Amit, Infosys Prize winner: "Have faith in your writing"

THIS writer, musician and Professor is awaiting for the release of his new non-fiction book titled ‘Calcutta: Two Years in the City’, the professor who teaches Contemporary Literature at the UK’s University of East Anglia.

Q. How do you see English as a language in India?
A. English in India is looked at very instrumentally–that is to further a particular goal in our life-to get a point across, to be identified as educated people, or to get a certain reward. We look at English as a language without literature. It has cost us because we as a society are geared towards seeing every aspect of education in instrumental terms. So, we want to produce cardiac surgeons, IT professionals, people who wish to settle abroad and make money –all that is fine but there is one whole aspect of our thinking that is lying dormant.

We don’t think about various aspects of our life which have no instrumental purpose but have a history like thinking about architecture, literature or cities. One reason for this is being distant from Indian languages which are often modern languages i.e., Bengali, Kannada, Urdu, Hindi. We must not look at them as ancient languages that carry our ancient identity. These languages (as we know them now) came in to being in the last 200 years as secular languages with lot of importance on a non-instrumental domain called culture, which gives space to things like ‘beauty of writing’ and ‘importance of literary text’. Having lost touch with this kind of world, has added to us being instrumental.

Q. You seem to be inspired a lot by Rabindra Nath Tagore?
A. No, I am not, but I find affinity with various other writers and Tagore is one of them. But Tagore is a writer who in India, particularly in Bengal, is force-fed on you. And I do not like the ubiquitousness of Tagore especially in Kolkata where you hear his songs being played everywhere. But then I discovered that he had done a lot of work which was very interesting as a writer. He had also done a lot which was not interesting at all. So I had to make this distinction.

Also read: 2010 Infosys Prize Winner, Prof. Nandini Sundar's interview - Her works on adivasi politics and other policy issues are highly acclaimed in social science field. 

Q. Can a change be brought in the way literary education is perceived?
A. There is need for a certain kind of thinking which is connected to a cosmopolitan understanding of literature and culture, and I wish to make this a part of our conversation and not all the time be talking about India’s economy, Gandhi, Nehru or Tagore. If I talk about Tagore then I would want to talk about him as a mere writer.

Q. Reflection on education in India?
A. When in school, no child (some exceptions) takes pleasure in education and that is the norm, however good that school maybe, wherever in the world. But by the time you reach higher education, you begin to get some pleasure in education for itself. And I think, that something that nurtures an atmosphere of breaking free from the stress of exams and its results, must be encouraged. 

Q. Any advice for aspiring writers?
A. Keep writing, and read a lot with primary attention to language. Have faith in your writing since you are the best critic of your work. Make yourself distant from your writing; look at it again after two weeks or so to see if it is good. Do not get sentimentally attached, if it is good, consider publishing but if no one publishes it, still stick by it.