When examining a novel based on a specific historical context, it is often difficult to separate fiction from fact, truth from artistic license. The outrage that greeted Kiran Desai's Inheritance of Loss over the presentation of the Nepali diaspora in Darjeeling, for instance, or the angry reactions over the portrayal of Bangladeshis in Monica Ali's Brick Lane are notable cases in point. The same problems arise in Revolution Highway, a novel steeped in recent history.
Dilip Simeon's new fiction work – his first – brings to life the social scenario of the late 1960s and early 1970s in India, tracing the origins and the trajectory of the Maoist uprising. In 1967, in the newly formed Communist Party of India (Marxist)-ruled West Bengal, a struggle for land under the slogan Land to the tiller arose in Naxalbari, near Siliguri. While opposed by the state government and the CPI (M), this struggle inspired radical elements within the party to launch similar struggles in other parts of India. Two years later, the radicals launched a new party, the CPI (Marxist-Leninist), while the broader movement continued to be referred to as the Naxalbari andolan, attracting youths from across the country, including those from among the elite.
By the mid-1970s, in the face of severe repression, raw strategic and tactical formulations (especially the 'annihilation' line, which involved the physical elimination of class enemies) and internal dissension, the movement withered into a mass of splinter groups, each with a small area of influence. Simeon's central narrative ends in December 1971, and the odd references treat the movement as finished. However, the Naxalite movement in fact resurfaced after the Emergency was lifted, when many leaders and activists were freed. Thereafter, the movements led by them spread in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and, later, into the central Adivasi belt extending into districts in Maharashtra, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
Against this roiling backdrop the author unveils the coming-of-age stories of a group of college students from Delhi, their political and personal involvements. These stories, effective even when unabashedly nostalgic, recall the days of youth and hope, during which innocence leads many to give of themselves far beyond what age and bitter experience would have allowed. They also depict the easy comradeship that is forged in chance encounters among people who have shared concerns that go beyond the self.