A collection of articles written over the course of a decade, this book reflects on the importance of the mother-tongue and argues for its continuing relevance in a world teeming with global and regional literatures. Insights into the workings of the market, transformations within political parties, the upheavals caused by rapid economic development, and liberalisation are linked to the trials and tribulations of local cultures striving to survive, if not succeed, in an increasingly unequal world.
One of the more arresting themes is the now familiar debate about disparate worlds inhabited by Indians writing in regional languages and in English.
Regional writers, Srinivasaraju reminds us, not only constitute an important segment of the intelligentsia but also have a foothold on the global literary scene. However their presence on the global literary scene is always mediated by western literary trends. This problem is surfacing in other non-English speaking countries such as Korea and Japan. Questions pertaining to the survival of local cultures are further complicated by the kinds of institutional support that is often extended by western powers.
Memorable anecdotes
For Srinivasaraju, the key to systemic continuity resides in the belief in one’s mother tongue and in one’s individuality. The book includes biographical sketches laced with memorable anecdotes. Girish Karnad’s penetrating gaze on the intrigue and ‘somewhat incestuous ways of the world of writers’ sets the tone. Srinivasaraju adds a glowing tribute to Shivarama Karanth, a polymath of uncommon breadth. Appraisals of Rajkumar, the Kannada actor, and P. Lankesh, the writer, highlight their zest for life. In an obituary for Fritz Bennewitz, who came to India with Brecht and chose to identify himself with the Third World, Srinivasaraju recounts how he understood the limitations of a developing economy and was frugal in his productions.
Moving from theatre to reality, as it were, Srinivasaraju writes about Bangalore; of its well-known landmarks, the land-locked water bodies that were ‘celebrated metaphors for serenity’, and discusses the planned township around tanks over 400 years old. He also offers interesting comparisons of Kannada and Hindi language cinema.
Symbiotic relationship
In another essay, Srinivasaraju studies the “symbiotic relationship between Kannada nationalism and the idea of a Hindu state or Hindutva”. He also discusses the antiquity of the Kannada language in relation to Tamil and Sanskrit. He explains how the Kannada identity is derived through the organic relationship that exists between Kodava, Konkani, Byari, Havyak and Kannada.
The mime plays, Phoenix and Four Other Mime Plays by Chi Srinivasaraju, were conceived of, and staged, during the years of the Emergency. As translator of his father’s plays, Sugata Srinivasaraju shows how these mime plays offered a protest and the “unseen and unheard silence” they witnessed itself emerged as a vital protagonist in the plays. These plays, translated in 2002, were particularly worth remembering in the aftermath of violence in Gujarat orchestrated by the BJP government.
Sugata Srinivasaraju leaves us with the thought that no language or country can afford to countenance separatist or egoistic tendencies; terms like parochialism and cosmopolitanism are outdated and have to be grappled with differently.
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