You should know how i feel- An offering of love!

Anu Lal is an emerging Indian English short story writer who made his debut by publishing the short story collection Wall of Colours and Other Stories. With this single work of fiction itself, he has proved himself as a foremost short story writer of the sub-continent. We, readers, have a problem all over the world: we can’t understand anything without categorizing the writing or the writer. We will identify the writings as Indian English, American, Black or Hispanic, and after that we will formulate theories and movements. Thus, we have post-colonial, black aesthetics, and so on. The proponents of this would say that there is nothing as ‘universal human art/ literature’. In other words, the readers can grasp the writing only through classification and categorization. However, here is a writer who discards all such categorizations, any attempt to limit the creative craft. Thus, the stories in the collection Wall of Colours can be consider as ‘universal’.

Anu Lal now comes up with a new collection titled You should know how i feel with another promising writer Dhanya Krishna. After reading it, I pondered over one question: Is Love Universal? The answer depends on how we define ‘love.’ The unique feeling one feels towards someone special is undoubtedly universal, but the situations and circumstances that one encounters while realizing it affect many socio-cultural and psychological conditions. As I mentioned above, Anu Lal’s writings in a way escape most of the theoretical categorizations, but here, if one wants to understand the particular work along such lines, we can have them, because the socio-cultural and psychological levels of the characters and situations can be grasped more fully if we know the cultural scenario of Kerala, especially, the story titled Rukhsana’s Husband. Being a multi-cultural society with many religious groups and religions, the conflicts and confusions between those very groups and the successful resolving are a common thing in Kerala. Here, the conflicts are because of the inter-religious marriage between the lovers, Rukhsana and Peter. In the story Like an Arabian Tale, the political situations can be seen, and political violence is so common in the Malabar Coast of Kerala. In the story I Am You, we can see the cultural conflicts, in which the consent of the family is of great importance in the relationship between the hero and the heroine. The story My World is Called You is about love-after-marriage. Here also, the cultural notions about family playing a crucial role.

The above observations are not for showing that the particular piece of work can be read as a typical Indian English writing; on the contrary, what I want to convey is that, for those who can read a work of fiction only through the socio-cultural scenario, they can read it in the same way, but on the whole, this is nothing but an offering of love, pure love. Analysing the underlying feature of the book, i.e., this offering of love, would kill the beauty of it, so I am not trying that. Read, enjoy, and live the fictional world of love yourself.

A celebrity and a victim of Secular India- Condolences!

How will I remember 20th March 2014? While reading two news reports this evening, I wonder. These two reports have no connection, except that both are about death; one normal, and the other abnormal (yes, abnormal, not the death but the situations that lead to it.)

The prominent Indian English writer Khushwant Singh passed away at the age of 99. Considering the life span of 99 years, I could say he was so fortunate. Though I am a bit of an addict of novels and short stories, I didn’t read Singh much, except a poor translation of Women and Men in my Life (1995). He always shocked the readers with his daring attempt to discuss female sexuality, thus spitting at all the pseudo-moral principles of our country. Besides, he always stood for secular practices in the country.

Mrs. Salomi, wife of Prof. Joseph committed suicide yesterday night, which will remain as a blemish on the face of the much-celebrated ‘secular-progressive’ politics of Kerala. Prof. Joseph was a professor at Newman College, Thodupuzha. During an exam, he prepared a question paper based on the chapter prescribed in the syllabus, without knowing that, this very act will destroy his life and career. Some extremist religious group attacked him and marred his hand alleging that the question paper contained a question which criticizes the Prophet. In order to show the ‘secular’ face of the institution, the college administration fired him from the job and the so-called ‘secular’ political parties supported this. Without having a job and the fear to go outside, the professor and his family lived in terror. Odd to a secular country like India!

Kushwant Singh was an ardent believer of secular practices in India, a celebrity of secularism, whereas Mrs. Salomi was the victim, victim of the hypocritical society of India. Secularism is downgraded as a mere slogan here!

The Game Changer- NOTA or AAP?

In your opinion, what makes this election so curious? Or, is it curious? I find the election extremely curious, I will tell you why. Though I don’t think the rhetoric ‘cast vote, use your right’ worth considering, I think casting vote this year may be is interesting. The major reason for discarding this rhetoric is that we don’t have any right at all as we don’t have much voice in the selection of the candidates or in the decision making process. Election 2014 is curious enough for me because of three reasons:

The presence of AAP
Inclusion of large number of young voters
Introduction of NOTA

Among these I consider NOTA as of extremely curious, but I think the presence of AAP will decrease its relevance. Large sections of our people are against the political situation in our country, but couldn’t express their unhappiness in any other way. However, now, these discontent sections can show their feelings by voting NOTA. The relevance of NOTA is decreased not because these discontent sections are happy now, but they can show their unhappiness by voting AAP. Though this will not put AAP in power, it will have a strong effect in most of the states, especially in urban sections and among educated young Indians. The educated young Indians are not that much politically conscious as most political observers would think; in fact most of them are blindly following, the communal, fascist, feudal politics, but a significant minority among them will think otherwise.
It is not the majority who are turning the wheels of history and bringing about revolutions, but a vigilant minority.

Vyasa and Vighneshwara

Vyaasanum Vighneswaranum by Anand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Reading Anand is always a different experience, as he is not discussing people and their everyday problems. He is more concerned with history and the formation of different discursive practices and episteme. Here also, the author is discussing the various features of knowledge formation. There are two parts for this work: krithy (work of art) and kalam (time). In the first part, he is discussing about Nishada Purana, a distinct work which is believed to have existed in the past. As to our knowledge, there is no such purana as Nishada Purana.. and it is not easy to guess whether the writer is talking about an imaginative idea, or a historic instance. The second part as well, he is talking about a work named 'Nagara vadhu' written by Vardhamana. Here also, it is not clear to understand, whether it is a fact or fiction.

In the first part, the author is talking about the story of Ekalavya, the story mentioned in Mahabharatha. The author is trying to make sense why Ekalavya denounced the knowledge he has acquired by cutting his forefinger. Here, there is a clear discussion on 'knowledge and freedom." The discussion has unthinkable dimensions as a dialogue happens between Ekalavya who denounced his knowledge for freedom and Abhimanyue who denounced his freedom to prove his knowledge.

In the second part, the author is discussing the political struggle between Vajji and Magadha; one is following monarchy and the other oligarchy (or even democracy). Magadha wanted to destroy Vajji as it is following a distinct form of government. At one instance, Buddha says to Magadhan diplomat, 'As long as assemblies and councils take decisions based on common will of the people and respect elders, depressed people and women, nobody can destroy Vajji.' Then, the king came to the conclusion that if they destroy Vajji from within, or in other words, if their ideals were discarded by their own people, then he can conquer the country (in fact Vajji is not even a in their own words). The decay leads to a situation where the members of the supreme council forced Ambapali, the heroine to accept prostitution in the name of "national interest." Is this not what is happening nowadays?





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Shirley Temple- Condolences

“Shirley Temple was the rage then with her golden ringlets and her toothy smile. All the little girls copied her. Our school hung her picture on the wall behind the piano. We had in our class another Shirley. A Scot with pink cheeks and yellow ringlets. When the dignitaries arrived, it was always Shirley who carried up the bouquet.

Once she was asked to read a poem that I had composed and when the visitor asked who wrote it, our principal said, Shirley of course, she is a combination of beauty and brains, and then there was from the Governor’s wife a special kiss. What a bright little moppet, she said.” (From My Story, Kamala Das).

It may be because through Kamala’s use of Shirley’s name to talk about racial discrimination in the school that somehow I developed a negative kind of attitude regarding Shirley Temple, though she didn’t mean any harm in associating the Scot Shirley with the celebrity….

However, when I came to know about the celebrity Shirley Temple, I instantly admired her. Condolences!


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