Anurag Jain's Blog
Friday, August 20, 2004

A Hanging: Much the same after 73 years?

Let me state at the outset that I am against death punishment. I know its a debatable issue but the subject of this post is not that debate.

The subject of this post is actually the striking similarity between real life and fiction. Amongst all authors, George Orwell especially (leave Nostradamus out of this, will ya!) seems to have had a knack of writing about things well ahead of their time. Things that would much later become either true or at least a matter of public debate. For instance, '1984' was actually written in 1948 and still remains one of the most powerful works of literature. '1984' has contributed to our day-to-day vocabulary in a very powerful way (e.g. 'Big Brother').

With this background, lemme tell you about my recent 'Orwellian experience'. Last week, I read a short essay called 'A Hanging' (alternate link) by Orwell. It almost feels like you are reading about the recent (14th August, 2004) hanging of a rape/murder convict Dhananjoy Chatterjee in Kolkata. The thing though is, George Orwell wrote this essay in 1931!

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