...should be renamed the 'Colonial Hangover Prize'. Whats up with the never ending obsession with the Indian need to find identity in the midst of religious, caste, regional etc. heterogeneity? Is it 'white guilt' on the part of the jury i.e. a sense of colonial ownership/responsibility/moral obligation for having left behind a teeming poverty stricken country with periodic sectarian violence?
Lets make a short list:
Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children - Bunch of kids (Hindu/Muslim,Rich/Poor,Male/Female) born at midnight on Aug 15th 1947, grow with the nation.
Kiran Desai - Inheritance of Loss - Story of a judge living out his retirement in Kalimpong.
Arundhati Roy - God of Small Things - Mallu twins return home, and the usual culture clash between East and West.
(nominated) Monica Ali - Brick Lane - Bangladeshi making sense of values and culture while living in Great Britain.
(nominated) Rohinton Mistry - Family Matters. Parsi family living it out in Mumbai. Two of his previous books, 'A Fine Balance' and 'Tales from Ferozeshah Bad', are also along the exact same Parsi theme.
This is just a teeny taste. Head back into the 70's and 80's, and we run smack into V.S. Naipaul and Anita Desai.
And now....as a shocking surprise...the winner of the 2008 Booker is...
Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger - Rural low caste peasant is chauffer to a rich big city Indian.
So, you out there wanting to win a Booker Prize, by writing a heart rending story of religious upheaval in the midst of caste bigotry where rural poverty fights big city wealth, you will generate enough guilt in the British jury that the shortlist if not the prize will be yours.
Lets make a short list:
Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children - Bunch of kids (Hindu/Muslim,Rich/Poor,Male/Female) born at midnight on Aug 15th 1947, grow with the nation.
Kiran Desai - Inheritance of Loss - Story of a judge living out his retirement in Kalimpong.
Arundhati Roy - God of Small Things - Mallu twins return home, and the usual culture clash between East and West.
(nominated) Monica Ali - Brick Lane - Bangladeshi making sense of values and culture while living in Great Britain.
(nominated) Rohinton Mistry - Family Matters. Parsi family living it out in Mumbai. Two of his previous books, 'A Fine Balance' and 'Tales from Ferozeshah Bad', are also along the exact same Parsi theme.
This is just a teeny taste. Head back into the 70's and 80's, and we run smack into V.S. Naipaul and Anita Desai.
And now....as a shocking surprise...the winner of the 2008 Booker is...
Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger - Rural low caste peasant is chauffer to a rich big city Indian.
So, you out there wanting to win a Booker Prize, by writing a heart rending story of religious upheaval in the midst of caste bigotry where rural poverty fights big city wealth, you will generate enough guilt in the British jury that the shortlist if not the prize will be yours.
4 comments:
thnx for sharing..
izmir evden eve
www.izmirevdeneve.com
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slaves we are
even now
overlords they feel like
still
indulge them we do
being fooled by our own condescension we are
While it appears to be a colonial guilt that is fuelling the decision of the jury for the Booker prize, the same is true with the Oscars: look at their choices - Mother India, Salaam Bombay, Lagaan all about poverty stricken India. They love the portrayal of a shoddy third-world India grappling with daily survival and we scramble to seek their approval!
[yoda] very true and very elegantly said.
[kirthi] absolutely! its all about playing up to the stereotype.
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