The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Exploring new avenues in tackling AIDS

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Friday, Aug 15, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Exploring new avenues in tackling AIDS

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: Leaving aside sterile statistics about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is an anthology written largely by fiction writers bringing together 16 stories about AIDS from across the country.

“AIDSutra” was released in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai on Wednesday by one writer each who has contributed to the book in each of these cities.

Aman Sethi, journalist with Frontline, whose book will be published next year, highlighted his journey with truck drivers on National Highway 31 while launching the book in Bangalore at Crossword Bookstore, Indiranagar.

Covering the distance between Siliguri and Patna, Mr. Sethi travelled with Sanjay Kumar and Kamlesh, both of his subjects who allowed him a near-lived experience of their lives.

“We managed to fix this up with the help of a support network with Project Kavach, which works exclusively with truck drivers,” said Mr. Sethi.

Talking about his experience on the highway, he said the 450 km he travelled was not teeming with excitement all the way, but it was in his participation of their every day life that he found his story. Present at the launch were three people who lent their stories to the writers as material for the book.

Also included in the book are literary heavyweights such as Salman Rushdie, who spent a day with the hijras of Mumbai; Kiran Desai who writes about her interaction with the sex workers from the east coast of Andhra Pradesh and Vikram Seth who writes about the real story behind a long ago poem. Among others are writer Siddhartha Deb, journalist and writer Sonia Faleiro, Jaspreet Singh and Nikita Lalwani.

“The aim of the book was to have Indian authors talking about an Indian epidemic to Indians,” said Hari Menon of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Some of the issues that were discussed were Mr. Sethi’s role as a journalist in giving a different kind of treatment to the story. “It could provide a lead on new ways to write about health,” said Mr. Sethi. Adding that the book does not romanticise any story, he hoped it would gesture towards new possibilities while talking about AIDS.

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