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Unheard Voices: Stories of Forgotten Lives
The Bhopal gas tragedy, the communal carnage of 1984 and 1989 in Delhi and Bhagalpur, the Orissa super cyclone, among others, are part of collective memory, But, often forgotten are those who actually were affected by thee happenings, and others like them, street children, sex workers, dalits, HIV and leprosy patients, the homeless and the famine-stricken. These are people who in many ways are pushed to the outermost, most hopeless margins of society in the name of development and progress.
In Unheard Voices, civil servant and social activist Harsh Mander draws on his own and his colleagues’ experiences to explore the lives of twenty such people who have survived and coped despite all odds. In Bangalore, for instance, a onetime street child now counsels other such children seeking education and self-employment; in Bhopal, and eleven year-old has brought up two of his siblings after they were orphaned in the gas leak, at great emotional cost. A young sex worker fights for the rights of her HIV positive sister-workers when their ‘home’ in Hyderabad’s red-light area is demolished. A patient combats the stigma of leprosy by helping to establish a leprosy colony in Ashagram. In Tenali, Andhra Pradesh, a blind musician couple struggles to get land from the government to set up a colony for the blind.
Going beyond mere survival, these stories are a testimony of how people have overcome their condition with humbling courage, resilience, and humanism, Marked by understatement and rare warmth, they bring out their determination to seek a better life in the face of enormous suffering. Reaffirming people’s creativity and indomitable spirit, this book challenges all those who despair about India.
In Unheard Voices, civil servant and social activist Harsh Mander draws on his own and his colleagues’ experiences to explore the lives of twenty such people who have survived and coped despite all odds. In Bangalore, for instance, a onetime street child now counsels other such children seeking education and self-employment; in Bhopal, and eleven year-old has brought up two of his siblings after they were orphaned in the gas leak, at great emotional cost. A young sex worker fights for the rights of her HIV positive sister-workers when their ‘home’ in Hyderabad’s red-light area is demolished. A patient combats the stigma of leprosy by helping to establish a leprosy colony in Ashagram. In Tenali, Andhra Pradesh, a blind musician couple struggles to get land from the government to set up a colony for the blind.
Going beyond mere survival, these stories are a testimony of how people have overcome their condition with humbling courage, resilience, and humanism, Marked by understatement and rare warmth, they bring out their determination to seek a better life in the face of enormous suffering. Reaffirming people’s creativity and indomitable spirit, this book challenges all those who despair about India.
- GenresNonfictionIndia
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 9, 2014
Unheard Voices eloquently depicts the lives and stories from various segments and sections of the society. It is true that India's economic landscape is witnessing unprecedented expansion in terms of increasing PCI, high GDP, high growth rate ans so on. But this is not commensurate with the socio-cultural realities, especially that of rural areas. This book opens up the reader's mind towards the hard realities of Indian society. It includes heart wrenching true life narratives of victims of substance abuse, communal riots, human trafficking, organ stealing and rape, landless laborers, women forced to prostitution, stories of rag-pickers, widows, manual scavengers etc. It can be clearly seen that the individual plight of poor for survival is compounded by social ostracism, caste and communal rigidities. For instance, the story of manual scavengers clearly depicts how they couldnt escape the social stigma and the degradation which was compensated for by the paltry economic security the job offered. The book efficaciously yet in a lucid manner, describes the difference between Bharat and India. Highly recommended for those who would like to know what real India is.
February 22, 2020
‘Unheard Voices’ is an ensemble of stories of nation-wide issues covered under the garb of peoples’ lives. From caste issues to disease stigma and riots to traditions, it gives a deeper insight of how trapped India is despite over 70 years of Independence. With colloquial language and relatable characters, it a must read for every Indian!
Mander takes examples of common people like each of us and expounds on the penury people go through everyday. During the 1990s, India saw tremendous turmoil and upheaval through bomb blasts, riots and economic crashes. Set in the times around and after this decade, the book explains how the calamities, be it natural or man-made can destroy human lives. People lose families, houses and even the drive to live. But, the characters in these stories show the world how even a common man can fight back. In many of the books, he does not even show the outcome. The main focus is on how these people got up and took a stand, rather than giving up.
Since ages, problems like corruption, sex-work and casteism that have prevented many people from achieving their goals. Amidst these problems, many people are bound to take loans to even survive. What follows in the aftermath is the atrocities of the lenders and different oppresors in each story. The best part is that Mander, himself being a civil servant, does not shy off from criticizing the government where due. In most of the Hindu-Muslim and Brahmin-Dalit cases, the police do not even register cases. Judiciary officers are hard to catch hold of and even more difficult to convince. In the stories, he also brings out how the execution of government policies is flawed through corrupt practices and manipulated records. At a lot of times, the government simply turns a deaf ear to these voices in order to save its own seat of power. These voices simply go unheard and unnoticed in the royal chaos of the great Indian political circus.
The topics in his stories are very simple. About how the tribals were shunned from their own house to build dams for the greater good. Or about how we are still scared of coming out as HIV positives. Or on the idea of how innocuous people are seen as enemies in their own homes. Or even about how particular communities force women to enter sex-work because it is their ancestral occupation. With many more such issues, we find stories of people who want to break these shackles and start afresh. But does the surrounding allow that to happen? Come on, we’re in India.
It is perhaps around twenty years since the book was written. And probably ten more years before that when Mander may have seen these people. But still today, each and every topic is as relevant as it was a few years back. We are still living in a world where a Dalit cannot use a same water handpump as a Bramhin, a mental patient does not have a right to live and that all Muslims are poisonous for the society. With efforts of many NGOs and activists, at least diseases such as leprosy and HIV-AIDS are no more the disgrace they used to be. People are even coming out about their sexual preferences in the open. But until we do not see beyond our privileges and ego, let aside our differences and work together, India will never be able to develop in its true sense. This is the larger narrative that Harsh Mander very fluently expresses in these stories.
The writing style is lucid. The narration changes fluidly from the story to the social message and back in each story. But the most surprising trait of all stories is that fact that you keep wondering what happened after the protagonist stages up a fight. Did (s)he/they live to see another ray of sunshine? The struggle is not too much to ask. Like in one story about the Bhopal gas tragedy, the fight was only to get compensation money and securing a good upbringing of one’s siblings. The protagonist did not really bring a revolution, but just tried to make his voice heard. It is the courage to stand up and the spirit to never give up, that makes people leaders in their own right. And this, is what ‘Unheard Voices’ stresses in each line of its writing.
Cheers, to a better India!
Mander takes examples of common people like each of us and expounds on the penury people go through everyday. During the 1990s, India saw tremendous turmoil and upheaval through bomb blasts, riots and economic crashes. Set in the times around and after this decade, the book explains how the calamities, be it natural or man-made can destroy human lives. People lose families, houses and even the drive to live. But, the characters in these stories show the world how even a common man can fight back. In many of the books, he does not even show the outcome. The main focus is on how these people got up and took a stand, rather than giving up.
Since ages, problems like corruption, sex-work and casteism that have prevented many people from achieving their goals. Amidst these problems, many people are bound to take loans to even survive. What follows in the aftermath is the atrocities of the lenders and different oppresors in each story. The best part is that Mander, himself being a civil servant, does not shy off from criticizing the government where due. In most of the Hindu-Muslim and Brahmin-Dalit cases, the police do not even register cases. Judiciary officers are hard to catch hold of and even more difficult to convince. In the stories, he also brings out how the execution of government policies is flawed through corrupt practices and manipulated records. At a lot of times, the government simply turns a deaf ear to these voices in order to save its own seat of power. These voices simply go unheard and unnoticed in the royal chaos of the great Indian political circus.
The topics in his stories are very simple. About how the tribals were shunned from their own house to build dams for the greater good. Or about how we are still scared of coming out as HIV positives. Or on the idea of how innocuous people are seen as enemies in their own homes. Or even about how particular communities force women to enter sex-work because it is their ancestral occupation. With many more such issues, we find stories of people who want to break these shackles and start afresh. But does the surrounding allow that to happen? Come on, we’re in India.
It is perhaps around twenty years since the book was written. And probably ten more years before that when Mander may have seen these people. But still today, each and every topic is as relevant as it was a few years back. We are still living in a world where a Dalit cannot use a same water handpump as a Bramhin, a mental patient does not have a right to live and that all Muslims are poisonous for the society. With efforts of many NGOs and activists, at least diseases such as leprosy and HIV-AIDS are no more the disgrace they used to be. People are even coming out about their sexual preferences in the open. But until we do not see beyond our privileges and ego, let aside our differences and work together, India will never be able to develop in its true sense. This is the larger narrative that Harsh Mander very fluently expresses in these stories.
The writing style is lucid. The narration changes fluidly from the story to the social message and back in each story. But the most surprising trait of all stories is that fact that you keep wondering what happened after the protagonist stages up a fight. Did (s)he/they live to see another ray of sunshine? The struggle is not too much to ask. Like in one story about the Bhopal gas tragedy, the fight was only to get compensation money and securing a good upbringing of one’s siblings. The protagonist did not really bring a revolution, but just tried to make his voice heard. It is the courage to stand up and the spirit to never give up, that makes people leaders in their own right. And this, is what ‘Unheard Voices’ stresses in each line of its writing.
Cheers, to a better India!
January 3, 2021
Although this book was published in 2001 and contains incidences from 1980s and 1990s, most of the stories still apply today. The stories of discrimination against poor, religious minorities, lower castes and others like leprosy patients etc. in India are tragically yet empathetically written and display their struggle for mobility.
Harsh Mander Sir has grassroots level experience with these people and this shows in his writings.
Must read if you want to know about the vulnerable sections amongst Indians.
Harsh Mander Sir has grassroots level experience with these people and this shows in his writings.
Must read if you want to know about the vulnerable sections amongst Indians.
March 1, 2021
4.5/5
July 30, 2022
Real experiences of people at the margins for whom neither society nor government cares.
January 16, 2012
Although we think we know of the scale of rural poverty and aware of the general condition of tribals and other marginalised groups belonging to the other India,This Harsh Mander's collection of stories named " Unheard Voices"-stories of forgotten lives is an eye opener.Himself a distinguished civil servant and a noted social activist,these stories were originally penned by him as part of the course for young civil servants.
These all are the real stories of the Indians who were victims of fate and conditions beyond their control.Some were the victims of man made disaster like the Bhopal tragedy,some bore the brunt the fury of the nature,some were the subjects of historical oppression and hysterical followers of blind beliefs,a few of the governmental apathy and centuries of prejudice and a few,of the caprice of fate.
In one of his speeches,delivered during the late twenties,Russell Bertrand observed that the Time machine imagined by Wells "can be secured by travelling about the world at the present day.A European who goes to New york and Chicago sees the future,the future to which Europe is likely to come if it escapes economic disaster.On the other hand,When he goes to Asia he sees the past.In India I am told he can see the middle ages;in China he can see the eighteenth century". Well's machine can be realised within India itself during the first decade of the twenty first century(the year of the publication of this book). Though a decade of growth triggered by the liberalization profited the urban,educated Indians and lead India comfortably to the next millennium,the heart of India has barely managed to change since Russell told of it seventy years ago.
It could not have been better than Shashi throor's observation that appears on the cover page,"these stories are essential reading for all care about the future of India".
To those interested in the works of Shashi Tharoor,one of the stories in this book inspired Tharoor to write his Novel "Riot".
These all are the real stories of the Indians who were victims of fate and conditions beyond their control.Some were the victims of man made disaster like the Bhopal tragedy,some bore the brunt the fury of the nature,some were the subjects of historical oppression and hysterical followers of blind beliefs,a few of the governmental apathy and centuries of prejudice and a few,of the caprice of fate.
In one of his speeches,delivered during the late twenties,Russell Bertrand observed that the Time machine imagined by Wells "can be secured by travelling about the world at the present day.A European who goes to New york and Chicago sees the future,the future to which Europe is likely to come if it escapes economic disaster.On the other hand,When he goes to Asia he sees the past.In India I am told he can see the middle ages;in China he can see the eighteenth century". Well's machine can be realised within India itself during the first decade of the twenty first century(the year of the publication of this book). Though a decade of growth triggered by the liberalization profited the urban,educated Indians and lead India comfortably to the next millennium,the heart of India has barely managed to change since Russell told of it seventy years ago.
It could not have been better than Shashi throor's observation that appears on the cover page,"these stories are essential reading for all care about the future of India".
To those interested in the works of Shashi Tharoor,one of the stories in this book inspired Tharoor to write his Novel "Riot".
November 14, 2015
This book is a collection of wide range of stories based on experiences of real lives of marginalized, forgotten and outcast people of society as encountered by Harsh Mander and some other bureaucrats. This is a piece of work which completely stands out with its exclusive approach on a subject that remains neglected in much similar way as the characters of these sketches. As the ending paragraph of last story signifies the essence of this book- "... in humble colony of forgotten people, we received far more than we could ever give."
Not all are success stories. 1984, 1989 and Bhopal- they still silently wait for the dawn of justice. But certainly there are cases which invoke enormous belief in alternatives. The experiments resulting into progress and further promising chances of a better world are important take home message of the different case stories. Surely, some stories have bit faded with time while others remain as bright as they were at the time of writing. For example, one story of great relevance even today is 'The Laminated Mark-sheet'- story of a couple from Bedia community who transgressed the infamous societal bondage in form of ritually-sanctioned caste-based prostitution (which is mostly compulsory to sustain themselves and their family) that is associated with this tribal group. It can be only conscious and unyielding people like Rajendra and Geeta who will lead their lives and simultaneously the overall society to the world of our dreams.
Not all are success stories. 1984, 1989 and Bhopal- they still silently wait for the dawn of justice. But certainly there are cases which invoke enormous belief in alternatives. The experiments resulting into progress and further promising chances of a better world are important take home message of the different case stories. Surely, some stories have bit faded with time while others remain as bright as they were at the time of writing. For example, one story of great relevance even today is 'The Laminated Mark-sheet'- story of a couple from Bedia community who transgressed the infamous societal bondage in form of ritually-sanctioned caste-based prostitution (which is mostly compulsory to sustain themselves and their family) that is associated with this tribal group. It can be only conscious and unyielding people like Rajendra and Geeta who will lead their lives and simultaneously the overall society to the world of our dreams.
November 15, 2012
As the title suggests, rarely are the lives of the people, mentioned in the book are covered by the media. Harsh Mander does a good job here. If one wants to know about the real India (the so called Bharat), this book is a must-read.
This book is almost there with the Everybody loves a good drought by P.Sainath.
This book is almost there with the Everybody loves a good drought by P.Sainath.
July 18, 2015
Stories of hope and dignity in the most unlikely circumstances and in the most marginalized sections of society - riot victims, people affected by man-made and natural disasters, the physically challenged, the diseased, rape victims, sex workers, the displaced and the landless..
what strikes you is the indomitable human spirit and the quest for dignity and justice in the harshest situations.
what strikes you is the indomitable human spirit and the quest for dignity and justice in the harshest situations.
August 9, 2018
Being a 90's kid, a must read to uncover some of the dark secrets of the post-independence era. These incidences will shock you to the core. Stories will leave you with a lot of questions. The one which was persistent at the end of every story is What am I doing to make this society a better place to live?
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews