It is the last dash of spring before the heat of summer sets in on Delhi. The sky is blue—even in the most polluted city in the world—and the burst of red on a silk cotton tree in bloom reminds you that you have to hold on to hope with every breath.
G.N. Saibaba, in an ironed blue shirt, his veshti spotless white, running his hands over his wheelchair, is proof that hope is resilient. He is in an isolation room in a crowded ward at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The former English professor at Delhi University has spent about a decade in the Nagpur Central Jail; he was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for having Maoist links. On March 5, the Bombay High Court acquitted him.
His release came two days after his 33th wedding anniversary. This was the longest he had been apart from his wife. “Earlier, even on foreign trips, I would Skype her,” he says, as Vasantha comes in with a flask of hot tea. Saibaba’s battle to prove his innocence was fuelled by the sheer determination of his wife. It was she who spent every second of the 10 years fighting, outside, while he was locked in. It is a story of hanging on to hope, but it is also a love story, one that played out in almost silence for a decade.
Even when they could write—his first letter took months to arrive—they were restricted by language. “We could not write in our mother tongue (they were barred from communicating in Telugu),” she says. “I had to write in either Hindi or English. Even in mulaqat (jail visits), we could not use our own language. What could I convey in a foreign language?”
This story is from the April 07, 2024 edition of THE WEEK India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 07, 2024 edition of THE WEEK India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
There Is A Wind Blowing Against The BJP, And It Will Only Pick Up Speed
Interview - Akhilesh Yadav, Former Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh
Between hospital and home
Transitional care centres can add a lot to India's health care system
EFFORT VS EFFECT
The government's attempts to ensure quality drugs is evident, but how well new policies can be monitored on the ground remains to be seen
A way to let go of fear
Accepting the use of adult diapers is a journey with various stages-denial, concealment, rejection and reluctance
Mandeeps & a miracle
Two strangers, one deadly disease and an act of kindness. How Mandeep Mann saved Mandeep Singh, an acute leukaemia patient, by donating his stem cells
The A, B, C of cosmetic surgery
Between eight to 10 lakh cosmetic surgeries happen in India every year. Who is an ideal candidate, and what are the risks and results you can expect?
Vaccines and meningitis
In sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east, and encompassing the northern part of Nigeria, there exists a region known as the African Meningitis Belt (AMB).
Celebrating diversity and inclusivity
As Indians battle it out in our nation's 18th general election, it is again time for voters to reflect on the \"Idea of India\"-or rather, on two duelling ideas of India that are now before us and between which the nation must choose at the ballot box.
Defendant: an Hermès handbag
When Hermès was hit with a class-action lawsuit last month for \"antitrust\" activities, it didn't see it coming. Most of the luxury world has all eyes on this suit, filed by two interested consumers who claim they were denied a purchase, and whether it would go to trial.
A legacy, bound
Amal Allana's biography of her father, Ebrahim Alkazi, is as much personal as it is historical