This is a poignant and honest memoir. It is witty, informative, and unapologetic. It is a memoir on how it is to be a Muslim in the post-9/11 world.
Canada has no official culture. It follows that there's no standard way of being Canadian, beyond obeying the law. Therefore, Toronto Star Editor, Haroon Siddiqui was able to succeed on his own terms.
Coming from India in 1967, he didn't do in Rome as some Romans expected him to do. He refused to forget his past. He didn't change his name, didn't dilute his dignity, didn't compromise his conscience or his dissident views.
He championed immigration and multi-culturalism when that was not popular. He upbraided media colleagues for being white-centric, Orientalist. He pioneered cross-cultural journalism, bridging divided communities.
Siddiqui insisted it was un-Canadian to use free speech as a license for hate speech. He is therefore opposed to the limitless American war on terror, the invasion of Iraq, and the long war on Afghanistan. He also denounced racism and bigotry, especially post-9/11.
In this book, Siddiqui shares some of these journalistic forays into the corridors of power, war zones, and cultural minefields. He also takes the reader along on his personal journey from British colonial India to the evolution of Canada as the only western nation where skin color is no longer a fault line.
I loved this book. I will be re-reading it over the years as one of the most inspiring memoirs I have read in many years.
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