Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers

Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers Book Description

Combining brilliant political insight and razor-sharp prose, Arundhati Roy in these essays, takes a hard look at the underbelly of the world's largest democracy, and shows how the journey that Hindu nationalism and neoliberal economic reforms began together in the early 1990s is unraveling in dangerous ways.

Beginning with the state-backed killing of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, she writes about how 'progress' and genocide have historically gone hand in hand; about the murky investigations into the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament; about the dangers of an increasingly powerful and entirely unaccountable judiciary; and about the collusion between large corporations, the government and the mainstream media. The collection ends with an account of the August 2008 uprising in Kashmir and an analysis of the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai. 'The Briefing', included as an appendix, is a fictional text that brings together many of the issues central to the collection.

As it tracks the fault-lines that threaten to destroy India's precarious future, Listening to Grasshoppers asks fundamental questions about democracy itself, a political system that has, by virtue of being considered 'the best available option', been put beyond doubt and correction.

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Listening to Grasshoppers is a must read  
By pruthvi, 16/09/2009 10:09:13

Arundhati Roy is my favorite writer and I am glad that her earlier books have received the recognition they so deserve. This one too is a gripping read as it combines and analyzes political events and provides a lucid presentation of the same. The well written essays depict the journey of Hindu nationalism and neoliberal economic reforms that commenced together in the 1990s and have been unraveling, day after day, with catastrophic outcomes.

Be it the callous killings of Muslims in the Gujarat riots in 2002 or a correlation between progress and genocide that have gone parallel to each other in the walk of history, the political and social mayhem over an epoch, have been well dissected. This is followed by the unsophisticated investigations into the Parliament attack of 2001 and the dangers of an increasingly powerful judiciary.

The collection of essays ends with the recent attacks on Mumbai and a detailed account of the uprising in Kashmir. The logical analysis makes it all the more interesting for a fresh reader. I have been intrigued by the intellectually presented articles in popular fortnightlies and this book is certainly the cherry on the pudding. It is lucid, unlaced with mystifying jargons and actually tracks the fault lines that are a threat to our nation's future. 'Listening to Grasshoppers' is profuse with an analytical approach to political issues and is a must read for the youth.

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