A total of 13 authors have come together to weave a book containing experiential pieces about specific AIDS affected groups in the country.
A host of Indian literary stalwarts have joined forces for a book on AIDS funded by Bill Gates’ foundation
MUMBAI: After the four short films made by directors Mira Nair, Vishal Bharadwaj, Santosh Sivan and Farhan Akhtar as part of an AIDS awareness campaign, now it’s the turn of the litterateurs to do their bit.
A total of 13 authors have come together to weave a book containing experiential pieces about specific AIDS affected groups in the country. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and supported by Random House Publishing, the book titled AIDS Sutra: Hidden Story of AIDS in India, is touted as one of the most gripping anthologies of the year.
Included in the list are literary hotshots Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai, Vikram Seth, William Dalrymple with a foreword by Amartya Sen.
Says Dalrymple, who is currently in India, “My piece is about the Devdasis in Belgaum, Karnataka, and the trying lives they lead as soon as they reach puberty. Once they are dedicated to the Goddess as an ‘offering’, they have no choice but to work as prostitutes. And due to lack of education, a lot of them end up becoming AIDS victims. I never imagined Karnataka to be amongst the AIDS centres of India, but a huge population of Devdasis has succumbed to the disease here. But now, awareness is increasing.”
Similarly, every author has picked a group whose story they place in front of the reader. While Kiran Desai travels to the coast of Andhra where the sex workers are considered the most desirable, Sunil Ganguly profiles the vigilantes of Sonagachi. And as Salman Rushdie spins his around the lives of a group of trans-genders, CS Lakshmi talks to housewives who have been afflicted with AIDS because of their errant husbands.
Others like Sonia Faleiro and Siddharth Dhanwant Shanghvi look at the destructive nexus between the police and sex workers and write about the last days of a young Bombay homosexual respectfully. Lastly Vikram Seth interestingly targets the lives of drug-users in the north-east.
The proceeds of the book (produced in collaboration with AIDS awareness NGO Avahan), which hits the stands in August , will be dedicated to a fund for AIDS victims.
u_divya@dnaindia.net
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