The passage of time leading to the act of waiting or to be in a particular space without movement could be considered as waiting in both physical and mental space. Being in exile or feeling as if in exile is not just a political or social act but also an individual act. Those waiting or in exile go beyond an aspect of time- frame. The reviews in the second issue look at the interplay between waiting and exile from nine diverse vantage points. They explore how an overwhelming experience of nostalgia transcends physical tangible realities to provide spaces for emancipation via the idioms of revolution, longing and undeterred hope. Waiting is unpacked not just as a passive act of human life but also as an active experience of life that is waiting to happen. Exile can also be a ‘state of waiting’ for acceptance; for those rebels who once broke away from the norms upon which our society is based. In their exile, they hope this doomed world would change for good and they would be spotted as its flag-bearer. In this issue we have books that engage with the questions of exile and waiting, some taking us to the intimate lives of the revolutionaries and migrants, their mothers and home. Some reviews here speak of the waiting against social injustices at the state, structural and personal levels. Still others speak of the spectre of war and prison and how it haunts those in exile.Time and memory is reflected through the litmus of waiting and exile.
Click on the book covers below to read the respective book reviews.
TheDaak review 