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(After 16 long years, Manipur’s Iron Lady declared that she will end her fast protesting AFSPA on 9 August. Irom Sharmila – an epitome of grit and dedication – is likely to now enter politics.
As her decision marks a turning point in her life, The Quint revisits a conversation with senior journalist Anubha Bhonsle, who spent years following Irom Sharmila’s struggle. The following article was first published on 12 January 2016, shortly after Bhonsle’s book on Manipur and Irom Sharmila was released.)
Body my house
my horse my hound
what will I do
when you are fallen
– May Swenson, ‘Question’
What are heroes made of?
The canvas of their existence must obviously be larger than life. Their eyes should shine with steely resolve, the mouth set into lines of firmness. A noble brow must be the facade behind which lie bulletproof convictions. They should be half phantom, half legend – untouchable.
Heroes don’t hurt.
Except, what if they do?
Journalist Anubha Bhonsle’s book Mother, Where’s My Country: Looking for Light in the Darkness of Manipur is the tale of one such hero. The book, a result of nearly a decade spent researching a land riven by state-sponsored violence and insurgency, is the tale of many individual lives, with their miseries, defiance and acts of courage, but the luminous centre of it is unmistakably Irom Sharmila.
In a chat with The Quint, Bhonsle opens up about her long-term association with the ‘Iron Lady of Manipur’ and her fifteen-year-long hunger strike, and we find out that true heroism is all-too-human.
Mother, Where’s My Country sheds some light on the Iroms’ little-known familial details. Originally a large family with multiple siblings and a single matriarch, the Iroms’ have paid a heavy price for their resistance. Hassled by the police and the army and under constant threat because of their association with Sharmila, most of the siblings have willingly forfeited contact.
Singhajit, Sharmila’s elder brother, alone in putting his own domestic life secondary to the cause, is the primary mobiliser of the movement but an alleged lack of transparency in the use of Sharmila’s prize funds has put a strain on their relationship.
Sharmila’s relationship with her mother is, in some ways, more complex.
In the book, Bhonsle mentions that the two haven’t seen each other since Sharmila began the fast in 2006 – Sharmila out of fear that her mother’s heartache might weaken her resolve, and Sakhi because she can’t confront the pain of her child. Even so, Sakhi has been, for many years now, preparing a rice-water concoction for Sharmila to wash her hair with and sending it to jail through Singhajit.
The only time the two can be said to have had a meeting of any sort is when Sakhi had to be hospitalised in the same facility as Sharmila, who, worried, sneaked into her room at night. On glimpsing her mother’s peacefully sleeping form, however, Sharmila stole away without saying a word.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)