[Reader-list] Andaman Diaries: An Island Journey with Pankaj Sekhsaria, Date: 22nd June, 2015, Time: 1830

[Kabir Khan]

Andaman Diaries: An Island Journey with Pankaj Sekhsaria, Date: 22nd June,
2015, Time: 1830 <https://www.facebook.com/events/657862517682135/>

Andaman Diaries: An Island Journey with Pankaj Sekhsaria
*“…The fate of the Jarawa, as far as he could see, had been sealed and he
wondered if there was anything he could do about it. All he had learnt of
the Jarawa was only from the fringes of their lives, society and land- from
the people occupying these fringes and the changing landscape around their
forests. This fringe was now threatening to overwhelm the core; the
original people were on their way to become the had-beens…”*
Ever the aimless drifter, Harish finds the anchor his life needs in a
chance encounter with members of the ancient – and threatened – Jarawa
community: the ‘original people’ of the Andaman Islands and its tropical
rainforests. As he observes the slow but sure destruction of everything the
Jarawa require for their survival, Harish is moved by a need to understand,
to do something. His unlikely friend and partner on this quest is Uncle
Pame, a seventy-year old Karen boatman whose father was brought to the
islands from Burma by the British in the 1920s. The islands also bring him
to Seema, a ‘local born’ – a descendant of the convicts who were lodged in
the infamous Cellular Jail of Port Blair. Seema has seen the world, but
unlike most educated islanders of her generation, she has decided to return
home. Harish’s earnestness, his fascination and growing love for the
islands, their shared attempt to understand the Jarawa and the loss of her
own first love, all draw Seema closer to Harish. As many things seem to
fall in place and parallel journeys converge, an unknown contender appears:
the giant tsunami of December 2004. The Last Wave is a story of lost loves,
but also of a culture, a community, ecology poised on the sharp edge of
time and history.

We will be reading “The Last Wave- an Island Novel” with the author Pankaj
Sekhsaria. He will also be sharing his reflections, notes of his travels
and work in Andaman and Nicobar islands. The reading and discussion are
open to all. The copies of the novel will be available for sale.






*Date: 22nd June, 2015-06-16 Time: 18:30Venue: Radio Active, Jain
University, 1/1-1 Atria Towers, Palace Road, Bangalore ( Land Mark:
Opposite Maharani College, Next to Atria Hotel) *

About the author: Pankaj Sekhsaria is a researcher, writer, photographer,
campaigner and academic. He is a member of the environmental action group
Kalpavriksh and has worked extensively in the field of environment and
wildlife conservation with a particular focus on the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands.
He has been writing regularly on related issues for the English media since
1998, and is the author of two non-fiction books based on the islands:
Troubled Islands (2003), a collection of his journalist writings, and The
Jarawa Tribal Reserve Dossier: Cultural and biological diversity in the
Andaman islands’ (Joint Editor, 2010). He lives in Hyderabad with his wife
and five-year-old son. He is currently completing his doctoral dissertation
in Science and Technology Studies from Maastricht University, the
Netherlands.
Contact: Kabir Khan +919663427315 or Marwan Abubaker +919945686274
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Regards

कबीर/کبیر
Indian Youth Climate Network
Phone:00-91-96-63-427-315
email: kabir at iycn.in

http://www.iycn.in
Follow me on:
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<http://maleccha.wordpress.com/> & Twitter <https://twitter.com/Maleccha>

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