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Journalism of Courage
The maple leaf
Many countries have chosen to celebrate our 50 years of Independence by hosting cultural programmes. The Canadians descended all too suddenly with author M G Vassanji, guitarist Remi Boucher and broadcaster Adrienne Clarkson. The mix of names reflects the Canadian mosaic. Of the trio, I was familiar with the work of Clarkson who is of Oriental descent. She is Canada8217;s Prannoy Roy and her shows, both on television and live8217; are par excellence.
Browsing through my collection of Canadian Verse, I came acrossa poem simply titled Waspish8217; by Jan Horner. Writes the poet: Call her Wasp8217;/ a convenience for what you can8217;t see8230;/ Surely she should be native/ a migrant worker8217;s daughter/ have worked in mines up North/ and be bi-lingual or confused in both languages8230; The two languages the poet refers to, are English and French 8212; Canada8217;s official languages. Authors like Mordecai Richler of Jewish background have explored the divide caused by the two languages 8212; its cultural and political implications. The divide8217;, though, has its lighter moments. During my stay in Montreal, a book, An Anglophones Guide to survival in Quebec, was released and the volume was packed with tongue-in-cheek suggestions.
Much of the French-Canadian literature is not available to us. While we constantly hear of writers like Margaret Atwood and Indian-born Rohinton Mistry, I can8217;t think of a single French-Canadian author known here. Perhaps, as part of the celebrations, the Canadian government may bring one over8230;
A Greekencounter
THE Greeks brought their eats and a pack of video films in an effort to introduce their culture to the stream of enthusiasts flowing in and out of The Enduring Image exhibition at The National Gallery of Modern Art. The achievements of Alexander the Great were flaunted, including the creation of a library in Alexandria, where all available ancient literature was first collected and classified for future generations. In his excellent book The Pelicon History of Greek Literature, Peter Levi describes the poets and scholars who worked there as priests of a temple, officials of a royal institution8217;. Although later scholarship lost its creative edge, became encyclopedic, dusty. Adds the author, quot;It would be thrilling to imagine that in our own day we could start again, receiving through the generation of Pound, Eliot8230; a new electric charge.quot; In this age of cyberspace, where information is almost instantly documented and stored, often by novices, one wonders if it is possible to create thatelectric charge8217;? I don8217;t think so.
Bed-time stories
Very few, it seems, are attracted to readings by children8217;s authors. Kalpana Swaminathan had put in a tremendous amount of effort to make the stories from her forthcoming book Ordinary Pai, interesting for the audience that gathered at the NCPA. Ishrat Syed and Sudhanshu Saigal who read with her, were both superb. And they really got us involved with the life and times of Bansode, the miserly landlord of a housing complex who finds himself encased with colourful bangles! Her stories are funny and imaginative, with never-ending twists and turns. However, since the book is being published by Tulika, it8217;s likely to be quite expensive. This publishing house, established in 1961, lays emphasis on quality. quot;Will parents spend that much?quot; I had asked them a year or so ago in Madras. They were confident of their strategy, which seems to have worked. In the risky business of children8217;s books, where even major publishers like Penguin have cut back, Tulikais forging ahead.
The last word
Asked Ms Vulture to Ms Culture: Shiresh Kanekar completed his 500th talk show,the spoken work is heard these days; why, then is the written wordlost in the maze?
