Of refreshing candour and unfettered courage, ‘Witness’ presents a fiery memoir of Sakshi Malik
Sakshi Malik’s memoir titled ‘Witness,’ co-authored by Jonathan Selvaraj, is the story of India’s only female Olympic medallist who also became one of the faces of arguably the biggest protest in Indian sports history.
That should, ideally, be enough for someone to pick up the book and read. However, there are sufficient examples of subjects being successful athletes with turbulent lives but their books not doing justice to the journeys. Often all they manage to tell the reader is the chronology of their career’s highlights, which, in most cases, can be found through a simple web search.
Malik, with the help of a seasoned journalist in Selvaraj, pours her heart out which successfully avoids the template and makes ‘Witness’ one of the finest autobiographies of all time.
Her story sheds light not only on the rich culture of wrestling in the nation but also points out the decades-long incompetence of the sport’s administrators in the country. The fact that seven Olympic medals for India have come in wrestling is a testament to the immense popularity of the sport and the talent the country possesses. The credit should, in fact, go to the hardworking coaches for the same, not the babus.
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Malik, in one of the initial chapters, mentions her aversion to confrontation. The sheer dichotomy plays one of the major themes in her memoir. Whether it was confronting her body image issues, her opponents on the mat, her parents before getting married or the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and its erstwhile president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, she elucidates each and every battle.
When Malik, along with Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, led the protest on the streets of the national capital against Brij Bhushan and WFI early last year, alleging sexual assault and financial mismanagement, it caught many by surprise. Malik mentions, in detail, how years of stress and trauma gave birth to this movement and the manner in which politics made cracks appear in the wall.
A book with an original and honest voice, ‘Witness’ provides fascinating insights into women’s wrestling in India, on and off the mat.
The hardcover, published by Juggernaut, is available in book stores and online on Amazon for Rs. 799.