Sunday, August 16, 2009

Whine and Dine


Sunil K Poolani
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Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy
Arundhati Roy
Hamish Hamilton
Price: 499; Pages: 252

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There was a nice, short girl from the riverside of a Kerala village who wrote a book in the mid-nineties. A sweet, small novel which was likeable but immensely forgettable. But it was not the case. The staccato style she employed got the attention of the Booker judges and it went on to win that coveted award, thanks to which millions of copies were sold, and still counting.
Arundhati Roy became a household name since then. But there was a noticeable lull period in her writing. Her next avatar was in the form of a ‘crusader’, but purely as a heavily subjective commentator who voiced her views in the form of non-fiction but with poetic cadences — which for many was like blurring the lines of fact and fiction. Nevertheless, she was serious.
The Narmada movement led by Medha Patkar was her first foray into her campaigner career that would then span more than a decade. It was a small trip from Meenachil to Narmada, then. Since then she has travelled all over the world; there is hardly any political party, any fundamental religious group, any despicable dictatorship in the world that has not failed to face her wrath.
I have been observing this little-bird-lady for more than a decade, like most of her readers spread across continents. She is determined; and always gets into trouble (including a token one-day jail sentence for ‘insulting’ the judiciary); makes enemies faster than ‘War Criminal’ Bush; and I have an inane feeling that Roy enjoys them all.
There are two Roys. One, a totally devoted, sharp, meticulous and daring Roy who does her homework very meticulously and comes up with periodic commentaries on issues that we tend to sweep under the carpet. An eye-opener Roy.
Then there is the maverick Roy, who finds gratification in upsetting many an applecarta; mightier the better. She is like this: there is a calamity that affects India or things closer to the polity of the country — be it the Bombay terror attacks or the Gujarat genocide — and, voila, you can expect her to comment on that very soon. And make provocative statements (of course, there is truth in what she says) to incite (mostly the neo-Hindutva elements) the masses, or the lay English-language reader.
Admit it. She is very much part of us, but aloof, almost invisible; not present even for the launch of her book in question, Listening to Grasshoppers, which is a collection of her essays that have had appeared in national and international media on all issues close to her heart; and in some way to us, too. Most of the stuff we have read, along these years. And most of them have earned her more brickbats than bouquets. Be it questioning the media, be it how a democratically elected state government like Narendra Modi’s orchestrating a pogrom, be it how the Parliament attack accused have been vilified, be it…. whatever.
Reading through most of the articles in the book, which are not updated “intentionally”, one comes to realise that, how much ever we hate Roy, we love her in an equal measure.
Love her or hate her, she is going to be with us. As a mirror. Doesn’t matter if she is not at all objective in her views. And, yes, she mixes verse and worse in equal measures.
This book should be more of a reference guide and a ready-reckoner than just a book that should be read and stashed away.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good. she'll like it.
-- Dilip Raote (dlplowlife@gmail.com)

Anonymous said...

I don't like her.
Playing to the hustings and building up her own case.
-- Mira Desai (miradesai@gmail.com)

Frog Books said...

why guys?
is this because it has become fashionable to criticise Roy?
but truth and evidence should be acknowledged and that is what i did
well
what to say?

Anonymous said...

She has made tons of sound bytes off my state, bleated about it to the hilt, and I can't stand that.
Rabble-rouser, that's what she is.
-- Mira Desai (miradesai@gmail.com)

Frog Books said...

by saying your "state" you mean, just a bunch of merchants and industrialists? what about the majority 80-5 per cent in the state who still live in abject poverty. yes they do run your state and you have got an apt, autocratic head to run it too. you call Roy rabble-rouser, then who is Modi? or the cancerous Togadia? remember on thing, after the state-sponsored Gujarat pogrom, every indian state and its leaders took on Gujarat, except of course spineless and money-minded banias and hindutwavadis of Gujarat. and you object of Gujaratis being shunted out of Uganda by Idi Amin...
-- Sunil K Poolani

Anonymous said...

You need to check also the antecedents of the Godhra-ites.A train was burnt with vengeance, or was it not? Were the crowds in A'bad angry and itching for revenge or were they not?

I refer you to Morarji Desai's account in his autobiography, of his stint as collector in Godhra, that town has rumbunctious minority trouble makers like it or not.

I abhor Modi, Togadia and the bunch.

But tell me why the minority in Gujarat doesn't make any effort to integrate in the mainstream the way it does in Maharashtra?

Kindly check your economics- in a state with not great soil quality or rain, the majority in Gujarat lives in a much better state than their equivalent elsewhere. Check the gram panchayat level quality of administration and then crib.

Do no other states have interreligious flare ups and problems? Really? Why has no other issue been given these demonical dimensions since 2002?

Someone who plays up an incident for personal gain is playing to the gallery and is a rabble rouser. I stand by that.
-- Mira Desai (miradesai@gmail.com)

Anonymous said...

I agree with Mira Desai. Roy lacks depth. She breast-beats. Wails. And gets away with hysterical shrill rants in place of balanced informed debate. By this she can spoil the case! She can invoke emotional responses as she weilds a powerful pen. If you are talking about writing (not her Booker novel please) she can touch headless hearts. If about analysis based on objective information, sorry. When it is necessary to touch hearts, she scores. But what the heck! Any convent educated girl could quote that poem too that she used in her by now (in)famous piece: The greater common good. "If all the trees were one tree ......" I do not know which of her articles are in this collection though. And dont know enough to judge her intentions - let me, as just the average reader, give her the benefit of the doubt and think she is genuine in her concerns. Afterall, we are so many Indians who can write too instead of being silent spectators, but have we done it? I didn't for one. And to that extent I'm ashamed.
-- Uma Chandrasekaran (uma.chandrasekaran@gmail.com)

Anonymous said...

Hey Sunil ... Good for you! I love the way Arundhati Roy writes ... we were in school together ...
-- Saaz Aggarwal

Anonymous said...

I am an agnostic. I don't hold any brief for Modi or others.I hate all religions.But facts are sacred...There was this article or ,should I say, the rave and rant, by the honorable lady, they are all honorable, you know, about post Godhra riots, in the Outlook..She gave a lurid account of the rapes of sisters of a prominent Congress leader, by her bete noire, the Hindutva brigade, or whatever she chooses to cal Hindus,l depending on her hatred level of the moment. When it was proved that the rapes were all imaginary, as attested by the Congress leader himself, did the lady have basic coutesy to apologise? No sir, to date there has been no apology by either the lady herself or the esteemed editor! But for some lame apologetic sounding sounds and obfuscation which is rubbing salt on the wound!The lady has no credibility! As for her exhortation'Give Kashmir to Pakistan'!, what can I say, but that it is beneath contempt.
-- K.Niranjan Sharma

Anonymous said...

An adroitly written review.
-- Priti Aisola

Anonymous said...

So Sunil...You should pitch some of these books my way.
Your examinations of these writers are incredible.
I could learn a lot from this writer. As i am, from reading your reviews.
-- Susan Smith

Anonymous said...

I like this article and your views!
-- Shivani Khare

Anonymous said...

Your review comes through with deep understanding & insight into the mind of Roy...... as she is. Many thanks .Looking forward to an interesting read!
-- Anuradha Mukherjee

Anonymous said...

Bit of a sinnic sunil.I preferred 'Im the Belly of the Beast' meself.
-- Peter Handley

Anonymous said...

Great analysis!
-- Sachin Garg

Anonymous said...

You gave both sides of her. She'll like it.
-- Dilip Raote (dlplowlife@gmail.com)

mp said...

I have always found Poolani's posts quite readable. I'm returning to this blog after quite some time, and as before, I liked this post too.
I agree with the comment that it is fashionable to criticise Roy. Of course, we are free to dislike her for many of her actions, including her extremely loud protests.

Ipshita said...

Is this a book review or an opinion on Roy?