Quando arrivano le cavallette

Earlier this year, I interviewed a senior economic adviser to the Indian government. When I challenged his view that India would soon be a “superpower” and referred to the country’s 600m poor, he shot me a venomous look: “You’ve been listening to Arundhati Roy!” That Roy should be perceived as having Leggi tutto

Labelling Arundhati leftist,anti-national,anti-american,anti-hindu,anti-progess is obviously reducing her.Truth knows no boundaries. Her uncompromising stand & her defence of the underprivileged,the downtrodden,the minorities,the poor may not be palatable for many, but truth is seldom sweet. Her com Leggi tutto

Next up in my journey through Roy’s nonfiction… this volume picks some essays between 2002-2009 (i.e. War on Terror)… Highlights : --“ Listening to Grasshoppers: Genocide, Denial, and Celebration ”: the centerpiece essay indeed stood out; “grasshoppers” represents the “locusts” frequently used in xenoph Leggi tutto

Roy is an engaged intellectual, a rare breed these days--an Indian Noam Chomsky, one might say. And her anti-globalization, basically left-wing take on politics aligns her very much with Chomsky. There is however a fundamental difference: Roy is a great writer and a truly formidable polemicist. One

First Roy I read, and I'm sure I'll be returning to her pen in the future. An incisive journalist and intense observer of social oppression, in Field Notes on Democracy (a series of essays, speeches and reports) she details the human cost of India's gridlocked democracy around the turn of the millen Leggi tutto

Certainly, Arundhati Roy is one of the genuine champions of human rights, Justice and truth. Listening to Grasshoppers restores my faith in the courageously- spirited voice of a writer whose sole purpose and mission is to be the voice of the voiceless. This book is strongly recommended for those rea Leggi tutto

This is a collection of essays, articles and lectures by the authors written over a period of time and after certain events in recent history. All of them are connected via a common underlying theme which Roy brings out in her usual brilliant writings. The main takeaway from this book is that her's i Leggi tutto

Throughout the book, she jumps seamlessly from being a fantastic analytical thinker to a utter nonsensical ideologue and back. She does raise some valid issues but most critique is rhetorical.