Book Review: The Death Script
Book Title: The Death Script: Dreams and Delusions in Naxal Country
Author: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India
Format: Paperback
Pages: 280
Blurb: From 2011 to 2015, Ashutosh Bhardwaj lived in India’s ‘red corridor’, and made several trips thereafter, reporting on the Maoists, on the state’s atrocities, and on lives caught in the crossfire.
In The Death Script, he writes of his time there, of the various men and women he meets from both sides of the conflict, bringing home with astonishing power the human cost of such a battle. Narrated in multiple voices, the book is a creative biography of Dandakaranya that combines the rigour of journalism, the intimacy of a diary, the musings of a travelogue, and the craft of a novel.
Through the prism of the Maoist insurgency, Bhardwaj meditates on larger questions of violence and betrayal, sin and redemption, and what it means to live through and write about such experiences – making The Death Script one of the most significant works of non-fiction to be published in recent times.
Rating: 4/5
Review:
This book would provide the readers with a bird-eye view of the red corridor. I live in a state where we have also experienced Naxal attacks and faced issues with Naxal activities. The last activity I recall fresh is when they derailed Gyaneshwari express near to Bengal border. I had to go for my exams, and the Naxals blew off the rail tracks. I had witnessed the rail tracks near Jhargram (West Bengal) were covered in bleaching powder to cover the smell of corpses. The situation of journalists is quite different from the ordinary man’s problem. They put their lives at risk for their jobs. Ashutosh Bhardwaj reports stories while he continued living in the red corridor covering stories amidst bullet fires and witnessing the death from close. The Red Corridor is the region in the eastern, central, and southern parts of India that experiences a considerable Naxalite–Maoist insurgency.
He mentioned, “In Bastar, the hunt is for the dead, not for the living.” Any journalist who reported from Bastar would know the statistics of jawans dying in the ambush with Naxals. The author has described the lives of Maoists – he has drawn perspectives for readers providing detailed versions of crossfire between the Maoists and the State. The writing style has been commendable in the book. I have read few other books on Maoists, but I would like to rate this book on top of the stack. There are limited books that people read on Naxals. I would recommend this book to everyone who is trying the non-fiction genre. I haven’t provided any names of Naxal leaders in the review; since readers won’t be familiar with those names. I would recommend grabbing this book and read about Naxal operations.
Some quotes from the book:
All of you thought yourselves storytellers who had come there in search of the last tale of your lives
War is not fought on the battlefield. It takes place on the chessboard of your mind
A bullet is never cruel or unjust; so are words
Some novels enter your life without anticipation or notice, like the voice of forgotten ancestors, yet at a juncture when you need them the most
The tales of your betrayals were going to be recorded on the leaves of the mahua tree, the eternal signpost of this forest
Thank you HarperCollins India for the review copy 
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