There is a hilarious scene in "Munnabhai MBBS" where Munna needs a corpse for dissection in his anatomy class. So he calls his lieutenant Circuit to arrange for a body. Circuit spies this Asian (looked Chinese to me) tourist who is taking pictures of a "dhobhi ghaat". Before knocking him unconscious and taking him to the medical college, Circuit has a quick exchange with the tourist. He basically offers to take the tourist to show him photogenic areas. The tourist dismissively replies that he wants to take pictures of the "real India" instead. Circuit makes a remark about how India has the Taj Mahal but tourists like this insist on taking pictures of poor people and decay. It's a unique take on these tourists who think they're capturing "real India" through one photograph, and not a good one at that!
For the fourth time, an Indian-born author won the Booker prize. Arvind Adiga won for his debut novel "The White Tiger". I haven't read the book yet but I plan to do so as soon as I can. But in reviews I've read of the book, I'm given to understand that the book is about "India's underbelly" and "the dark side of India". Apparently this perspective of a "dark side of India" was big factor in Adiga winning the prize. Another author who won a Booker for her debut (and so far, only) novel is Arundhathi Roy. Her work, "The God of Small Things" uses the prevalant caste system as a backdrop to write a stunning story of actions and consequences and victims.
What bothers me is not so much that these works of literature were written - "The God of Small Things" is still my favorite work of fiction - but that it seems like these works won awards only because they are such dark portrayals of India and the Booker committee prefers this perspective.
Now, and this is where I am severely handicapped, I haven't read enough Indian fiction (let alone fiction from all the Booker-eligible countries) to suggest an alternate. But there have to be positive uplifting books right? Books about success against all odds? Books about achievement, greatness or even humility. Am I being overly naive in this matter? I refuse to believe that good literature has to be dark.
If you're a reader, I ask you to post your comments on this topic. I am curious to know if I am over-reacting.
For the fourth time, an Indian-born author won the Booker prize. Arvind Adiga won for his debut novel "The White Tiger". I haven't read the book yet but I plan to do so as soon as I can. But in reviews I've read of the book, I'm given to understand that the book is about "India's underbelly" and "the dark side of India". Apparently this perspective of a "dark side of India" was big factor in Adiga winning the prize. Another author who won a Booker for her debut (and so far, only) novel is Arundhathi Roy. Her work, "The God of Small Things" uses the prevalant caste system as a backdrop to write a stunning story of actions and consequences and victims.
What bothers me is not so much that these works of literature were written - "The God of Small Things" is still my favorite work of fiction - but that it seems like these works won awards only because they are such dark portrayals of India and the Booker committee prefers this perspective.
Now, and this is where I am severely handicapped, I haven't read enough Indian fiction (let alone fiction from all the Booker-eligible countries) to suggest an alternate. But there have to be positive uplifting books right? Books about success against all odds? Books about achievement, greatness or even humility. Am I being overly naive in this matter? I refuse to believe that good literature has to be dark.
If you're a reader, I ask you to post your comments on this topic. I am curious to know if I am over-reacting.
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