Terra Infirma: Ulta Pradesh

Is this an autobiography? Well, for quite a bit, yes. But fictionalised, so you keep guessing how much of it is true. Like a game of Truth or Dare? And then, of course you must add some spice, some sex, some violence to the saga... Kya pata kal koi OTT platfor par series bana de???? And anyways...the written word has been left behind in this era of OTT portals y'know. Its hard to keep the interest going without all that. As I was told by seniors on the Editorial of so many papers..."In the past as in the present and forever afterwards, Sex and Violence are the most read news stories for any publication." So, through Azra, the protagonist, let me document, a journey through life, some of it mine, some borrowed from others. It starts with Azra, an atypical Shia girl related to one of the most pedigreed of families, with the best of education and good looking to boot. A typical liberal Arts mind, she has sought admission for a postgraduation in Economics. Now thoroughly bored with the dry subject, trying her best to resist the almost daily deluges of proposals from well meaning but persistent people in her community, she turns to the world she can do best at with her flair for writing--Media. Circa 1987, Azra starts applying for a job as a journalist in the terra infirma of Uttar Pradesh. Little does she know what lies in store. resisting an arranged marriage where she is unlikely to even meet her mental match in a prospective groom, she accepts the proposal of Salim and for all the world to see--they have a runaway love marriage without the consent of Azra's parents. Azra's "love story" with Salim, a traditional, orthodox Muslim businessman escalates to a reality check on marriage and motherhood in a conservative society. Her turbulent marriage and motherhood at 20 is peppered with setbacks. Typical family reactions to a daughter as firstborn, the problems of not just a working mother but a journalist with no regular timings and constant pressures at home and at work. As the relationship with Salim turns rocky, the political upheavals of the times echo the turbulence in her life. For thia is the time of the the Ram Janmbhumi-Babri Masjid discord, seen from the point of view of a young female journalist reporting as State Correspondent for the Iranian News Agency IRNA. Entering the world of journalism she realises that the pen is not necessarily mightier than the sword, but a woman's fiery spirit is. Her trials and tribulations do not curb her wild, wanton spirit, her never-give-up attitude. Life takes her through many spaces and countries. As her roles change, she goes on to bag a prestigious British Scholarship and for the first time, lands solo in London. This is perhaps the best phase in her life--and she discovers herself as a woman and a strong one at that. Never in her dreams had she imagined that she, a married Muslim woman from one of India's most backward states of Uttar Pradesh, would at 32 jostle through the thousands of applicants and become the first person (not woman) to bag the scholarship from her state. This idyllic stint too comes to an end and she returns to her family and workplace. Back home she pays the price forflouting unwritten laws in matrimony and breaking the glass ceiling at work. At India's 2nd largest English daily, she faces a bitter power-drunk editor with a character 'pockmarked' by ambition, lust and the need to comntrol, hell bent upon breaking her spirit and "taming the shrew." As the old song goes, Una Paloma Blanca, and Azra's a free bird in the sky. Azra has been called a storyteller par excellence-- and not as a compliment--by her own family. A superb yarn spinner. So let her decide how she wants to tell her story. Mind you, sticking to fixeed timelines and sequences are not her cuppa tea. Welcome to the rocky road of Azra's life, told by her, her way. If you are patient she will tell you all about how she caught a former Chief Minister going 'soft' on chosen journalists and donating funds to sponsor a pornographic Holi tabloid that cleaved a gender chasm through journalists associated with leading newspapers of the time. Then again she may traverse the pubs of Temple Bar at Dublin with her Irish journalist friends, find her way through the quays. In a professional crescendo that leaves her stumped too, she is invited by the Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, to see in person the Indian lady "who has changed our perceptions of Indian women by her pro-women fiery outbursts in the paper she is interning for in Ireland. How she flits from the world of journalism to that of consultancies with some of the top names in the development sector and discovers scandals unpublished and unhear in the health sector will leave you stunned. To find peace in the haloed portals of learning, she switches to become a media educator. is it justy her or is life neither white nor black but shades of grey for all? From State Universities to top notch private education institutions'---nothing in the country is as idyllic as one would have us believe. Faculty, high on power bestowed arbitrarily by a negligent management, are open to exploiting and abusing students with an impunity that leaves her soul scarred and bitter. How she tells her story is her choice. Believe it or not---How does she care? but if you would, just sit back and savour the tale. And you are allowed --- to weep in pain, scream in anger, throw-up in disgust and lament at the rape of innocence and the double standards and hypocrisy now woven into the warp and weft of our country. She is not pious as her name, but not sinner either. She is Zainab and Fatima, Sakina and Maryam, Durga and Sati, Parvati and Chandi all rolled in one. Be with her, for she was all alone all through and could do with some company as she walks barefoot on the rough hewed road of life but emerged, stronger through the cracks. She is a woman of today....who has emerged through life---scarred but strong. And this is her story....