Sriram Ananth

Across the Sabarmati Sriram Ananth

March 2002. The north Indian state of Gujarat has just seen the worst episode of bloodletting in independent India at the hands of Hindu fascist groups. Jayram Krishnan has a led a privileged life as an upper-caste Hindu in the south Indian city of Bangalore. He impulsively travels up north to Gujarat, to volunteer in a human rights movement that has sprung up to combat the violence. He goes to Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat, and discovers the Sabarmati - a river running through the city, ghettoizing it; acting as more than just a physical divide. Carnage on one side; sterile affluence on the other. It soon runs through Jayram too, and he discovers more about himself than he might be able to endure. He starts leading a dual life on either side of the river, and across the Sabarmati he slowly starts to find answers that he's still discovering questions for.