Indian Writing in English: Some Unsung Heros

chillibreeze writer — Ahana Basu

The first book of Indian Writing in English (IWE) I read was called '24 Short Stories.' I was about 8 years old, waxing on a diet of Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew and some Dickens and Alcott. My consciousness was made almost entirely of sardine sandwiches, red hair and blue eyes and the trials of a girls boarding school in England.

'24 Short Stories' had a story about an old man and his granddaughter who survive the horrors of communal riots. I remember he used the term bitia-rani whenever he spoke to her. Throughout the story, she was referred to as 'the girl.' Only when her grandfather spoke to or of her did her identity as a granddaughter come forth and add to her character.

At the age of eight, I did not care to interpret. I liked the stories, to feel their closeness, but it did not occur to me that I could experience a major shift in my reading. Books were books and stories were stories, what mattered is where they sprang from!

It wasn't until I started college that my acquaintance with IWE (Indian Writing in English) ripened. Working part-time in a small, independent bookshop, I came upon shelves of books by authors I had only barely heard of and never read.

Instead of heading for people I knew such as Arundhati Roy, my boss recommended I start with 'Diddi: My Mother's Voice' by Ira Pande. A biography of her mother, who was a writer herself under the pen-name Shivani, 'Diddi' was part memoir, part literary revival, deftly knitting memory, and stories written by Shivani herself. It had been written both as a salute to a wonderful writer, and as the musings of a daughter upon the multi-layered persona that was her mother.

What I noticed most about 'Diddi' was that it brought history alive through richly personal anecdotes and complex relationships. A part of the India-that-was is portrayed: memories of sitting and eating with a Vaishnavi (nun), the faithful bond between a lady and the maid who had been with her for over half her life, the stern Ama (grandmother) who, while unashamedly championing patriarchy, overflowed with praise when any of 'the girls' did well, and the wholehearted openness and affection that existed between teacher and student in Shantiniketan.

Such are the stories that, while being deeply personal, bear relevance to understanding the socio-cultural scene in India and Indian writing. I didn't stop at 'Diddi.' I went on to a little brown book with a very tender, very earthy soul. The Book of Rachel by Esther David.

David, having grown up in the Bene Israeli Jewish community of India, had been writing about them for a while. The Book of Rachel is the tale of a lone woman and her fight to save one of the last standing symbols of her faith, an old synagogue that she takes care of. Every chapter begins with an authentic Bene Israeli recipe and its significance in the life of the community. The language is raw English, interspersed with Marathi. Rachel however is not simply a heroine. She is a young girl who worried about her dark complexion. A mother who wanted her daughter to marry the right man. A woman of faith who believed in the Prophet Elijah's love.

Personally, I feel that writing such as this provides the reader with perspective. Indian Writing in English can be looked at as an antithesis to the cleanly rational lines of Western writing, where intelligence is located in a single organ, but that would be presumptuous.

Books such as 'Diddi' and 'The Book of Rachel' make me want to plunge my hands into damp earth and wear faded cotton saris, soft with numerous washes. In a way, they connect the India-that-is to what was.

History and culture are so often looked upon as a broad expanse of human canvas, sprinkled with momentous dates and important names. Neither of the above two books can be deemed as books of history or culture. In their own, personal ways however, they portray culture not as an external entity of isms and ologies, but as integral to us as blood. By taking up the personal pockets of the historical and cultural canvas i.e. individuals and the family, writing such as this brings the 'story' back into 'history.'

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—About our writer:

Ahana says, "I'm a writer, a daughter, a big sister, a perpetual student, a bibliophile and a friend. I'm currently working in an independent bookshop in Pune, learning how to belly dance and giving my relatives heartaches by not taking life seriously."

Indian Writing in English: Some Unsung Heros

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