When I was a child, I would see my mother giving Mills and Boon to my older cousins. They would banter about the ‘stories’ and I would look at the cover, and blush. A man and a woman in a semi-hug, eyes half closed and expressions of physical love. ‘Why were they reading this?’ I would wonder. In school, surrounded by Patrician Brothers and all things disciplined, the library was a “holy” place. And Blyton to Drew to Wodehouse to maybe Robin Cook to Quiz books to perhaps Jeffrey Archer to definitely Limca Book of Records a traditionally set way. Sidney Sheldon exchanged hands between friends and Harold Robbins only in the inner circle. Blush and hush remained, somewhat. I read the classics, felt safe and sane. And a prudish Miss Muffet too.
It was on the very first day of pledging 5 whole academic years to studying Literature that I was made to grow up. A professor distributed ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’, aghast that we had not read it. Suddenly, the sword meant the male organ in ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ and all references to ‘pen’ and ‘orbs’ in ‘MacFlecknoe’ were exactly those too. ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ was a political satire and George Eliot was actually a woman, writing under a male pseudonym. So many wrote hidden in attics away from all eyes, and an equal number put sex and their sexuality out there just as they deemed fit. I was amazed.
I read Literatures from all continents, and I gradually grew. Not just away from the blush but into a woman who now realized the importance of that Voice – behind the printed word, and in between the written lines. The politics of Silencing too! Reality unfolded, and not just the art of expression but the Right to Express took on a new meaning. And the right to be Read. Just like raising your hand and getting a chance to answer was important to a child’s evolving mind, so was picking up that pen and letting it write for you what the mind held inside. For so many, that moment between the pen and the paper meant reclaiming a sense of Self, true bits of it that social norms and graces often stole away.
And I was introduced to the idea of a ‘Banned Book’, much like the letter ‘A’ in scarlet an adulteress was supposed to wear on her lapel once...
I will never understand how an alternative view point automatically becomes so true that it turns dangerous.
ReplyDeleteActually I think people are mentally lazy. They haven't the mental agility to engage in debate or discussion. They'd rather sit cross- legged on a pile of cushions which are nothing but other people's fluffed out views of reality.
It is easier to lean than to fence.
Dagny
Rightly said, Dagny.
DeleteThank you for stopping by!
I agree with you so much. We are a democracy with undemocratic mindset, be it comes to religion, castes system, patriarchy. equal rights-education. I am disgusted at many levels...
ReplyDeleteMy mother used the same words, Bhavana. Our minds are indeed undemocratic, especially when it comes to 'othering'. There are too many levels at which being an Indian is a very complicated (and often embarrassing) state of existence.
DeleteThanks for reading! :)
I gotta pick up this book from the library and then revert back on this post...But so far what I am assuming from this book is the lack of tolerance that we as hindus need to grow into...Alas, that is a long way cause whenever I open the TOI site to read the news...it smitten me to shame!
ReplyDeleteI am yet to finish reading it too, Ruchira. I would not have otherwise, but when a book is treated thus it generates a curiosity which not just helps the author's cause but you too, for you know there are within it's folds things that have angered your community. And you want to find out why!
DeleteI have stopped following news on a daily basis. It is only views, spoon feeding our brains!
The problem here is that we continue to live like frogs in a well and refuse to accept a point of view that is different than ours or one that might jolt us out of our complacency and makes us think differently about something. Why doesn’t our government let its people decide what they want to read or believe ?
ReplyDeleteI don’t think Penguin could have disobeyed the govt, but as a Big Publishing house, I wish it had at least lodged a protest against this !
I wish Penguin had done it's bit. But then, by pulping the book it gave Doniger more publicity than she would have otherwise found, maybe!
DeleteThanks for stopping by, Ruch! :)
Well, we had a long discussion on this subject at another blog.. Do check it out
ReplyDeletehttp://matheikal.blogspot.in/2014/02/blindness- of-religious.html?showComment=1392210769489#c4255445251064196047
Also, check out this link http://www.firstpost.com/india/why-the-wendy-doniger-episode-is-not-a-free-speech-issue-1388751.html . I would be interested to know whether the article is valid and the author makes these statements after you read the book.
They have quoted that the author has written this as well... "The Bhagavad Gita is not as nice a book as some Americans think…Throughout the Mahabharata ... Krishna goads human beings into all sorts of murderous and self-destructive behaviors such as war.... The Gita is a dishonest book …” (Quoted in Philadelphia Inquirer, 19 November, 2000) "
The last paragraph seems to have been quoted by her to the newspaper, much before the book was written..so you would not find it.But the remaining quotes, you should be able to find.
DeleteReally grateful for the links. I'm still trying to gather all views and points on this, even as I with full conviction show you mine here. Maybe when I finish reading the book I'll have something substantial to say about it's contents.
DeleteWill read the links! Thanks!
i seem to share the same reading trajectory and also the same bewilderment and acceptance when exposed to English Literature for five years. Sakshi, the bottom line to all strife abounding everywhere is 'intolerance'. It is sad but as we leap with technology, our minds shrink directly proportionate to it. enjoyed going through your incisive observations.
ReplyDeleteFirst things first, Ilakshee. Hand shake for those 5 years spent similarly. :D
DeleteYou said it when you said 'intolerance'. Sad indeed.
Thanks for reading this!
Exactly Sakshi. I was watching the interview of this guy equating Hindu with Nationalism and I was horrified on this gentlemen telling us what to read and whats not. I got the book and will start in a week or so. One question: Religions like Hinduism and Islam exist for years and I don't think a book will destroy a religion. The argument about protecting Hindu sanctity is rubbish and I don't know where it comes from. You raised pertinent arguments and find no difference between extremists outfits and Penguin. It's a shame and a violent attack on freedom of expression.
ReplyDeleteHave a look at my take and let me know
http://vishalbheeroo.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/banning-of-books-the-right-to-offend-as-our-fundamental-rights
I'll hop over and read, Vishal.
DeleteThanks a lot for reading this. :)
Great essay....and an even greater discussion that we had on this later. Censorship vs. Free Speech will forever be a spirited topic inviting passionate POVs unless one removes all ambiguity from it - just like the Nordic countries have done in Europe, or how the Caliphates have dealt with it in the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the discussion was what we needed to understand this. Thanks, RK.
DeleteSakshi I was led here by a link on your webpage today, and would love to read your complete article, but the link to 'Read More' does not work. Could you connect me to the entire piece, somehow? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSakshi I was led here by a link on your webpage today, and would love to read your complete article, but the link to 'Read More' does not work. Could you connect me to the entire piece, somehow? Thanks!
ReplyDelete