It was a tough call,but luckily things fell in place and I did not have to regret my decision, beamed Annie Zaidi,whose new book Known Turf was released at the Gomti Nagar outlet of Universal Booksellers on weekend. The

author has worked for the Mumbai tabloid Mid Day and Frontline magazine and the book is an all-in-a-days-work kind of compilation of her experiences.

While on the job covering the Dera controversy in Punjab,I stumbled upon the immense folklore revolving around Bulleh Shah and his murshid (mentor) Inayat Shah and I have retold many of those stories here, says Zaidi,whose book is slickly eclectic without rambling. There is clarity of purpose and one chapter gives way to another seamlessly,without jarring the reader once.

I met young volunteers of the RSS and Bajrang Dal when they were preparing to storm Ayodhya and asked them if they had read the Gita,the Ramayan,or for that matter any religious text or scripture. When they answered in negative,I asked them what made them so zealous about a religious cause if there perspective or knowledge of religion was inept and they said they just wanted to do something. This is the irony. This youthful urge to do something gets exploited by people with nefarious designs, said Zaidi,whose family hails from Lucknow,but was educated in Jaipur. But she has etched her memories related to the Rovers eatery in Hazratganj and a Dalibagh candy shop in a poignant piece.

I can never stop thinking and feeling like a journalist and I am concerned when frivolous happenings and people make it to Page 1. I strongly feel issues like food security need to be run like effective campaigns by the print media which has the strongest power to mould opinions, says the author.