My name is many a Khan ... and beyond

A fresh successor to Azad Essa’s first book — Zuma’s Bastards (2010) is The Moslems Are Coming: Encounters with a desktop terrorist. The book is a collection of journalistic pieces by a South African blogger of Indian origin, written during his multinational study programmes in India, South Africa and Germany. The daring title shakes up the reader initially, but as we go inside, Azad makes it comfortable for the reader. This book doesn’t restrict itself to Muslim affairs, but talks about countries where citizens face the issue of identity crisis and discrimination on the basis of colour.

These are first-hand experiences of Azad while on his assignments. Also noteworthy is the way this book analyses the Kashmir conflict and its impact on the local residents. The issues of Kashmiri pandits who fled from the valley in the early 90s and the aftermath of their displacements have also been etched out remarkably. Azad talks about the the sense of insecurity among people in Kashmir — how the state’s youth has been made a victim of enforced disappearance. Kashmir is described aptly as a “Blind Spot”. The Moslems... is a strong reflection of global problems and how we can make changes within.