The chant of Azadi! Urdu for Freedom -is the slogan of the freedom struggle in Kashmir against what the Kashmiris see as the Indian Occupation. Ironically, it also became the chant of millions on the streets of India against the project of Hindu nationalism. Even as Arundhati Roy began to ask what lay between these two calls for freedom chasm or a bridge?-the streets fell silent. Not only in India but all over the world. Covid-19 brought with it another, more terrible, understanding of Azadi, making nonsense of international borders, incarcerating whole populations, and bringing the modern world to a halt like nothing else ever could. In this series of electrifying essays, Arundhati Roy challenges us to reflect on the meaning of freedom in a world of growing authoritarianism. The essays include meditations on language, public as well as private, and on the role of fiction and alternative imaginations in these disturbing times. The pandemic, Roy says, is a portal between one world and another. For all the illness and devastation it has left in its wake, it is an invitation to the human race, an opportunity, to imagine another world.
About Writer:
Arundhati Roy was born on 24 November 1961, She is an Indian author, best known for her novel, The God of Small Things (1997), which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997. Roy is also a political activist involved in human rights.
Roy who has written popular books include Power Politics (2002), Public Power in the Age of Empire (2004), Broken Republic: Three Essays (2011), Walking with the Comrades (2011), Kashmir: The Case for Freedom (2011), Azadi: Freedom, Fascism, Fiction (2020) & others.
About Translator:
Sardar Bharro was born on February 1, 1999 in the village Mubarak Buriro near Moro. He is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Mokhi Publication, apart from that he is also a columnist, storyteller, poet and translator. He is also the translator of Arundhati Roy's book Freedom.
Sardar Bharro is also the author of Jalawatan Lurk (2021), October Inqlab Aie Balshwaik Hikmat Amliyon (2022), Insani Shaor Ji Irtaqa (2023) and Azadi (Freedom, Fascism, Fiction (2023).
Name: Azadi
Writer: Arundhati Roy
Translated by: Sardar Buriro
Book No: 05
Published by: Mokhi Publication
