An India We Can Be Hopeful Of?

Rohini Malur reviews Atulya Misra’s the oxygen manifesto: a battle for the environment and finds herself hopeful though slightly underwhelmed by the narrative

- Rohini Malur

The Oxygen Manifesto is not for capturing power but to initiate direct action with or without getting into power.

”Atulya Misra’s The Oxygen Manifesto: A Battle for the Environment begins with an IPS officer at the end of his career searching to find himself in the Andaman Islands. Peace and purpose elude him – he is drawn into a social world of socialising and activity. One day, he sees a middle-aged school teacher who seems familiar. The narrative leads you to believe the schoolteacher might be a criminal – the officer stalks the schoolteacher, follows him, finds out his schedule until he is certain that the schoolteacher is in fact Ravi Chandra Bose.

What sort of dastardly criminal is Ravi Chandra Bose; that an IPS officer will follow him, stalk him, without regard to his privacy or dignity? Why, he’s not a criminal at all, but instead a famous grassroots organiser!