A Burning

 A Burning 

A novel by Megha Majumdar 

This 2020 novel is very current to the moment globally although set entirely in India.

It is a very personal story of a very poor Muslim young woman who gets accused of being a terrorist involved in a horrible torching of a passenger train filled with people; a burning.

This occurs because of a casual Facebook “friendship” she has with someone she doesn’t really know who is said to be a “terrorist recruiter”.
She only has facebook because she was able to finally earn enough money for a smartphone.

  The novel is a very engaging story of Jivan, the accused, PT Sir, the physical education teacher in a school that Jivan has attended, and Lovely, a young hijra outcast taking an acting class and dreaming of Bollywood stardom. Jivan knows Lovely because she has been helping her to learn English.
  We follow these three into the story. The Jivan sections are written in first person and she tells her sad life story. A third person voice tells us about Lovely and PT Sir.
The reader becomes very intimate with Jivan, who is a fine young woman just struggling to make a better life, a marginal life, up from a not really sustainable slum life, for herself, her mother and disabled father.  

Our pathetic hunger and dreams of stardom are a major part of this story that can be transferred to most anywhere in the mass media saturated world. We all seek status. Want to be seen by our peers as doing well, achieving, succeeding. And maybe catching the eye of something bigger, fame and fortune.  This varies widely depending on need, and situational circumstances. This is clearly illustrated in the characters of PT Sir and Lovely. Status seaking, although directly related to economic improvement, really comes from a deeper emotional need to be seen, to matter. The novel shows us how that works on PT Sir and Lovely.

PT Sir comes upon a mass outdoor rally of a right-wing populist Hindi political party. The microphone fails and PT Sir leaps to the stage to quickly remedy the situation. This act brings him to the attention of the leaders. He is thrilled and sucked in by the leaders who begin to use him.

Lovely and PT Sir must learn to compromise their ethics and truths or abandon their dreams of recognition and economic improvement. They are uneasy with that. The thoughtful reader is invited to question themselves. Would we sacrifice justice to secure elevation of status, and to what degree?

This is a very fine novel. It is written in a spare style. That lack of florid prose seems to clarify and heighten the reality of the story. It draws us into the story of these individuals rather than impressing us with writing style.
The result is a stunningly impressive and fully realized story.
The Jivan parts, written in first person, are particularly moving.

I cannot think of a better novel than this. Totally of the moment with an underlying theme of how we can be manipulated through our need of status,
It is great, vital and deals with things that touch all our lives. 

By Steve Carter (Aug 2021)