Author: Scharada Dubey
Publisher: Tranquebar
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: 272
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9789381626214
Description
A bird's-eye view of life after Babri Masjid in the town that bore witness to an event whose after-effects are still felt throughout the country. Unflinchingly honest and sincere, this is a book that presents an Ayodhya never seen before
Almost two decades after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Scharada Dubey, an Ayodhya resident, studies the barricaded Ram Janmabhoomi site, travels through temple alleyways, visits the residents, ordinary and prominent, of a town that has known no peace. What follows is Portraits of Ayodhya – a star- tling compilation of oral history.
In this book of narrative non-fiction, we meet Ayodhya denizens from all walks of life – from the almost omnip- otent Mahant Gyandas (head of the Hanuman Garhi temple), to the unassuming Ram Sharan Das, whose occupation is cleaning gutters. Even as we witness two sides to every story, we spot a thread binding all the major figures: a love for Ayodhya, a longing for quiet.
If places are defined by people, Portraits of Ayodhya is testament to this belief. Unflinchingly honest and sincere, this is a book that presents an Ayodhya never seen before.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
Part I – Mavericks and Madmen
1. Vineet Maurya – Buddha’s Displaced Disciple
2. Hari Dayal Mishra – Saturn’s Own Soothsayer
3. Yugal Kishor Sharan Shastri – Secularism’s Sentinel
4. Ram Sharan Das – To Good Through the Gutters
Part II – Establishment Entities
5. Bimalendra Pratap Mishra – Raja in Rama’s Kingdom
6. Phalahari Baba - Reformed Roughneck
7. Mithilesh Pandey – Homemaker at the Helm
8. Baba Jairamdas – Ramlila’s Rakshak
9. Mahant Satyendra Das – Manning the Epicentre
10. Rani Awasthi – Auntie of the differently Abled
11. Baba Dharamdas – Beguiling Muscle
12. Gauri Shankar Das – Kanak Behari’s Minstrel
13. Nritya Gopal Das – Formidable Foe
Part III – People Like Us
14. Padmavati – Bahujan Beti
15. Raghuvar Sharan – Romance as Worship
16. Hashim Ansari – ‘Chacha’ to All
17. Sharad Sharma – Hindutva’s Hope
18. Naga Vijay Narayan Das – Sadhu with a Stick
19. Premalata Tripathi – Domestic Divination
20. Gaurav Tiwari ‘Beeru’ –Witness to the Worst
21. Sri Krishna Madhukar – ‘Neta’ News-vendor
22. Asad Kishor Maurya – Grassroots Journalism
23. Dr Swaminath Pandey – Lyrical Marxist
24. Tarunjeet Varma – Inherited Involvement
Epilogue
Glossary
Bibliography