The latest book by NS on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and its chief, Vellupillai Pirabakaran is a disappointment. His latest book is titled as Inside an elusive mind. By this he is implying that he has understood the mind of the LTTE chief, Vellupillai Pirabakaran. One would assume that for the author to give such a title to his book, at least the author would have met and understood the intricacies of the LTTE chief's mind. Well, guess how many times NS has met Pirabakaran personally. Only once! And that too in the mid eighties for about ten to fifteen minutes. He himself suggests that the Tigers did not trust him too much- I would do not blame the Tigers for this. The last time he saw the Tiger chief was in Vanni in 2002, when Pirabakaran hosted a news conference for hundreds of local as well as foreign journalists. NS was one of the hundreds of Journalists who gathered there.
NS's first book - From Boys to Tigers - was well received. This book came out about a decade ago. At that time there were not too many books written in English about the Tigers or its leader. Hence, the book was well received. I myself would admit that NS's first book sufficiently well researched and written. However, his latest book is nothing but a carbon copy of his first book. In fact he has taken chapter-by-chapter from his first book and inserted them in his new book. Also, most of the crucial new bits of information have come from two other books- Adele Balasingam's The Will to Freedom and Anita Pratap's book Island of Blood. There is nothing new in his latest book. However, he is clever to have given a fancy heading for the book so that he could make a quick buck. NS should not insult the intelligence of those who read his book.
Now, if someone of the caliber of Anita Pratp had given such a title to her book, then one could understand. She has not only met Pirabakaran several times, but had the courage to travel to the conflict zones in Eelam, risking her own life. One would only wish that NS had shown the courage of a woman like Anita Pratap by personally visiting the conflict zone, talking to people who were directly affected by the war.
Instead, NS choose the easy way - researching from the comforts of his home, Chennai- and claims that he has understood Pirabakaran well. What a joke! NS lists several people that he interviewed for his latest book. Among all those people, the only one who had some contact with Pirabakaran was the Tamil Poet, Kasi Anandan - even the Poet has lived in Chennai for the past two decades with hardly any personal contact with the LTTE chief. For NS to claim to have understood the LTTE chief by interviewing a handful of people is ridiculous.
There is nothing wrong if a journalist wants to make a quick buck on someone's popularity - here it is the LTTE chief - as long as the Journalist is honest, sincere, and present the facts in non-partial way. NS has failed to do this. He portrays the legitimate aspirations of Eelam Tamils as illegitimate; he calls the LTTE chief a megalomaniac; he has branded the liberation fighters as bloodthirsty murderers. Yet, he has conveniently forgotten to highlight the atrocities of the Indian Army; he fails to mention the selfish interests and the betrayal of the Indian government in the Eelam struggle. He did not mention the poor advice given to Rajiv Gandhi by his foreign policy experts; he did not mention how the ' old fox ' (wily JR) took the inexperienced Rajiv Gandhi and India for a treacherous political ride.
One would only wish that in the near future, if NS decides to write another book on LTTE or its chief, it would be more balanced and present the facts in an honest and truthful way.
No comments:
Post a Comment