OF MY CHILDHOOD, an old photograph hung on the walls of my grandparents’ living room in Kathmandu. The photograph was of our great grandfather—at least that is what we kids were told. It was only after it was taken down that I found out that the man in it was actually Joseph Stalin, whom my grandfather, a staunch communist in those days, had idolised. The discovery that it had been Stalin staring down at us all those years coincided with my political awakening. For most of the early days of Nepal’s civil war, in the late 1990s, I had been shielded from what was unfolding in the country. Living…

“Machhli humare rag-rag mein hain, isiliye mere gaane mein samundar hamesha rehta hai”—Fish run in our veins, so the sea is always present in my songs—Chintamani Shivdikar told us as we sipped sweet chai from porcelain cups in his home in Worli Koliwada, a fishing village in Mumbai. Even at home, he was dressed in white clothes and gold accessories; chains with fish pendants hung from his neck, and bright rings branded each of his fingers. A folk singer and YouTube star, Shivdikar is a local legend. He seems like a quintessential pop star, but his story reveals the journey of the Kolis and their unique connection with the sea, in a city obsessed with land reclamation. Worli Koliwada is shaped like a camel’s back. Shivdikar lives near the local…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a virtual summit of the BRICS grouping on 9 September, with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in attendance. India, like much of the world, was still reeling from the Taliban’s meteoric takeover of Afghanistan, and the question of the country’s future was dominant on the global diplomatic agenda. Yet the summit’s outcome, the Delhi Declaration, dealt with Afghanistan in only one of its 74 paragraphs, and even that did not mention the Taliban—a tacit let-off for the group amid loud concerns in other quarters over its intentions and beliefs. There was no surprise in this. Outside of Pakistan and Qatar, China and Russia are now the most powerful foreign actors in Afghanistan, among a handful of countries with diplomatic…

“WE DON’T KNOW WHAT HAS HAPPENED!” Abhay Ohri, a tribal doctor and activist, received a call from a volunteer of Jay Adivasi Yuva Shakti, a tribal youth organisation that he heads in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh. The panic-stricken volunteer asked Ohri to rush to the Ratlam Civil Hospital as soon as he could. “Rajaram Khadari’s body is here,” he said. “He is dead. Some ‘tantra-mantra’ was done on him.” Ohri struggled to understand what he was being told. It was early in the morning on 20 February 2021, and he had just woken up. As he drove to the hospital in a hurry, thoughts of 27-year-old Rajaram Khadari crossed his mind. After him, it was only Rajaram who could become a doctor in their tribal village. Just a few days earlier,…

Couched below a picture of the Himalayan blue poppy, the national flower, the inscription on a pamphlet by the Tourism Council of Bhutan reads, “Happiness is a place.” Often dubbed “the last Shangri-La”—after the fictional place described in James Hilton’s 1933 novel Lost Hori zon—Bhutan markets itself as a “high-end” and “exclusive” tourism destination. The country’s tourism policy is guided by Gross National Happiness, a multidimensional strategy of development pioneered by Bhutan’s fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, that propagates the idea that human development goes beyond economic growth and involves social, environmental, cultural, and governance dimensions. In just under half a century since Bhutan opened its doors to international tourists, in 1974, the industry has emerged as one of the most important sectors for GNH-driven growth. The country’s unique…

On 26 July, BS Yediyurappa—often referred to as BSY—stepped down as Karnataka’s chief minister, but continued to occupy “Cauvery,” the chief minister’s official residence. There are no signs of him giving it up. Basavaraj Bommai, the new chief minister, has already got himself allocated another bungalow in the vicinity, which was earlier in the possession of a deputy chief minister. This makes Bommai look like BSY’s deputy, which is perhaps the message that BSY intends to send out. Before Bommai made alternate housing arrangements for himself, on 7 August, he passed an order bestowing the status and perks of a cabinet minister to BSY. This exceptional order was seemingly passed to allow BSY to retain the bungalow. However, when the order made headlines, BSY was forced to decline the new…

TENZIN GYATSO, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, was flown from his home in Dharamshala to a private hospital in Delhi on 10 April 2019. He was 83 years old and suffering from what appeared to be a chest infection. He was discharged from hospital two days later. The following month, over seven thousand people gathered outside his residence to offer prayers for his long life. Addressing the gathering, Gyatso tried to assuage their fears. “Once I had a dream that I was swimming, even though I can’t swim, and Palden Lhamo”—a female deity worshipped by Tibetan Buddhists—“was riding on my back,” he said. “She remarked, ‘There’s no doubt you’ll live until you’re 110 years old.’ Other people too have dreamt that I may live till I’m 113.” Imagine that these dreams…

A TIME OUTSIDE THIS TIME Amitava Kumar Kumar’s novel follows an Indian author and journalist trying to write a book in Italy, while grappling with many recent real-world events, from rumours surrounding the coronavirus to misinformation spread by world leaders. The book mixes his own experiences, family life and childhood memories with thoughts about fake news and politics. ALEPH, S699, 240 PAGES INDIAN BOTANICAL ART AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY Martyn Rix This book compiles a wide variety of botanical artwork from India created over three hundred years. There is a particular emphasis on eighteenth-and-nineteenth-century paintings, many of which are part of the collections of the Royal Botanical Gardens in the United Kingdom. ROLI BOOKS, S1,495, 224 PAGES WHEN GOVERNMENTS FAIL A PANDEMIC AND ITS AFTERMATH Edited by Vikas Rawal, Jayati Ghosh…