My Reply to a debate on Indian Literature

I beg to disagree with her when she says that writers do not get the respect they deserve in India. No offense as this is my personal experience and opinion.

I buttress my statement with the facts below.

I grew up in an India where literature was always so rich and awe inspiring.
Reading English, Hindi and Bengali literature I was always happy to note that for every famous English author and poet we always had one home grown one.

If we read 'O Captain! My Captain!' by Walt Whitman and 'The charge of the Light Brigade' by Lord Alfred Tennyson we also read 'Jhansi Ki Rani' by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan and 'Sharfaroshi Ki Tamanna Aaj hamare dil mein hai' by Ram Prasad Bismil.

If Somerset Maugham, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain and Shakespeare influenced us so did Munshi Premchand, Sharatchandra and Bankim Chandra and Kalidas.
If we had a 'The Gift of Magi' and 'The last leaf' we also had the 'Kabuliwala' and 'Idgah'. If we had 'The tempest' and 'Othello' we also read 'Shakuntala' and 'Debodas'.

Kolkata always worshipped the literary giants - past and present. Robindra Sangeet and Nazrul geeti influenced the way of life in Bengal.

Poems by Robindranath Thakur are given the utmost respect by being chosen to be the national anthem of India and also Bangladesh. Not to forget our National song "Vande Mataram".

And before I forget I need to mention that we also had RK Laxman, Mulk Raj Anand and Ruskin Bond, if we wished to read Indian English authors.

The Rig Veda, the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Ramcharitmanas have been literature masterpieces that have been heard by generations of Indians.

Would it be wrong to suggest that we took lesson in life by reading and listening to dohas of Kabir, Surdas, Rahim and Nanak.

Gita continues to influence the way of life of the entire world.

On the other side, there has never been a book like 'Kamasutra' ever written.

Yes, it is true that we never had the wherewithal to discuss it over champagne and cherries, but we did discuss them as well, over cups of chai and bread-pakoras at the road side addas and while traveling on jam-packed local trains of Kolkata.

Yes, I am sure they get the respect they deserve in India.

The Sahitya Academy fellowship and the Jnanpith Award honor writers every year.

Please note that I have not talked about the various other contributors from the South and the West and the North-East.

Best regards,

Manoj