NEW DELHI: A book, to be published later this year, will provide a contemporary understanding of India and Pakistan and their thoughts about one another, written together by an Indian and a Pakistani.
Titled “The Truth About Neighbours”, the book is co-authored by journalist Hindol Sengupta and Pakistani lawyer Huma Ijaz Zaman.
Beginning the discussion with cliches about a common love for food, cricket and Bollywood, the authors will take the readers beyond what they see as the superficiality of a lot of people-to-people dialogue.
The book will talk about all the things Indians and Pakistanis avoid talking to one another about.
“It will challenge readers to answer some poignant questions: Can Indians and Pakistanis talk to each other openly and without caution about the difficult, even dangerous, subjects? Can they go beyond the brief outlines of the history textbooks? Can they be honest about their historical icons?” publisher Penguin Random House India said.
Zaman says the book “explores a people-to-people narrative rather than the narrative the governments are putting forward, which clearly has not worked for both nations”.
According to Sengupta, it often seems that the India Pakistan conversation is trapped in misplaced advertisement-like exuberance or hate propaganda and “we want to break free from this dichotomy in this book and create the atmosphere and knowledge among the public about how a realistic peace can be achieved between the two countries”.
Milee Ashwarya, Publisher, Ebury Publishing and Vintage Publishing, Penguin Random House India hopes that “The Truth About Neighbours” will be a catalyst for more open dialogue between the people of the two countries who have been intertwined by history, geography and geo-politics, and help find a way forward for a better future.
Priya Doraswamy from Lotus Lane Literary terms it as a no-holds-barred political dialogue between two friends, two citizens, from India and Pakistan, discussing how peace can be achieved with “real talk” between contentious neighbours. PTI
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