
Mahesh Elkunchwar, playwright, recalled at the Tata Literature festival in Mumbai last week his experience of being treated badly and addressed in Hindi as Saley tum Marathi (you bloody Marathi speaker) by a Hindi writer at a conference.
In conversation with Anahita Uberoi, director, at the Tata lit festival, he suggested that this was probably because of the image created by the Shiv Sena. All through seven days of the conference, the Hindi writer never talked with him but later we became good friends, he said.
Elkunchwar is at least is well established and can deal with such discriminatory behaviour , common people face such problems at every level, yet he has seldom shown much concern in his writing for this class.
Elkunchwar is surprisingly fit for his 85 years but did not look at his best in his talking, he rambled a bit.
Kumar Ketkar, who released two of Elkunchwar’s books, is younger, and is generally very fit but he slipped while getting down from the dais and hurt himself. He was given medical aid and is o.k.
Elkunchwar recalled his early days, singer Noor Jehan was his favourite singer in his childhood and he felt betrayed by her migration to Pakistan, he has written about this in an essay.
Writers do behave meanly sometimes. I talked with Monika Gajendragadkar, noted Marathi literary editor and short story writer. As editor, she receives a number of poems for publication in the prestigious Diwali ank of Mouj. She has to leave out some, and most of the poets who are left out have not forgiven her.
This does happen. My own experience of a major Marathi playwright about whom I wrote in glowing terms in Times of India and once in Femina, yes, it was once a serious magazine, from his early days, fifty years ago but a little criticism later and now he does not even acknowledge my presence.
Kausar Munir, film dialogue writer and lyricist, was in conversation with poet, critic Ranjit Hoskote on the poetry of Mir Taki Mir whose poetry is translated into English by Hoskote. During the Q and A Mahesh Bajaj, a poetry lover from Pune, came up with the startling information that the Charabagh metro station in Lucknow has come up on the burial site of Mir.. (another instance of the havoc the Metro system has caused everywhere, especially in small cities and historic ones. In Lucknow the Metro is an utter failure, I have seen it.). Bajaj and his associates recently held a meeting in Pune on the poetry of Mir.
The opening ceremony of the festival featuring Pavan Varma’s interaction with Gulzar, lyricist, drew a big and enthusiastic crowd. But some seemed disappointed, Gulzar used some difficult words which clearly needed explanation to this audience. Also some of those familiar with Hindi literature were not too impressed.
Mr Nadir Godrej in his speech at the inaugural function sprang a pleasant surprise by speaking in verse. Amy Fernandes and Quasar Thakore Padamsee are co directors of the festival which was initiated years ago by Anil Dharkar. I heard from Dolly Thakore this morning that Mr Godrej often recites verses in his lectures.
The festival ended with an address by Jane Goodall, the widely respected zoologist and anthropologist, now 90, on Reasons for Hope.
Elkunchwar is benefiting from the vacuum created by the passing away of seniors Vijay Tendulkar and Girish Karnad. Both Tendulkar and Karnad came from very different backgrounds and they took strong political positions. In comparison Elkunchwar has played absolutely safe, he remains mum on the political scene, he made it a point during his interaction to show how pro-Muslim, secular he was at the same time he remained silent on forces that are causing the rift. Tendulkar came up the hard way, struggling for survival in his early days, sometimes he did not even have a proper shelter over his head. Karnad came from a fairly comfortable background and had much more exposure to liberal values from the West and closer home. I recently found in my papers a letter written to the Times of India editor by Tendulkar as chief of the Committee for the protection of democratic rights. And he took firm positions for years.Karnad also made clear his political position some time ago by wearing the slogan on his dress, I am an Urban Naxal, taking a dig at the establishment. Elkunchwar seems to have good public relations skills when it comes to the forces in the cultural establishment, he has cultivated interests in Western and Indian classical music and makes it a point to show this.
Some interpret his writing to show that he is also some kind of a visionary when it comes to environment, that is the in thing now. But much of the damage to the environment comes from imperialist forces, colonisation. Writers like Amitav Ghosh have dealt with this theme on a far larger scale and openly criticised powerful political forces. Elkunchwar’s silence on this remains conspicuous. Kumar Ketkar in his brief speech at the festival mentioned the word dystopia in relation to the writing of Elkunchwar but some would say it is too big a concept to go with his writing. Dystopia is not something one looks at from the comforts of one’s life and he has led a life of comfort. It is creditable that he has made his presence in the cultural circuit despite his living in a kind of isolation in Nagpur. There is much that is progressive in his thinking but it is mainly the conservative middle class cultural word that he seeks to single out for blame, not the bigger forces.
Satish Alekar should in fact figure with Tendulkar and Karnad because he has a similar stature but he seems to keep a low profile. He comes from a politically very progressive family, his mother’s father, N.V. or Kakasaheb Gadgil, was a member of Nehru’s first cabinet and he made common cause with Bahujan samaj , supported progressive non-Brahmin sections in the Congress.
Vidyadhar Date is a senior journalist, culture critic and author of a book on public transport