There was almost no room to breathe at Rana Ayyub’s much awaited book launch on the Gujarat pogrom with everybody who’s somebody in Delhi making it. It ended up being the biggest event of the season
Mayank Austen Soofi
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here was so much room to breathe during the forgettable launch of Tavleen Singh’s book a few weeks ago at the India Habitat Certer. The veteran journalist with 233K followers on Twitter is a passionate devotee of the current regime and there were barely any people in the venue.
There was almost no room to breathe at Rana Ayyub’s memorable book launch. It ended up being the biggest event of the season.
One recent evening The Delhi Walla attended the unveiling of Ms Ayyub’s book Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up. The young journalist with mere 98.8 K followers on Twitter is a passionate critic of the current regime and the hall was filled beyond capacity. A long queue stretched outside the auditorium.
Inside, it was a scene straight out of a Bombay local. The elegant women in hand-woven saris had a hard time making their way through the leftist crowd–most men were unshaven. The hall was so packed that there was no way to watch the author in perfect convenience—her wildish hair looked like a bird sanctuary. Most of the attention on the stage was claimed by lawyer Indira Jaisingh who frowned through the evening. She looked like Indira Gandhi with a daughter-in-law trouble.
Even so, the beautiful people must be noticed. Journalist Saba Naqvi was in a red sari. Historian Zoya Hasan came in a salwar suit with a blue dupatta. Former East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit flaunted a diamond earring. TV news star Rajdeep Sardesai wore a pink shirt and an iPad.
Author Raghu Karnad looked quite solemn.
Ellen Barry of The New York Times was also spotted.
Arundhati Roy, too, was sighted. The novelist’s shoulders were scandalously bare (I’m not showing her photo).
Courtesy thedelhiwalla.com
Are on only Mr. Narendra Modiji is responsible for 2002 Gujarat riots pogrom? What role played by Mr. L.K.Advaniji a senior BJP leader of BJP? He was ready for Raj Dharma to resign from CM of Gujarat in 2002.
Who prevented him not to resign?
Wujood e Zan se tasweer e kainat men rang….. Chahe book gujrat program per hi q na hu.
Had hoped for a political eye on the book release or something related to the content, who cares who all attended the ceremony and especially what they wore. Such articles don’t need to be reposted, especially containing sentences like these:
“The novelist’s shoulders were scandalously bare (I’m not showing her photo).”
Roy is an amazing author and activists and if she or anyone else feels like showing their shoulders, it’s not a scandal at all. Every human has shoulders, we knew that before, nothing to be shocked about.