Two decades after her debut with The God of Small Things, the book which won the Booker Prize, writer Arundhati Roy finally released her much-awaited second novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness on June 6, 2017. People waited with bated breath and why wouldn't they? Roy is the first Indian woman to have won the Booker Prize in 1997, her book had sold over eight million copies and catapulted her into becoming a literary star.
In her second book The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, the 59-year-old writes about people transversing through dark periods of Indian history like 2002 Godhra train burning, Kashmir insurgency and beyond.
Roy is also an open critic of the present government and recently, in a piece, the writer beseeched the Prime Minister of India to step down.
Worst disaster
In what is termed as the world's worst rail disaster, on June 6, 1981, a train travelling from Mansi to Saharsa was derailed and plunged into the Bagmati River in Bihar. Monsoon was upon us, the tracks were slippery plus the river was torrential which made rescue work next to impossible. As many as seven bogies were derailed and over 600 passengers were killed.
