Lack of Talent?

Posted by Subhajit Ghosh on Saturday November 04, @03:28PM

Why are there so few Indian prize winners in the International literary scene, be it the Booker or the Nobel?

I was asked this question the other day by a friend of mine. I gave it a thought and have attempted to enumerate the factors I consider to be the reasons behind this cutting a sorry figure. The reasons are numerous. We have only a single nobel laureate, and that too by a person writing in a language which is spoken of by hardly ten percent of the Indian populace. What I am trying to emphasise is that **language** isn't always the barrier. What is of paramount importance is **quality.**

Literature arises when someone speaks from the heart, about generally his own people, and of characters that are closely associated from a region a writer grows up, or is familiar with. That's why regional literature are often very true-to-the-spirit-of-literature. Being a Bengali, I know Bengali literature is immensely rich and writers like Sarat Chaterjee, Bankim, Saradindu Bandopadhyay, Banophool, Tarashankar, Bhibuti, Manik Bandopadhay besides Rabindranath and several others have put Bangla literature on a high pedestal. How many of our countrymen have heard their names, or even say the names of Shivarama Karanth, Gopinath Mohanty, Pillai, Mahasweta Devi, Dr. Bhabendranath Saikia or Mohammad Basheer, who are some big names in regional literature. Sadly most of these incredibly talented writers have hardly received due recognition. Can one say that they're any less talented than a Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahiri or Arundhuti Roy? I feel regional writings should be more popularised by proper translation of the works, and such writings should also figure in the competition.

Many of the Indian English writers somehow fizzle out after arriving on the literary scene with a bang. Take Upamanyu Chaterjee for example. His English August created a furore, but where's he now? I feel most of our new breed of English writers ( of Indian origin ) gets swayed by the style of certain foreign writers, and in trying to ape them they lose their originality. Without meaning any disrespect to the ever increasing brigade of Indian English writing, how many of these writers are able to move the readers with characters of substance that appears say in the works of Dickens, Twain, Tagore and such masters.

Also the commercial factor kills their creativity. After making a name, many of these writers end up in Bollywood for making some extra bucks. For example, I heard Vikram Chandra has worked for the English sub-titling of MISSION KASHMIR. Why does writers of his calibre have to associate themselves with the unbelievable commercial world of Bollywood? Art & mart seldom meets.

We all know that all prizes are not above bias. Most people who win prizes does have a good lobby behind their back. Possibly Indian lobby at the International level aren't too strong, and at times this might have acted against deserving writers like Naipaul, Nirad Chaudhuri or R. K. Narayan. After all aren't the Indians National awards also biased? Being a film buff, I see every year commercial artistes from the world of Bollywood walking away with these awards, whereas the genuinely talented cine artistes who pursue art seriously are never considered for the honour.

In conclusion, our Indian English writers, good they may be, yet hasn't reached the level of the Nobel laureates, and that's why they, as yet, don't deserve the Nobel.

But with the likes of V. S. Naipaul, Amitav Ghosh, Gita Hariharan, Amit Choudhuri, Jhumpa Lahiri and Arundhuti Roy still around, I shouldn't lose hope. They may still win the Nobel. And with proper translation, our regional talents also stands a chance. Like it has happened in the case of Rabindranath Tagore.