PERSONAL HISTORY THE GHOSTS OF MRS. GANDHI By Amitav Ghosh July 9, 1995 The New Yorker, July 17,1995 P.35PERSONAL HISTORY about the author's experiences in New Delhi the day in 1984 that the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, was shot. The author was living in a part of New Delhi called Defence Colony and teaching at Delhi University. On the morning of October 31st, he took the bus to the university at about the same time Mrs. Gandhi was shot a few miles away. By the time he reached the campus, news had spread. The word was that she had been assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards, in revenge for her having sent troops to raid the Sikhs' Golden Temple of Amritsar earlier that year. After teaching his class, author left the university with his friend Hari Sen who lived in Safdarjang Enclave. Mobs had formed along the streets looking for Sikhs. A woman on their bus told a Sikh to crouch and hide; a mob surrounded the bus and the passengers said there were no Sikhs on it. The mobs were burning the Silch's businesses and houses, and burning them alive as well. Hindus and Muslims who would protect the Sikhs were also victims of the violence. Hari Sen's neighbors Mr. & Mrs. Bawa were Sikhs. Author and Hari went to the BawasO house to urge them to come over. As the mobs entered their street, the Bawas climbed over the back fence. Their Hindu cook stayed and guarded the house. Both houses were spared. The next morning author gathered at the compound of a relief agency where a protest against the violence had been organized. Author recalls passage by V. S. Naipaul about whether to join a protest or not. The organization of the Nagarik Ekta Manch, or Citizens’ Unity Front was created. The Front also produced the pamphlet entitled "Who Are the Guilty?",a searing indictment of the politicians who encouraged the riots and the police who allowed the rioters to have their way. The Bosnian writer Dzevad Karahasan, in an essay called "Literature and War" (published last year in his collection "Sarajevo, Exodus of a City"), makes a startling connection between modern literary aestheticism and the contemporary world’s indifference to violence. After the violence, author wrote the novel "The Shadow Lines." Author describes the difficulty he has had with writing about that day.