Book Review: Raminder Kaur. 2013. Atomic Mumbai: Living with the Radiance of a Thousand Suns
| DOI | 10.1177/2347797014536639 |
| Author | Susanne Kranz |
| Published date | 01 August 2014 |
| Date | 01 August 2014 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews
Raminder Kaur. 2013. Atomic Mumbai: Living with the Radiance of a
Thousand Suns. New Delhi, India: Routledge. 304 pp. ISBN:978-0-
415-65593-4 (HB), ` 895
‘What is there to defend in case of an atomic war? I think I wouldn’t even have
time to find a cozy place at the cemetery.’1 The words of activist Traudl Kulikowsky
in a letter refusing military service for women, submitted to the East German
government in 1983 when the stationing of Soviet and the US missiles on East
and West German territory increased fears of escalating cold war violence and an
atomic war. Peace, human rights and environmentalist groups emerged challeng-
ing peace politics propagated by the government. Peace prayers and meetings
took place during which children drew pictures, created art work and wrote letters
to their respective governments to advocate peace, disarmament and non-
proliferation. Messages resemble children’s artwork for a peace festival in
Mumbai in 2006 as shown by Raminder Kaur in Atomic Mumbai. One needs to
wonder if anything has changed. Context may vary but content remains the same
and as pertinent as ever. Yet it is frightening how easily atomic lingo and imagery
has entered our lives, not just in India but everywhere, and how blissfully we
accept, ignore and/or embrace terminology and metaphors without questioning or
seemingly understanding its wider implications.
Kaur’s ethnographic and cultural approach to an ‘atomic’ history of Mumbai is
a much-needed and thoroughly eye-opening analysis of the immersion and nor-
malization of the nuclear bomb into every-day life and the broader social and
political arena, a nuclearization of contemporary India/Mumbai so to speak. One
of the strengths of this anthropological study is the variety of views represented,
ranging from nuclear scientists to anti-nuclear activists to ordinary people living
in the city including children, auto drivers, secretaries and dhaba walas. The
stories and experiences of the people is what adds flavour and sets this work apart
from others. Additionally, these lived experiences are further interwoven with
popular culture and the representation of India’s nuclear history and develop-
ments in films, advertisements, comic books and documentaries. The choice of
the city of Mumbai is an interesting and seemingly underestimated one even in the
minds of many Mumbaikars themselves. The city often portrayed as segregated
Journal of Asian Security
and International Affairs
1(2) 223–233
2014 SAGE Publications India
Private Limited
SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London,
New Delhi, Singapore,
Washington DC
DOI: 10.1177/2347797014536639
http://aia.sagepub.com
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