1232 km

 


Name :  1232 km
Author : Vinod Kapri
Year of Publication : 2022. 
Genre : Non-fiction, Contemporary India
Rating : *** (Three stars out of 5)

While the privileged India defeated the ennui of the 2020 COVID lockdown by scrolling down Social Media feeds with a half-eaten Swiggy-delivered Pizza in hand, there was another India on the roads running (or walking or cycling) away from the apathy of the Indian state to the temporary solace of their villages in the hinterlands of India. The author travels with one such group of seven migrant workers for over a week as they cycle from Ghaziabad, Delhi NCR to Saharsa, Bihar covering 1232 kilometres and more. The book is a poignant record of what happens when the entire State machinery goes missing in action. Deadly viruses and inefficient Governments are both equally damaging.

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