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The Other Country, Dispatches From The Mofussil
Mrinal Pande, the mature journalist that she is, takes the reader into the hinterland, thereby helping the reader to know more about the society that is being written about. The reader is then left to form an opinion or an image. The author has been fortunate to have lived in the area so she is familiar not only with the terrain but also with the people. Yet she writes about the changing times trying to understand them. Through her writing she picks up diverse issues, whatever takes her fancy or troubles her, and she reports on it. The essays are based on her reportage, thus, the wide range of issues. If she is troubled over the cases of child marriages she happily celebrates the victory of girls/ women who have carved out a niche for themselves despite odds.
Ask parents in poor rural areas or slum–dwellers in cities why they are in such a hurry to marry off their daughters. The answer is the same. "Their life is uncertain and money is scarce." On the other hand, she talks about women in western Uttar Pradesh arming themselves with guns to protect their honour as well as their fields. She writes with joy about women like Aaliya and Mary Kom, boxers from Haryana and Manipur, respectively. Razia Shabnam, the first Muslim woman boxer from the slums of Kidderpur in Kolkata is a role model for girls everywhere. She writes passionately about her hometown, Almora, and its adjoining areas, its natural beauty and how nature is still in its full glory. However, environment degradation, accompanied with poverty is a sore point. The area is being ravaged and no one is accountable. She explores caste and gotra and how they have the power to vitiate the environment in some places. She focuses on the declining role of caste in Caste and gotra ungoogled by narrating interesting anecdotes. One of the most evocative essays is, Some notes about a nation at war with itself. The ever-thoughtful author writes, "When the call of the wild comes, writes the Serbian writer Ivo Andric, the bonds of civilisation turn out to be surprisingly weak." She is shocked about the insensitivity of the media and how it rakes up issues to hike up its TRP’s. "Normal human grief now seems to have acquired communal overtones and a strange definition of nationalism has made people impervious to the basic human rights of others." The falling standards of the media are a concern for the author who is the founder-president of the Indian Women’s Press Corps and is currently the chairperson of India’s national broadcaster ,Prasar Bharti. The contents of the book are thought-provoking. Written over a passage of time, the essays reflect that part of the society which is in turmoil, in a state of flux. The idea is to generate empathy and to think on issues that are often brushed aside. Simple words, strong thoughts voiced with determination have an endearing effect. This book comes naturally from a writer with a stature of Mrinal Pande who believes that: "The art of formulating intelligent questions and sharp insights is gradually becoming extinct."
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Bharat
exists along with India shining. Mrinal Pande explores the divide
between the two. Each essay takes the reader to an India whose bright as
well as morbid side exists only in the movies, melas and the
media. The citizens living in the urban areas are too busy with their
lives and when some tragic incident is reported it is looked down upon
with disgust, discussed and brushed aside.
Citing
reasons for child marriages, she is of the firm view, "The biggest
reason for child marriages is poverty.