Coming to terms with trauma of 1984 riots

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 24

Anyone who has survived the 1984 violence in Punjab’s heartland must be familiar with a survivor’s guilt, or the fact that they were witness to that dark chapter in history.

Author Arjun Raj Gaind’s book “The Anatomy of Loss” plays around the familiar feeling of survivor’s guilt and coming to terms with the trauma of 1984 violence against Sikhs.

His protagonist somewhere represents his own dilemma and experiences as a young lad during the time, as the author confessed that 40 per cent of the content in his book is deeply personal and an account of his own life.

In conversation with poet Gurpratap Khairah and journalist Mandira Nayyar at a Majha House’s virtual session, Arjun talked about how he reconstructed his childhood experience of the events in 1984 and his later years in London.

“The narration is deeply personal as it accounts real life happenings during the time that I witnessed. I spent time with my maternal grandparents in Amritsar. Like an incident mentioned in book where I write about how we came across a young Sikh militant, who turned out to be a student of my nanaji. It also mentions my interactions with people, young Sikhs, who supported the Khalistan movement,” shared the author.

The book chronicles the impact of Operation Bluestar, assassination of Indira Gandhi and how it had an impact over the Sikh diaspora in contemporary terms. The story of a child, who becomes a witness to the 1984 violence on his visit to grandparents to how it shaped the perspective and life of that young boy, Arjun pens down the tragedy, personal loss, trauma and redemption through his protagonist.

The book released earlier this year and has been received well.

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