The Oxford Bookstore hosted the book launch event for author Paromita Bhattacharya. The author is a clinical psychologist, and has been a practitioner of psychology specially on the correctional facility inmates. The book Scars Beneath the Silence, published by Exceller Books is a real-life story of a scammer and a housewife, and the psyche of both the scammer, and the scammed. Invited for the book launch were guests Alokananda Roy, Actor, Classical dancer, and activist, Shahanshah Mirza, IRS, author, Heritage activist, Julie Mehta, Indo-Canadian author, Professor, and Literary Critic, Jonaki Mukherjee, Educator, counsellor, and the host for the evening was Saheli Mitra, Editor, author, MD Tales Talks Walks.
Alokananda Roy shared her experience of how she has been trying to bring the inmates back to the mainstream through art, she said, “Initially girls were really excited, but the b oys were skeptical about dance. They thought, here comes a crazy woman in her late 50s who wants to make us dance. Probably they thought that the had to dance like a woman. But I started martial dance with them. So, the kung fu. karate ideas brought them together. Then we switched to folk dances. From the second or third month we had 55 members to this g r o up . So, I tried to channelize their energy. People call it dance therapy, but dance was only the medium. It was the emotional connection with all of them.
I have seen people giving the inmates standing ovations, and cheers after performances. That just shows me there is no evil inherent in people. People need second chances, and this is why books like Scars Beneath the Silence is important. People are too quick to judge, but given the right space, every individual can flourish.” The book has been edited by Saheli Mitra, and moderating the event, Mitra had very deep questions about psyche, and shared, “I generally do not stay up at night. But with this book, I could not sleep. The sheer magnanimity of the horrors, and the traumas one faces in prison, and I have all the original documents of it, made me restless.”
The author of the book Paromita Bhattacharya said, “I wanted to write the stories which start at the bedroom and end in the balcony. The stories no one really pays attention to. This is one such story. The female protagonist, and the African scammer are both characters who are from well-to-do families, yet one is trapped and the other keeps draining people in the name of love. There are distinct lacks on the part of the 40-something woman who is lured in the name of love and extorted money from. She is educated, she has children and a husband, yet she craves the attention her long distance husband cannot provide.” Shahanshah Mirza on being asked about fraudsters said, “I was posted in a godforsaken place called Hilly in North Bengal region.
It is still relatively unknown today but it is very important as a border security zone as smugglers come through there. Once we apprehended two men, one from Australia and one from Austria. They had met somewhere in Singapore, and were smuggling in some hundred gold biscuits into India. So out of curiosity, I asked them how easy it was to make a passport. They told me to give a photo of mine, and they could make it in no time. Like prostitution, fraudsters have been present since the beginning, and every time we think of a new mechanism, a new control, they are always one step ahead of us.”
The book dives into the psychology of a common person, sharing how neglect, often unintentional, causes more harm than one can imagine. People can abandon all their social securities, just for the sake of getting the attention they think they deserve. Julie Mehta spoke on the importance of agency for women, “My parents, and my family were so strong, and I always am grateful that they taught me this. I never depended on a husband to find my self-worth. My husband is successful in his own right, but that has never hindered my process, neither has there been a competition between us. The absent husband of the protagonist in the book, is away to secure a better lifestyle for the family, but there is a distinct void in the wife’s life.
This void compels her to find solace in a scammer. Even when she knows she is being scammed, she keeps on the act because she is getting the undivided attention of the fraud.” The book is psychological to say the least, but it more importantly shows the human side of criminals. It shows that humans are not inherently good or evil. They are just incompetent. Jonaki Mukherjee elaborated on how the formative years of a child makes or breaks them, “I am a family therapist. I can say with confidence that just giving birth does not make you a mother. Birthing is the biological process, but humans need the longest period of time to be nurtured and cared for.
Studies now show that the prefrontal cortex develops till the age of 25, that means the neglect, the abandonment, and the reckless violence a child faces stays with them forever. This in turn creates trauma response behaviour in their adult lives. The protagonist in the book is acting out the same behaviour she faced as a child. She needs to validate her existence through the attention of outsiders.” The book launch received a full house audience on a weekday. Justified was the turn up because such books are important, and they bring on further discussions about criminality, morality, and second chances for people who have been incarcerated once.