And the letters of Rona Wilson

Wilson Jacobrsquos memory began to fade around the time he turned 83 in 2020 He forgot his son Rona Wilson was arrested on June 6 2018 booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for fomenting the BhimaKoregaon violence and denied his liberty since then Wilson did not have any recollection that the entire Neendakaramdasha picturesque urban panchayat 10 km away from Kollam city Keralamdashseemed to have turned up at his house on June 78 in solidarityWilson took to repeatedly asking why Rona had not visited him for a while His family thought it was pointless retelling him the happenings of the last two years And when they whooped in joy at a top digital forensic analyst firmrsquos disclosure in February 2021 that documents were planted on Ronarsquos laptop including a letter suggesting a plan to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wilson did not fathom its significanceNeendakara had then already judged Rona innocentAnd so when Wilson died on August 18 2021 the mourning at their 150yearold house diminished a little as Rona was granted bail for 14 days to attend the 30th day mass held for the deceased Uncles and auntsmdashone of whom had a recurring nightmare of Rona being tortured in police custodymdashtheir children and grandchildren and mates from school and college days poured in And because they knew jails serve unpalatable food they swept aside their sorrow to feed Rona beef and fish and he in turn cooked mutton curry for them When it was time to leave Neendakara each of his cousins wrote a message of love for himldquoPlease convey to all of them that their thoughtshellipwould definitely give me strength to think speak and feel the language of loverdquo Rona wrote to the family from Mumbairsquos Taloja JailIt is through letters that Rona expresses his thoughts about the outside world from which he has been summarily shut out He reviews the books he reads at times turning philosophicalRona found Edward Snowdenrsquos Permanent Record a ldquobeautifully written bookrdquo It is easy to discern a hint of wistfulness in this observation of his ldquoSnowdenrsquos experience is a glowing example that even from a heavily indoctrinatedhellipsystem like the elite American intelligence service people with a reflexive mind can emergerdquo Ah let us not try to answer the question Why has Indiarsquos surveillance community not thrown up a whistleblowerHe rates as brilliant Philip Drayrsquos At the Hands of Persons Unknown The Lynching of Black America To Indians indifferent to lynching in India Rona reminds that ldquothis practice developed as a form of vigilantismrdquo and ldquoit was used against the blacks in the USrdquo Substitute Muslims for blacks and India for the US to better appreciate Ronarsquos letter Citing a luminary of Keralarsquos Catholic Church who claimed ldquolove jihadrdquo is a reality in Kerala Rona declared ldquoThis is very reactionary and stupidrdquo Rona is just the activist the India outside of jail needsOne of Ronarsquos letters begins ldquoIt has been searing hot and humid here The heat and humidity doubles down in the night making it difficult for one to sleeprdquo But he does not despair of himself Citing statistics such as 3000 instances of wild forest fires in India over the last two months he discusses climate change Rona laments ldquoThe present dominant value system of greed and accumulation cannot find a solution to this lifethreatening catastropherdquoHe dubs ldquoabsurd and ridiculousrdquo the Modi governmentrsquos rejection of the World Health Organizationrsquos report on excess deaths in India during the two COVID waves As for the Central governmentrsquos claims regarding Indiarsquos economic growth Rona argues ldquohellipThe ruling party in cahoots with a section of the big business have totally monopolised the production and dissemination of informationmdashwith added emphasis onhellipfake informationrdquo Hey Rona we are with you on thatAbout living in jail he quotes from The Autobiography of Malcolm X ldquoIn the hectic pace of the world today there is no time for meditation or for deep thought A prisoner has timehellipI would put prison second to college as the best place for a man to go if he needs to do some thinkingrdquoRona seems to have taken Malcolm Xrsquos advice to heart His eclectic reading list can inspire awe I felt intimidated by titles such as David F Greenbergrsquos Crime and Capitalism Readings in Marxist Criminology Martyn Hammersleyrsquos Taking Sides in Social Research as well as his Methodology Who needs it Thomas S Kuhnrsquos The Road Since Structure The list also comprises books relatively accessible and novels including those in the genre of detective fiction Those who obsess about rewriting history textbooks will fear RonaSome may say Ronarsquos compulsive reading habit is his way of tackling his own fear of the future In one letter he writes ldquoAll fears are essentially about things we avoid confrontinghellip The more we avoid it the morehellipwe keep building our assumptions about it without even trying to understand itrdquo Rona has confronted and overcome his fears the reason he sounds so calm and sanguine in his lettersThe writer is a senior journalistSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper