“For those expelled from their village lands, there was a finality about this mass removal”
An excerpt from The Fate of Butterflies By Nayantara Sahgal
Katerina didn't know, but one of her colleagues and co-writer on their book project had said that in her country the policy of wiping out a religion had herded whole families into camps, made dis- placed people of them while it was decided what to do next. These were very primitive makeshift
A professor of political science, Prabhakar, comes upon a corpse at a crossroads, naked but for the skullcap on his head. Days later, he listens to a friend's stark retelling of a gang rape in a vil- lage, as chilling as only the account of a victim can be. And in a macabre sequence, he finds his favourite dhaba no longer serves gular kebabs and rumali roti, while Bonjour, the fine dining restaurant run by a gay couple, has been van- dalised by goons. Casting a long shadow over it all is Mirajkar, the ‘Master Mind’, brilliant policy maker and political theorist, who is determined to rid the country of all elements ‘alien’ to its cul- ture. In The Fate of Butterflies, Nayantara Sahgal reveals, in masterly detail, the unraveling of the idea of India. But she also offers hope — in peo- ple speaking up for each other; reclaiming citi- zenship with compassion and friendship; and seeking the meaning of life in love. The following is an excerpt from the book. A suggestion came from Katerina at dinner that night at Rahman's. 'Rafeeq's home must be in one of the areas they're driving people out of and setting fire to, like the village I was asigned and other villages around there, or digging up grounds like the graveyeard. They call it taking back the land occupied by invaders.' Rahman had been unlike himself, unnatural- ly subdued since the excavation of the grave- yard. It was Salma who asked where the vil- lagers driven out of their homes had gone.
Image Courtesy: Speaking Tiger
shelters with no proper sanitation or water sup- ply or electricity. People had to rig up their own electric wiring and scrounge around for wood to cook on.
54 www.indiaparentmagazine.org
April 2019
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