Adiga's Achievement--- Kannadigas, wake up and applaud | A. Jayaram

Published on 23-10-2008 In General

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Adiga's Achievement--- Kannadigas, wake up and applaud

It is for the first time a Kannadiga has won a major international prize for writing in English. Aravind Adiga, born in Chennai, brought up in Mangalore and writing a book on those amassing wealth in "New Bangalore" has brought glory to Karnataka.

But what is amazing is the low degree of enthusiasm in the State over the achievement of the youngster. Kannadigas are yet to learn to celebrate their success. There was some initial excitement but certainly not much. No doubt the Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa as also the former chief minister S.M.Krishna was among the first to congratulate the young author of "The White Tiger". Those anchoring programmes on Kannada television channels should have had sore throats shouting over the achievement. But they seem to have hardly opened their mouths. The same channels cry themselves hoarse whenever a Kannada film star celebrates his or her birthday or wins an award. The muted response is of some surprise as Karnataka is one of those States where learning English is a fad and every second child in our towns and cities studies in English.

No doubt intellectual and literary circles might discuss the "White Tiger" once their members go through the book and become thorough with it. That might be some days from now. One remembers that there was greater excitement even in Bangalore over Salman Rushdie winning the same Man Booker Award for his Midnight's Children in 1981. Much later in 1983, he had visited Bangalore and addressed a meeting at the Indian Institute of World Culture. Not many had imagined Aravind Adiga to corner the glory. The betting was heavy on Amitav Ghosh's "Sea of Poppies" a British Raj story on opium cultivation and trade. An English weekly had even distributed free to its readers an abridged version of that book. The build up was so heavy for the writer with Bengali connections.

Karnataka has no doubt produced authors of note in English .But that was in the past. Authors like R.K.Narayan, K.Raja Rao and A.K.Ramanujam come easily to mind. Among the established ones today is Shashi Deshpande hailing from Dharwad. There was the well known professor of English, the Late C.D.Narasimhaiah, who produced literature of a different genre. But it is some surprise the educated youth of today has not taken to writing in English. It is noted that many youngsters and the middle aged engaged in other professions like engineering, science or teaching, have been contributing immensely to fields like history, philosophy and classical music. Some are writing travelogues especially after travelling abroad after it became affordable for the middle class.

No doubt Aravind Adiga had his advantages over a writer like R.K.Narayan. Adiga was born into riches and studied in Australia. He could face the world with ease. Not so R.K.Narayan who was from the middle class. He had no job and made a living from writing, though hailing from an educated and cultured family. His father was a high school headmaster. Narayan had to struggle even to get his first novel published. He had to use the good offices of the noted author Graham Greene and could correspond with him through a close friend, the Oxford educated Krishna Rao Purna. Purna was for sometime private secretary to Sir Mirza Ismail when he was the Dewan of Mysore. It was decades later that Narayan received recognition.

It might be that even today, "class differentiation" observed by the publishing industry, with its main base in Delhi has come in the way of many a talented writer getting his work published. Karnataka has remained an underdog State when it comes to awards and prizes in general, especially those in English literature.

We are far behind West Bengal and even our neighbour, Kerala, though we have excelled them in recent decades in many sectors. Take the case of the national film awards and especially the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. We seem to be content that Dr.Rajkumar was crowned with that award. Be it remembered that a single film studio in Kolkata, the renowned New Theatre Ltd, which has since been closed down, has produced seven or eight Phalke award winners! Even the latest recipient Tapan Sinha began his career in New Theatre which gave the country several classic films in Bengali and Hindi between 1931 and 1956. The bitter truth is that the leaders of our national film industry recognized the talent and contribution of Dr.Rajkumar only after H.D.Deve Gowda became the prime minister.

Karnataka has not received its due in many fields, especially when it comes to national awards. The State has not got a Bharat Ratna after Sir C.V.Raman who had made Bangalore his home and Sir M.Visvesvaraya were honoured. The State Government no doubt makes its recommendations for Bharat Ratna and the Padma awards. Very few of them are accepted by those who matter in New Delhi. The name of one of the greatest friends of the underdog in the country, the centenarian Sri Shivakumar Swamiji of Siddaganga Math is being recommended for some years now and again by the Yeddyurappa Cabinet. Will it find favour this time? The name of S.Nijalingappa was turned down for challenging Indira Gandhi and it is well known. But M.G.Ramachandran got it.

Returning to Aravind Adiga and his "White Tiger" , it has not gone unnoticed that the western countries prefer literary works and films which portray their stereotyped images of India- poverty, hunger, urban decay, squalor, a richer class indifferent to the poor, corruption and so on. Nirad Choudhury wrote of the dust and dirt of India. Even about Adiga, one has to agree with a critic that "That an Indian has won a coveted award for showcasing to the world our seamier side particularly rankles". Adiga has no doubt written on the grim realities of contemporary Indian life, the yawning gap between the rich and the poor, the growing income disparities in cities like Bangalore, corruption and the way the unscrupulous make it big and crime and politics becoming partners in progress. Many these days complain of growing income disparities in Bangalore especially with the advent of the IT industry and the arrival of MNCs, but few writers have chosen it as the theme.

I wonder the Kannadiga that he is, why Aravind Adiga did not choose Kannadiga names in his book. There might not be a Balram Halwai in Bangalore, except perhaps among the many new immigrants from the northern States. Firstly there are no cycle rickshaws here. The few that were there in the Cantonment have vanished. Another writer of fiction Bhagawan S.Gidwani had said that Tippu Sultan's soldiers were Punjabis as if there were no fighters in Mysore State in his book "Sword of Tipu Sultan". Puritans and prudes might not take kindly to Adiga's writing "It is an ancient and venerated custom of people in my country to start a story by praying to a Higher Power. I guess, Your Excellency that I too should start off by kissing some god's arse".

Such passages notwithstanding, Karnataka should rejoice over the achievement of its young son. Aravind Adiga should be felicitated at the Vidhana Soudha or its flight of steps by the Governor, Rameshwar Thakur and the Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa without any delay.

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