Indian Writing in English

A discussion of Indian Writing in English (IWE) in all its aspects, with a view to creating some structure and organization in this body of writing.

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Sunday, November 20, 2005

The native verus the NRI writer

Seen against the body of regional writers, we considered the body of IWE writers as a unified whole. Peering closer into the latter, we find there exists the boundary between the native writer (meaning IWE writer based in India) and the NRI one (meaning the Non-Resident Indian IWE writer). The divide is yet another facet of the all-pervading issue of authenticity.

What the regional writer wields as a weapon against IWE as a whole, the native IWE writer wields against the NRI. The thrust of his argument is how can someone not living in India write and present authentic stories about India. To the native writer, the NRI writer is as good as a foreigner. He is not aware of the ground-level problems to the extent a person living in that society is. All he gets is information filtered through the media, and he has to make his assumptions and judgments based on that.

The second point of accusation against the NRI writer is that he presents a deliberately erroneous picture of India. He exoticises. Not having a feel for existing realities because of distance is one thing, but creating and contorting a stereotypical "reality" is another. This he does by focussing by and large to the picture of India that already exists in the western mind: progressing from snake-charmers and elephants, to rajahs and maharajahs, arranged marriages, gender oppression, exploitative and casteist society, spices, saris and so on. He panders to the West, and is hence, a sell-out.

He wants to have the best of both worlds: live in the comfort of the West, and present himself as a portrayer of India (that's the only thing he is allowed to portray). When someone has the best of both worlds, there must be something unethical involved.

Notice the strong parallels between the regional v/s the IWE and the native v/s the NRI cases. Just like the regional writer, the native IWE writer considers himself to be on relatively higher moral ground vis-a-vis his proximity to authentic India. He stands in long queues, is compelled to pay bribes to find his way through government offices, knows the inside-out of political developments, and thus knows India first-hand unlike the NRI.

Rebuttals by the NRI writers flow in from various fronts. Looking in from the outside enables them to take in the big picture of India. This, they say, is not possible for someone living in the midst of it all. You have to be at a certain distance to make out what is happening in the overall scheme of things, and they are better equipped than the native writer to do this.

He is not a sell-out. He is based abroad (mainly UK, US or Canada) mainly due to business reasons. The bigtime publishers, the markets, the readership, literary agents are there. Publishing is an organized profession there, unlike in India, where things are haphazard. The native writer is against the NRI precisely because he does not enjoy these advantages. In other words, he is plain jealous of the NRI's success.

So the responses also, are almost on the same track as that of IWE writers to the regional writers. Even the commenators. Rushdie's dismissal of Indian vernacular writing finds an echo in Dalrymple's assessment that the future of IWE lies in the hands of the NRI writer.
Our conclusions?

Again, we have a mixture of truths and untruths. There are few places purely black or white; the world is all the shades of grey. The NRI writer cannot be called a fraud simply because he has a New York or a London or a Montreal address. There is some validity to their claim of an outsider looking in. A writer should be judged by his book, not by his address. If he is not authentic, if he doesn't have a true picture of India in his mind, it will show on the pages of his book. And if he is, that will show too.

On the other hand, the accusation of exoticising India also holds true--for some writers. I am instantly on my guard when I come across titles containing masala, tamarinds, chilis, memsahibs, arranged marriages, cuckoos and saris. It is like putting baseball or stars and stripes in the title to indicate this is a book about USA. In most such cases, you get the feeling of mediocre writers trying to cash in on the publishing fad of exotic India, making hay while the sun shines, so to speak.

For a writer serious about his claim to fame and wealth, it makes good sense to be based in the West; the route to being published there is easier, or at least, more organized. A book well-received in the US or UK, is almost certain to do well in India, but the vice versa is not true.
A true writer will sound true no matter where he is based. Amitav Ghosh, Amit Chaudhuri or Vikram Seth are never blamed of exoticising because they don't. Lesser writers do. While every NRI writer cannot be a fake, neither is it true that none of them are. But it takes an exceptional writer to be based abroad and yet sound true. The onus of proving their authenticity seems to lie with the NRI rather than the native writer as if by virtue of being native, he is automatically authentic.

Back again to the minefield of authenticity. Next time, we will gingerly step into that minefield.

14 Comments:

Blogger Ketan said...

quote
A true writer will sound true no matter where he is based. Amitav Ghosh, Amit Chaudhuri or Vikram Seth are never blamed of exoticising because they don't.
/quote

I see that you haven't included Arundhati Roy in this list. Can I presume it was intentional, or was it somewhere ahead on this list and is invisible as your illustrative purposes were served with the above list?

Thu Nov 24, 05:38:00 am GMT-8  
Blogger Paritosh Uttam said...

I don't consider Arundhati an NRI writer. The tag of exoticising is stuck to the NRI writers and not to the India-based ones. That's why I didn't think of including Arundhati. She could be charged with other things, but not with exoticising I should say.

Thu Nov 24, 08:21:00 pm GMT-8  
Blogger Manasi Subramaniam said...

I think this is brilliant. I've always hated "exoticising" and I find your arguments extremely compelling. Please keep writing.

Sun Mar 05, 01:28:00 am GMT-8  
Blogger Manasi Subramaniam said...

I'd also like to add that Amit Chaudhary DOES exoticise. His novels are often baseless and random. He gets away merely because he sounds so "Indian". As an editor or an essayist, he's precise. But as an author, he is ostentatious and artificial.

Sun Mar 05, 01:31:00 am GMT-8  
Blogger Silvia Merialdo said...

Can you tell me what you think of Arundhati Roy? What can be she charged of?

Tue Jun 24, 11:49:00 am GMT-7  
Blogger Silvia Merialdo said...

I appreciate your statement "When someone has the best of both worlds, there must be something unethical involved".

Can you tell me a writer that DOES exoticise?

Have you read anything by Vikram Chandra? Do you think he exoticise?

Tue Jun 24, 11:55:00 am GMT-7  
Blogger Paritosh Uttam said...

Thanks for your inputs, Manasi. Maybe I have read more of Amit Chaudhuri's essays than fiction, so I had formed an "authentic" opinion about him :-)

Silvia:
Going by "The God of Small Things" the exoticising would be in gimmicks like the use of capitalized words. I don't understand the need for it. It is so attention-pulling in a non-literary way. The other "charges" would go into the realm of Indian politics. Arundhati Roy is a "writer-activist" (whatever that means) so she has strong political biases, which she shows forcefully in her non-fiction. This would seem unauthentic to a reader place on the other side of the political spectrum.

By the statement "When someone has the best of both worlds..." I was not putting forth my opinion, but my opinion of other's opinions! In the sense, this is what others feel about NRI writers. Because usually everybody compromises on something or the other. I believe that's how the say "Having one's cake and eating it too" has come about. It's not right for someone to have his cake and eat it too!

No, I haven't read Vikram Chandra yet. From reviews of "Sacred Games" , and Suketu Mehta's mentioning it in Maximum City (read it?), I know it's about the Mumbai underworld. I think it would be authentic, but I don't come across the underworld in my daily life, so I have to take his word for it. It is exotic for Indian readers to read about such dangerous people living in the same city. It gives a vicarious thrill.

Sat Jun 28, 08:14:00 pm GMT-7  
Blogger Sapna Anu B.George said...

Good to meet you greet you and read you here....Paritosh Uttam

Tue May 12, 10:17:00 pm GMT-7  
Blogger SAIKAT BAKSI said...

An Indian write in English does not limit only upto Amitav Ghosh or Amit Choudhury...there are so many more in the horizon...

Sun Jan 24, 01:05:00 am GMT-8  
Blogger SAIKAT BAKSI said...

The most unfortunate thing about a new Indian author is to draw the attention of a serious reader. There are so many new authors writing in English and most of them are not NRI anyway. Well...it does not mean that all are worth reading but there are few good works also. A new author always runs the risk of falling under the regular trend of the time and foregoing his originality and true calling.

Sun Jan 24, 01:13:00 am GMT-8  
Blogger Amrita Banerjee said...

Amrita Banerjee writes:
A very deft way of placing your mind, Paritosh...

Tue Jun 08, 11:51:00 pm GMT-7  
Blogger Amrita Banerjee said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

Tue Jun 08, 11:51:00 pm GMT-7  
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