Sunday, January 27, 2013

The Classic Read



Beyond Bestsellers
A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader, said Vladimir Nabokov. But do we revisit every book or a select few whose distilled essence lingers on in our consciousness after years?  Most of the classics stand the test of time and are appreciated and read with pleasure equally by the youth as a first- time read and the adults, who bewilderingly realize that their new encounter with the same book is refreshing and an entirely new experience. What is it about a classic that implants itself so strongly in our minds, and how does a book become a classic? How a classic is different from a bestseller of contemporary times, and continues to remain a bestseller for a long – long period of time. These are questions I have often asked myself and my journey through the world of books with time and experience has given me a few answers.
 Voraciously reading classics gives a person a discerning ability to segregate the good reads from not- so- good ones. Classics are books that people say they are rereading and never, I am reading……. The practice could stem from the fact that to admit to not having read a great work would be sacrilegious of their reading repertoire and good taste. The gung-ho quality of classics is rooted in a plethora of distinguishing clauses. A classic is timeless. It somehow transcends the limitations and peculiarities of the age, it was written in, and thereby speaks to what is constant in human nature. Such writing is not for an age, but for all time, as Ben Johnson said of Shakespeare. ‘It is news that stays news’ said Ezra Pound. A classic is something that persists as a background noise even when the most incompatible momentary concerns are in control of the present situation. A classic has a certain universal appeal. Great works of literature touch us to our very core -- partly because they integrate themes that are understood by readers from a wide range of backgrounds and levels of experience. Odyssey, Divine Comedy, Shakuntala, Heer Ranjha, The Chinese Book of Changes and Shakespearean plays would easily conform to this criteria. 
A rollicking good story enthralls us, even in the absence of a good writing style and other literary merit. The contemporary writings of Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi are a good example. Then we come across a classical novel which amalgamates a good story with timeless human emotions of love, faith, loss, justice, racial discriminations, sexual desires delineated through well-rounded characters and a stylistic writing style. The joy of reading such a book is unbound. A classic helps us understand our inner selves and our lives in novel ways and it partakes of our personal journeys in an intimate, intricate manner. You cannot feel indifferent to it. It helps you define yourself in relation to it, even in dispute with it. A classic does not necessarily teach us anything we did not know before. We sometimes discover something we have always known (or thought we knew) in new, fresh and unexpected encounter upon reading, which then becomes our truth for life. Black Beauty and Heidi are wonderful writings for school children and I revisit them through my reading workshops for their universal appeal of love, kindness and sensitivity. The Great Gatsby, The Colour Purple, Fathers and Sons are books which have long shelf lives in the libraries of scholars, researchers and teachers who hug them to their bosoms as treasures for life to channelize their work and inspire them for further teaching and study.
A classic is a “total book,” as Mallarmé conceived of it. It could morph into a microcosm of the universe for a reader. The Indian epics, Panchatantra, Malgudi Days are indigenous case studies of life as an expression of creation, beauty and truth. Moby Dick, The Parliament of Birds, Meditations are writings from faraway shores which construct and deconstruct our connect with the universe in myriad, multi-layered constructs.
A classic echoes, replicates and uncommonly subverts the canon to which it is in cahoots with all the time. It is difficult to say whether Odyssey to Ulysses, Don Quixote to Madame Bovary, Alice in Wonderland to Fannigans Wake are incrustations or distortions or expansions of the original, but they are undeniably classics in their own right. Classics can be a drag for some readers, but because of their style, language-usage and themes, they make it to the list of honors and are deemed as classics. Artists never tire of studying the masters. Literary writing has a similar following amongst aspiring writers who visit profound texts for inspiration, ideas, stylistic devices, sincerity of a work or the sheer pleasure of reading it all over again.
Great works have a long gestation period. The writers live with the characters in their heads for 10 -15 years whereafter the wispy imaginations turn to ink and paper and a masterpiece is in the making. The canon expands at a snail’s pace. Great writing is few and far between. Mathew Arnold took the pantheon of great writers more or less for granted. He did not question the excellence of Dante for instance, which is why Dante became a touchstone. Over a period of time, it would equally apply to Salman Rushdie or Vikram Seth for their inimitable works. The mystery of one- book wonders too becomes unraveled through the same context. A masterpiece once created cannot be replicated again, not in the lifetime of the author.  Maybe he cannot bring himself to render a great, a second time, such is their worth and status. To Kill A Mocking Bird, Catcher in the Rye, Gone with the Wind, The Invisible Man are classic examples of one time wonders.
In our contemporary times we may experience small peaks in the world of books but authors like Franz Kafka, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, Rohinton Mistry will occupy unrivalled positions for years to come. The nexus of writers and publishers may produce adrenaline- pumping books to shock, thrill and titillate; write it, edit it, market it, pulp it.  But Lady Chatterley’s Lover, War and Peace, A Scarlet Letter will continue to occupy iconic status and render unparalleled experience. If a reader is looking for supercilious fun, a kick to your senses, indulge by all means in pulp fiction, bestsellers, sensational news and views which appeal to a part of our makeup, but if you are in search for multi-layered, deep-rooted exploration of self and the lives we lead, savor the universal, timeless, popular classics par excellence.


Sunday, January 13, 2013

What Are Our Children Reading?



       What are our Children Reading?

An exclusive children’s bookstore is still a rare encounter in our country, but were you to come upon one and engage with it meaningfully, you would discover a world unto itself. A raconteur of tales would occupy centre stage, nostalgic of a grandmother of the bygone era of joint families, surrounded by her grandchildren. ‘In most Indian families, stories were, as A.K. Ramanujan puts it so delightfully, 'just a grandmother away'. But all this is part of a glorious past and there it has remained.’
The children’s literature industry in India is in a state of flux, with many voices. On the other hand, the chaos could be best for its evolution in the right direction. There are dissenting and igniting debates between writers, publishers, illustrators, international book distributors and readers. A totally different scenario from the post colonial India that I grew up in! I read Enid Blyton series, and later graduated to Agatha Christie and Perry Mason. Indigenous literature was available in the form of  Amar Chitra Katha or Chandamama. The lacunae of a rich Indian children’s literature was felt and explored by great writers like Satyajit Ray, Rabindranath Tagore, R.K Narayan, and later by Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth and Ruskin Bond who wrote stories, plays and verses, not specifically for children but their writings could be read, understood and enjoyed by children thoroughly. The publishers in the foray, CBT and NBT, contributed in their own way through adaptations of oral literature of ancient India, but sadly the publications lacked quality and lost the rich essence of the fables.
Panchatantra is a frame story, with story within a story, which was created by Vishnu                                                                                  Sharma to tutor the maverick Princes of the kingdom. An eighty year old man with twinkling eyes had set out to bring lessons on wisdom and truth, not through preachy dialogues but beautifully crafted allegorical stories. Gautam Bhatia, reworked , a multifaceted, layered, intricate Panchtantra for adults.  But rewritings for children, in an effort to simplify a classical text, loses its nuance, rich imagery and metaphor, a mere recounting of the outline story.  Illustrations through                                                       cave paintings and classical miniatures, which not only enhance the words but convey the happenings through visuals, became mere supplements of the text.  Radhika Menon puts it very succinctly when she says,’ An ascetic is shown doing the Suryanamaskara. It is a very sombre picture showing the serious business of the ascetics – except that there is a cat in a corner standing on its hind legs imitating the ascetic, with a few unconcerned mice playing nearby. What a wonderfully funny, detailed, sophisticated picture for a story!’
In the last decade, the story of Childrens’ Literature in India seems to have undergone a sea change with herculean efforts and a refreshing vision from publishing houses like Tara, Katha , Tulika, Rupa,  Navneet  and others which specially design books for children. The narrative, locations, language and culture is essentially Indian. The books are an enthralling blend of diverse children’s voices in contemporary times dealing with plaguing issues of our society. Others introduce our art and culture, geography, myth and science using illustrative visuals drawn from our folk arts, tribal landscapes, traditional paintings and graphics of the modern era. The stories are sensitively portrayed using rich imagery, metaphor and syntax.
Now, we would think that such treasures would flood the markets, libraries and the international bookstores in no time, but the process again meanders in lanes and by-lanes of controversy and disagreements. Meticulous productions raise costs which have to compete with those from abroad. Network of public libraries and school libraries, the base for channelizing and distribution of children’s books, is yet to be established in India. The melting pot global arena still views India as exotic and mysterious and would like to see the very same portrayal in children’s books, otherwise rejects it. We who devoured, read and were brought up on imaginations of British landscapes, are told now about our books being alien to children abroad. Maybe we could do it because plurality is in our roots of a multicultural, multilingual India. Sometimes you wonder, is it a strength or ground for battles? We seem to be rooted, but Dr K. Satchidandan, at the conclusion of his essay on 50 years of Indian Literature, says: "The best of our writers now know that unless we realise Swaraj in ideas, our great country is doomed to die without an individual signature of her own while she signs in different scripts.". Well then, this is a matter for another debate and reflection
Childrens’ literature in India has taken off, but has miles to go ……..to set right the grappling issues highlighted above. Reading for reading sake should be the mantra! The positive note is that it seems to have set on a course which is rooted and at the same time contemporary and sensitive. Considering the scenario , what are our children reading now? In a tech-savvy world with visuals and video games children especially teenagers are no longer interested in fantasies, moralistic and magic stories. They read what thrills and charges them like characters in a video game. Geeky personalities, technology wars and adventurous characters keep them glued to books like Hungry Games, The Heroes of Olympus, and Percy Jackson. Harry Potter and the Twilight series too seem to have taken a backseat according to V.K Karthika, the chief editor of HarperCollins.  Indian writers have not targeted the teen segment and with no other alternative, the teenagers read books from abroad. Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie, the bestselling murder -mystery books, too, do not count because teenagers look for bloodbaths and gory details in adventures.  Ranjit Lal’s fiction books like ‘Faces in the Water’, ‘Battle for No. 19’ have a following as the books deal with contemporary issues  like female foeticide , terrorism and riots, deftly using  children characters to tell the story. Similarly, the popularity of  ‘The Book Thief’ and ‘The Boy in Striped Pyjamas’ indicates that teenagers today want to read about gory facts in history and modern times without any soft packaging  and cuddling.  They want to contemplate and become aware of life with all its dark secrets and hidden details, the so- called adult world, of betrayals, greed, courtesans, marital breakups, alliances and so on.  They have come of age, and we as adults and writers need to wake up to the fact. ‘Alice in Wonderland’ directed by Tim Burton did not bag laurels just for the colorful portrayal of the Mad Hatter, but a complete reworking of the character of ALICE. Manjula Padmnabhan’s ‘Unprincess’ is a maverick girl who takes on her own battles and knows her mind. This shift in portrayal of female characters is liked and appreciated by all teenagers.
The perception that teenagers do not read, is a fallacy. We need to produce and render the readings that they want. Let us stop being didactic, preachy, and moralistic in our writings. The idea of reading books, with the sole aim of improving reading and writing skills to aid you in your academics, needs to be thrown out, the baby with the bath water. The baby has grown up – let us recognize the fact. The teen book segment is a huge market in India but the writers, educators and publishers need to tap it better.





Saturday, January 12, 2013

Book reading - World of Roald Dahl

A fun filled and educational afternoon for kids!!! Don't miss it!
A book reading workshop by Jugneeta Sudan at Carpe Diem
Date: 12 Jan 2013, 3pm to 6pm
Ages: 8-14
Carpe Diem, an Art and Learning Center in Majorda has launched a book reading club called Cover to Cover with aworkshop for children to be held on Jan 12, 2013. This workshop will be conducted by Jugneeta Sudan and will lead kids into the wonderful world of veteran British author Roald Dahl. Jugneeta an academician, educationist and a self-confessed bookworm has in the past enthralled both adults and children at previous workshops held in various parts of India and Goa. Her upcoming workshop at Carpe Diem will take kids on a journey through the world of books by Roald Dahl and introduce them to characters like Matilda, The Twits, George and James via fun and interactive presentations including a movie. For registration call 8888862462. Workshop registration fee: Rs.200/- Attached is a poster on the workshop.
For more information and registration - please view the following link on our website:
CARPE DIEM
Art and Learning Centre,
H.No. 81/2,
Godinho (Jaques Godinho) House,
Gomes Waddo, Majorda, Goa.
India 403713
info@carpediemgoa.com

Roald Dahl Book Reading workshop for Kids



               

Book reading workshop for children at Carpe Diem Marjoda, South Goa on 12th Jan , 2013

We celebrated Roald Dahl's Children Fiction : The Magic finger, Danny the Champion of the World,  Boy, Going Solo, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory................

The parents were astonished , but heartened that the kids were completely absorbed and engaged with books, reading and activity for 3 hours

Some pics of the event :