The Contentious Crusader

Her maiden work of fiction took the world by storm and has since then, entered the curriculum of many prestigious universities across the world including my alma mater (The University of Western Ontario) and turned her into a literary genius in her native country. However, her foray into what's commonly referred to as political activism has met with mixed results- while it has re-established her credentials as an engaging writer, it has also put her motives and credibility to assess political and diplomatic problems of the world to question. Her seemingly simplistic solutions to problems such as the war on Iraq and Afganistan and India's own nuclear program give away her fictional roots and a romanticism which seems to have been relegated to the periphery by what appears to be an inexplicable urge of hers to display her admirable histrionics in the "real world"- surely what earned her the Man Booker Prize will stand her in good stead in this unfamiliar territory?
Among her works of non-fiction is The Algebra of Infinite Justice, which is an admirable and brave (at a time when most public sentiments were in the favor of the United States in the wake of the heinous attacks on the World Trade Center, raising a voice against the American stand of invading Afganistan surely took some courage) comment on the war that the US-troops had ravaged on Afganistan. To say it was beautifully lyrical and heart-wrenching would be an understatement. "How does one destroy destruction"- a rhetoric that has befuddled the numerous people who had decided to side with the US in its "war on terror" and become the catch-phrase of those of us who were with her in her condemnation of the vindictive war on Afganistan, is but one of the several intoxicating word-cocktails she's whipped up for the reader in the afore-mentioned article. Another such work is on India's nuclear tests that were conducted in 1998. This once she seemed to be swimming against the tide by voicing a different tune, a dangerous act for a writer, particularly in a country such as India where people have made a vocation of publicly and violently protesting against anything deemed worthy and Ms. Roy's fame would ensure she made the grade. Whereas the rest of the country was in a self-congratulatory mood, with arguable patriotic fervour being the order of the day, she questioned our jubilation and hitherto suppressed wish at having a nuclear arsenal comparable to Uncle Sam's (admittedly we were jumping the gun in our jubilation, having conveniently relegated the fact that these were just initial tests and we had no stockpile of weapons to boast of as yet, to the sidelines). We were after all, in spite of much maligning the policies of the United States, dreaming of usurping her.
The motives behind Ms. Roy's new found vocation might be contentious, but her fiery, passionate writing assures I have an enjoyable time as a reader. And maybe, at the end of the day, in spite of all the tags she's been gifted with by the media, she is really just a writer chasing a story. And, I for one am thankful, for her riveting works have helped make my idle afternoons enjoyable!! With the sun upon us (for a change) and Ms. Roy's book in another hand, I seem to have found my piece of heaven.