Those who have seen movies on this subject will know that this story deals with the same basic question — why should violence exist?

Our protagonist Puja is the eldest of eight schoolgirls on a tour of Delhi. When we first meet them, Sheetal, Ritika, Payal, Gauri, Jaya, Seema and Sangita are the typical giggly girls who keep teasing each other and don’t have a care in the world. After all, they have two teachers — Aruna Ma’am and Miss Simple — and their portly driver Kartar Singh to take care of them. But before they know it, the girls find themselves in the middle of the riots that erupted after the assasination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Rowdies of all other religions begin targeting Sikhs everywhere, they even grab any turban-wearing man on the road and beat him to pulp.
All this happens when both teachers step out of the jeep to shop. In a bid to drive off to safety, Kartar Singh zooms off with all the girls still in the jeep. But the men catch up with him and drag him out. Now, left on their own, the girls find a shelter in the empty House No. 19, but soon realise that danger is not very far away. They must use all their skill and brains to fend off their attackers and stay alive.

The Battle for No. 19 Ranjit Lal Puffin Books Pages 184, Price Rs 195

Before reading the book, you must understand the background. These riots in November 1984 had a history behind them. For three blood-filled days in June of that year, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian military to flush out Sikh militants from the holy shrine of Harimandir Sahib in Amritsar, Punjab. That period coincided with a major religious holiday for the Sikhs, and therefore there were large crowds thronging the shrine. After the operation, more than 500 civilians were reported dead. Most Sikhs blamed Indira Gandhi for the deaths and that led to her assasination.

Anti-Sikh riots broke out all over North India, but we know that communal riots are not very different from each other. They are based on prejudices against religion and are very bloody. Author Ranjit Lal does not sugar-coat the violence and presents it as real as it should be. As the story progresses, we find that the girls must fight back, or even kill to avoid being killed. Written in language that is as crisp as it is fast-paced, the story sees the girls first horrified at the violence, then accepting it as a weapon — be it with the bow and arrow that Puja adopts or the spear and sword that Sheetal brandishes. But till the end, the wise Puja maintains that if she had a choice, she would never have opted for violence against her attackers at all. That is what differentiates the girls from the madmen. What would you have done, had you been in their place?