Op-ed in Pioneer, 9 June 2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Naipaul's take
The Pioneer Edit Desk
He now sees India fractioning
Sir VS Naipaul's idea of India has not always found universal approbation in this country. Yet, he, the eternal outsider, is of Indian origin, which explains his passionate interest in India, and draws him to it, possibly in a quest for identity. This may be a good enough reason for this Nobel Prize winner's views on India - sometimes controversial - to be of interest to Indians. In an interview he once described his work as snapshots of cultures in difficult stages. He may have loaded his camera one more time for he has looked again at India through his viewfinder. <b>In a lecture at the Royal Society of Arts in London on the theme, 'The challenge of India', he has offered his perspective on the social churning currently on within our country. Mr Naipaul's views have evolved with time since he wrote his first book on India - An Area of Darkness - and certainly the country is a very different place from what it was then, which he has admitted subsequently. It is, therefore, not surprising that what he essentially notes are changes, some positive, others not quite so.</b>
For instance, he remarks that India has begun to question itself - a departure from his early views of a stagnant, intellectually sterile nation steeped in custom and tradition on the one hand and in slavish imitation of the West on the other. <b>If there is any truth in his current observation, then perhaps one may revel in the implication that India has begun to emerge from its mind-numbing colonial apathy and is on a path towards a self-confident exploration and assertion of its identity. Maybe this positive development is linked to the success of the Indian economy, and Mr Naipaul, without drawing this linkage, does explore the impact of success and money. While noting that money gave Iran the idea of revolution and the Arab world the idea of religious radicalism, he sees an equal but different impact on India. According to him, money is "fractioning India", causing it to drift apart from the idea of oneness given by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. This observation of Mr Naipaul, not free from difficulties, certainly deserves contemplation for India has definitively moved away from monolithic concepts of unity in politics and society. Whether this undermines a more fundamental historic unity and whether this is a cause to celebrate or will prove to be ultimately divisive, only time will tell. Some of the changes that Mr Naipaul postulates, such as the trend towards atomisation, are probably inevitable. While drawing attention to the conflict between faith and reason in India, he has congratulated it for not rejecting the mind. Presumably, this should protect India from extremes of any kind.</b> While one may dispute with some of Mr Naipaul's views, they must also be respected as those of a sensitive writer. Perhaps we should await their greater exposition in another book.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Tehelka.com
Challenge of India
Naipaul interview with Farrukh Dhondy
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Naipaul's take
The Pioneer Edit Desk
He now sees India fractioning
Sir VS Naipaul's idea of India has not always found universal approbation in this country. Yet, he, the eternal outsider, is of Indian origin, which explains his passionate interest in India, and draws him to it, possibly in a quest for identity. This may be a good enough reason for this Nobel Prize winner's views on India - sometimes controversial - to be of interest to Indians. In an interview he once described his work as snapshots of cultures in difficult stages. He may have loaded his camera one more time for he has looked again at India through his viewfinder. <b>In a lecture at the Royal Society of Arts in London on the theme, 'The challenge of India', he has offered his perspective on the social churning currently on within our country. Mr Naipaul's views have evolved with time since he wrote his first book on India - An Area of Darkness - and certainly the country is a very different place from what it was then, which he has admitted subsequently. It is, therefore, not surprising that what he essentially notes are changes, some positive, others not quite so.</b>
For instance, he remarks that India has begun to question itself - a departure from his early views of a stagnant, intellectually sterile nation steeped in custom and tradition on the one hand and in slavish imitation of the West on the other. <b>If there is any truth in his current observation, then perhaps one may revel in the implication that India has begun to emerge from its mind-numbing colonial apathy and is on a path towards a self-confident exploration and assertion of its identity. Maybe this positive development is linked to the success of the Indian economy, and Mr Naipaul, without drawing this linkage, does explore the impact of success and money. While noting that money gave Iran the idea of revolution and the Arab world the idea of religious radicalism, he sees an equal but different impact on India. According to him, money is "fractioning India", causing it to drift apart from the idea of oneness given by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. This observation of Mr Naipaul, not free from difficulties, certainly deserves contemplation for India has definitively moved away from monolithic concepts of unity in politics and society. Whether this undermines a more fundamental historic unity and whether this is a cause to celebrate or will prove to be ultimately divisive, only time will tell. Some of the changes that Mr Naipaul postulates, such as the trend towards atomisation, are probably inevitable. While drawing attention to the conflict between faith and reason in India, he has congratulated it for not rejecting the mind. Presumably, this should protect India from extremes of any kind.</b> While one may dispute with some of Mr Naipaul's views, they must also be respected as those of a sensitive writer. Perhaps we should await their greater exposition in another book.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Tehelka.com
Challenge of India
Naipaul interview with Farrukh Dhondy