Naxals are in the news. I have a story on Naxals to share. From years ago.The Naxalbari movement, named after a remote village in north Bengal, began in 1967 when police fired on a gathering of tribal peasants demanding land reforms.The episode sparked a blaze which, fuelled by the incendiary teachings of Mao about armed revolt, spread like a wildfire across the country, and made global headlines.Poet and writer Dom Moraes came to Calcutta to do an article on Naxals for The New Yorker magazine. I was with JS magazine and the editor, Desmond, tasked me with finding a Naxal for Dom.How did one go about finding a Naxal, a self-professed member of an underground movement? Could one put an ad in the Personal Column of The Statesman newspaper, “Wanted: A bona fide fully accredited Naxal, caste and gender no bar. Brokers, please excuse.”?Somehow that didn’t sound like a solution. I spread the word on the grapevine that I was in search of a Naxal. Finally, someone who knew someone who knew someone else who was known to another person, found a Naxal willing to be interviewed.The interview was arranged in the JS office. Dom arrived, toting a tape recorder. A photographer was in attendance. Desmond and I hovered anxiously in the wings.The interviewee walked in, a bespectacled youth with an incipient moustache. Dom switched on the tape recorder and asked the interviewee about his political philosophy. “Kill, kill, kill!” said the interviewee. And got up and walked out. The tape whirred in silence. The interview was over. In seven seconds.“How am I supposed to write 8,000 words for The New Yorker based on that?” asked Dom. No one had an answer. Was my Naxal dimagi (smart) or un-dimagi (unsmart)? I don’t know. But he out-dimagied (outsmarted) Dom, Desmond and me.
Disclaimer: Views expressed above are the author’s own.