What makes an Indian writer?

chillibreeze writer — Satrajit Sanyal

Though writing styles of writers in different parts of India vary appreciably, there are some general trends that can be observed in the Indian writer today.

A Creature of his Environment

The Indian writer is generally a being very sensitive to all the stimuli around him/her. A normal Indian upbringing can be said to account for this feature, as, in India, people from various socio-religio-ethnic backgrounds live in the same community, which results in the intermingling of the communities to a certain extent. Hence, an Indian child is able to look at a specific incident from points of view other than his or her own. As a result, the Indian writer is affected by happenings that are not directly connected to him/her and so can relate to other Indian communities as well. The minute detailing of both settings as well as events is also due to the Indians’ active imagination which is built up from childhood by mythical Indian stories as well as European influences from fairy tales. The inquisitive mind is inherited from forefathers who had time to philosophize, living in a land of milk and honey. Again, Indians have also suffered at the hands of Nature, through floods, droughts and so on, as well as with invaders and conquerors. Through the passing of ages, the Indian has borne sorrow in a philosophical way, standing tall even in the most despairing circumstances. This has lent a sad, tragic quality to their expression, which is reflected in the writing of Indian authors. Yet, in most Indian writing there is also an element of humor and wit as these qualities are highly valued by Indians traditionally and naturally find their expression in Indian writing. Indian writing is also deeply influenced by rural and suburban life as well as commonplace events as the Indian writer grows up in close association with them. Grandeur is also depicted with lasting beauty in Indian writings as Indian writers generally possess great imaginative capabilities. They are exposed to grandiose works of art such as the Taj Mahal from a young age and have a clear understanding of magnificence. Yet Indian writers still prefer generally to write about the “Common Man” as they can relate to him through their own lives and are capable of understanding his dilemmas and problems. It is common men and women and the times they live in that are subject closest to the Indian writer’s heart as they seem to reflect the personality of the writer.

As Diverse as the Indian Landscape

Hence the Indian writer can be said to be like India itself, full of diversity, having both tall illustrious mountain ranges as well as tiny, nearly unknown rivers, possessing both dry arid deserts as well as lush green plains. The taste of Indian writing is bittersweet, with laughter and joy sharing the stage with sorrow, tears and suffering, the humble and common place standing with pride alongside the opulent and spectacular. The Indian writer’s mind brims with many seemingly contradictory ideas to which he lends coherence in a quiet and dignified, yet witty, lyrical and majestically beautiful manner which is inimitable. This is the essence of Indian writing and herein lays the uniqueness of the Indian writer.

Adopting the Language

We should take into account Indian writers as a distinct class who employ two distinctive media to express similar thought: they may adopt English as well as choose to adopt their regional languages.

In perspective we need to define what we mean either by Indian as well as by writing. Today, unlike the Indo-Anglican era graced by the illustrious likes of Michael M.S.Dutt, Toru Dutt, Kashi Ghosh, HurChunder Dutt, Sarojini Naidu, and Harish Mukerjee who had been anglicized and westernized in their education. They were thereby influenced by the English, and sometimes French as well as Western Classical, thinking. Now we come across people - educators, professionals, civil servants, journalists, and expatriate Indians who have adopted the English language as their own. Having done so, they have created a unique new trend even without wishing to enact the role of trend-setters, but simply as a by-product of their intent to express themselves. Be it Amit Chaudhuri, Arundhati Roy or Amitav Ghosh the novelist, be it Arun Shourie the journalist, and be it Chidananda Dasgupta the copywriter, the common point is adoption, with great creativity vis-à-vis correctitude of the noble language of English. A writer, whether he is selling the magnum opus of authorship—the novel, or whether he be the convoluted versifier of ad jingles—the lowest rung of the ladder of creativity in the eyes of many a littérateur, is determined by the language he uses—whether he is facile vis-à-vis creative is all that matters. The influences, whether our heritage from the era of colonization, or the acceptance of the fact that English is indeed the international lingua franca sans pareil, ensures the adoption of the same by the Indian writer.

The Multifaceted Indian Writer

To this we may add, with due humility, the Indian Writer, if we are to take into account the regional languages like Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali and so on, is a creature of many facets as well as many faces: He may be the hungry beggar of Kishen Chunder, he may be the illiterate Muslim farmer of Sarat Chandra, he may be the killer with a cause, he may be an Irishman displaced, standing like Ruth on the Indian soil, but he cannot ever be contained in any single study, much less in the confined bounds of an article. The writer, in the Indian context, is always a philosopher exercising with the bounds of metafiction: entirely involved with his characters, entirely attuned to the Universe of his creation. This is the essence of the soil that so enamoured our erstwhile masters, be they Turko-Afghans or English, which they left their literary and linguistic heritage in a country they had chosen to colonize. The Indian writer today is, thus, a synthesis of ideas and creativity with generous doses of history. His rich historiography ensures that the moment he picks up the pen to express himself, be it an intensely personal self-reflective exercise or an attempt to earn, his fate stands sealed as he is the son of the most culturally enriched soil the Earth ever knew.

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Satrajit writes for chillibreeze.

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