'AIDS Sutra'

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'AIDS Sutra'

Jan 2009

Speakers: Sunil Gangopadhyay, Mukul Kesavan, Sonia Faleiro, Nikita Lalwani, Siddharth Sanghvi, William Dalrymple

AIDS Sutra: Untold Stories From India (2008) is a collection essays by distinguished authors, addressing the problem of AIDS in India. The AIDS epidemic in India is different to the one in Africa; in India it affects more specific groups of people, namely drug addicts, sex workers, and homosexuals. These people are often marginalised and abused in their communities. The aim of the book is to draw attention to this, and relieve the stigma that accompanies AIDS sufferers in India.

In this video, six contributors to the book talk to Penny Richards about their chapters, discuss relevant issues, and field questions from the audience. After a brief introduction, each author gives a summary of their chapter, from Sunil Gangopadhyay's discussion of his social work in Sonagachi (Asia's largest red-light district, in Calcutta), to William Dalrymple's research of, and time with, devadasis. The panel then discuss various aspects of AIDS in India, including how language is intertwined in the stories of many individuals infected with AIDS, from the abusive language aimed at them from other parts of society, to the sex worker who writes poems to record her tragic experiences.

This video was kindly provided by The DSC Jaipur Literature Festival

Sunil Gangopadhyay

Poet and author
Mukul Kesavan

Author
Sonia Faleiro

Author and journalist
Nikita Lalwani

Author
Siddharth Sanghvi

Author
William Dalrymple

Travel writer and historian who has lived in Delhi for 25 years