The Black Book of 1975

Whoever said one should not let Whoever said one should not leted story has not read PK Sreenivasan's novel Midnight Knock.

- VIRAM ARA IBRAHIM

The book is a fictional account of the horrors of 1975 in the life of ordinary Indians, but, suffused as it is with facts, it could well be turned into a documentary on the Emergency that remains a blot on Indian democracy. The Emergency imposed by the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi stifled dissent, muzzled the free press and destroyed the lives of many ordinary Indians. One of those who survived to tell the tale is PK Sreenivasan.

The hero of Midnight Knock is Kapilan, a Dalit, born in a Kerela village, 30 kms away from the city that promised education, healthcare and the hope of a better life. Amidst the gloom and doom in the lives of Dalit families like the one he was born into, what gave Kapilan the will to fight for a better life were his parents. His father Dinakaran and his mother Neeliyamma made sure he goes to school even when the family could barely survive on the meagre wages earned as farm hands. The peasantlandlord binary in the village was skewed in favour of the land-owning class. But even as he toiled, Dinakaran was at the forefront of demanding better wages. It did not endear him to those he served but brought him close to communist leaders in the neighbouring village.