Vermilion Harvest : Playtime at the Bagh
by
Reenita M. Hora
312 pages, Indignor House, Inc.
Genre: Historical Fiction
“Mumma. She said that from the moment you are born,
you start your journey to Bhagavan-ji ka ghar. Such a long
journey can take all your life. So … how are all these people
going to get there without their chappals?” - Gopal
It is the time of the satyagraha ( truth and firmness) in the Indian subcontinent when people are protesting non-violently against the Rowlatt Act which gave power to the British govt to arrest, torture and kill any person of the Indian subcontinent after declaring them as terrorists or enemies of the Empire.
Aruna Duggal is an Anglo Indian school teacher. Born as a result of rape of her Punjabi mother by her unknown British army father, she and her mother face ostracism from both her mother's Punjabi Hindu community and also the British community in general. However she falls in love with Ayaz, a Muslim law student who is also a Gandhian freedom fighter thanks to their fondness for Jane Austen's novel -Pride and Prejudice. Her best friend is Amrita Singh, a Sikh homemaker and mother of young Gopal. They are all young and hopeful in 1919.
Set against the backdrop of Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar which fell on Baisakhi (Punjabi Harvest Festival) and when people gathered to celebrate the festival while some to protest peacefully against the Rowlatt Act and the arrest of pro-independence activists Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr.Satyapal who symbolized unity of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, the book examines what it really means to be human. Hora ponders using the Jallianwala Bagh massacre if all those who fought for freedom from British colonization of the subcontinent, really got what they wanted or what they dreamed of in 1919 - a free subcontinent and instead of what we did in 1947 - a partition of the subcontinent into three countries with people still struggling with scars even after 75 years. Those who died in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar would have never accepted the partition.
Hora's writing style is crisp, fast paced, sensitive and heartbreaking. It is a well researched book that makes you wonder about hyphenated identities of people in the subcontinent. Everyone is a minority here. The narrative is unique as it tells it from an Anglo-Indian perspective which also covers how the unfounded fear from the British administration that led to the massacre thanks to General Dyer who yelled" Fire" without even asking the people to disperse which made it a turning point in the freedom struggle.
I don't know why this book hit me so hard and made me cry. Is it because from July 1, 2024, Indians will face a modified version of Rowlatt Act in India? Or is because I have always felt, that partition was a double insult to the freedom fighters who dreamed of a unified subcontinent with free people and never of partition and the British cheated us of it? I don't know. All I know is that this book is a must read for all.
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