The Wrath of the Writers
A DOSE OF ENLIGHTENMENT } Dear Writer, I don’t understand what it is with some of you writers these days because even though they use the public sphere (social networking,, Web 2.0 etc) extensively to popularize and market themselves well, they are not ready to engage in open discussion and would rather go around blocking and removing people even without a note. And there were two incidents on Tuesday and the first one involved author of One Night @ Call Center, Chetan Bhagat (you can read more about it at Blogbharti).
The second incident is what happened between us, dear writer. As you know, it happened after I put a comment on your wall post in FB. You, dear writer, who recently scripted for a much-hyped Malayalam movie (which I thrashed in a review in my blog), had posted an advt video made by your friends in your FB page. The advt video is directed by a young man, whose father directed the movie for which you wrote the screenplay. And the music of the advt video is done by the music director of the same movie. I liked the ad video, it’s a good work. But then I saw this comment to your wall post from another FB friend of yours. He wrote:
“I hav done my first feature script at 15, so dis is not a big news specialy shyama prasads son”
That comments sparked some parallels when I thought about it. The advt video is made for Leela Kempinski. Leela Krishan Nair is a known devotee of Mata Amrutanandamayi. The young man who directed the advt is the son of director Shyamaprasad (who is also the head of Amruta Television run by the Amrutanandamayi Mutt), and grandson of O Rajagopal, the BJP leader, former MoS (Railway) during the Vajpayee raj and another famous devotee of the hugging saint. The music director too is a known devotee of The Mother. I don’t know if you would agree now, but I (or anyone else who have heard from people in the industry) know that the contacts matter a lot in this business.
So I put on this comment on your wall – “May the power of The Mother and her connections bless them both well”
Evidentally, you did not like it though there was nothing derogatory about you or anyone else, and you removed my comment along with the first comment. Not just that, you went ahead and removed me from the “friends” list in FB. I do understand that you must show gratitude to people who have given you an opportunity in the industry, but was wondering how can such level of intolerance come from a person like you whom I admire through your writing. And then I get this email from you and that teaches me something. A dose of enlightenment, indeed. Let me reproduce the excerpts here:
“I’m a simple person who values the idea of appreciating people. While being on my turf, you broke my basic humane law of being kind to others, by that nasty comment of yours on ‘amma’ and the young talents. One should believe in motivating all around and not hurt others by one’s sheer ignorance, arrogance or prejudice.”
What was ‘nasty’ in my comment? That ‘The Mother’ has the power (isn’t that what many people believe and worship her for)? Or that she has powerful contacts/devotees? What did I say nasty about the young talents? That I implied perhaps they are fortunate to have some good contacts that might have helped them? And why would that sarcastic comment hurt you this much if there was nothing to it? In the latter case, you would leave both the comments there and would rather reply to it than removing it and blocking people.
“Most among the typical ‘third world’ malayalis are plagued by this illusion that they could trample on those around them with their rudimentary notions about anything. Gossiping and snubbing go with it.”
I am a “third world Malayali’ indeed, but I refuse to eat whatever piece of crap that the first world Malayalis like you supply in the Malayali art/cultural space or clap the hands when you say, “Eat this, you third world Malayalis. You don’t deserve any better than this.” A piece of crap has to be called a piece of crap, regardless of where it comes from. So now you elitist first world Malayalis are afraid that the third world Malayalis are using the mediums like Internet to question you people?
And oh writer, this exactly is the problem with your tribe – the urban, writing-for-upper-middle-class intellectuals. You ignore the common man’s wisdom. And you think only you can set the benchmarks of excellence and we lesser souls do not have a right to criticize.
“Young man, you got to remember, that I was valuing my belief in defending another one’s right to opine, however banal or silly it is, by asking my reluctant admins to allow your Ritu post on the Cafe.”
I find your claim strange. As per the records, your “reluctant admin” asked me to post the Ritu review in the Cafe. On Aug 23, at 10:45 PM, your site admin buzzed me in Gtalk and asked me this:
Admin] just read your blog, can u post this in the cafe too?
Me] Do you think he would be okay with posting in the cafe? I had written to him about the music track, about the off notes that come in the very beginning of the male vocals part of the song “Pularumo”. But he did not reply.
Admin] i don’t think he will be hurt and am sure he is above and beyond that…now. but what the heck… lets have fun bashing each other… after all this is virtual democracy
See? It was NOT me who requested to publish the piece in the Cafe, but your site admin. And honestly, your admin seems to have much better idea of free speech than yours when it comes to public discourse, but you Sir, who is “above and beyond being hurt” by my comment seems to be wrapped up in lies and hypocrisy.
“Lol.. that piece of yours was quite amateur in perception (which is pardonable as you are one) and I’d say it was audacity wearing an oversized coat of arrogance with a plumed tie of ignorance. Lol.. Yet we accepted your opinion with grace and let it publish among my friends though most of us had a smirk on it. But not good to continue with your hobby of sullying others in public. Jo, a lot of things in life have to be accepted with grace. Else, you’d fail to grow up. You’d remain like that stunted man in Mann’s Tin Drum.”
I am an amateur Sire. In fact, I am focusing on giving amateurs a space in the world (with Blogswara etc) as its mostly the ‘first world’ ‘professionals’ like you whose voices being heard in the outside world. Like a friend said, amateurs can only better themselves. 
So I consider myself lucky to have come this far with regards to language, because my English is totally self taught, by reading magazines, papers and watching Hollywood movies. So feel free to correct me or educate me wherever it is needed.
But it’s the amateur perception, right? You expected me to give you an applause? Is that what we, the third-world, Malayali commonmen are supposed to do? Shut up and applause? I know that it has got something to do with me honestly writing about the movie you scripted. I would tell you what you just told me – “a lot of things in life have to be accepted with grace. Else, you’d fail to grow up.” – Think about your own words, dear Writer.
And you take pride to say most of your friends had a smirk on my review. I won’t quote names here, but would you be surprised that even your ‘friends’ told me that they felt there were many issues in the script and said they could point out even more than I did?
“Audacity wearing an oversized coat of arrogance with a plumed tie of ignorance” – such skills of weaving words together! This is exactly why I am a fan of your English writing. I hope someday I can improve my writing skills in English just like you. As you can see in the beginning of the article, I have even tried to imitate your style of formatting the article!
“Lol.. how funny humans can be, le? I removed you and another of your ilk, to give you a dose of enlightenment. Like Naipaul once said to Theraux, let me say dude, ‘Take it on your chin and move on.’”
Just a final note dear Writer, if you think that only those who clap for you are your well wishers, you got it totally wrong in life (amateur preaching, of course). “I’m not the enemy, Arthur!“, remember what Clooney says in Michael Clayton? After I wrote my review of Ritu, I thought that you would be man enough to take that in good spirits as we had no reason to be foes. Take good care of that ‘large heart’ that you said you have, please. But tolerance? My foot, le? And the dose of enlightenment is? Intolerance?
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
December 10th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Hmm.. Quite Interesting
.
I thought Tin Drum was by Gunter Grass.
December 10th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Creative minds should be open minded to healthy discussions and arguments to nurture….Jo thanks for the post…
Not relevant here this time but, The Tin Drum is written by Gunter Grass not Thomas Mann.
December 10th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Dear writer, you say you and your cronies had a smirk on Jo’s review! And that he’s an amateur, which he has never tried to camoflauge. But the point is that most of you so-called torch-bearers of cinema are too busy in your intellectual masturbation to note that it’s us amateurish viewers that pay your bills. If you can’t take the heat, don’t step into the kitchen. And stop the pretense and get the f*** out of the public domain.
December 10th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Hello writers.. I am normally a silent reader, but this is shameful & extremely childish! Anyways, speaking about the film Rithu… are you saying that it was as atrocious as Patanathil Bhootham, Puthiya Mukham, Kappal Muthalali, Neelathamara, chemistry, duplicate, angel John, Pazassi raja????? and the endless list??? I really don’t know who is blind here, Jo? or this “undisclosed” Rithu’s writer? or millions of “viewers” like myself…. No wonder why we never get to see good films evver (even considering that Rithu was a great great attempt)…. is because great attempts are crushed down by self proclaimed amateurs who just refuse to learn from professionals! Sorry Jo, you disappoint me. Your lovely voice is certainly not a reelection of your character. Good Luck.
December 11th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
So, JN doesn’t have the balls to stand criticism. Fine. Very few people have them anyway. He also has the bad manners to remove you from his FB friendlist. But why overreact? Why this detailed rant dissecting everything he said as if you are desperate to prove something to somebody? Looks as if you are keen to spread the bad word on him. His rebuff and actions may be unfair, but it doesn’t make you look any more tolerant than him when you whine the whole story out here. Especially, for someone who freely throws criticism around, you should expect some brickbats back, even unjust ones, too.
Agreed, it is your blog and your personal space and you are free to say anything up here, but to me, and maybe several others, a whine is what it looks like. You could have done with a passing mention.
December 11th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Hey Jo,
I’m a regular reader of your blog. Though I agree with several points you made in this article, I think its a bad idea to make public the contents of a personal email. You could have handled this a little better.
-Abhi
December 11th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Akhilesh: “Overreact”? “spreading the bad word”? “Whining”? So I don’t hold the right to expose such lies and hypocrisy particularly when I am involved in the incident? The simple fact that I took this to the public space, your comment appears here and the comments section of this post is left open talks about my tolerance level, I believe. I do accept brickbats, but I don’t get your logic that I shouldn’t respond to it, particularly the “unjust ones”.
Abhi: I believe I have done the right thing by ripping off a pretentious character in the public (I doubt he would write this frank in the publicsphere like he did in the email, fearing that he would be exposed). When you feel like I make such lies and hypocrisy, feel free to write it in your blog too.
December 11th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
@Jo: You have a point. The very fact that this guy calls someone an amateur and “third world something” are enough proof for his cheapness.
December 12th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Sorry to say
This trouble was invited by you.
Look once again at your comment
“May the power of The Mother and her connections bless them both well”
Sarcasm has gone out of the limits. Power of the mother and her connections is stressed. Here the power seems to be not the spiritual but of money/organization/influence/muscle as when we discuss politics. It is in bad spirits about a person revered by many. It also implies that people associated with them can get chances because of their association with this power. Here you are demoralizing talented people by accusing them of getting chances out of their so called connections and otherwise stating that they would not be getting attention without this connections.
I strongly feel this type of comment should have been avoided or otherwise commented more subtle.
You definitely have a right to express your idea about a film viewed or to point out flaws what you felt etc but going this far to establish a legend of their family and connections, will be unsolicited or unwarranted.
December 12th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Sunil:
Here the power seems to be not the spiritual but of money/organization/influence/muscle as when we discuss politics. It is in bad spirits about a person revered by many.
Yes, I was referring to the money/organization/influence related power. Say for example, something like what the Pope in Italy has (so that you know this isn’t about religious bigotry). Just because a person is revered by many doesn’t have to stop me from expressing my views about the person.
It also implies that people associated with them can get chances because of their association with this power.
Yes, of course. I have implied that people can get chances because of their association with powerful people. Have seen it and heard it from the people working in the movie and music industries plus from my journalist friends, so I have enough reasons to believe it.
Having said all the above, remember that I have not once made a bad remark about the work that these folks have done. All I implied was that it is possible that they got this particular project through their connections and I have joined the dots in the post as you can see. And Shyamaprasad remains one of my favorite directors for his movies like Akale, Ore Kadal (I even have bought the published script of “Ore Kadal” and have posted a review of the film in my old blog) and his teleserials from the old DoorDarshan days like Peruvazhiyile Kariyilakal and Uyirthezhunnelppu.
December 12th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
You or me have a right to criticize or appreciate a work of art based on what it conveys , how it is conveyed, whether it was conveyed nicely or badly or how it could have been conveyed better etc.
In your review of the movie you were right from your part and others may differ.
But when you or me say something other than from viewers angle , we should have solid grounds which can be proven also. And it is not always easy to do that. Contacts definitely must have helped those people to get that project. It is possible in any field not only in art. Through contacts only people succeed. But only because of that we can not under estimate. Talent has to be marketed through contacts. If a talented person sits quiet at his home no one recognizes. Whoever is able to do this through contacts will be the winners. It can be applied to our lives as well.
My point is only this:-
As viewers, we should go on reviewing based only on the work of art and not on their connections which we heard/ assumed/presumed/speculated etc. I know that you acknowledge their work but still I believe that you have trespassed a bit, to where their nose starts.
If we start a discussion on such influences on our print and visual media, an unending list of vested political/religious/communal powers will emerge. Frankly, I am not a devotee of Amma. Also I do not criticize. She may have devotees like Shyama Prasad, O Rajagopal. Leela Krishnan Nair and many more ordinary people. It is their personal sphere. I don’t want to hurt their sentiments so I do not criticize them. Why we should contribute to the hate campaigns?
I WOULD LIKE TO SEE ART AND PERSONAL MATTERS IN THEIR OWN SEPARATE SPACES.
Is it clear? Sorry if I have offended you.
December 12th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Sunil: I am not offended.
But let me tell you this – so much of these contacts can be proven with a solid ground, but the sad thing is that even our sources of information wouldn’t come forward to prove it for the reasons that we all know. Nobody wants to get hurt and at the end it is the daily bread that matters. In this particular comment, I was putting forward a thought, with enough reasons to believe it like I said in my previous comment. Anybody is free to prove me wrong if they have a counter point and enough reasons to support it. So what’s the big deal?
Also I hold the right to express my disgust on the idea of Godmen and women. I have high respects for legends like Nithya Chaithanya Yathi, but utter contempt for people like Amrutanandamayi or Sri x 3 Shankar. If Yathi willed, he could have easily become a bigger Godman figure than Ravi Shankar or Sai Baba because he had better wisdom and charm. He could have made big money and become an international figure too. He did have some chance to become one when he traveled to foreign countries but he had turned down the “disciples” idea but encouraged discourse with people in his Ashram. Something like Gandhi did. So to express such thoughts is my personal freedom. But I do have close friends who believe in Sai Baba and Ravi Shankar and though I would tell them why I wouldn’t believe in those figures, I do not ask them to abolish their belief system unless they themselves feel like it. I respect their beliefs, though I would express my indifference.
So this is not a hate campaign. This is about freely expressing one’s own personal thought and beliefs. And it is not always possible to make sure that people are not offended or hut personally when we express ourselves. I might offend even myself sometimes.
December 15th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Dear Jo
Connections do matter in all spheres. In politics, cinema, media etc. In politics it will be associating with powerful parties and later inside the party with the epicenter of power. In cinema and literature there are groups or call it lobbies. Media is a place where politics and religion (community wise) are greatly involved. If a creative person happens to be the son or somebody of these powerful people, is it a fault of him/her? Agreed that, because of this granted circumstances they may get a faster chance rather than remaining in the queue to be noticed. Can we blame them for this and attribute their success solely to patronage of the powerful. Will the people accept them only because of this patronage? No. Only once or twice. They will not be appreciated forever. So talent is also important. It is a fact that there are more talents remaining unnoticed than the noticed. The way to get noticed is to get connected only.
While reviewing cinema or literature, we should do it based on the work rather than going personal. We not at all need to know the person and his data to appreciate his work or review it. Being the son of somebody or a devotee of any, should not be a disadvantage also. So judging the work in relation with the personal facts and manipulating skills, WOULD NOT DO JUSTICE TO THE WORK.
As far as the exchange between you and the writer, earlier I did not comment on this, I am sure that you may have enough reasons to believe that many of them are no role models when it comes to personal life. Many of them are really ordinary human beings with all those shortcomings and complexes which we find among common people. Irrespective of this fact, many of them are of exceptional talent when it comes to creativity. This is why I would like to keep the work separate from the person. I have personally experienced that some known people were unbelievably ordinary when compared to their great works.
Regarding the god men and women, I am a person who never went to them. Still, I believe that the people, if required, can accept them (not all) as their spiritual gurus but not as their lord. As far Amritanandamayi Mutt is concerned I would like to tell that I have nothing to accuse on them but do notice that they run several helpful projects for the people. To disassociate with such figures is at my will and personal freedom but to associate with is also a matter of personal freedom for someone else. This is why I do not criticize. I keep my views on this to myself. Let the people decide for them like I did for myself.
Thanks
December 15th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I doubt that you have read the last paragraph of my first reply to you Sunil. I would suggest that you go through it because you have been telling the same thing and I have the same answer. Also if you cared to go through my review of Ritu, it was not based on anybody’s personal life as you can see.
About the other thing, many people do charity. I do it many a times, with what I can afford and in line with what I earn. Those who have more money can spend more on charity. That’s no big deal. Even the extremist forces do charity (though it is subtly restricted to some grounds). I don’t find anything exceptional in that. I understand that you might disagree and that makes the two of us. Thanks for your time.
December 16th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Jo . I read it and it is in my earlier comment that you acknowledge them.
Sorry to repeat in short.
1) Contacts do matter
2) Happens to be the son of shyamaprasad and creative, but blamed as blessed with high connections and thus getting projects, casts a shadow of suspicion on his success.
3) You have appreciated his work but skeptic about how they have managed to.
I felt that approach is little unhealthy when we talk about a creative person because contacts do matter. It is not a fault to market the talent through available sources. If we say so, we will be hurting them or encroaching to their personal freedom. I cannot blame you for using your sources to go ahead in your life as far as you do not harm others.
Amrutanadamayi Mutt is not the only institution doing social service in our country. There are many religious organizations involved in such activities. It will be a very negative approach if we view all of them skeptically. It is also true that there are many in our country, disguised as social workers and charitable/human rights organizations and covertly aiding the hidden agendas of other nations and their interests.
As you said you might disagree and that makes the two of us
December 18th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Jo,
Mine was a personal mail to you and you published it on your own. I guess you owe me a space to explain. Since this reply contains matters that are larger than the topic you wrote about, I hope you’d publish it on your blog as a fresh post and not as a comment, along with your thoughts, if required, so that your readers get to know what I’ve to say.
Cheers,
josh
================
Hello Josh
Feel free to post this as a comment to that post of mine so that the email subscribers to that post can follow up with your reply. Or you can even write it in your own blog and link to mine, whichever you prefer. You see, I am not the block-and-remove types.
Best
Jo.
================
Thanks for being magnanimous, Jo.
Josh
BCC: Admins.
================
The Wrath of the Writers
_________________________________________________________
A warm smiley first. Your naivete deserves it.
I’m afraid this is going to be a long message. I sit now far away from Kerala and mine’s a slow Internet connection. Yet, here’s to extend my courtesy to this conversation. Never thought my personal mail would be published here without my permission though. Would have ‘crafted’ it with enough of my trademark punch, if I knew
Would have roasted you. Lol.. (Next time, you let me know beforehand, won’t you Jo?) For, I’ve partaken in enough public discourses with more fire before you were born, Jo. Or while you were in school, whichever applies. Not in silly rejoinders like this, but serious and meaningful discourses.
My friends know how reluctantly I use public sphere to ‘popularise’ myself. I sometimes come out with politically incorrect views of mine whenever I feel deemed rather apt. Even with friends and so called enemies. Marketing and me? Haa.. Chod dho. Because you don’t know me well enough, do you? Discussion? Yes, I’m reluctant. Because, informed discussion has vanished from Kerala for long. My dear young friend, I’ve been a journalist for 18 years. So, that should tell you what all I meant with the above line. If I’ve removed you from Facebook, it has to do with your speculated accusal on my friends. When we spit fire,
we also need to face it back, le? Else you should have substantiated it with proofs. If not, please don’t use my personal page for soiling anyone’s face. It’s called ‘character assassination’. Not on my page, honey.
Art or what you will, is a subjective, personal affair. Some like it, some dislike it. Nothing is written on stone. Your take (Please don’t call yours a review. There are no one in Kerala at the moment who’s worth to be called a film reviewer. Only appreciators or amateur chatterers. You got to study a lot and produce a lot to understand what a ‘review’ is.) ‘Thrashing’ is an easy business. ‘Understanding’ is not. You need substance for that. Sadly, you and most others lack it. I don’t say this in connection with Ritu. I’ve had my share of reading of these ‘wordings’ through a decade or two about films and books in general. Trust me, Keralans, or those ones who claim to be reviewers are too fussy, egoistic, wooly minded, and unlearned to be taken seriously. At the moment, you are far below the ladder, Jo.
To repeat: it’s akin to someone walking into my home and placing his ass on my verandah and gossiping about Amma or her coterie. I care a hoot about Amma or her devotees. But I do care about their right to create and not to be insulted on my verandah. It’s that simple. Like I said, this sprouts from the ‘third world’ colonial slavish crude and uninformed society that takes everything personally and fails to appreciate others’ attempts to grow. Kerala is a bush county, dear. In many ways, culturally and intellectually and emotionally, it’s a baby in a crude jelly belly. One has to commit to one’s intellectual ambitions to beat one’s own incompetencies. My fellow Keralans, especially those who flourish on Web 2.0, are just chatterers with no learning or honesty to themselves. Above all, they have proven to be more inhuman than anything. Sensible ones would not waste time to engage in ‘discussion’ with them. This note is written for one last time to let you know that you are underestimating others. We belong to a generation of fire, honey. Not Web 2.0. We’d seen, been there and had suffered. You don’t know a shit about us. It needs humility to understand the value of others. Age will teach you what’s important about ‘others’ and how they grow and how they suffer and to talk about the ‘connections’ you speak of… well I can only laugh; Time will teach; it has taught us all; and you are no exception. So cheer up. Lol.. (Mind naming to me some talents in Kerala or anywhere who just held on for a decade in any sphere owing just to connections?
..)
I hope by now you have understood how derogatory your remarks were. It takes just common sense. Blind if you are, I can’t show you the colours of this world, sonnie. A lot of Malayalis, who dishonour creativity of others need to be hanged. I call them ‘third world mallus’. They could either be shot or eaten by dogs or drowned in pure shit. Well, or maybe more ways could be prescribed. That includes a lot of ruling politicians, voters who vote for them, some Web 2.0 evangelists who disregard the value of life or haven’t learned anything on their own or about the suffering of others, or some party state secretaries party members, ‘official’ intellectuals or even human gods. There are quite a load of them who should not have their place in the Ark of Apocalypse. I’ll be coming out with a book in a few years on all that. Also include some who have
no idea of the meaning of the words they use in English, including ‘crap’. They don’t know how many souls they murder on every valuable day. Some do run blogs too.
Hah.. Jo, go, learn the meaning of ‘upper middle class intellectuals’. That’s an accusation and you need to substantiate it with proofs. No. ‘Lesser’ ones do not have the right even to comment. They first need to learn. They first need to cognise on the deeper effects of their words before they utter. You are absolutely right on my views there. Lesser ones have no right to utter. They have to outsmart their own deficiencies first. For instance, would your teacher let a five year old student to correct him/her unless the boy/girl proves him/herself? It’s all quite plain, JoBoy..
I beg your pardon, Jo. I was given the impression that it was you who had asked to publish. A lot of things escape our attention when it comes to such matters. Not the admin’s fault nor yours. I once again apologise for my estimation about this. The point I drove in was, it was indeed published on my network page. Because like I wrote to you, some of us journalists who began our work in papers in the early nineties believe in defending the other even if the other writes or speaks against you. May not that POV be overlooked in this confusion caused inadvertently. Hope you understand the value of it.
Good for you if you have taught yourself, Jo. For let none corrupt you with his or her pedagogies. But then, it’s such a responsible affair, that you need to use those learning with utmost care. For, you could be absolutely wrong too. That’s where the element of humility comes in. Educating? Will do happily: never read Indian writers. Never learn from Hollywood. Read the masters who have survived the test of time, who can still engage you. Listen to radio stations like BBC, and not television. Stay away from Indian newspapers. Stay away from Indian television totally. Stay away from Indian columnists. There are three or four terrific Indian writers who we may learn from: Raj Kamal Jha, Manjula Kapur, Sham Lal, TN Murari are a few. Then go for the Brits. Or go for those who learned English like you and me in a hard way: Conrad, Naipaul, Okri et al. Wish you the best.
This matter has no significance to me. I hardly read reviews. Let alone verbal diarrhea like that of yours. Because so called reviews have no constructive effect whatsoever on a writer. Some bash upon. Some hug. You just happen to be on one of those sides. Honestly, mate, it just doesn’t matter. Opinions are of various kind. They have no significance to an artist. That’s my take and I stick to it before any storm or sun. Did reviewing help create anything in this universe? If reviewing comes from informed and learned ones, it helps further the ‘study’ of literature or the ‘study’ of filmmaking. Not literature or filmmaking by itself. Creation is far above all that. It’s not even personal at times. Even an artist has no control on what he/she creates at times. You have to be there to understand. Try, and you’ll know the truth of what I say.
Ritu’s script was my first and it was my testing the waters. If one commits one can excel the lords in the well that’s Kerala. But I don’t care on all that. I simply don’t care. Which is why I spoke clearly on two television channels that I ‘shall not write for the stars or actors, that they need to be clay for writers’. Remember, I was throwing in my towel or rather a stone at the hornet’s nest at the price of more offers blessed by the ‘stars’. It’s all nonsense to me, writing for others. I’ve refused it to this age of mine. And I’ve survived. Survive I will with no coterie in FEFKA. I didn’t even bother to go for a membership or to be anyone’s chamcha so far. It’s hard to find excelling ones in Kerala to be their student. Remember Ibsen: the strongest man in the world is the one who stands alone. You know by now, the millions of rupees and glory and the ‘limelight’ I brushed away with that stance, right? One writes. And one moves on. That’s all. To those who inspect and dissect, I say: don’t you have better things to do in life?
Thanks for your kind appreciation. I’m just a student. There are miles to go before I call myself a writer. We belong to a hardened generation than yours. We fear to rest on any laurel. I know ten among my friends who can write the kind of prose that’d be miles ahead of mine in precision, cognition, and depth. They are humble and quiet enough unlike you and me and that that just embarrasses me even to call myself a writer. Kindly don’t waste time on little ones like me. Go and learn it from the horse’s mouth.
Foe? You? lol… my poor little child, you are becoming funnier than ever….
PS: Thanks to those friends who corrected me on the author of the Tin Drum; was a mistake in my quick personal mail to Jo. You are right. The book is written by Grass and not Mann. Cheers and best wishes!
To the readers: Well, I think you’ve wasted a few minutes of your life reading this diatribe. I must let you know that to this there shall be no more of my thought or reading this space or writing. More worthwhile things await you and me elsewhere. To hell with you and me! Go, sit and study by yourself and find the joy in real wisdom!
December 18th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
For one thing, I am glad that I could get you to the public space to respond. And the fact that you have written a long reply to this “silly rejoinder” than the ones “with fire” that you are familiar with makes me feel so much special.
I have many points to counter, but that would just make this an on-going feast, alle? So I am refraining from making a long post for now. And I really would like to know what you mean by the hardened generation that you belong to and what did that “generation of fire” contribute to the Kerala society. Or were you talking about the individual/personal hardships?
December 19th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Josh, I haven’t seen Ritu and I haven’t bothered to read Jo’s comments on it. But I read his post sometime ago and agree that it was not proper for Jo to publish the personal mail. I don’t care about the nuances of the argument between you two, but feel it has been some silly stonethrowing, and it is time to stop. Both seem to be overreacting.
Josh, good teachers do listen to and appreciate corrections from five year olds, particularly if they themselves are wrong. They don’t say, hey you are far too down in the ladder to correct me! You should have known that from your seemingly long education and vast experience and profound knowledge of that scintillating world outside Kerala. And criticism should be valued based on its own merit and not on the reputation of the critic. You yourself are a newcomer to the field , but Shyamaprasad took you in. Lots of creative people did their best works first up, and hadn’t proved themselves prior to that.
If you think Jo’s comments are unjust, why should you bother to react? Unjust criticism is thought to be a compliment. If you happen to be more successful you may get more and more unfair reviews. You plan to sound aggrieved and respond to all of them?