An Ode to India’s Changing Landscapes: Book Review of “Marginlands” by Arati Kumar-Rao
<p>Arati Kumar-Rao’s <em>Marginlands: Indian Landscapes on the Brink</em>, recently shortlisted for both the Tata Lit Live! Award and the Attagalatta Prize for 2023, opens in lands that resemble the colour of caramel. Chattar Singh and other inhabitants have mastered the art of survival in the Thar Desert. They can discern hints of moisture in dunes, they can locate water and build <em>beris </em>(percolation wells) and make sure they do not overuse it. These desert dwellers ‘lack’ any written documentation or technology like Google Maps; their sole knowledge repository is the land itself. They are one with the land. But as change seems inevitable, years later the once beautiful landscape has turned dry, barren, cracked and haunting. The inhabitants themselves now barely recognize the lands, as the next generation will their heritage. The people are left to mourn the death of a culture, as their heritage and knowledge fade into oblivion.</p>
<p><a href="https://thebiblioraptor.medium.com/an-ode-to-indias-changing-landscapes-book-review-of-marginlands-by-arati-kumar-rao-c5352491ecf6"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>