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'The last heroes' book launch
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sambavi parthasarathy
5:52
Welcome to the live blog of 'The last heroes' book launch. This book is written by Palagummi Sainath and the book launch event is happening in the Mini Hall Music Academy, Royapettah (Chennai)
5:56
The veteran journalist talks about Captain Bhaav and the Satara government. He says how the British were the 'underground' government there. He says the way how history was written, it doesn't give any imperial struggle from  south, east and west. Rather it talks about the struggle in North.
"The way the book was put together is to show that independence was not a bunch of barristers from London" he says.
5:57
The journalist says that he has  tried to show in the book how ordinary people have been at forefront of independence.
5:58
His book also seeks to capture the role of women in freedom fighters, who have not been much spoken of in other literature except Parvathi Menon's book
5:59
"None of the stories are me writing an essay. They are speaking their story. I am just giving them context", says P.Sainath
6:00
The author introduces the 101-year-old freedom fighter Shankaraiah and the 98-year-old Nallakannu who weren't able to join the event today.
6:03
Though Shankaraiah couldn't join the event, his video message was shared. "Contribution of countless heroes or heroines of common people in India", says Shankaraiah in the recorded video message. He also shares his opinion about the current government in the message and says that we need to make our country democratic enough to empower peasants and common people.
6:08
Sainath shares a special feature of his book,"If you open it, go to the end of any story. You'll find a QR code. If you click there, you'll get a special thing in PARI- freedom fighter's gallery."
6:13
He recollects his interview with Mallu Swarajya in Hyderabad. She was a freedom fighter who was killing Rajakars with sling shot only when she was 13. When she was 16, she became the leader of all the dalams in her area of Warangal.  He shares how the 84-year-old lady had demonstrated the slingshot amid a thousand techies in an event in Hyderabad when he had asked her if slingshot was an effective combatting weapon.
6:15
He streams a video of his interview with Mallu Swarajya, who passed away this year. In the video, she speaks about Marxist teachings and her rebellions.
6:17
He quoted Swarajya's words, "The slingshot was my weapon. I fought for justice with it.  The slingshot was my weapon. You have laptops and mobiles, fight with it."
6:19
Aparna, a student of P Sainath's, welcomes the panelists of the day: N.Ram, former editor in chief of The Hindu, Shalini Dum Dum- a student from Loyola, Senthaliar-a PARI journalist and T.Samuel, a student.
6:20
N. Ram, the first speaker, says that he is not here to release the book. He quotes the famous writer R.K.arayanan who said a book has to be picked off the shelves not launched.
6:22
The former editor-in-chief talks about Sainath's works through the years- his fellowship with TOI, time bound articles, rural reportage and more.
6:23
He says that as a reporter, their first and foremost job is to capture the reality, the truth of it. N.Ram also talks about the journalist's first book-Everyone loves a good drought.
6:27
N.Ram speaks about the challenges Sainath had faced for writing this book- which was in making for 7 years. The challenge of discovery, techniques of investigation to bring out the story and political messages, challenge of verification and the time slipping away ('the youngest one in book was Mallu Swarajya, among the ones alive, youngest is 95 and oldest is 105', adds P.Sainath).
6:28
"It is not enough to get truth or reality. It has to be accessible. This gift, Sainath always had. ", says N.Ram when talking about the necessity for journalism to be accessible. He added that it is not enough that we have good content but it must be ensured that it should not be presented in an obscure manner.
6:30
"This is journalism which is finest, which has delved deep into history,"N.Ram says about the book.
6:31
He concludes by saying that the book deserves to be closely read and that he hopes young people read it and get a sense of freedom struggle.
6:33
"Each story breaks the image we have about an hero"says Aparna, the next panelists. "Fights for independence is not said by incidents but through lives of people whose names have not be recognised. The stories take us into homes, hamlets that rebelled Britishers with what they had."
6:34
She shares that it was the lack of recognition by the society towards these freedom fighters which moved her. She shares a few lines about Lakshmi, a freedom fighter who currently cleans other people's houses now for a living.
6:38
Shalini, a MA history student from Loyola, is the next panelist. She speaks about the book and the Dalit movement , Mallu Swarajya, Demati De-the tribal girl who had fought for the nation's freedom. She says how Birsa Munda is the only name which comes to our mind if we think about tribal freedom fighters, while so many of them have gone unnamed and unrecognised.
6:41
Samsera, the student activist from SFI, thanked the journalist and his comrade for the opportunity. He quotes a leader's advice which helped him when he was hesitant about his English, "English is foreign language,so you can kill it as much as you want it".
6:43
The student activist agrees that he has only read the specific chapters about Shankaraiah. He shares a few anecdotes of the freedom fighter which P.Sainath has written about in the book.
6:49
The panel is now open for questions. N.Ram sets the ball rolling and asks how he discovered these freedom fighters.
6:56
"I knew of great revolts which I read about in JNU history. I came to know about Alluri Sitaraman Raju. I realised Kattabomman was more than a legend", he shares how he first discovered these forgotten freedom fighters and his initiative in TOI regarding them. "All major rebellions against British started in rural areas", says Sainath pointing the 1857 mutiny it was not Sepoy but 'Sipahi' signifying the first major agrarian revolt against British.
6:57
He shares his experiences when he was verifying the revolts like the Kariar, forest revolts etc.
6:58
The panelist continue their questions regarding the veteran journalist's work, research and book.
6:59
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