Today I am proud to host Paulami Duttagupta in my blog. Her book Ri is being read by the Book Club members and is bringing in mixed reactions. Meghalaya - a part of India, yet mysterious. I have been there once, as a baby. So my knowledge is only of what my mom has told me about it. But the author of Ri- Homeland of Uncertainty has etched some very realistic tale, even in her Guest post. It is sad thinking of the Khasi people fighting, losing their lives and struggling in every day life. We have a very colorful image of the Khasi people. A matrilineal society where the husband goes to the house of the girl after marriage. Women are very strong and the breadwinner in the family. So what went wrong here? How did the cruel hands of Terror enter this peaceful, beautiful state? Ri- Homeland of Uncertainty was first produced as a movie and later was penned. This was very interesting to me. So I asked Paulami the reason behind it - for generally it is an outgoing road from Publication to Production. Over to Paulami Dutta Gupta : When we started with Ri – Homeland of uncertainty (the film) we hadn’t planned anything. It was much later, after we received the national award that the idea of adapting it into a book came up. The idea was simple. The film is in Khasi and thus caters to a very small section of the population. Even though it has sub titles, there are still people who haven’t warmed up to the idea of watching a film with sub titles. Also it is very difficult to carry a film everywhere. The screenings need a dozen co ordinations and the team couldn’t travel everywhere. Also we were keen on letting more and more people about our home state. Insurgency in Meghalaya, the insecurities that led to it was and is not written much about. And through ‘Ri’ we wanted to narrate that tale, of people who have suffered , bled and lost like any other part of India that is plagued with terror. A book, in English would solve all these problems. The team and especially the director has been very kind to me and I got a chance to weave ‘Ri’ all over again in the form of a novella. This post is part of The Blog Tour of Ri - Homeland of Uncertainty by Paulami Duttagupta. Check out about the book and where you can buy it HERE |