Aarshabharath Victorian
Samsakaram
‘ The voices of silenced’
Arathy Asok
Assistant Professor
Dept. of English
Govt. Victoria College
Palakkad
(Writter is the Staff editor of the magazine)
How does one summarize the emotions and thoughts one
has before deciding on the thematic thrust of a magazine.
In this case what remains clear was the unanimity with
which the decision was arrived at. No one had any doubt
that it had to problematize the times we were living in, it
had to make sense of what was happening and why. And
there was also the realization that whatever happened
around us in a wider nationalistic angle would find its
echoes in a smaller version around us. Therefore the
thrust was to move from the immediate to the general
and it was rewarding enough to find that the students
got into the subject with an alacrity that did justice to
the issue of the magazine. They also came to realize
that the world around is a replica of the world in the
immediate. Therefore issues of caste creed gender and
nationalism which were the core issues of the magazine
was what they could understand as happening inside
their campus, in the nearness of the air they breathed.
The focal story of the magazine was ‘njan dalithan” or “I
am Dalit” which stemmed from a discussion held by the
magazine committee inside the campus. The students
went on to do a survey among 100 or more students
who got admission through reservation and they did
a statistical analysis of the findings. The magazine
committee came to realize that caste marginalization’s
were states of mind that were nailed on by the system
in which we are bred and therefore would require
a conscious effort based on identity affirmations to
eradicate them. How does a campus relate itself to a
Dalit identity, why does a student quit the campus, what
are the mental pressures a student goes through in the
course of her study were some of the focal issues the
magazine committee looked deep into.
How the campus dealt with issues of gender was another
thematic thrust. Students ranged their observations
from being born a girl child to non-recognition of LGBT
identities to cultures of rape and menstrual taboos. One
major issue that burnt all over India was the politicized
campus. While politics was thought wrongly by the
popular imagination to mean anarchy and destruction
of public property, Indian campuses were awakening to
a new sensibility. Victoria could not also turn her face
away from the new dawn. Nationalism and its various
discourses found articulation through the interview
with Leena Manimekalia and the article of Kanaiyya
Kumar.
Stories articles and pictures that were put in the magazine
highlighted a campus that thought deeply.
Aarshabharatha Victorian Samsakaram thus spoke the
voices that were silenced and which history wanted to
silence. It rises above forces that try to divide in the
name of nation creed and colour.
Theyyam 9