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Unarmed Heroes LAST year the news of Priyanka Gandhi meeting Nalini Sriharan, the only survivor of the assassins of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was splashed in the media. Though the details of the meeting were not divulged, it could be understood that this act was symbolic of coming to terms with a violent incidence and an approach towards forgiveness on part of Priyanka. This simple act, however, needs a lot of courage. Imagine meeting with the person who has shattered the whole fabric of your life. Will you not be torn by anger, hatred and vengeance just by the thought of that person, let alone meeting or forgiving him?
There are 16 stories in the book each narrated by the person himself. The language, style, lucidity of presentation and the way each story is told varies and it seems as if we are listening to the individual voices of these people. Each story is different, but all are similar in the brutal ways by which evil done by fellow human beings have unleashed terror in their innocent, mundane lives. These people belonging to different corners of the world—Ireland, Israel, Congo, Kenya, Oklahoma, New York and India—tell us about the universality of the grief and trauma that people are facing due to racial, ethnic, sectarian and many other kinds of terrorism. They also tell us that more violence, hatred, terror are not the way to stop the cycle of conflict but by sensitive understanding of the ‘other’s’ viewpoint, we can work towards constructing an atmosphere conducive to eternal peace. There is an interesting story about Maria Mangte of Manipur who joined a revolutionary outfit, People’s Liberation Army, and sought China’s help for freedom of the Manipur state. Later, the Indian Army imprisoned her and contrary to her expectations found them quite gentle and respectful. Gradually, she saw the trauma and sorrow around her and started social work and was later elected state secretary of the All-India Tribal Development Council. She is presently working for peace. The chapter You can do this too teaches the skill of dealing with a difficult world in a structured, step-by-step way. This section includes many thought-provoking posers and contemplative quotations, which make reading of this book an interactive process. The personal testimonies and essays in the book are compiled and edited by Peace Direct, a people’s movement that works for peaceful resolution of conflict at all levels beginning from international to local. The book makes one sensitive to the truth that all pain in the world has an impact on us, even though it is not our own. Conflicts mar our day-to-day life in several ways. We come across violence in one form or the other in different platforms, at the workplace, in families, relationships and in society. This book is an excellent guide and manual to remind ourselves that there are alternatives responses to violence of all forms and even ordinary people like us can practise those peaceful options and contribute to world peace in our own small way. I specially recommend this book to our younger generation.
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Unarmed
Heroes is a compilation of
such personal stories of bravery, immense courage and grit of
confronting violence head-on, but with a difference. Here the heroes
walk without the crutches of fatal weapons to fight their own thirst
for a bloody revenge. Sometimes in coming face to face with the
perpetrator, sometimes in leaving behind their own violent past, they
talk not of ‘an eye for an eye’ but of forgiveness, love, hope,
tolerance and non-violence. The extraordinariness in the stories is
that ordinary people tell all these struck by terrorism, grief, and
irreparable loss of near and dear ones.