Stop ‘Booker’ing India

Article by: K.P. Praveen Nair

Now a days, literary circles in India are pretty much contented as two prestigious and much coveted awards for the literature came India’s way. As an Indian I feel overwhelmingly honoured and privileged and it is an encouragement for all the young and emerging talents of India who want to step into the art of literature, especially English literature. But the question that bothers me is what exactly we will have to write to get these awards?

My advice would be, writing something nasty about your own country would be a nice option like what Aravind adiga did in his first book The White tiger. Or make a movie that shows how nasty and pathetic things are in India and how people in India suffer under draught and penury. I can assure you that you will walk away with your head high with the awards bestowed upon you by white people.

This is not the first time India has bagged the man booker prize. Before Aravind Adiga, there were Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran desai who managed a booker prize, adding gloss to their resume. Initially I thought of reading all the booker prize winning novels written by Indian authors and I started off with our latest one which deals with the story a chauffeur turned business man. The story nicely segued from one incident to the other constantly and uninterruptedly blaming the Indian system. It discussed poverty, corruption, deceit, political sleaziness, infidelity and treachery in the best possible way right through the book. Â I leafed each and every page with a sigh and desperately hoping to read at least one good sentence about my own country on whose behalf he proudly received the honour.

After reading the whole story, I wondered, was he talking about the same India in which I live? Â It needs a lot of guts to call ones own birthplace darkness, which he uses proudly through out the book as if he had invented the best metonymy possible. Our author seems very keen on degenerating himself when he brazenly puts it,… south is full of tamilians and you know who tamilians are? They are Negroes… (One should not forget he is Chennai born) The whites would definitely have enjoyed it, wonâ they? Who was he trying to please? ?

Aravind Adiga holds dual nationality, half Indian and half Australian (I guess, before writing such (so-called) big truths about India, at least he should have decided on his Nationality). Kiran desai, another Booker prize winner, interestingly, is an Indian citizen living in America and writes about India. I would not mind if she were an American citizen living in India and writing about India. Â Salman rushdie lives in London writes about India (Unfortunately I have not read any of their books and I dont intend to) the only exception is Arundathi Roy. And these people walk away with honours for maligning and defaming India.

The same thing holds true to the much hailed English movie The Slum dog Millionaire, the golden globe winning movie of 2008. A Film directed by Danny Boyle, an English director on Indian slums. (Apparently) It tells the story of a boy born and brought up in Mumbai slums. Is this the only slum in the world? Does not he have a slum in England? He could also have tarnished the image of his home town. Why did he choose an Indian slum casting Indian actors, and an Indian music director? Are Indian slums more real than theirs? Too many questions creep into my mind. !!!!

Tired of all this reading, my initial desire to read all the booker prize winning novels drowsed. Then I switched to R.K.Narayan’s Malgudi days. (Purely because, my professor had once told me to read his novels if I wanted to improve my English.) He tells the stories of Negroes in India as he himself is a Negro (according to Aravind Adiga). But here I saw my real India. The India where I live. The India where most of the people in India live. He talked about the ever-tolerant people of India who despite all the wickedness and flaw of the society lived a contented life. He tells the stories of a true democratic country.

All these are not to say that one has to be on sided in their approach. Address the issues that are a bane on us. Write with an intention to change the system for the better. If you are hurt by the system try to mend for the better and stop fussing and whining. Bring out or suggest a solution in the end. Individuals make the society; society is not corrupt per se. It is we, the individuals as a group who make the society corrupt. And in our story our white tiger adapts himself to the flawed society with a little bit of qualm which is not convincing at all.

“Society does not consist of individuals but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand.”
A famous quote by Karl Marx rightly puts it. The stress should be on improving relationship and not on the individual. If our country is darkness at least make an attempt to light a lamp to show the right way, and stop moaning. It will enlighten the lives of many around you.

Fussing in the darkness for the literatures sake would have made Aravind Adiga the new face of Indian literature, but his work will never be recognized by the complete Indians (who lives, works and dies in India), unless he lights at least a candle to brighten the darkness.

(Source: http://www.globalvisiononline.net/a4.html)

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‘Children of Heaven’

‘Why am I not a child of heaven?’ My thoughts continued with a cluster of complex questions. Am I a child of heaven? Or may be it is God’s wish that i should not suffer too much?

It was another typical day in their life. The two children – the boy and the girl- were students and was very much aware of how their father strive to meet the ends. It was a poor Arab family. The boy, who was the elder of the children, accompanied his father in search of a job for his father. His father was a good gardener. They knocked each and every gate for a gardening task; but only added up the disappointment. Even then the boy was so passionate to get a work for his father. He was very well aware of the family situation. Finally the father got a task in a house and was well paid.

The girls and boys had different timings in the school. This helped them to adjust with a pair of shoes. After the girl child’s classes were over, She would ran to a closed place and her brother would have been waiting for her there to exchange the only dilapidated, ‘good’ shoes that they had. She was so much fascinated with the attracting, good-looking shoes of her friends. Once she noticed that her friend was wearing a new pair of shoes and asked her what she did with the old shoes. She got the reply that the old pair of shoes was thrown out by her mother. She was stunt and amazed with the answer.

One fine day, the boy noticed an announcement in his school about a long distance racing competition(4 km) where the third prize was a pair of shoes. He decided to get those pairs for her daughter. Even if the registration was closed for participating in the race, he begged for a chance to his master(sports teacher) and literally stood on his knees. At last the master changed his mind and gave a chance to register in the race.

It was the D-day. He could see the children from other schools and were exercising, supported by their parents. They had enough to eat and drink. Everyone to take care of them. But what about him? The race began. The words of his sister echoed in his mind. Yes, he need to get the third position for the shoes. He looked back and checked whether he was in the third. No, He is in the first position. He slowed down. He was pushed down by other runners. He was behind so many. But the words of his sister gave him the strength to be back in the run. His mental desire to win made him to the first five. And they could see the finishing line. He was in the fourth position now. His master was running outside the track, encouraging him. He need to get the shoes. He was pushing himself forward- both mentally and physically.

Before he could understand what was going on, he realised he was cared by his master. Oh! he was the winner. The camera flashed many times with different people around the winner. But he was so much worried and was neither in a position to look upwards nor to pose for the photo. He reached home and his sister was waiting for him- with the pair of shoes. The smile in his sister’s face faded out. It was another day in their life, as usual. The girl had gone to help her mother while he was caring the wounds in his legs due to the old shoes.

The above lines are based on a film – ‘Children of Heaven’. It is a very nice Arab movie which shows the life of a poor Arab family, not knowing how to meet the everyday expenses; especially when the children are studying. It is a touching film which shows the mindset of the children who are aware that they are poor. Given an opportunity, every one, especially children, should see this movie so that they may not take their life and fortune as granted.

“The life is always rocking-
Mixed up with challenges and opportunities.

Some may be lazy,
Calling it a fate;
Some may be hardworking,
Who always decide their fate.”

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