Irom Sarmila, Fragrance of Peace

Irom Sarmila, a political and civil rights activist, journalist and poet, has been on a hunger strike since 4 November 2000 demanding the withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (henceforth AFSPA), a draconian law that allows the security forces unrestricted and unaccounted powers in areas that are declared “disturbed”. Under the AFSPA, the army is “allowed” to arrest, search and even shoot to kill based on mere suspicion that it is necessary to do so to “maintain public order”.

The Act was first applied to the north-eastern states of Assam and Manipur in 1958, and subsequently amended in 1972 to extend to all the seven states in north-east India — Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. The enforcement of the AFSPA has resulted in innumerable incidents of enforced “disappearances”, arbitrary detention, torture, rape and looting by security personnel. (Read more about the AFSPA at the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre.)

The Manipuri people have protested, demonstrated and petitioned against the AFSPA, with the support of civil society groups, political parties and human rights group, both Indian and international. Sarmila’s unique battle for peace has become a powerful symbol for all those engaged in fighting for peace in the region. She began her protest ten years ago after 10 civilians were gunned down in Malom by the army. Taken into custody and released every twelve months by the state for attempting suicide, she is being force fed to keep her alive.

Zubaan has published a collection of Irom Sarmila’s poems called Fragrance of Peace, which has been translated into English from Meiteilon (Manipuri). A compilation of twelve poems, the volume “provides a moving account of the underbelly of one woman’s lone struggle for peace” (from the blurb). The book was to be released in Imphal during the 10th anniversary of her hunger fast for the repeal of the AFSPA, but permission to do so was denied.

You can support Sarmila’s campaign by buying copies of her book since all proceeds from its sales will go towards it.

Buy Fragrance of Peace
Price: Rs. 125 (+Rs. 25 for postage).

Do pass on the message.

The dead camel and other stories of love

I recently read and enjoyed a fresh and lovely collecion of short stories by Parvati Sharma.Parvati Sharma draws us with deft strokes into the everyday lives and loves of urban Indian characters.


Her approach is engaging, humorous and humane, as she lifts their quilts to reveal intimate secrets or point at romantic canoodlings in the kitchen in the opposite flat with a conspiratorial wink. As a group of young partygoers in the story, The Dead Camel, put forth in small talk, “Fiction is what real life isn’t… it stabs at the truth of the human condition…”

Love crops up in various forms and unexpected places, binding this collection of short stories. Love may fade, but memories of past loves crop up and help to make sense of the present.

Re: Elections 2004 the narrator Meera discusses with her landlord ‘Uncle’ and ‘Aunty’ the differences and parallels between the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 and the more recent violence in Godhra, memories of which continue to haunt Indians. Meanwhile, Meera remembers with longing a former girlfriend, a Muslim, long after their relationship has died. Read my complete review published in Deccan Herald

Riddle reviews and press

The amazing adventures of Rishabh the rat and Shashee the spider are making news far and wide. Here are some links:

The Hindu : "A delightful and entertaining peep into the parallel universe of pests, the novel features the old city like you’ve never seen it." Read the complete interview/review in The Hindu

The Hindu says: "Riddle of the Seventh Stone keeps you hooked. You laugh as the kids foil Ajji's attempts to get rid of the pests. You sympathise with Rishab's struggles with geometry. Monideepa Sahu's portrayal of the kids and their interactions rings true and her language flows easily... Pick this one up for a great read." Read the full review here in The Hindu

Ranjana Kaul says in The Book Review: "Riddle of the Seventh Stone is an engaging book with unlikely protagonists drawn from the world of vermin and insects, a world which humans generally tend to ignore or treat with disgust and repulsion. The book straddles these two antithetical yet interdependent worlds with ease ... It is the author's ability to bring each character to life and make him or her an individual which sets this book apart." Read the full review in The Book Review

Reviewed at Saffrontree by Harini Gopalaswamy Srinivasan, talented author of Gind (Puffin) and The Smile of Vanuvati (Tulika)

Ace fantasy author Payal Dhar reviews Riddle in writeside.net

interview/review in Unboxed Writers

Riddle selected as Telegraph paperback pickings

Author Ramendra Kumar in Bolokids.com

Mummy knows best review

review in Deccan Herald

Riddle in Bangalore Mirror

The Hindu, Hyderabad Printpick

Singapore based author and journalist Zafar Anjum on Riddle

Hansda SS reviews Riddle

review in Bookrack

A Rainbow Feast

I just received a lovely new surprise. My short story, Flowers and Paper Boats, in among the 25 stories selected out of over 150 entries from all over Asia for A Rainbow Feast: New Asian Stories.
This collection is selected and edited by Prof Mohammad A. Quayum of International Islamic University Malaysia and authorof 20 books.
This book is a collection of 25 original short stories by writers from Australia, Bangladesh, Guyana, India, japan, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, UAE, the UK, USA and Vietnam.
PUBLISHER: Marshall Cavendish Editions, Singapore

The Internet is an amazing world. I'm now exchanging warm messages with Prof Quayum, and find myself in the company of writer friends Damyanti Ghosh (Singapore) and Abha Iyengar (New Delhi, India). The net has brought us all together from different corners of the world, facilitated a meeting of minds. So what if we can't meet physically.

Riddle bangalore launch

Dear readers ,

Please do make it next saturday at 5 pm to reliance timeout, cunningham road for the launch of my new fantasy adventure novel for children.
please pass on the message to any young friends who may be interested.


about the book
Riddle of the Seventh Stone.

publisher:Zubaan books

THE BOOK:

Rishabh the rat and Shashee the spider are quite happy with the way they are: rummaging around in Venkat Thata’s wonderful, musty, dusty, rare herb shop in the heart of Bangalore. Until, that is, they stumble upon a magical powder and find themselves transformed into human children.

It’s not easy being a kid! There’s school and homework and wearing clothes and – yuk! – having to use soap… but even worse, their home is under threat from an evil moneylender known as the Shark.

Can Rishabh solve the cryptic clues that lead to King Kempe Gowda’s fabulous treasure before the Shark can get to it? Will the vermin survive Ajji’s herbal pesticide attack? Will Shashee be able to spin her way out of this tangled web of intrigue?

With the help off other children, friendly cockroaches, cheeky mosquitoes and a very Big Bandicoot, they set out of prove that no problem is too big even for the smallest of creatures.


THE REVIEWS:

“These are exciting times for children, with fiction such as Monideepa Sahu’s Riddle of the Seventh Stone — a unique take on ordinary events and creatures that we take so much for granted, things that get extraordinary in her gifted hands.” —Shreekumar Varma

“The author’s light and airy prose makes this book a delight to read for children and adults alike. She has a fine ear for dialogue and… conversations flow freely and fast….
A cracking good adventure tale.” —Shrabonti Bagchi, DNA

“A delightful tale…The fun and the excitement are enhanced by the spirited participation of an army of children, “friendly cockroaches”, “cheeky mosquitoes”, a Big Bandicoot and a troop of rodents…The illustrations by Pooja Pottenkulam complement Sahu’s limpid prose.” --The Telegraph


details of the book and the launch/reading.

Date: Oct 9th,Saturday

Time: 5 PM

Place: Reliance Timeout, Cunningham Road, Bangalore

Thanks and regards,

Monideepa

check out Zubaan Books

how I got a novel published

Yes, Riddle of the Seventh Stone is a complete novel, 170 odd pages long. And writing it wasn't child's play at all. and yes, a novel for young readers was as tough to write and polish as any fiction I've written for adults. It takes as much imagination and hard work. Only the focus is different.

Dark, mysterious forces are at work in the alternate universe of Indian writing in English for youngadults. These subversive forces drew me into uncharted territory when I flouted the diktats of sanity to work on a fantasy-adventure novel for youngsters. My approach was impractical from the start.Read my detailed account published in
DNA

Riddle

My son and I made some of our own sketches for Riddle, which are shared here. These do NOT appear in the book, but were drawn by us for pure fun.

Illustrator Pooja Pottenkulam has lent life to the final product with her own lively illustrations. She's taken great care and read the book thoroughly. At times, I felt that she had captured with her drawings exactly what I had in mind while writing the story. Read the book and see for yourself.

Meanwhile here are some of our own amateur sketches for time pass :-)Never seen before, and never to be seen again. Don't you wish you were there?

Riddle's journey

From my side, I get the impression that it is difficult to get a first book published in any genre in India. Literary fiction, poetry, chidlrens fiction, non fiction, all have their challenges. I recently interacted with a national award winning film critic, Mr. M.K. Raghavendra, who has had four books on films published by OUP and Harper Collins, and he too said that his first book took many years to get published. He began writing it in 2000, and the book saw publication in 2008.

In my own case, I began this novel (yes, its a full length novel, 174 pages long) in 2002. Any long work of fiction or non fiction takes years to write, revise and polish.I swapped critiques of entrie novels with other writers. That itself was a lot of work, but it did give me fesh insights and ideas for improvement.

In Feb 2008, I entered this manuscript anonymously in the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival Open Book Pitch, where it 'won' the nod of approval from Zubaan Books.

From then on, there were a series of revisions, exchange of ideas between me and Ms. Anita Roy, the Commissioning Editor of Young Zubaan on phone and e-mails. She patiently did much hand-holding and gave priceless advice to give the book that much needed final polish.

The contract was awarded in 2008 end.

The book is now published in August 2010.

From this point, I'm told that the book will take a month or more to reach bookstores all over the country. On line bookstores may of course be stocking up much sooner.I've heard that distribution and sales is another huge hurdle that many first timers face.

My baby is now leaving my hands and setting out into the big world. If it strikes a chord in the hearts of young readers (and oh yes, their parents and the young at heart) it will be my greatest reward.

riddle of the seventh stone

My own first book is published and is on its way to bookstores throughout the country. This is the final lap of a long and difficult journey. Writing a novel, rewriting and polishing it to make it the best it can be, is in itself an arduous project.

Kashmir, a beautiful valley in turmoil

I recently read and enjoyed Kashmir Blues, a novel by Urmilla Deshpande.
Kashmir Blues takes in its expansive narrative sweep the characters’ lives from southern California to the seedy streets of Mumbai, to the charmed circles of India’s rich and powerful, and to Kashmir, strife-torn vale of guns and flowers. Insurgency, socio-political unrest, smuggling, drugs, espionage and conflict cast their shadows. Yet this is a story told with deep compassion. Even the most potentially evil characters can startle by revealing positive human and humane facets. As the author says, “I don’t think either sapphires in my book or diamonds in West Africa are the basis of strife. Nor is religious fundamentalism. It is the inequitable distribution of resources, structural poverty, that sends people into conflict and civil war. Institutionalised injustice.”

Read the complete review cum author interview in

Sunday Herald

surfing through time

This morning while net-surfing, I chanced upon a personal essay which was published in 2006. Its about SMS lingo, which was an issue with many then, and continues to be. So in four years, have we become more cryptic-monosyllabic communicators in SMS code? Has language in its traditional form degenerated due to the prevalence of SMS?

I think not. We continue to speak and write the way we always have. New words and usages are finding their way into acceptability as a natural process. Andno, we are not letting sms-isms spill into other forms of communications overmuch. thought the other day, I heard a character in a TV serial say he wanted something done ASAP (used as a single word). Thats just one acronym, and acronyms such as jeep have crept into language long before sms was invented.

here's my essay on sms inDeccan Herald

Are we what we wear?

Do clothes define us and make us what we are? Of course not! Why then, do we spend so much time, newsprint and airtime obsessing over clothes and fashions? Read my views published in Bangalore Mirrorhed in

Book review

I recently read and enjoyed Eating Women, Telling tales by Bulbul Sharma, Zubaan books.
My published review is up in Deccan Herald

violence as a spectator sport

Graphic portrayal of violence in the media is desensitizing people the world over and leading to increased crime and mayhem, say specialists. Are we just sitting ducks at the receiving end of it all, waiting for doomsday? My view in Bangalore Mirror

healing herbs

On a recent visit to Aikya Mandala, a green oasis nestled on the outskirts of Bangalore, I learnt a lot about our herbal healthcare traditions and organic farming. We city dwellers tend to think of rural folk as poor and helpless, but there is much to learn from them. Their folk wisdom and remedies form a rich healing tradition. Read my publsihed account in Infochange News and Features

my way or the highway

With traffic growing at an alarming rate, there's hardly a place where one can safely walk without being brushed by a car or two-wheeler. Trees are being cut, and roads widened, but while space for more roads is limited, the growth of traffic seems to be unlimited. Are the 'authorities' solely to blame?

Read my take in Bangalore Mirror

Killing the Water

I recently interacted with Bangladesh born author Mahmud Rahman after reading his recently published collection of short stories, KILLING THE WATER (penguin). He had so many fascinating things to say, it was a tough job to pare it all down to a bare bones 800 word newspaper column. "Use the axe if you have to," he advised me, no matter how it pained my writerly heart.The published interview appears in Deccan Herald.

In a section that got edited out in the published interview, the author shares personal experiences which moulded him as a storyteller;

"I wrote all along, ever since my schooldays. But I took up narrative prose only in the mid 90s. There’s a story behind that turn. On a cold winter day in 1993, I boarded a bus to Detroit and a woman seemed to resent me taking the seat next to her. But once we began to talk, we continued for hours. A black woman from the American South, she insisted on seeking out parallels in our lives. I immediately wrote up that compelling encounter as a story. Exhilarated by the process, I took up writing workshops. At that point I exchanged emails with a new friend from a completely different background, sharing stories from our lives in an attempt to understand one another. She insisted that I paint scenes with words, to make my world come alive.
I began enjoying the ability to create fiction and play with new possibilities. Interactions with wonderful teachers and peers during my MFA from Mills College in California broadened my vistas."

robots to the rescue

A recent news item set me thinking. The wonders of human ingenuity know no bounds. The miracles of the future which visionaries once imagined, are taking place right here and now.


A Bangalore based techie has invented robots to cook, clean and splash water on his head if he oversleeps. Best of all, he has sourced the parts from the by-lanes of S P Road to make his invention accessible to the rich and the not-so-well-heeled alike. Thanks to him, we can all dream of owning personal robots that do our boring chores, leaving us free to enjoy ourselves. Robots taking care of our daily needs will be a blessing, as they will shield us from much of our inter-personal relationship hassles.
In today’s mega cities, it’s people, people everywhere, but few who meaningfully talk or care. We jostle against hordes of people wherever we happen to be. And these fleeting encounters are more often unpleasant than not. The foul-mouthed jerk who spews venomous road rage, cussed folks who push and shove in queues, leering lechers and ‘eve teasers’, silver-tongued cheats; such charming people and their ilk are forever throwing themselves in our faces. Read more of my tongue in cheek take in Bangalore Mirror

Meeting author Shreekumar Varma

I recently had the pleasure of interacting with Shreekumar Varma. My account appears in BTW magazine. Given below is the full, unedited version.
Shreekumar Varma’s novels include Lament of Mohini and Devil’s Garden, and he is the author of the plays Platform, Midnight Hotel and the award-winning Dark Lord and Bow of Rama. His latest novel, Maria’s Room (Harper Collins), was long listed for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize. That's not all. He has written charming books for younger readers, too.


1. How would you want to be known? How did being descended from the great Raja Ravi Varma affect your personal growth as a literary artist?

I'd want to be known as a good writer, a story-teller. Descending from greatness puts you on a platform. If you don't perform, you're left with the shadow of achievement, not achievement itself. But there's an aura of art in the family that I believe has reached me as well. Many of my relatives paint. I write.

2. When and how did you start writing?

I started writing very early. My first short story was published while I was in high school. But my first book for children, Pazhassi Raja: The Royal Rebel, was published in 1997. My book was about Pazhassi Raja, who was probably the very first freedom fighter. Even at that time, Lament of Mohini (Penguin) was in the process of being written.

3. How did you deal with adverse criticism and struggle in your initial years as a writer?

Actually, the first review was the worst. After that, it was smooth sailing, and I've had people saying good things about Lament of Mohini through the years. Baseless criticism tends to floor you. Till you realize that the calibre of the critic comes through in his review, and shows up the worth of the opinions expressed. You either accept or discard them.

4. Where do you find inspiration?

I tend to subconsciously store details, of people, places, lives, colour, smell. When a good idea for a story shows up, I use some of these details. Sometimes a good idea may hibernate for years. There also many in-house stories in my family! I'm lucky in that I use many forms. So it could become a short story, play, maybe melt into poetry, or form the basis of a novel.

5. Your best and worst experiences as a writer?

The act of writing is, of course, the best experience. It's the moment of creation. Next comes the moment when you're sitting in an auditorium, watching your play being staged. If it's done well, you're in heaven, and the audience response takes you higher. The worst experiences have to do with shoddy critics and secondary level colleagues such as editor, director or cast, who may treat your work without respect or understanding. Fortunately, that hasn't happened to me as yet.


6. How did the ideas for Maria’s Room come to you?

During the launch of Mohini, we stopped for a few days in Goa. There was a storm. There were two silent couples in our car. There was a different Goa out there. And the idea was born, upstaging another book I was trying to write at that time. I usually find that some of the things I write actually happen!

kafkaesque dilemma

I've lived in the same place and voted regularly since 1995. But in 2008 I became entangled in a Kafkaesque situation when the names of my family members and me mysteriously vanished from the voters' list. Upon receiving numerous similar complaints from the residents of Bangalore, the authorities took up the process of updating and revision. We stood in long queues, first to have wrong/garbled entries deleted, then to enter our names afresh correctly into the computerised system, and then again to have our photos taken for identity cards. Yet despite several rounds of corrections, many errors continue to exist, giving rise to much speculation among my fellow citizens. Read my tongue-in-cheek take here in Bangalore Mirror

an unfashionable cheer for idealism

Things are going from bad to worse, and carping about it seems to be today's mantra. We make the right noises and then give up and watch from the sidelines, making the unacceptable acceptable by our passive tolerance. What we just might need is a whiff of not-so-fashionable idealism. Read my take in bangalore mirror

pictures telling thousands of stories

I learnt so much about a city I've never lived in while working on this, that I want to share.

The piece is based on a meeting with Kolkata based photographer Saibal Das,and viewing his striking images of his city. The photo shows the Tagore family mansion (Thakurbari) in Kolkata, a focal point of the Bengal Renaissance. New art, literature and social reform movements took roots here. Today, the mansion houses a museum and the Rabindra Bharati University.

Kolkata is home to such diversity of people from different backgrounds, all celebrating their native festivals. There's old world charm and glory set against a huge ad of a popular MNC produced cola. People arriving with dreams, seeking, failing, and trying to rise again. Practical but mundane necessities humorously juxtaposed against fading glory, pipal trees growing in a surge of new life from the crumbling walls of dilapidated edifices; the ace lensman captures all this and more.

Isn't this what we too, strive to do as writers? Read the full published article here

the Sindhi experience of Partition

Unbordered Memories; Sindhi stories of Partition translated by Rita Kothari

Rita Kothari has selected and translated into English narratives by first-generation Sindhi writers from both sides of the border exploring the Sindhi experience of Partition and the creation of Pakistan.

Unlike those displaced by the Partition of Punjab and Bengal, the Sindhi Hindus did not have a place to call their own when they arrived in India, since Sindh was retained entirely by Pakistan.

In Mohan Kalpana’s story, ‘In Exile’, an Indian Sahib explains the precarious condition of a refugee from Sindh. “Right now, you are neither in India nor Pakistan. You are a refugee. A refugee! You do not have a home either here or there.” Confused and pained Joharmal in Narayan Bharti’s ‘The Claim’ expresses poignantly the Sindhi experience of losing forever not just farmlands or a house, but an entire ethos, lost friends and neighbours, streets, rivers of a homeland which belongs to every Sindhi.
Apart from the recurring Partition fiction trope of a difficult and sorrowful journey of millions of people leaving their homeland, these stories also explore how those who stayed behind in the new Pakistan had to come to terms with a suddenly unrecognisable nation. According to Acharya Kripalani, Sindhis of all faiths were “powerfully influenced by Sufi and Vedantic thoughts. This made for tolerance.”
The threat to Sindhi Hindus after the formation of Pakistan became strong after Muslim immigrants driven out from the rest of India entered Sindh. These stories explore how hatred was spread amongst a peaceful and prosperous community. Khanu the barber in Sheikh Ayaz’s ‘The Neighbour’ “began to wonder how he would be able to slit the throats of those he had spent hours with, eating and drinking and making merry in their company.” Vishnu Bhatia in ‘The Uprooted’ portrays the spread of communal hatred and the seemingly foolish yet touching refusal of an old refugee to accept this. “How long could anyone have lasted shrouded in fear? People who had never thought of themselves as Hindus or Muslims now knew that Hindus were infidels, and Muslims, scoundrels. So much for brotherhood! Hindus have no right to live on this land. A political decision managed to do what pandits and moulvis could not. Hatred had spread like poison and an entire community was uprooted from its land and thrown into the waters of the Arabian Sea.”

Today, Kothari points out, the Sindhi community has spread out all over the world, successfully establishing themselves in business and various professions. Yet even those living in India cannot visit Sindh or even afford to talk about it, since Sindh now lies in what the rest of India considers a hostile foreign country. Sindh is now an idea without physical dimensions, a place which Sindhis cannot even visit in reality or memory. This perhaps explains why Sindhis have maintained silence about their past and rarely shared their wounds and stories.

As a sociological and historical document, this collection is invaluable. Capturing the finer nuances of Indian languages in English translations is always a huge challenge. While the translation is capable, these stories do by and large read like writing by a single author, and not by the several writers whose styles and viewpoints comprise this collection. (review published in Deccan Herald)

Review: Come, Before Evening Falls

Come, Before Evening Falls by Manjul Bajaj
Hachette India , 238 pages
Price: Rs.295

Manjul Bajaj’s debut novel is a strong, passionate story well told. The author offers insights into the culture, history and psyche of the Jat people of northern India’s heartland. Set in a Jat hamlet near Delhi in 1909, this is a tale of proud, upright men and women who will die to uphold the honor of family, community and country. The subtle feminist approach works well with full blooded women juxtaposed against well fleshed out and likeable male characters. The novel begins as a smoldering love story, with the threat of deadly social taboos simmering in the backdrop. The author interweaves social practices which sadly continue even today in pockets of rural India, such as the terrible practice of honor killings.
Read my complete review in Kitaab

review: Monkey Man

I recently read and enjoyed Monkey Man by K.R. Usha.
Monkey Man by K. R. Usha
Penguin (India), 259 pages
Price: RS.299

K. R. Usha’s latest novel takes a fresh, deeply sensitive and insightful look at life in Bangalore, India’s fastest growing city. Shortlisted for the for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize and winner of the Vodaphone Crossword prize for her previous novel, A GIRL AND A RIVER, this consummate storyteller takes readers into the heart of a city zooming beyond the technological stratosphere while teetering on the brink of chaos.
Read my complete review in Kitaab

scaring kids to death

With exam season looming ahead, a single day saw two young students from our city buckling under pressure and ending their own lives (BM, Feb 27). Shocked and sorrowful, we demanded that this malaise stop right now. As the day advanced, business resumed as usual after appropriate expressions of sadness. It’s easy to blame a faceless and ambiguous SYSTEM and sit back and expect an equally vague AUTHORITY to set things right. But are we as detached from the system as we would like to believe? Don’t we, and “people like us”, also contribute to make this very ‘system’ what it is? Let’s take a closer look at the problem and consider how best to make a difference by means within our own reach. Read my full argument here, in Bangalore Mirror

Where have the flowers gone?

Valentine's Day came and went with a grand show of 'love.' But why do we need to set aside one single day to make a public display of loving? Could it possibly be because we need to reassure ourselves that people are not mean, greedy, jealous and selfish at heart? Love is too vast to be confined to a single day of pomp and show. It has innumerable contours and patterns. Let’s celebrate every day as Valentine’s Day and spread a little love and human feeling whenever and wherever we can. Read my views here

beauty beyond botox

What is it with people who obsess over superficials while overlooking all else? What makes a person truly beautiful? A recent cover story in Bangalore Mirror probed the growing craze for artificially enhanced 'beauty.' Kids as young as 12 or 13 are asking for cosmetic surgery and invasive procedures without having a clue as to what it entails. Read my take here

the great baby sale

A recent sting operation by staffers of Bangalore Mirror confirmed the sale of a 16 day old infant in Bangalore. This set off shock and varied reactions from' what a cute baby. I want to adopt it'(so if the baby weren't cute, it would not arouse public interest or sympathy?)to reactions from the authorities promising to set up more orphanages and stricter vigilance to prevent such incidents.
Read my satirical take in Bangalore Mirror

recession or progress?

When stock market indices swing wildly and food prices skyrocket, I wonder in which direction the economy is moving. Do more cars and traffic mean more prosperity? Then where do financial meltdowns on a global scale fit in? Read my take here in Bangalore Mirror

Tagore continues to sparkle with relevance

The first Asian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Tagore, through his lyrical poetry, revealed the mysticism and beauty of Indian culture to western eyes for the first time. While he is best known for his poetry, the variety and quality of Tagore’s creative work is amazing. A prolific literary giant, Tagore composed over a 1000 poems, eight short story collections, nearly a dozen plays, eight novels, and several volumes of writing on religion, education, philosophy and subjects of social relevance. An eminent educationist and upholder of social reforms, Tagore also painted and composed the lyrics for his own songs.

The man who holds the rare distinction of having composed the national anthems of two nations, India and Bangladesh, Tagore combined the best of Eastern traditions and modern Western ideas. The collection, Nationalism, is based on Tagore’s lectures during World War I. Ramachandra Guha’s excellent introduction is all the guidance today’s readers will need to fully appreciate these lucid and thought-provoking essays. Tagore’s ideas continue to sparkle with relevance in today’s strife-torn, terror infested world.

An early supporter of India’s freedom movement, he surrendered his knighthood as a protest against the infamous Jallianwalla Bagh massacre. Much of Tagore’s ideology is influenced by the teaching of the Upanishads and from his own beliefs that God can be found through personal purity and service to others. He stressed the need for a new world order based on the ‘unity consciousness’, values and ideas transcending narrow bounds of religion, race, country or language. Tagore was a supporter of Gandhi, but warned of the dangers of narrow nationalistic thought, of “carnivorous and cannibalistic exclusiveness,” which tries to thwart all symptoms of greatness outside its own boundaries.

As a world traveller, he visited not just western countries, but also Japan, China, Iran, Latin America and Indo-China, reaching out and connecting with fellow human beings from other cultures. As a terrible war raged worldwide, Tagore urged his audiences in the USA and Japan to discard political aggressiveness and cultural arrogance. As Guha points out, it was by interacting with Tagore and absorbing his ideals, that Gandhiji and Nehru developed a more inclusive theory of nationalism as a basis for founding modern day India.

In Gora, he brings to life through creative fiction, his ideas and ideals on nationalism, religion, and myriad other intellectual factor shaping the Bengal and India of his times. This novel is not an antiquated curiosity, but of special relevance today when religious fundamentalism and divisive communal forces are tearing at India’s nationhood. Gora ushered in a new trend in Bengali literature, a novel of ideas where characters live out and discuss at length the internal conflicts within late 19th century Bengal society.

Read along with the non-fiction collection Nationalism, Gora brings to vivid life the intellectual milieu of days gone by, of the ideas that have made India what she is today. “Nationalism forms an important aspect of the historical context of Gora,” says translator Radha Chakravarty, “but instead of focussing solely on Indo-British relations, the text lends greater prominence to Hindu-Brahmo tensions.”

As Bengalis realised that a Western style education and exposure to Western ideals, while having intrinsic benefits, did not automatically make Indians the intellectual equals of Westerners, Bengal’s social reform movements were challenged by a surge of Hindu conservatism. Tagore masterfully portrays these conflicts, weaving them into an engrossing story played out by multi-dimensional, lifelike characters.

The protagonist, Gora, derives his name from his astonishingly fair complexion. He is a fiercely orthodox Hindu nationalist who resents the reformist Brahmo Samaj only to fall in love with Sucharita, a Brahmo girl. Ironically, Gora finally learns that he was not born a Hindu, but is the orphaned son of an Irishman killed during the 1857 uprising.

The vast body of Tagore’s works can be compared in variety and brilliance with the work of European greats like Goethe or Shakespeare. Why then, is Tagore not as popular worldwide today as he should be? It is only when high quality translations are made widely available, that readers everywhere can appreciate these wonderful works.
(book reviews published in Deccan Herald Nov 2009

reconstructing hope

I visited Agni Raksha, a Bangalore-based NGO which helps burns victims. Those who survive extensive burns remain scarred for life in both mind and spirit. The scar tissues can contort the body and hamper free movement. After surviving a terrifying experience, these victims live on as disfigured and debilitated sufferers lacking confidence and the ability to lead a more normal life. Agni Raksha helps such burns victims, mainly from poor backgrounds, by offering assistance with reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation into mainstream society. Read the full account of my experiences here in Infochange news and features

our English

English isn't only the Queen's any longer. It's yours, mine and ours. People all over the world are using this language as their own. I savour the flexible and adaptive nature of the English language which has allowed non-English speaking populations in many parts of the world to adopt it as their own.

My own mother-tongue is Bengali, a language with its own magnificent literary heritage. Bengali is spoken/written by the largest number of people in the world after English and Chinese. Yet I, like many other fellow Indians, choose to speak and write freely in English as well as my own language. Why does English score as a universally accepted language over other widely used languages like Chinese, Hindi or Bengali? My educated guess is that a large number of Bengali and Hindi speakers are poor people, so they and their languages count less in the wider scheme of things in this power and commerce driven world. I suspect this principle also applies to Chinese.

In a country like India, which boasts of many ancient languages each with its own unique script and rich literary tradition spanning thousands of years, English unites people across regional and linguistic boundaries. I live in a large apartment complex which can be taken as a microcosm of our national diversity. My immediate neighbours speak Gujarati, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Konkani and other Indian languages, each of these being major literary treasure troves. We don't know each others' native languages, but we all know English and readily communicate in it.
read Spinning English Namma Way

raising the dead

A couple of days ago, a friend asked why I haven't posted here in quite a while. Rather than go into the reasons or un-reason of it all, I'll start again with fresh posts with a promise to continue.

new vistas for women in India's IT industry

I recently attended a session on women in leadership organised by NASSCOM, India's premier trade body for the IT industry. Education is now spreading to women in small town India. An increasing number of women are being recruited by the IT industry at the entry level. However, studies show that many of these women do not reach the top positions for various reasons. Changes in life situation such as marriage, children and relocating with the family to another town, are some of the reasons for breaks in the careers of these well-qualified women.
The tremendous potential of women in the workforce can be best tapped not just with changes and the right noises at the corporate level. There is a wider and more far reaching need for social change.
Read the full published article
here

terror

Today news reports, blogs and e-mails are flowing fast and freely. There's a lot of emotion and drama. People are rushing to light candles, attend meetings and generally charged to 'do something'. Many are also demanding that the authorities do that elusive 'someting.'

Others are saluting the 'spirit of Mumbai' and bravely trying to carry on as usual.

But at the end of the day, this incident may be as quickly forgotten as the previous terror attacks in Mumbai, and the recent bomb blasts in Surat, Delhi and elsewhere. I wonder how long it will be before the media and the public forget this horror and run after the next cricket match or a child trapped in a well.

Will any lasting lessons ever be learnt from this tragedy? Will there be a greater political will to prevent such thigns from happening?

Many of us are wanting to do something. IMHO a starting point could be if we mobilised opinion for a better pay package and more advanced equipment (weapons, bullte proof vests etc) for the true heroes who risk their lives to keep us safe. It's a sad anomaly in our country that youngsters who take porders for pizza from overseas callers can earn much more in a safe job than protectors of our security.

Ending with a prayer for peace,

mumbai mayhem

The unfolding terror drama in Mumbai is truly shocking. My memories of Mumbai are personal and warm. We lived and worked there for four years. True, the commuting distances are huge and life is just too hurried and hassled for the city's teeming millions. True, one has the jostle through crowds, negotiate heavy traffic and polluted air.

Yet warm human memories remain etched in my soul. The time when I was stuck in a jam-packed local train and the rough-looking fellow commuters came to my rescue. The time when I slipped on the steep steps of the railway overbridge and strangers came forth to ask if everything was ok. My sweet elderly neighbour who let all the kids returning from school play with her cute little pooch, the memories are many. I've always loved 'Maximum City' as a vibrant place where every stranger can feel welcome. Mumbai has always been India's, and my personal city of dreams. I found the city much more disciplined and comfortable for working women compared to many other Indian cities.

I used to take my son out to Gateway of india when he was a tot. We sould browse through the Prince of Wales Museum and the Jehangir art gallery, where the ancient artefacts and miniature paintings never failed to elcii wonder from my little one. We would end the outing with a boat ride and a stroll by the Taj Hotel. We used to love those outings. the News images seem to be coming from another world.

I only hope and pray that the nighmare will end soon. We must not allow a misguided few to ruin what has been built over generations.

gems from the wilderness

I recently had the pleasure of interacting with a renowned wildlife photographer, Mr. Naryanaswamy. Each artist consciously and unconsciouly lends his own perspective upon his work. In Mr. N's photographs of wildlife, I perceived, apart from his deep love for nature, an interest in the more amiable and friendly aspects of wild animals. The stories behind many of these photos are interesting too. My article based on our conversations was published some days ago in Deccan Herald, the school edition. Since it isn't available on the web, I'm posting it here.


WILD JEWELS
By Monideepa Sahu

When peacocks fly, they display startling flashes of bright orange feathers on their wings, which are otherwise hidden. Wild jungle fowl appear drab to blend in with their forest surroundings, but bright, colourful highlights illuminate their plumage in the sunlight. Armed with the best cameras and sharpest lenses, international award-winning wildlife photographer K.M. Narayanaswamy films many such gems of natural beauty. Among his many honours, he is the ARPS (Associate of Royal Photographic Society, England), and was a member of the Indian team that won the Silver Medal (Nature Prints) in the 14th Biennial FIAP World Cup Photographic Competition in Spain. One of his most appreciated photographs is of three wild tiger cubs inside their den deep in a forest. “They were just three weeks old, and barely the size of kittens,” K.M. Narayanaswamy reminisces. “Even their eyes had not yet fully developed, and that is why they appear blue in the photo. I resisted the urge to cuddle the cute little cubs. We must never touch, or otherwise disturb the babies of wild animals. Even if the mother is not present, she can sense the presence of humans, and she may panic and abandon the helpless babies.” Photographing the adorable tiger cubs was a difficult and dangerous task. As Deputy Conservator of forests, he would instruct the forest guards to keep him posted on movements of wildlife. When he learnt of the presence of a mother cub and her newborn litter, his excitement was boundless. He and his team painstakingly tracked them for days through the dense jungles, and then hid themselves near the den. When the mother went away to hunt, K.M. Narayanaswamy stealthily went within three feet of the den’s entrance to take unique pictures. “If their mother had seen me, I would not have lived to tell the tale,” he tells us. “Even though I was careful to keep at a distance from them, the mother sensed human presence and immediately moved them to a new hideout after she returned.” This marvellous picture won prestigious international awards, and has been included in many international books on wildlife.

Baby animals and wildlife families find a special place in K.M. Narayanaswamy’s pictures. His photo of a brood of barn owl chicks look like mischievous children posing for their class photo. In a picture taken in Doroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, tiny cubs try to clamber playfully on their mother’s back as she walks with a serious and determined manner. K.M. Narayanaswamy waited for hours every day at dawn to capture a pair of river terns mating. After their little chicks hatched, he photographed the parents taking turns to feed their young. “Wild creatures can be loving and caring just like humans,” he observes.

K.M. Narayanaswamy’s pictures often capture animals in a friendly and playful mood. He has taken photos of a pair of tuskers in Kabini playing like schoolboys. Two rhinos in Kaziranga face each other in another picture as though sharing interesting secrets. Another series of photos shows a male elephant covering himself with a luxurious slather of mud, and then spraying himself with water from his trunk. “It was like an elaborate spa beauty treatment, which took the elephant nearly three hours,” says K.M. Narayanaswamy.

The brilliant hues of nature also find a prominent place in his photos. His photo of a blue jay or Neelakantha bird is striking, showing he glowing shades of turquoise, indigo and peacock blue of its plumage. This state bird of Karnataka has chosen an equally colourful meal; a bright green fuzzy caterpillar. K.M. Narayanaswamy spends long hours waiting for the right effects of sunlight and shadows on his wild subjects. “The dazzling colours of nature are wonderful,” he says. “They are created by God and not by computers.”

Becoming an internationally celebrated wildlife photographer involved years of dedication and effort. He joined the Indian Forest Service in 1985 where documenting wildlife was part of the job. Inspired by accomplished seniors like Shri. M. N. Jayakumar, he began photography in 2000. His work took K.M. Narayanaswamy to different parts of the country, where he observed wildlife in their natural surroundings.

K.M. Narayanaswamy is deeply interested in sharing the wonderful world of nature with young people. He takes sessions in schools and colleges.

persons with disability may apply

I had researched and written an article on employemnt opportunities for disabled persons in our country. The Article has just been published in Infochange Agenda. Here is a brief excerpt with a link to the full published article.

Today it is an accepted fact that provided a supportive environment to learn and grow, Persons With Disability (PWDs) have the capacity to work efficiently and earn a living with dignity. Indeed, they can be a valuable addition to the skilled workforce. Says Hema Ravichandar, Strategic HR Advisor, "With the talent shortage and war for talent, institutional initiatives to encourage diversity and more importantly, the mindset of inclusivity, it is no longer just a nice to do thing but is actually a business imperative. It widens the available talent pool, while encouraging merit worthy yet differently-abled individuals to make a mark and be productive. Most mature organisations today are sensitive to this talent pool, but only some have initiatives to harness their potential in a structured and planned manner."

The Government and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) have taken the lead in providing employment and other opportunities to the disabled. Several ministries departments of the Government of India and State Governments provide various concessions such as subsidized rail and air travel, special conveyance allowances to disabled employees, and Income Tax concessions. Award of dealerships by public sector oil companies and economic assistance by nationalized banks at Differential Rates of Interest (4%) to the disabled empowers them to set up their own income generating business ventures. Public Sector Banks also offer concessional loans and donations to organisations working for the welfare of the handicapped.

The prosperity of a business enterprise and of the community in which the business operates, are interdependent on each other. While business enterprises generate income and commerce, they can exhaust natural resources, dispossess original residents of the area of their land, or pollute the environment. What do these enterprises do to compensate the community apart from paying fees, taxes, or one-time compensation to affected people? Today along with the rest of corporate India, IT and ITES companies are waking up to this concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and realising that it comes with its own advantages. Extending the opportunity for employment and upgradation of skills to PWD is one major thrust of CSR initiatives. Indeed, corporates who train and employ PWD stand to gain workers with valuable talents. ‘Nowadays, I find that many corporates perform only 10% under CSR and hype becomes 90%. This phenomenon is good neither for the society nor the company,” says Prof. Y S Rajan. (1) Ideally, CSR has to happen naturally as part of the company’s vision to gain respect and cooperation of the community, and not as short term publicity measure. CSR not only boosts a company’s image, it has several long term positive results. Employees feel more motivated to work for a company with a social conscience. Enhanced productivity and profit is an indirect outcome. CSR is not charity, but a company’s return to the community, which is helping it to grow and sustain profits.

read the full article here

fiction as social commentary, a mirror of reality

Fiction - including poetry - should be taken just as seriously as facts-based research, according to the team from Manchester University and the London School of Economics (LSE).

Novels should be required reading because fiction "does not compromise on complexity, politics or readability in the way that academic literature sometimes does," said Dr Dennis Rodgers from Manchester University's Brooks World Poverty Institute.

"While fiction may not always show a set of presentable research findings, it does not compromise on complexity, politics or readability in the way that academic literature sometimes does.

"And fiction often reaches a much larger and diverse audience than academic work and may therefore be more influential in shaping public knowledge and understanding of development issues."

Tom Clougherty, policy director of the Adam Smith Institute, said fiction was "a useful tool in aiding people's understanding, sparking their interest, and humanising issues".

But he warned: "There's a problem. Fiction works by appealing to people's emotions, not their intellect or rationality."


I am now reading Swarnakumari Debi Ghoshal's 'An Unfinished Song.'. Oxford University Press Classic re-issue.

Swarnakumari was Rabindranath Tagore's own sister. Born in 1856 in a progressive family of her times, she was educated in the 'zenana' by private teachers, and was married off at 11 years. She lived in purdah or semi purdah thruoghout her life.

Yet she wrote many books (begun well before her more famous brother appeared on the literary scene) and edited a popular intellectual magazine for decades. She also actively contributed to social work, and helped the cause of widows and female education.
The novel, translated by the author herself into English, portrays a remarkable young woman who wishes to choose her husband on the stregth of his moral character rather than social compulsions. It's a very readable book even today.

A radical idea for those times, when very few women in progressive uppr class families of Bengal had limited access to Western education. Child marriage was the norm, and Indian women had a social position far inferior to what they enjoy today. This heroine would have been a pathbreaker, a rebel. Yet she does this within the patriarchial framework.

Another work of fiction showing us how life would really have been in the past. Or perhaps this is also the athor's dream of how she would have wanted life to be.

No doubt the author's perspective is necessarily limited by her personal experiences and the strata of society in which she has been brought up.

But fiction such as this throws new light on the human side of history and sociology.

champion of individuality

I haven't been posting of late. Planning to make it up by posting my most recent publications.
Here's a piece published in Deccan Herald 9.11.2008, on Ayn Rand. We read and raved over her books as teenagers, as generations before and after us. The supremacy of the individual, the championing of the right of the individual to grow to full potential, these are indeed admirable. when is there need for curbs and control? Where can we strike the right balance between the needs of the individual and of society as a whole?


Today when blazing flames from Wall Street to Dalal Street are reducing the wealth of nations to ashes, many are questioning the premises of free market economy and mulling over the merits of strict government control.

Ayn Rand’s classic cult novels and philosophy of Objectivism can now be read from a fresh perspective. Ayn Rand (born Alice Rosenbaum, Jan 20, 1905-1982) was a Russian-born American writer, best known for advocating the supremacy of individual rights.

Her passionate pleas supporting personal freedom and laissez-faire capitalism won her many admirers. She defined her ideal of the independent, unfettered genius and a social system where economics need to fit the needs of people, in her bestselling novels The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957). The noted economist Alan Greenspan was among her early enthusiasts.

Read the full article here

food for thought

In an article in Mail Online, James Chapman says,

"Just two days ago, Gordon Brown was urging us all to stop wasting food and combat rising prices and a global shortage of provisions.

But yesterday the Prime Minister and other world leaders sat down to an 18-course gastronomic extravaganza at a G8 summit in Japan, which is focusing on the food crisis.

The dinner, and a six-course lunch, at the summit of leading industrialised nations on the island of Hokkaido, included delicacies such as caviar, milkfed lamb, sea urchin and tuna, with champagne and wines flown in from Europe and the U.S.

But the extravagance of the menus drew disapproval from critics who thought it hypocritical to produce such a lavish meal when world food supplies are under threat. "

There's much food for thought here. The spirit of Marie Antoinette rules.

I'm also thinking of many parallels, like the popular magazines that crythemselves hoarse over the dangers of plastics, and then wrap the hundreds of thousands of copies of their mags in plastic bags.

Pssst. Heard the latest?

This is hilarious, and also quite alarming. In the times of breathless non-stop reporting on the AArushi murder case and sensationalised reporting on the mas media, here is a news, or is it non-news, item.

In recent weeks, strange reports made headlines, with the media trying to milk every drop of sensational value out of them;
Some woman trying to kiss a radio jockey,
a live baby wrongly declared dead in a Private hospital,
A teenaged girl from Kolkata with a health problem (nervous breakdown or spinal problem?) attributed at various times to the parents' attitude, or to harsh remarks made by judge in a reality show,

The list seems unending. And then, as some point out, real news we can use seems to be relegated to fine print in some back page. ARe sschools and offices going to remain open during a strike? It's a tough job wading through the sensational reports to find out.

Several Indian newspapers fell victim a couple of days ago to a hoax about the arrest of
a supposed Nazi war criminal. Apart from the media’s alarming
ignorance, the episode also reveals our fascination for unconfirmed
news from ‘intelligence’ sources.


Here are excerpts from an article by Siddharth Varadarajan in The Hindu;

On Sunday, an email message from ‘Hamman Smit,’ press officer from
‘Perus Narpk’ from Shede Road in Berlin arrived in the inbox of several
journalists in Goa and Bangalore. The message identified ‘Perus Narpk’(anagram of super prank)
as the “intelligence wing of the German Chancellor’s core” (sic) and
claimed credit for the arrest on the Karanataka-Goa border of a
fugitive Nazi war criminal named Johann Bach who was responsible for
the killing of 12,000 Jews in the ‘Marsha Tikash Whanaab’ concentration
camp (there was no such camp, a quick Internet search would have proved it if any journalist had cared to verify the 'facts') ). The email contained a press release full of outlandish details
about the operation, including the claim that the octogenarian Bach had
revealed his identity to a holidaying Israeli couple during a rave
party in Goa, and had stolen an 18th century piano from a museum in
‘East Berlin’ which he was trying to sell through a local newspaper.

Suggestive clues

The email was literally full of clues suggesting it was a hoax. The
author revealed he was “hamming,” his office was on ‘Shady’ road And yet, a number of
hacks and their editors in newspapers of repute such as The telegraph, The Indian express and Deccan Herald rushed to print with this sensational story
without bothering to check any of its hilarious details.

This brilliant hoax was the handiwork of ‘Penpricks’ a journalists’
collective in Goa whose blog, penpricks.blogspot. com, is dedicated to
discovering “the rotund flanks and the shaggy underbelly of the Goan
media. And of course, the rare honest rib.” One of its more celebrated
exposes was the debunking of a story run by CNN-IBN about the Russian
mafia taking over land in Goa. Penpricks also criticised The Herald
for offering to strike a deal for the sale of lead editorials after it
posed as a business house interested in positive coverage.
But even if the immediate target of Penpricks was the Goan media, it
has succeeded in exposing the underbelly of the Indian media as a
whole. Indeed, there is nothing surprising about the hoax receiving
such widespread play in the national press. For though the ‘Johann
Bach’ story was outlandish, it was no more so than the reports
regularly put out by Indian police departments about the arrest of
terrorism suspects."

Shameful it is indeed. The declining standards of media reports, doubtful value of 'news' which is given almost 24x7 coverage on the gazillion news channels, such trends are cause for concern.

There are several possible causes for this. IMHO

1. The dumbing down of news to suit the needs of commercial sponsors and various lobbies.

2.Competition among too many media channels vying for ever sensational 'scoops', to ensure TRP ratings.

3. The mushrooming of mass communications schools, with teachers who often have only theoretical and no real practical experience in journalism.

4. It is a fact that the brightest youngsters opt for other courses, leaving the more average students the option of journalism.

Phew, maybe the whole world is simply dumbing down. Tomorrow, someone will flash messages on TV, FM radio, and all over every newspaper that the sky is green with purple polka dots. And if the enws reports say so, we will accept it.

blogging and networking on line

I just saw an interesting post on an on line network of Bangaloreans about a member being arrested for cheating. Some expressed shock that a member of 'our' on line community could be the kingpin of a scandalous scam. Others said, he isn't guilty until proven so. As members of the same network, we should offer this man support. Others said, we need to do background checks on new members, an expensive impossiblity in a community of 6000 plus. The majority seemed to agree that as in real life society, there will always be some unscrupulous people in an on line forum. It's up to us to verify and be sure before getting involved with strangers, whether on or off line.

On Saturday, I attended a discussion on blogs and blogging. The six odd people present didn't know anything about blogs. They only wanted to know how to make money from blogging, and whether you get stalked or harassed by psychopathic freaks if you blog.

difficult to explain to such people (they weren't really listening, if you understand what I mean) that you can convey a particular image of yourself in cyberspace and carry on with dignity. Not only that, you can make connections with amazing people you've never met.

It all amounts to lateral thinking and making connections. Many of us prefer to restrict ourselves to a narrow line of vision. Some wander off the straight and narrow and sometimes gain new insights from doing so.

disastrous news

Recent weeks saw yet another spate of disastrous cyclones and earthquakes hit parts of our planet. Huge loss of human life, destruction everywhere. Like everyone else, I watched the images flash on the TV screen and newspapers. Many made emotional statements. I watched with horror and waited.

As expected, the images soon gave way to fresher and more interesting news. It's as though the world needs new images of horror on a regular basis. And of course the media is ready to procure these and oblige.

Doublespeak and crimes against humanity has occured through the ages and encomapssed all races. Today heart rending images are flashed and changed for our benefit. It is calculated to sway our emotions and make us react without pausing to rationalise.

Yes, Hitler mass eliminated Jews duirng the War.

But such cases of genocide have occured many times. Natural disasters, too, can happen at any time and anywhere. They spare nobody. Why is it that some tragedies are remembered again and again and universally condemned.

Why do we choose to downplay the millions of deaths in the man made Bengal Famine?

Why does the world choose to deny by a resounding silence, the existence of Darfur?

Why have we already almost forgotten the cyclone in Myanmar or the bomb blasts in New Delhi's Sarojini Nagar?

There are many such instances . We cannot be selective in our condolences and condemnations, and then move on to the next disaster as though seeking variety and novelty. What today's media needs are more voices of clear reason and objectivity

suppressed voices

I keep coming across too many people who think writing, especially fiction, is an easy ticket to moneybags and glossy magazine covers. They know nothing about imagination or craft, and simply lack the attention spans to even write a few coherent paragaphs. Yet everyone and their semi literate cousins want to be writers.

English languge publishers in India do not seem to find enough home-grown talent to nurture and sell, at least so their published titles would have us believe. Walk into any city bookshop, and you'll see the usual bestselling foreign authors proudly on display. The Indian writers? A few sad books languishing in the back shelves, and those are the ones being published and promoted by mulitnational biggies. Where are the writers, and where are their books, even if someone wants to read them?

I also wonder whether its always originality and quality that counts for the big name publishers. Or do they calculatedly choose books poised to 'sell' in the marketplace? I recently read an anthology of childrens stories by Indian writers. The writing was competent and some of the names were familiar. Yet the stories and plots reminded me too closely of a show run some years ago in a popular children's TV channel. The resemblances were too close for my comfort.

Keeping all this in mind, I asked questions and got some very interesting replies. The result was the following article, which appeared in BTW magazine a couple of weeks ago. The full unedited version is given below.

A friend told me he liked the article, but that it read like a journalistic piece. True. I've quoted many opinions instead of giving only my own. But I'm very much there behind the scenes, asking, observing, organising everything into a coherent whole. And yes, the BTW editors are also there, supporting free speech by publishing this. The views of many carry more weight than those of a single individual. Here they are. Let the reader decide.


INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH; THE SUPPRESSED VOICES (BTW, 11.05.2008)


Indian book lovers can choose from a wealth of fascinating new titles in creative literature from foreign authors. Our regional Bhashas have their venerable home-grown creative traditions and towering literary giants. However, Indian writers of comparable stature writing in English seem relatively fewer and far between. Many acclaimed authors such as Salman Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahiri or Rohinton Mistry are expatriates writing primarily for a Western audience. A new Indian author of fiction who is published in India, commands a limited readership and is considered successful if the book sells just 1000 copies. “The best of Indian writing is not in English,” avers Sunil Poolani, senior journalist, author, and founder of Frog Books, Mumbai. “A Vaikom Muhammad Basheer or a Sarat Chandra Chatterjee is any day equal to a Marquez or Umberto Eco. They are not as famous because they are not properly translated like their western counterparts.”


India has a huge population of educated people and a fair portion of readers interested in serious writing. Visit India and see. Sadly, many yearn for a wider choice in home-grown popular as well as literary fiction in English. Is there a paucity of desi talent? Are original and interesting new Indian books in English not published and marketed in the right way? Hasmita Chander, a freelance writer and editor who has been published in seven countries, voices a widely-felt need. “I long for more stories in familiar Indian settings about real Indian people. I wish there were more memoirs, creative nonfiction, and essays written about India for Indians. The little that is available is often focused on explaining India to a foreign reader, which is off-putting after a point for an Indian like me. Popular fiction has little on offer with the same old staid themes, predictable stories, pretentious ones, unrealistic ones that are obviously fitted into a contrived plot. It's an insult to the intelligence, and a disappointment to read. So what is left but to turn to western
literature, and keep searching for good quality work?”


If enough citizens of our great country are not interested in buying and reading new books, a shortage of well-crafted and accessible writing is one cause of it. The pretentious ‘literary’ artifices of some Indian writing in English deter potential readers with self-indulgent, glib or superficial works that seem to have little to say. Verbal wizardry can dominate over a strong story, characters and emotions. “My issue is with taught writing, seminar writing, writing by proxy by editors, writing that is too self conscious,” contends Abhigyan Jha, writer of hit screen and TV scripts, three novels, and co-founder of Undercover Utopia Publications. ”Our writers and publishers are too high brow. Without mass market paperback authors - without great storytellers - all literary fiction of the late 20th century is about to be consigned to trash cans of history. Steinbeck and Hemingway were relevant to people and they wrote great language too. We need more writers of well-crafted, imaginative popular fiction like Rowling, Grisham, Asimov and Arthur Clarke. It is they who help the publishing industry survive. It is they who encourage readers in every generation to take up reading.”


Surely Indian writers do not lack talent and imagination. Some original, interesting and well crafted fiction in English is indeed being created by home-grown Indian writers. But why aren’t more of these new books read and talked about everywhere? Is it because Indian reading tastes are too diverse and fragmented into readers of regional languages? “Who says books do not sell well in India?” counters Sunil Poolani, “Trash sells. Books brought out by Shobhaa De, Robin Sharma, Chetan Bhagat sell. Ditto books on cookery, cinema, self-help (due to growing mental insecurity), and travel guides. What does not sell is meaningful and path-breaking literature. So an aam janata do not know who a Kiran Nagarkar or O V Vijayan is.”


Why do Indians buy fewer books than readers in countries like the US, where new writers can aspire to sell 10,000 copies? “You cannot compare US with India,” says Sakuntala Narasimhan, author of 11 books, consumer rights activist and classical musician
“They have a homogenous English reading market. We are a cultural motley, with high illiteracy, regional languages etc. Also, there is more money in the hands of Americans.”
Zafar Anjum, Singapore-based journalist, film maker, author of two books and founder-editor of Kitaab.org, a website dedicated to Asian writing in English, has this to say;. “Indians don’t have the same kind of reading habits that we see in the developed world. In overcrowded cities like Delhi and Mumbai, it would be difficult to imagine commuters reading books in jam-packed buses and trains like their foreign counterparts. In the US and the UK, the market is uniform in terms of the language. In India, the English speaking yuppies, who are equipped with the language skills to make book stats look sexier, are simply not interested in books. And if they are, they would buy books like One Night@ Call Centre. But I hope things will change.”


Does inadequate support from Indian publishers translate into less visibility and sales of quality new books written by Indians for an Indian audience? If potential readers do not see or hear about a book, they won’t know of its existence, let alone seek it out to buy and read. Publishing is a profit-making business like any other. According to their press release dated 5.3.2008, “The tremendous performances of Pearson’s India units was led by Penguin, which last year …achieved sales just short of Rs.1 billion.” Yet new Indian talents struggle to reach an audience. Publishers in India are sometimes accused of short-changing authors by way of royalties. If the rewards are niggardly in this highly competitive business, emerging literary talents may be compelled to give up half way. “Most Indian publishers cheat. I should know, as author of 11 books. Except for 3 publishers, all others cheated me on royalty payments, including some big name publishing houses,” says Sakuntala Narasimhan. Sunil Poolani blames “poor payments, the lalas of the trade, and lack of funds for research. Look at the kind of money British or other writers are given to research their works. So, save our Ramachandra Guha, the best history books on India are written by British writers. Gregory Rabassa is paid as much as Marquez for translating the latter's work.”

Abhigyan Jha says, “The publisher will expend almost nothing on marketing new books. Underwear is promoted aggressively in this country but we are still shy of promoting books. The writer has to pay for his own marketing (always a higher cost than printing) but it is not called self publishing. Why? Because supposedly the publisher (who in India is merely the printer and the distributor) by its editorial expertise chooses only the good books to publish…In 60 years these publishers couldn't find a single book which would sell a million copies in its first year.”


Money and hype can sometimes push books of inferior quality to the top of the bestseller lists, while better writing languishes for lack of publicity. “That's the tragedy one has to suffer, no matter how talented you are,” says Sunil Poolani.” Like their western counterparts, not a single big publishing house entertains new talent unless it has sex appeal and/or probability of selling. ‘The best magical realist after Marquez,’ that's what a 'great' books page editor of a national weekly called a 20-something Bombay guy who wrote a trashy book. He paid the publisher nearly 10 lakh for launch, pitching stories, interviews and reviews. The publisher got a good deal, the scribes were paid, and the author, belonging to a rich business family, got instant stardom. What if the book sank without a trace. The scene is the same in the US too, where thousands of books come out every year. If a work of fiction has to sell, in India or in the US, hype and hoopla are important; get a Booker, get dragged into controversy, voila, then your book is in the best-selling list.”

Are Indian readers to blame for preferring foreign writers and East-West stories by expatriate authors over home-grown writing? We are impressed by even the most obscure and dubious foreign achievements and tend to rush to buy the book. Sunil Poolani and Sakuntala Narasimhan attribute the current situation to our colonial mentality. “If we were slaves of the British, now the neo-colonialists are the US,” says Poolani. “You will find a pirated Kavya Viswanathan 'magnum opus' on Bombay's mean streets. Also to be blamed are the Indian media who is perpetually licking up western 'success' stories.” “This is true of other fields like science and the arts,” adds Sakuntala Narasimhan. “The market is dominated by East meets West because the overseas buyer is not interested (or does not understand) indigenous settings. Indian writers turn out masala with an eye to the west because they think it is the shortest route to sales and fame.”

True, a “flabby’, pretentious literary style is the flavour of the season the world over. Indian writers are merely conforming to current trends, and things will change. Insightful, imaginative new fiction is also being crafted by Indian writers. Zafar Anjum ends the debate with a ray of hope. “Best seller lists are no indicator of quality. What’s wrong with a book lying in one of the back shelves of the bookstore? Discerning readers will find a good book if that’s what they want. Publishers, and not writers, need worry on that score.”

fountain of youth (dubious)

I'm 20 again. Yes, it's true, at least according to the voters' list. After sending in the required Form 6 for inclusion of my name, they finally enfranchised me. Bt they put my age down as 20. I think I ought to be thrilled, runing around with arms raised, jumping, whooping. I did manage to cast my vote. the officials in the polling booth checked my identity cards and details and agreed that the age was a mistake. And all along, i was hoping they would accept me for a twenty year old without even batting an eyelid.

Very few voters turned up from middle and upper income areas of bangalore. Very few of my neighbours voted. "No time," said one lady. "Oh I forgot," said someone else. The newspapers were debating this public apathy. It seems the young and restless are more bothered about using the public holiday to go off to a resort or party away. It's the poor who need politicians to do things for them. the better off can pay for what they want.

I'm left with a dab of indelible ink on my finger wondering what it all means.