Book - 26, A Free Man

A Free Man (2012)

by

Aman Sethi

Book Read: 25-27 August 2015

Note Written: 09 September 2015

Mir lent me this book saying that since I am from a Journalism/Media background, I might find it interesting. It was, in so many ways. The narrative is told from the point of view of the author, a young journalist, Aman Sethi himself, looking for stories among the migrant labourers of Delhi, mainly at an area called Bara Tooti, a haven of people of all sorts looking for work in the vast metropolis. The main focus of the narrative is on a man called Ashraf and some of his 'friends'. He doesn't have proper friends, Ashraf says; he likes to see himself as someone out of all human bonds such as family, friendship etc. 

The lives of migrant labourers are something close to my heart- I think about what could their stories be, what could their future be- I used to form small stories in my mind when I saw labourers standing early in the morning in the streets of Kochi and Kerala in general, with the recent surge of migrant labourers from across India, in search of more money from daily labour. Kerala has become to these workers what the Middle East (the Gulf) has been and become to Keralites. The influx of this new breed of labourers, who are more alien to Keralites than the previous Tamil labourers, alien in terms of language, culture and ways, has unraveled a new cultural space in the state. The migration has opened up very many prejudices and attitudes which are built-in the conservative society of Kerala. 'A Free Man; helped me reflect on all of that and gave me interesting thoughts on the notions of 'freedom', 'independence', and 'working for the sake of work' through Ashraf. A great read it was. Thank you Mir.