Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India’s Maoist Movement
Rahul Pandita
2011
Westland
pp. 202
Pandita’s writing on the Maoist movement in various parts of India details out the history of the movement. The narrative is replete with episodes of various comrades’ initiation into the Naxal movement.
In various episodes, lives of people involved in the movement are described. The hardships of living in difficult conditions, in the absence of basic necessities. It also mentions many alleged police ‘encounters’. Like the few other writings that I have read on the areas under internal conflict, this book also makes you question the intention of the state. It puts you in a reflective state about what greed led capitalism can result in.
Nothing can take away the impact of reading about exploitation and the sense of wonderment resulting from reading about the people who have given up a life of comfort to work towards a cause that they strongly believe in, at great personal risk. Yet, the writing in itself is not enjoyable. This is one of those books where good journalism and not good writing is what keeps you glued. The narrative is jumpy and at times, too detached. The emotion that it evokes are only a result of what you already feel for the movement and not for what the writing evokes in you. If you are not familiar with the Naxal movement, I would not urge you to pick this one up as the first. But if you already have a flavour of it, this one would give you quite a bit of information, with the occasional tremor of emotion.