Arundathi Roy

[Oldposts]

Naveen, Sorry about the "we"! It was not meant to be regal, judicial or editorial. This is a common forum attended by other people (at least seven? on this thread anyway) and also "we" ( as opposed to "I")seems to alleviate any hint of personal affront. Hence "we"!! Yes, I'm Indian - deep south. Now to the point. You wrote that AR and co. do not write >>the kind of novel that a foreigner can read and instantly get a glimpse of what the typical Indian lives, thinks........<< Ironic indeed. This is exactly what some people accuse IndoAnglian writers like AR and V.Seth of! That they write with the western reader in mind, rather than an Indian audience. I second that accusation and I shall also defend AR and co. thus: Any writer is preoccupied,to a large extent, by language which is their only tool. The Indo Anglian author, precisely by virtue of their being fluent in that language, have also unconscviously imbibed a kind of western (nonIndian) sensibility. Therefore their writing seems more accessible, hospitable and relevant to a western reader. What, may I ask, is wrong with that? Now I come to your point. The sensibility may be western, but the viewpoint is totally Indian. I do not see the slightest suggestion of picturepostcard prettiness in any of these writers. Their preoccupations are Indian. I quote a reader from another thread, since I don't have the book (or the memory of it) with me right now - "slanting silver ropes slammed into the loose earth, plowing it up like gunfire." - any Keralite will tell you how this line evokes the first lashings of a June rain. With a little of visual images from hollywood. To an urban English educated Indian writer these are her own images. These are no views from behind a train window. All this goes for Rushdie too, to an extent, though his English ( England) background places him on a slightly different level. I think we need more writers to mine this peculiarly Indian sensibility - that alienation and that acuity of vision that plagues(!) IndoAnglian writers. Theirs is that schizophrenic world view that can offer new insight to the Indian reader ( since an Indian is vehemently protective of his country when any foreigner criticises India!) about his country and all that's good and bad in it. (re. your assumption, I shall leave you guessing!) Shakespeare