Last weekend, many Indians were all agog over the planting of our tricolour flag on the moon. It's a rather depressing sign of our continuing inability to think globally in a universe that continues to be vaster than any of our fleeting cultures, tribes or nations. It's a shame that no one's hoisted this flag there yet. Beautiful isn't it? Brings a tear to my eye.
(Found here.)
4 comments:
If you don't mind me asking-- and it is related in a way-- what do you think about international standards? For example, am thinking that our local literature has to written with some eye to the international market. Is this good or not? What do you think about Indian literature being given accolades in the international market? Should it be concerned with itself only?
I think we need to worry less about labels of nation and language. The big fright-question (a question asked just to intimidate rather than with any real intention of prompting an answer) with Indian literature is of course 'is it authentic?' followed by 'is the writer privileged?' and 'is it just for the west or for us?' when a really good book will just blow away such questions by being authentic to its own self and speaking to every reader who is open to it, irrespective of the writer's status, class or past experiences.
I think all this niggling over standards is something we do while waiting for the next really good book to come along and burn all our preconceptions away. :)
ah. in other words, it doesn't matter, the work will speak for itself, yadda-yadda?
but you still haven't answered the question of whether international accolades matter for you?
Oh, for me? Er, whoever showers me with accolades has automatically proven their own good taste. Will that do?
Seriously though, at this point I don't even think about accolades, just about getting more stuff published.
It would be nice to be read the world over, but I'll take what I can get.
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