Flaming Forest, Wounded Valley : Stories From Bastar and Kashmir

It takes a journalist of immense courage and integrity to report from those parts of the country which most citizens have stopped engaging with, worrying about, or abandoned to the farthest recesses of their conscience.Freny Manecksha is that journalist and the book in question is 'Flaming Forest, Wounded Valley'. It's about stories from Bastar and Kashmir, two places which have fallen off the map of India's law and order apparatus as well as her collective sanity.The author's conscious choice of bringing together two disparate geographical strands in one book is inspired because both of these geographical entities are joined at the hip so to speak, not only in their misery but also the ruling elites' utter disregard for their fundamental rights.In both these places, if at all there is a use for that profound document we so proudly refer to as the Constitution of India, it is only and only in its subversion. The citizens exist so as to be abused by an inherently nauseating system, and are customarily stripped of all their agency and dignity at every turn. For decades now, the perverse narrative of nationalism has become a self-serving hymn that has metamorphosed into a death march for those who must deal with it day after day.With the vision and the heart of a true reporter, Freny patiently lays bare the layers that unites the unfortunate citizens of these afflicted spaces. I had no option but to slow down my regular pace of reading because it is in those details that one experiences the heartbreak of our land in all its goriness. How is one supposed to get past the heaps of indignities they are made to suffer only because their fate was decided by the lottery of their birth?The book has been around for a while and it stayed buried in my Kindle for months before I got around to reading it, not because I didn't want to, but because that familiar sense of dread with the material at hand meant I had to be ready to take it all in.In the end, it is just one incredibly brave piece of journalism. The places she has journeyed to in her quest for the truth and the clear-eyed matter of fact reportage which takes no prisoners makes it a most welcome addition to the literature of state-sponsored grief, despair and denial, that we should never tire of familiarising ourselves with in this country.

Both Bastar and Kashmir have no place in mainstream media which only echoes the propaganda voices and continues to give biased and one sided stories.This book by Freny Manecksha, brings the reality to us, the reality of the situations in these two conflict zones, and it is horrifying and sad, yet inspires so much admiration and empathy for the people living through the oppression there.A highly recommended read, especially for those of us sitting comfortably in our urban spaces, oblivious of so much that goes on in our countryWe need more journalists like Freny, to write the truth, analyse the situation with objectivity and empathy, and reveal so many of the horrors happening in places around the country that are never brought to the notice of the average Indian.A book that more people should definitely read

I enjoyed the book and liked that someone has highlighted the woes of these people

The book is an eyeopener on many fronts. I Started reading the book to understand how built form get affected when set in a disputed territory and political turmoil. I got much more than what I was looking for. Both her books- Behold I shine! and Flaming forest have this beautiful quality of simple language-no jargons- easy to relate and documents daily life of people suffering first hand in these territories. No other book written on these places have the power to make you step into the shoes of the inhabitants way this book does with its language and narrative- making it really easy to visualize. It looks at both sides- the inhabitants as well as the army purely from a humanistic perspective more than taking sides. That's the beauty of the book! a must read!