Bharati Mukherjee : The American Dreamer

temporal #72: ``anyone read zulfikar ghose? ``

I have started on him. His South American stuff. He is the latest addition into my planned ``largest library of Pakistani English literature.`` It fits into a bookcase and is divided into four shelves: 1) Very good 2) Average 3) Below Average 4) Would not have gotten published had she did not have a rich dad or husband.

So far, there is one book in shelf 4. Nearly all the others are on shelf 3. Let`s see where Zulfiqar fits in. He certainly has written a lot of books. There is even a writer who has written a book about the writing of Zulfiqar...........He seems to be one guy who actually hasn`t exploited the immgratory experience as his main thrust of writing..........

Vivek/Amit #: ``You have a nice story planned, make sure that you give a discount to chowk subscribers.``

The story is all planned out. Now the events just have to occur. I think I will add the, ``hadn`t seen blue eyes before,`` to my story. That is a good one. I am always on the lookout for such comments.

The first part of the story is mine. But the second part actually belongs to Sabir Bhatia, the young Indian entreprenuer who started Hotmail and sold it to Microsoft for hundreds of millions. Microsoft is known for intimidating small company owners with lawyers etc. during buyout negotiations. Bhatia`s negotiations with them have landed legendary status. Since he was able to get an excellent deal. I read an interview, in which, when asked, how he was able to negotiate the deal so cooly and profitably he replied that, as a child, he accompanied his mother when she haggled with vegetable sellers in India. That is where he learnt the art.

``Anyway, the way things are shaping up in the US, especially on the east coast, pretty soon the American goras will be writing about their exotic immigrant experience``

I was listening to a discussion, on the table behind me, during lunch. They were debating the problems the West (specifically the USA) is facing and how it should handle them. In the end, one guy commented, ``I don`t know why we are worried about all this, in a hundred years the whole world with be Chinese and Indians, anyways.``

If you want to see the next den of desis, then forget USA. Come to Canada. The ex-governor of B.C was an Indian. He is now the most important federal minister. In my neighborhood, there are eight federal constituences. Five of them are in direct control of desis. Three by Sikhs and two bu Pakistanis. Even the candidates that lose are desis. The Pakistani candidate that won from our constituency had two desis opposing him from the other two main parties. If you are not a Sikh, then forget about getting elected from Brampton. The potential leader of the opposition, a non-Sikh, lost from Sikh land.

And all of these areas are not ghettos. They have amongst the higher, per capita incomes, in Canada. Microsoft, Oralce, and Nortel, amongst other companies have their headquarters in these areas...........

Oh, I think vernacular and immigrant lit have a lot of meeting ground. It`s interesting you bring up Pak vern lit - Inds hear a lot about the death of the reading habit in Pak and the decline in publishing and so on and so forth. Is that only in Eng or is it in vern as well? In fact, is it true in the first place?

Eng as vern is something dear to my heart, Samina. Because it`s true for me as it is for millions of other urbanites in South Asia I`m sure. However, I can see why it drives defenders of vern up the wall - there are languages out there which have a proud lit tradition and a lot of emerging writers who are doing exciting stuff but dont belong to the big language with pots of money and committed readership category unlike say Malayalam or Bengali. Manipuri for example, is one of these I believe. Small presses are the answer but you need backing for it in most cases and such backing usually comes at the tail end of political movements. Had there been no freedom struggle in Bengal, lit there would have been on shakier ground, Had there been no communism in Kerala, Mal lit would have largely vanished.

The majority of vern lit was read in school and most of it was chosen like medicine - it was good for us! what a terrible way to introduce kids to lit. But sometimes they slipped in a couple of writers with whom I`ve kept the faith. I dont read my own native language (I read Hindi instead) but my mother has a habit of reading it aloud to me. Very pleasant and great stuff. I make an effort to read poetry however - but again, I dont read Urdu or Persian (the kind of poetry I adore) and therefore hunt around for transliterations. Person whose name I cant remember - he wrote the translation of Kabhi Kabhi on this site - recommended Urdupoetry.com. Blessings on his house forever more!

Nissim Ezekiel is wonderful but Dom Moraes I love. Bi-lingual writers are again amazing creatures. I can write in Hindi but it`s a lot more commercial sounding (no, not Bollywood - more street patois) than the beautifully crafted peices I habitually read that make a virtue of verbosity a la The Wasteland. It`s too frustrating. Poor translations are going to be around for a long time until established writers choose to undertake that task themselves. For example Beowulf pre and post Heaney are two differnt texts.

In closing, the snobbish Mr Rushdie. If you were Salman Rushdie - wouldnt you be a snob?

Now, this board is really getting exciting...high time tooo!

Rahul/Subroto..(Pahadi):) and other old musafirs of this board.

I have no fear about Salman. The man has made a deserving name for himself, has run out of steam fictionally from the Moor`s Last Sigh, and the only thing he still holds my interest is through his non-fiction. That is a strictly personal assessment.

As far as his assessment of regional writing goes, it is rather sad for a global literary star to have to cede so much to publishing demands that he actually thought that the readers might NOT notice. As in enough readers might NOT notice. It is ridiculously stupid assessment of the English speaking junta in the diaspora to think that there is nobody other than people-like-us who read in English. That was true perhaps some ten years back.

Rushdie, IMO did not challenge himself as a writer, or worse, did not attempt to keep himself in writerly shape, like, say, Marquez did. If one sees Marquez, the man kept leavening his fictions with constant non-fictions. So did Kundera, with more esoteric essays perhaps. But Rushdie`s essays were more newscolumns than meditations, unlike Kundera`s. And his non-fiction is pure fiction...I guess.

Vikram Seth is the only writer of some reput who is challenging himself, other than Amitav Ghosh.

Subroto,

Sahitya academy brought to translations about the same hardiness that Bata brand brought to school shoes!

The bad translations available are all Sahitya Academy`s. Try Katha, the hot mid-term publishing stock I would recommend! They have already translated the most important contemporary language writers, they have already exhumed Basheer``s genius...personally...he is the Sub-continent`s Borges...and some extrordinary material from the languages.

Saminasha #65,

I don`t know how to label the criticism of Mukherjee`s interview here. Some interactors
thought that she was unduly overplaying her immigrant angst of the 60`s to create
a literary space for herself. I have read and re-read the interacts several times, and not
once did I find any desi male take a dig at her gender. Their critique would be equally
valid (or invalid) even if they were desi females, or the target was a desi man. Basically,
one cannot see a gender bias or insecurity of desi men here, unless one assigns that
motive preemptively.

Similarly you mentioned praise of Naipaul by desi men to say that he is far more guilty
of ``race hate``. The fact is, there`s not one desi man who`s lauded Naipaul here. How
is this not a straw-man argument ?

Will take a look at the essay when I have some time - thanks for the suggestion.

Rahul_capri #66,

I happen to routinely read Bengali novels and short stories - most of it pulp. Not trying
to prove a point, just that it is the language I`m most comfortable in. By the way, Sunil
Gangopadhyay`s major claim to fame is/was as a poet; some of his poetry is really
superb. Don`t know how well they translate.

By the way, I never claimed Samina was a phoney. I do feel that her ideology looks
for non-existent contests in some cases. Please take a look at my response above.

rahul:

good point you raised on ``immigrant angst``...it relates to the writer`s persona...personally i think it is unfair to attribute this angst to all witers...desi or otherwise...

subroto:

re: the vernacular...aag ka darya ..qurratul ain haider`s is a masterpiee...and if you own manto we will take munshi prem chand...fair?

another point i raised on another board...when judging writer`s in english i do not box them into desi or african or asian...believe any writer writing in english should be judged on a level playing field...comments?

anyone read zulfikar ghose?

rgds

t

ps: amrita: good luck with the block...just keep plugging and before you realise you`ll be out of the woods;)

why picture of woman look like kind of chinese type. anybody noted.
white is ok and right. no wrong.
it is desire of every man and women in pakistan to marry white if not real white then atleast wheatish, its ok sir, nothing wrong. MQM dark indians of KHI dream of maarying wheatisjh jat man and woman and work on farm sindhi and punjabi etc
(free verse) not poetry but verse

i am going to be glorious white
i will die but beautiful
after dieing i will white after judgement day
jesus, muhammad ( pbuh) both
were dark like coal
but we think they must be milk white.
punjab lion GM khar kalu his heram white
bb milk white asif mqm kalu
general mqm kalu but sahiba blond hair
EXpak marry milk white fat buffolow
Expak prey allah for milk white Grandchildren
KIll me but has milk white grandchildren
Imran bada Khan marry white
Femine of good milkwhite woman in PK
Rajubhayya Kalu Soniya milkwhite
KiaserE hind Mrs Ghandhiji milk white
Follow the leader, RajuBhayya and Badakhan
white advantage Indi paki
breed white white is better
if darky Mrs gandhiji hay get out
Milky soniyaji be my empress
They say hum hay kale fir bhi dilwale
get out diwale , get out kale.
If kalu beauty why not put coal powder
Real sacrafice man to marry more dark
dark man women more than ugly bad
curse to be kalu, blessing gora
arab african kalu
called habshi kalu
white khomani but go Abadan
dark irani hated by white aryan Irani
dark hindus called gypsy in europa land of
H (human right) and justice.
Ugly is white is good
ugly is bad
Ugly dark is worst
Hari is bad
Ugly hari is bad
Ugly dark hari is slave.
wear whit Goggles
genetic problemo for expak
marry white bufflow pray lot
But baby is bufflow dark like expak
blame himself being Kalu

Conclusion in PK it is best to be white, better to be wheatish than black even though black complexion is connected with honesty and other good deshi qualities. Marry little better little whiter.

Subroto, I too like His Salmanness.Praising Midnights Children is passe so I will let it go. Talking about ``The ground beneath her feet ``, I did not enjoy the novel as much as I did Pankaj Mishras criticism of it.Here it is.This stuff is like Tendulkar blasting Henry Olonga though otherwise the roles may be reversed.
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=19990322&fname=booksb&sid=1
You might have to register on outlook for this, but it is well worth it.
Incidentally, because of this article, I read Mishra`s the Romantics and I thought that he has tried to go consciously into the opposite direction of Rushdie. He ie a better critic than a writer.
Also, I dont think we even need to give examples from vernacular literature to prove any point, though we may as well do it to show our appreciation . I have been reading Bangla books in Hindi translation and Hindi prose and poetry, and in neither, there is any shortage of world class writing. Even Bangla pulp fiction like Bimal Mitra and Sunil Gangopadhyay is superb. Hindi poets like Muktibodh and Nagarjun are on par with the greatest in the world. I personally would rate Muktibodh along someone like Auden,but thats just me.
Incidentally, not all immigrant writing can be classified as such. Amitava Ghosh, who is for all pratical purposes,a Bengali writer in English, free of mostly any immigrant angst and is to my mind one of the finest.

#63 Harish on vernacular writers..sir me..sir me (jumping up and down like excited schoolboy)..I hate to hijack this board away from the topic of immigrant writers but there is whole world of Indian - sorry guys apart from Ms Sidhwa not read any Pakistani writers and Manto was humara Indian writer ;-)
But your point is valid ``There are some brilliant writings in the languages``
Pather Panchali (Song of the Road) By Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay this is a novel of rare beauty (if thats not cliched enough I am sorry). A must (as compared to Mast) read.
Chemmeen by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai Stories/plays by Jaywant Dalvi particularly Sandhya Chayya. Works by Ismat Chugtai. Punjabi writers like Amrita Pritam, Bedi.
Vaikom Basheer - the one availabe is ``Me grandad `ad an elephant``
The sahitya academy has done a good job in providing translations of works by the sahitya academu award winners (at very affordable prices may I add) -> http://www.sahitya-akademi.org/

In fact the book fair in Delhi was one of my great pleasures in life especially in getting translations of Indian fiction - my first date with my wife to be and I dragged her through the book fair for 3.5 hours :-)

Rahul #66 His Salmanness may be a snob as far as vernacular literature but nobody can pick on an accent like him. The marathi character in ``The Ground Beneath Her Feet`` and I swear I could hear him talk eyela!

I totally missed this board. HN, His Salmanness is a SNOB with a capital S, when it comes to vernacular writing. He commented about the quality of vernacular writing and when questioned said where are the names internationally? I mean, if there arent the names, how can you conclude the quality of the writing from this? He is not a first year college student, so he should me a bit more responsible in his comments.There can be other reasons why the names aint famous internationally and one of them can very well be lack of translation.
But yeah, as Amrita says, he may very well have made this comment due to pot shots taken on him and others .Here is an excellent lecture by the great Vikram Chandra (His REPR and LOLIB both are superb) . I have posted this article before but this is well worth posting again.
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR25.1/chandra.html very very interesting read.
plats8, Samina does sometimes intrapolate her real world experience, but that doesnt mean she is a phony.
Now, since we are talking about vernacular writing, do we read them? When did you guys read the last vernacular book and which was it? Just curious, not trying to prove any point.

#32 Harish talking of Raja Rao have you read his Kanthapura? I know everybody talks about ``The Serpent & The Rope`` as his magnum opus but to my mind Kanthapur holds its own as a book of great lyrical beauty.
Nissim Ezekiel now thats a name not heard so frequently these days. We had this one in our syllabus -

Night of the Scorpion - Nissim Ezekiel
``I remember the night my mother was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours
of steady rain had driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice.
Parting with his poison -- flash of diabolic tail in the dark room --
he risked the rain again. The peasants came like swarms of flies
and buzzed the Name of God a hundred times to paralyse the Evil One.
With candles and with lanterns throwing giant scorpion shadows
on the sun-baked walls they searched for him; he was not found.
They clicked their tongues. With every movement the scorpion made
his poison moved in Mother`s blood, they said. May he sit still,
they said. May the sum of evil balanced in this unreal world
against the sum of good become diminished by your pain.
May the poison purify your flesh of desire, and your spirit of ambition,
they said, and they sat around on the floor with my mother in the centre.
the peace of understanding on each face. More candles, more lanterns,
more neighbours, more insects and the endless rain.
My mother twisted through and through groaning on a mat.
My father, sceptic, rationalist, trying every curse and blessing,
powder, mixture, herb, and hybrid. He even poured a little paraffin
upon the bitten toes and put a match to it.
I watched the flame feeding on my mother. I watched the holy man
perform his rites to tame the poison with incantation.
After twenty hours it lost its sting.``

``My mother only said:
Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spared my children.``

Plats,

Look at the interacts on this particular board and tell me what the ``genre`` of critique was based on. Secondly, google and read the essay ``Guarded Tongues``; I`d be interested in reading your response.

Amrita,

And of course there are Indian and other desi writers who point out that English was the language of their home community-in India.

Re:Romair#58

Yaar, you are a natural :-)!! Just get in line behind Rushdie, Naipaul, Mukherjee, Lahiri etc.

Anyway, the way things are shaping up in the US, especially on the east coast, pretty soon the American goras will be writing about their exotic immigrant experience as they visit Jackson Heights and Edison, NJ :-). Man, those places are packed with desis. Just check out Menlo Park Mall in NJ over the weekends - only desis and chaptas all over.

What Rushdie said was that there were no good literature in the languages, or if there were, they were ill serviced by bad to poor translations into English. That caveat, actually has some merit. Now that sub-continental writing has/is reached/ing critical mass, I believe that would one area that publisher`s might want to attck.

There are some brilliant writings in the languages. And, some later translations make Mahashweta Devi, O V Vijayan, Tendulkar, karnad, etc look like vertical invaders with their power, and freshness of perspective/theme etc. There is also the rising instances of bi-lingual writers like Vilas sarang/ Kiran Nagarkar / Paul Zakaria / et all. Methinks, its time to role out the Linda Ashers and Gregory Rabassas of the sub continent.