Book Launch - Death of a Moneylender October 6, 2009

Roli Books & Constitution Club celebrate the publication ofDeath of a Moneylender. A Book By Kota Neelima. A reading from the book by Sunit Tandon followed by Rakhshanda Jalil in conversation with the author. Book Sketch : Death of a moneylender - We have heard of farmers committing suicide till now. But this is different. This is the first murder of a moneylender. Do you understand the importance?' asks Seth, the assistant editor. 'If today they kill the moneylenders, tomorrow who will be next?' Falak, a young newspaper journalist from Delhi, is assigned to a remote village in south-central India where a moneylender is found dead, hung from a lamppost in front of his house by an entire village united against injustice. Competitive and ambitious, for Falak this is just another by-line on page one, a chance to get ahead of others. He is indifferent to professional scruples, unconcerned that the lack of a corrective conscience has cost him his relationship with Vani, a journalist from a rival newspaper. Falak's interest in the plight of farmers is peripheral. His commitment to fact is vague. His objective is to please the bosses in Delhi by following a set storyline, whatever it might be. Within hours of reaching the village, he is ready with the story; a villainous moneylender killed by long-suffering villagers. But Falak has also unearthed a disconcerting fact, that the moneylender was a kind-hearted, generous man who helped the poor. An easy prey, he seems to have been killed by a village determined to tame its moneylenders. Falak can see that the ploy had worked. The other moneylenders, politically well-connected and dangerous, are now intimidated by the villagers. While they try to buy peace by writing off outstanding loans, they are also planning retribution. A young farmer, Shambu appears to have master-minded the killing. Bhanu, the son of the dead moneylender, seems to be an accomplice. The village holds its secrets close and the journalists from Delhi fail to break through. The rain-swept plains of Indian countryside, the nostalgia of delicate sunrises and grandeur of symphonic silences are mixed with dark intrigue of death and deception, love and loss. Falak hates the villagers for committing the crime but also sympathizes with them. He hates the half-truth he reports, but covets the by-line it gets him. He is rescued from this twilight of dilemma by the truth about the death of the moneylender. The truth devastates him, transforms him. And ironically, it also makes him lie.

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