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{{Use Indian English|date=October 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Rahul Pandita
| name = Rahul Pandita
| image_upright = https://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/speaker/rahul-pandita-3873
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1976|02|07}}<ref name="deduce1"/><ref name="deduce2"/>
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1976|02|05}}<ref name="deduce1"/><ref name="deduce2"/>
| birth_place = [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], India
| birth_place = [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], India
| nationality = Indian
| occupation = Journalist, Author
| nationality = Indian
| native_name =
| occupation = Journalist, author
| awards = International Red Cross award (2010)
| native_name =
| awards = International Red Cross award (2010)
}}
}}


'''Rahul Pandita''' ({{IPA-hi|raːɦʊl pŋɖɪt̪aː}}) is an Indian [[author]] and [[journalist]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/rahul-pandita/article5397869.ece|title=Rahul Pandita|work=The Hindu|date=28 November 2013|access-date=26 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://openthemagazine.com/special/will-the-milk-come-to-a-boil-in-jk/|title=Two days in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir}}</ref>
'''Rahul Pandita''' ({{IPA|hi|raːɦʊl pŋɖɪt̪aː}}) is an Indian author and journalist.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/rahul-pandita/article5397869.ece|title=Rahul Pandita|work=The Hindu|date=28 November 2013|access-date=26 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://openthemagazine.com/special/will-the-milk-come-to-a-boil-in-jk/|title=Two days in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir}}</ref>


==Early life and background==
==Early life==
At the age of 14, Rahul had to leave [[Kashmir Valley]] along with his family in January 1990 as part of the [[Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits]].<ref name="deduce1">{{cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/living-as-a-refugee-in-one-s-own-country/story-y0qXanNR4kx6RPxuczCcQP.html|title=30 years of Pandit exodus: Living as a refugee in one’s own country}}</ref><ref name="deduce2">{{cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/rahul-pandita/article5397869.ece|title=rahul pandita speaks}}</ref>
Rahul Pandita is a [[Kashmiri Pandits|Kashmiri Pandit]] born in the [[Kashmir Valley]].<ref>{{Cite web |author=Rahul Pandita |title=Tweet |date=21 January 2020 |url=https://twitter.com/rahulpandita/status/1219495570496032768 |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=Twitter |language=en}}</ref> In 1990, at the age of 14, he had to leave the Valley along with his family as part of the [[Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits]].<ref name="deduce1">{{cite news |author=Rahul Pandita |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/living-as-a-refugee-in-one-s-own-country/story-y0qXanNR4kx6RPxuczCcQP.html |title=30 years of Pandit exodus: Living as a refugee in one's own country|newspaper=Hindustan Times |date=17 January 2020}}</ref><ref name="deduce2">{{cite web|title=Rahul Pandita – Author profile |publisher=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/rahul-pandita/article5397869.ece}}</ref>


== Career ==
== Career ==
⚫
Pandita is the author of three best-selling and critically-acclaimed books: "Our Moon has Blood Clots: A memoir of a lost home in Kashmir" (Penguin Random House, 2013); "Hello, Bastar: The untold story of India's Maoist movement" (Westland, 2011), and "[https://www.amazon.in/Lover-Boy-Bahawalpur-Pulwama-Cracked/dp/9391165109 The Lover Boy of Bahawalpur]: How the Pulwama case was cracked (Juggernaut, 2021). He is one of the founding members of the much-acclaimed [[Open (Indian magazine)|''Open'' magazine]] and has also previously worked with the ''[[The Indian Express|Indian Express]]'' and the ''[[TV Today Network|TV Today]]'' group. He was also the Opinion and Special Stories Editor of ''[[The Hindu]]'', one of India's leading newspapers, which he quit citing frequent and childish interventions in edit pages by [[Malini Parthasarathy]], the owner-editor of the paper. He is a conflict-writer, who has reported extensively from war zones, including Iraq and Sri Lanka. His vast experience in reporting on India's [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Maoist insurgency]] has resulted in two books: ''Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement'' and ''The Absent State''.


⚫
Pandita is the author of the best-selling memoir on Kashmir, ''[[Our Moon Has Blood Clots]],'' covering the [[ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus]], which was described as the "most powerful non-fiction book of the year".<ref name="Narayan2014">{{cite journal|last1=Narayan|first1=Shyamala A.|year=2014|title=India|journal=The Journal of Commonwealth Literature|volume=49|issue=4|pages=535–567|doi=10.1177/0021989414553750|s2cid=220679984}}</ref>''<ref name="dna 2013">{{cite web |title=Book Review: 'Our Moon Has Blood Clots: The exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits' - Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis |website=dna |date=10 February 2013 |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/review-book-review-our-moon-has-blood-clots-the-exodus-of-the-kashmiri-pandits-1797521 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511085424/http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/review-book-review-our-moon-has-blood-clots-the-exodus-of-the-kashmiri-pandits-1797521 |archive-date=11 May 2018 |access-date=15 May 2018}}</ref> The book inspired many parts of the 2020 Hindi film [[Shikara (2020 film)|Shikara]].<ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/bollywood/shikara-movie-review-vidhu-vinod-chopras-account-of-kashmiri-pandit-exodus-is-strikingly-poetic-but-seldom-urgent-8014271.html|title=Shikara movie review: Vidhu Vinod Chopra's account of Kashmiri Pandit exodus is strikingly poetic but seldom urgent|last=Sharma|first=Devansh|date=2020-02-07|website=Firstpost|language=en |access-date=2020-02-07}}</ref>
=== Journalism career ===
⚫
Rahul Pandita's recent job was the Opinion and Special Stories editor of ''[[The Hindu]]'', one of India's leading newspapers.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/a-requiem-for-moral-coherence/article6055202.ece |title=A requiem for moral coherence|date=28 May 2014|newspaper=The Hindu|first=Rahul|last=Pandita|access-date=6 October 2019}}</ref> He quit ''The Hindu'' citing frequent and childish interventions in edit pages by [[Malini Parthasarathy]], the owner-editor of the paper. He was one of the founding members of the much-acclaimed [[Open (Indian magazine)|''Open'' magazine]] and has also previously worked with the ''[[The Indian Express|Indian Express]]'' and the ''[[TV Today Network|TV Today]]'' group. He is a conflict-writer, who has reported extensively from war zones, including Iraq and Sri Lanka. His vast experience in reporting on India's [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency|Maoist insurgency]] has resulted in two books: ''Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement'' and ''The Absent State''.


⚫
Pandita has worked as a [[war correspondent]], and is known for his journalistic dispatches from the war hit countries like [[Iraq]] and [[Sri Lanka]]. He has also reported from [[North-East]]ern India.<ref name="TAS">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHgnSgAACAAJ|title=The Absent State: Insurgency as an Excuse for Misgovernance|publisher=Hachette India (Local)|year=2010|isbn=978-93-50092-15-6|edition=illustrated|location=Gurgaon|oclc=636921104}}</ref> In 2009, he was given a rare opportunity to interview the Maoist supreme commander, [[Ganapathi (Maoist)|Ganapathi]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=We Shall Certainly Defeat the Government |url=http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/we-shall-certainly-defeat-the-government |author=Rahul Pandita |magazine=[[Open (Indian magazine)|Open]] |date=17 October 2009 |access-date=16 October 2013}}</ref>
⚫
Pandita is also the author of the best-selling memoir on Kashmir, ''[[Our Moon Has Blood Clots]],'' covering the [[ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus]], which was described as the "most powerful non-fiction book of the year''".<ref name="Narayan2014">{{cite journal|last1=Narayan|first1=Shyamala A.|year=2014|title=India|journal=The Journal of Commonwealth Literature|volume=49|issue=4|pages=535–567|doi=10.1177/0021989414553750|s2cid=220679984}}</ref>''<ref name="dna 2013">{{cite web |title=Book Review: 'Our Moon Has Blood Clots: The exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits' - Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis |website=dna |date=10 February 2013 |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/review-book-review-our-moon-has-blood-clots-the-exodus-of-the-kashmiri-pandits-1797521 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511085424/http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/review-book-review-our-moon-has-blood-clots-the-exodus-of-the-kashmiri-pandits-1797521 |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 May 2018 |access-date=15 May 2018}}</ref> The book inspired many parts of the 2020 Hindi film [[Shikara (2020 film)|Shikara]].<ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/bollywood/shikara-movie-review-vidhu-vinod-chopras-account-of-kashmiri-pandit-exodus-is-strikingly-poetic-but-seldom-urgent-8014271.html|title=Shikara movie review: Vidhu Vinod Chopra's account of Kashmiri Pandit exodus is strikingly poetic but seldom urgent- Entertainment News, Firstpost|last=Sharma|first=Devansh|date=2020-02-07|website=Firstpost|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-02-07}}</ref>


Pandita was also awarded the [https://www.newindiafoundation.org/fellows New India Fellowship]. In 2015, he was also named a Yale World Fellow.
⚫
Pandita has worked as a [[war correspondent]], and is known for his journalistic dispatches from the war hit countries like [[Iraq]] and [[Sri Lanka]]. However, in the recent years, his focal point has been the [[Maoism in India|Maoist movement]] in India's [[red corridor]].<ref name="RP-about me">{{cite web |title=about me |url=http://rahulpandita.com/about-me/ |publisher=rahulpandita.com |access-date=16 October 2013}}</ref> He has also reported from [[North-East]]ern India.<ref name="TAS">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHgnSgAACAAJ|title=The Absent State: Insurgency as an Excuse for Misgovernance|publisher=Hachette India (Local)|year=2010|isbn=978-93-50092-15-6|edition=illustrated|location=Gurgaon|oclc=636921104}}</ref> In 2009, he became only the third journalist to have interviewed the Maoist supreme commander, [[Ganapathi (Maoist)|Ganapathi]].<ref>{{Cite document |title=We Shall Certainly Defeat the Government – Somewhere in the impregnable jungles of Dandakaranya, the supreme commander of CPI (Maoist) spoke to Pandita on issues ranging from the Government's proposed anti-Naxal offensive to Islamist Jihadist movements |url=https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/visiting/rahulpandita |work=Rahul Pandita |publisher=[[OPEN (Indian magazine)|OPEN]] |location=Dandakaranya |date=17 October 2009 |access-date=16 October 2013}}</ref>

Pandita is currently writing a screenplay for a web series<ref>{{Cite news |title=Series on 2019 Pulwama attack in the works for SonyLIV, film-maker Onir to director it |work=The Economic Times |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/series-on-2019-pulwama-attack-in-the-works-for-sonyliv-film-maker-onir-to-director-it/articleshow/87127298.cms?from=mdr |access-date=2022-08-09}}</ref> for Sony Liv, based on his book on Pulwama, to be directed by the filmmaker Onir. It is supposed to be out by 2023.


==Works==
==Works==
⚫
*''The Absent State'' (2010)
⚫
*''Hello, Bastar'' (2011)
*''[[Our Moon Has Blood Clots]]'' (2013)
*''[[Our Moon Has Blood Clots]]'' (2013)
⚫
*''[[Hello, Bastar]]'' (2011)
⚫
*''The Absent State'' (2010)
*''[[The Lover Boy of Bahawalpur]]'' (2021)
*''[[The Lover Boy of Bahawalpur]]'' (2021)


=== Hello, Bastar ===
=== Hello, Bastar ===


The book covers the [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency]] in the [[Bastar district]] beginning the 1980s.<ref name="toi2">{{cite news|last=Sharma|first=Jyoti|date=19 July 2011|title='Hello Bastar' an untold story of India's Maoist movement|work=The Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Hello-Bastar-an-untold-story-of-Indias-Maoist-movement/articleshow/9285262.cms|access-date=23 November 2018}}</ref> The book includes several interviews and real life accounts and was published by Tranquebar.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Hello Bastar: The Untold Story Of Indias Maoist Movement|url=http://books.rediff.com/book/hello-bastar--the-untold-story-of-indias-maoist-movement/9789380658346|access-date=23 November 2018|work=Rediff.com}}</ref> He claimed to have worked on the subject for 12 years in a bid to differentiate between a terrorist and a naxal.<ref name="toi2" />
The book covers the [[Naxalite–Maoist insurgency]] in the [[Bastar district]] beginning the 1980s.<ref name="toi2">{{cite news|last=Sharma|first=Jyoti|date=19 July 2011|title='Hello Bastar' an untold story of India's Maoist movement|work=The Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Hello-Bastar-an-untold-story-of-Indias-Maoist-movement/articleshow/9285262.cms|access-date=23 November 2018}}</ref> The book includes several interviews and real life accounts and was published by Westland.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Hello Bastar: The Untold Story Of Indias Maoist Movement|url=http://books.rediff.com/book/hello-bastar--the-untold-story-of-indias-maoist-movement/9789380658346|access-date=23 November 2018|work=Rediff.com}}</ref>

;Reception

Jasodhara Banerjee of ''[[Forbes India]]'' felt that the book "leaves much unanswered, much unasked." Writing: What is starkly absent is the touch of his own experience of spending time in some of the most feared regions of the country."<ref name=":1">{{cite news|last=Banerjee|first=Jasodhara|date=7 September 2011|title=Book Review: Hello, Bastar|work=Forbes India|url=http://www.forbesindia.com/article/appraisals/book-review-hello-bastar/28182/1|access-date=23 November 2018}}</ref> Freny Manecksha of ''[[Daily News and Analysis]]'' called it a "hastily produced and written" book that "suffers from a lack of focus and clarity of thought."<ref name=":3">{{cite news|last=Manecksha|first=Freny|date=4 September 2011|title=Book review: 'Hello Bastar: The Untold Story Of India's Maoist Movement'|work=Daily News and Analysis|url=https://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-book-review-hello-bastar-the-untold-story-of-india-s-maoist-movement-1582961|access-date=23 November 2018}}</ref> Akash Banerjee of ''[[India Today]]'' wrote: "Hard-hitting, well researched and penned with a lot of passion, this book has all the ingredients of a fictional socio-political thriller; ambition, deceit, love, revenge and nationalism, except that it's not."<ref name=":4">{{cite news|last=Banerjee|first=Akash|date=29 July 2011|title=Review of Hello, Bastar|work=India Today|url=http://blogs.intoday.in/headlinestoday/Review-of-Hello-Bastar-62438.html|access-date=23 November 2018}}</ref>


== Awards ==
== Awards ==
Pandita was awarded the ''International Red Cross award'' for his reportage from the Maoist-affected areas in central and east India, in 2010.<ref name="RP-about me" /> In 2015, he was named a [[Yale World Fellow]].<ref name="Sharma 2015">{{cite web|last=Sharma|first=Betwa|date=18 April 2015|title=Two Indians Named 2015 Yale World Fellows In US|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/04/18/2015-yale-world-fellows_n_7091230.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126212543/https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/04/18/2015-yale-world-fellows_n_7091230.html|archive-date=26 November 2015|access-date=15 May 2018|website=HuffPost India}}</ref>
Pandita was awarded the ''International Red Cross award'' for his reportage from the Maoist-affected areas in central and east India, in 2010.<ref name="RP-about me">{{cite web |title=about me |url=http://rahulpandita.com/about-me/ |access-date=16 October 2013 |publisher=rahulpandita.com}}</ref> In 2015, he was named a [[Yale World Fellow]].<ref name="Sharma 2015">{{cite web|last=Sharma|first=Betwa|date=18 April 2015|title=Two Indians Named 2015 Yale World Fellows In US|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/04/18/2015-yale-world-fellows_n_7091230.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126212543/https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/04/18/2015-yale-world-fellows_n_7091230.html|archive-date=26 November 2015|access-date=15 May 2018|website=HuffPost India}}</ref>


== References ==
== References ==
Line 47: Line 46:


== External links ==
== External links ==
* {{official}}
* {{official website}}
* [http://www.openthemagazine.com/category/author/rahul-pandita Rahul Pandita's articles in OPEN], ''[[OPEN (Indian magazine)|OPEN]]''
* [http://www.openthemagazine.com/category/author/rahul-pandita Rahul Pandita's articles in OPEN], ''[[OPEN (Indian magazine)|OPEN]]''
* [http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/just-books/just-books-rahul-pandita-on-our-moon-has-blood-clots/263149 Just Books: Rahul Pandita on 'Our Moon Has Blood Clots'], ''[[NDTV]]''
* [http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/just-books/just-books-rahul-pandita-on-our-moon-has-blood-clots/263149 Just Books: Rahul Pandita on 'Our Moon Has Blood Clots'], ''[[NDTV]]''
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[[Category:Indian political journalists]]
[[Category:Indian political journalists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:1976 births]]
[[Category:Writers about the Kashmir conflict]]

Latest revision as of 21:27, 1 September 2024

Rahul Pandita
Born (1976-02-05) 5 February 1976 (age 48)[1][2]
Jammu and Kashmir, India
NationalityIndian
Occupation(s)Journalist, author
AwardsInternational Red Cross award (2010)

Rahul Pandita (Hindi pronunciation: [raːɦʊl pŋɖɪt̪aː]) is an Indian author and journalist.[3][4]

Early life

[edit]

Rahul Pandita is a Kashmiri Pandit born in the Kashmir Valley.[5] In 1990, at the age of 14, he had to leave the Valley along with his family as part of the Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.[1][2]

Career

[edit]

Pandita is the author of three best-selling and critically-acclaimed books: "Our Moon has Blood Clots: A memoir of a lost home in Kashmir" (Penguin Random House, 2013); "Hello, Bastar: The untold story of India's Maoist movement" (Westland, 2011), and "The Lover Boy of Bahawalpur: How the Pulwama case was cracked (Juggernaut, 2021). He is one of the founding members of the much-acclaimed Open magazine and has also previously worked with the Indian Express and the TV Today group. He was also the Opinion and Special Stories Editor of The Hindu, one of India's leading newspapers, which he quit citing frequent and childish interventions in edit pages by Malini Parthasarathy, the owner-editor of the paper. He is a conflict-writer, who has reported extensively from war zones, including Iraq and Sri Lanka. His vast experience in reporting on India's Maoist insurgency has resulted in two books: Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement and The Absent State.

Pandita is the author of the best-selling memoir on Kashmir, Our Moon Has Blood Clots, covering the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus, which was described as the "most powerful non-fiction book of the year".[6][7] The book inspired many parts of the 2020 Hindi film Shikara.[8]

Pandita has worked as a war correspondent, and is known for his journalistic dispatches from the war hit countries like Iraq and Sri Lanka. He has also reported from North-Eastern India.[9] In 2009, he was given a rare opportunity to interview the Maoist supreme commander, Ganapathi.[10]

Pandita was also awarded the New India Fellowship. In 2015, he was also named a Yale World Fellow.

Pandita is currently writing a screenplay for a web series[11] for Sony Liv, based on his book on Pulwama, to be directed by the filmmaker Onir. It is supposed to be out by 2023.

Works

[edit]

Hello, Bastar

[edit]

The book covers the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency in the Bastar district beginning the 1980s.[12] The book includes several interviews and real life accounts and was published by Westland.[13]

Awards

[edit]

Pandita was awarded the International Red Cross award for his reportage from the Maoist-affected areas in central and east India, in 2010.[14] In 2015, he was named a Yale World Fellow.[15]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Rahul Pandita (17 January 2020). "30 years of Pandit exodus: Living as a refugee in one's own country". Hindustan Times.
  2. ^ a b "Rahul Pandita – Author profile". The Hindu.
  3. ^ "Rahul Pandita". The Hindu. 28 November 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Two days in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir".
  5. ^ Rahul Pandita (21 January 2020). "Tweet". Twitter. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  6. ^ Narayan, Shyamala A. (2014). "India". The Journal of Commonwealth Literature. 49 (4): 535–567. doi:10.1177/0021989414553750. S2CID 220679984.
  7. ^ "Book Review: 'Our Moon Has Blood Clots: The exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits' - Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 10 February 2013. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  8. ^ Sharma, Devansh (7 February 2020). "Shikara movie review: Vidhu Vinod Chopra's account of Kashmiri Pandit exodus is strikingly poetic but seldom urgent". Firstpost. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  9. ^ The Absent State: Insurgency as an Excuse for Misgovernance (illustrated ed.). Gurgaon: Hachette India (Local). 2010. ISBN 978-93-50092-15-6. OCLC 636921104.
  10. ^ Rahul Pandita (17 October 2009). "We Shall Certainly Defeat the Government". Open. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  11. ^ "Series on 2019 Pulwama attack in the works for SonyLIV, film-maker Onir to director it". The Economic Times. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  12. ^ Sharma, Jyoti (19 July 2011). "'Hello Bastar' an untold story of India's Maoist movement". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  13. ^ "Hello Bastar: The Untold Story Of Indias Maoist Movement". Rediff.com. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  14. ^ "about me". rahulpandita.com. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  15. ^ Sharma, Betwa (18 April 2015). "Two Indians Named 2015 Yale World Fellows In US". HuffPost India. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
[edit]
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