South Asia Ne-ws Center for South Asian Studies Universi of Hawai'i Fall 2002 's The Wrestlers Interview by Monica Ghosh

This interview is based on the screening of Buddhadeb Dasgupta's film The Wrestlers at the 2002 Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF) and the Conference on Social Justice at the Ho­ nolulu Academy of Arts on November 5, 2002. The screening was preceded by an introduction from the director and followed by a discussion of the film with the audience. In the process many interesting aspects about the director and the contents of the film were revealed and the · following inerview continues the converstaion. mentalism, which is not surprising in the con­ text of , but also in the U.S.A. where cer­ · MG: In the introduction to the film The Wres- tain religious fundamentalisms are denigrated · tlers you said that the film was about your while others are ignored - for example between · "dreams" and your "nightmares" about India. Islamic and Christian fundamentalisms. How­ Can you elaborate your ideas first about your ever, what was most interesting to me, is your · "dreams" and your "nightmares" and how these reference to political fundamentalism. Please tell ideas influence and are repres~nted in your ftlmic us what issues and problems you associate with works? political fundamentalism and feel free to give specific examples from international or national BD: In the reality around us there are many events and/or incidents. things that happen without the approval of any­ ·one. Moreover, reality is predictable, repetitive BD: Religion practiced mostly by our 'civilized' and at times repulsive. It can be extended with society always attempts to remain close to the magic and dreams. Perhaps somewhere distor­ ruling political party. This happened with Chris­ tion of REALITY is the resultant output but I tianity, with Islam and with Hindu and other prefer this other world of mine. I choose to link mass practiced religion. Religion and ruling party my images as well as my poems witp. that world. compliment each other and hide their funda­ ·Apparently they look alike as I never manipu­ mental nature. But there are still communities late my images with the overdose of technology allover the world where religion is practiced as like slow motion or superimposing images with a living style. The vast tribal population in India one another. have different gods: some worship tigers, some trees. However, religion of whatever kind is MG: Your comments about the various types of never practiced to create terror. I think the reli­ fundamentalisms were most interesting. If I re­ gion in association with ruling powers have failed call correctly, you mentioned religious funda- to become a philosophy or lifestyle. Political fun- See DMIPIIJ1:a Pile 7 2 South Asia News Fall 2002 Director's Note' What's Going On by Monica Ghosh

Aloha! Since I took over as Di- for an attack on Iraq, it is im­ way rector of the Center for South perative that voices opposed to to bring some loving here Asian Studies in September, war speak out against such ac- today. .. 2002, the activities and events tions. picket lines and picket signs sponsored by the Center have An important strategy don't punish me with brutality focused mainly around the Col­ to oppose acts of violence re­ talk to me loquium Series. Many of the quires that each individual take so you can see Colloquium Series talks were personal actions to resist the what's going on.... co-sponsored by other depart­ violence, by participating in ments' such as English, Phi­ protest marches, writing to I hope these words will inspire losophy, Women's Studies, and elected officials, signing peti- all of you who are active in Ethnic Studies. Next semester tions, organizing on campus, South Asian Studies to seek (Spring 2003), we will continue and promoting open discus­ peaceful alternatives to war and the Colloquium Series; orga­ sions in the classroom. To­ violence in South Asia and nize the Spring Symposium gether these personal actions other parts of the world over around the issues of "Film and become part of a collective re­ the holidays and in the New Social Justice," which is sched­ sponse, and the collective re­ Year. uled for April 16-17, 2003; and sponse works to create change. welcome Prof. Gayatri Because, in the words of the im­ (This "note" is inspired by two Chakravorty Spivak, who will mortal Marvin Gaye: people; one is Marvin Gaye, be the Citizen's Chair in the who is not South Asian; and the English Department for a se­ ... war is not the answer other will remain unnamed.) mester. for only love can conquer hate The interest and visibil­ you know we've got to find a ity of South Asia over the last year has been extraordinarily List of South Asia Websites that Promote Peace and high. However, I am concerned Anti-War Movements: about how this interest com- bined with a conservative swing http://www.mnet.fr/aiind_dex.html in the mainstream politics of (Kashmir and Indo-Pak relations) the U.S.A. could influence and http://southasia.net/Activism PublicI affect programs and the study (South Asia activism) of South Asia here at the Uni­ http://www.mnet.fr/aiindexlindex.html versity of Hawaii at Manoa, and (The South Asia Citizen's Web) elsewhere. Since the attacks on http://www.aogelfire.comlsdlurdumedialpeace.html Afghanistan, I have been in­ (Peace activism) http://www.mnet.fr/aiindexINoNukes.html volved in an anti-war group on (peace and anti-nuclear activism in South Asia) campus called the University http://brain.brain.net.pk/... pakindol Peace Initiative. Now, more (Indo-Pak dialogue on peace and democracy) than ever, as the Republican ad­ http://www.samarmagazine.org/ ministration whips up support Fall 2002 South Asia News 3 New Faculty Profile Introdu~ S. Shankar by Momca Ghosh (a radical, revolutionary bring water into the village. Marxist-Leninist move- The previously ineffective bu­ ment) and Indira reaucracy is galvanized to pre­ Gandhi's emergency (re- vent the cutting of the canal pressive policies that in- because the community action humanely targeted the is in violation of what is sup­ poor and disenfran- posed to be a bureaucratic re­ chised). sponsibility. Ultimately the Shankar is a novelist, project is abandoned, and the critic, and poet. Water!, final words in the play are from is his most recent pub- an urban journalist who is S. Shankar is an Associate Pro- lished work - a transla- drawn to the community's fessor in the English Depart- tion of the Tamil play Thaneer struggle for water. The play ment at University of Ha- ______closes with the suggestion waii at Manoa. He was born Living in Nigeria during his early that without a revolution in India, and has lived in teens has most influenced the way there would be no change. Europe, Africa, and North he sees himself in the world, espe- A Map ofWhere I Live is America. Living in Nigeria cially the importance of learning Shankar's first novel that during his early teens has about, understanding, and relating runs two parallel stories most influenced the way he to other people ofcolor. that intersect at various sees himself in the world, points. One story is that of especially the importance of Thanneer, which was produced a historian who has "10- learning about, understanding, in 1980 and published in 1981. cated" Lilliput and then decides and relating to other people of The play was very successful to visit. What progresses is a color. This consciousness con- and was made into a movie. It post-colonial political allegory, tinued to develop when he re- reflects leftist socialist ideology which is written upon his re­ turned to India to go to college of the 1970'S and takes up an en- turn from Lilliput and docu­ in Chennai (Madras) where he vironmental issue of a drought ments his observations of vari­ got a B.A. and M.A. Being in in a village. It focuses on how ous countries and the political Madras was important - it is the village community rallies to struggles and events he encoun­ the "place" of his home and get the government bureau- ters in this journey. Here family- sort of a central place cracy to respond with a plan or Lilliput takes on a mythic qual­ in his thinking even though he program to deal with the lack ity that is not Indic but is often physically located else- of rain in the village. The play postcolonial in much the same where. During this time (19 81- shows how things change over way that Jonathan Swift's 1986), he became immersed in time and all the various ways in Gulliver's Travels, written in Ire­ reading and writing about the which the community responds land, critiqued the rising socialist tradition in India - a to the lack of water. The middle classes. Thus, even period that reflected upon the community's efforts fail with though the critique comes from huge political movements and the bureaucracy and they take a conservative bourgeois per­ events of India in the 1970s, matters into their own hands spective, it nevertheless serves such as the Naxalite Movement and decide to cut a canal to to disrupt and disturb assump- 4 South Asia News Fal12002

AIlS BOOK PRIZE

In order to promote scholarship in South Asian Studies, the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIlS) announces the award of two prizes each year for the best unpublished book manuscript on an Indian subject, one in the humanities, The Edward Cameron Dimock,Jr. Prize in the Indian Humanities and one in the social sciences ' TheJoseph W. Elder Prize in the Indian Social Sciences. Indiana University Press has the right of first refusal for any prize winner, with manuscripts being published in theJ-I ndiana University Press/AIlS series Indian Culture and Society (after revision and editing).{Dnl y junior scholars who have received their PhD within the last five years (after 1997) and/or been awarded an AIlS Fellowship or participated in an AIlS program (fellowship or language) are eligible. A prize commit­ tee will determine the yearly winners and can chose to designate no winner in any given year if worthy submissions are lacking IWhen submitting manuscripts t 0 the prize committee, applicants are commit­ ted to publication in the AIlS series with Indiana University Press if chosen as a winne¢AIlS wi! I pro­ vide a subvention to Indiana University Press for all prize manuscripts.

Unrevised dissertations are not accepted. We expect that the applicants will have revised dissertations prior to submission.

Manuscripts are due May first, with an announcement of the awardees at the Madison South Asia Confer­ ence in October. Send manuscripts, postmarked no later than May I, 2003, to the Publications Committee Chair, Susan S. Wadley, Anthropology, 209 Maxwell, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244. Queries can be addressed to [email protected]

Publications committee: Akhil , Stanford University Martha Selby, U. of Texas-Austin Brian Hatcher, Illinois Weslayan U. David Lelyveld, William Patterson U. John Echeverri-Gent, U. of Virginia

Shankar con't followed A Map ofWhere I Live. rather a serious and committed tions and directions of society, It analyzes a series of travel nar­ interest to understand his affili­ politics, and history. The sec­ ratives. The study considers ations to both places which ond strand in the novel engages Gulliver's Travels as a master have been earned and cannot with the fictionalization of a travel narrative, and does read­ easily be translated from one to domestic workers movement ings as well of Richard Wright's the other - one has to under­ that has become very signifi­ Black Power, Zora Neale stand the similarities and the cant in an election year. It is a Hurston's MulesandMen, and V. often huge differences and put story that involves intrigue and S. Naipaul's India trilogy, as well them in perspective. Here, suspense when the leader of the as the filmic representations of Shankar finds that post-colo­ domestic workers union, a travel in Indiana Jones and the nial work lends itself to useful woman, is murdered. This Temple of Doom. This work and coherent applications. novel, which has been widely combines Shankar's interests in Shankar's poetry was se­ and favorably reviewed, has Africa and India. However, lected for the anthology Con­ been called a "minor master­ Shankar is quick to point out tours ofthe Heart: Passage to North piece" in World Literature Today. that his experiences in India America, that most directly Textual Traffic: Colonial­ and Africa do not rely only on deals with the immigrant expe­ ism, Modernity, and the Economy some colonial connections be­ rience of South Asians. Devel- ofthe Text, is a critical work that tween these locations, but con't page I6 Fall 2002 South Asia News 5 Book Review Bharti Kirchner's Darjeeling St. Martin's Press, 2002 Reviewed by Monica Ghosh

Darjeeling is a hill station in the third of the novel. However, I and executing an incredible and north of . It is a found the author's reliance on implausible plan to restore the place name that has become outdated and baseless stereo­ "harmony" of their family. Un­ synonymous with tea and is also types disturbing, such as de­ fortunately, these machinations the title of Bharti Kirchner's scribing Aloka, the woman with have the opposite affect. As a recent novel - a story of two "refined" tastes in literature and result, Sujata is packed off to sisters, Aloka and Sujata, which music, as beautiful because she relatives in Victoria, British begins in New York in 2000 has an "ivory" and "almond" Columbia and is followed by when Aloka receives an invita­ complexion; whereas Sujata, Aloka's and Pranab's arrival in tion from her grand­ New York City in 1993. mother to return to setting the novel in·a non-urban lo­ In the remaining Darjeeling for a birthday cation, DarjeeHng, in a Bengali fam­ two-thirds of this novel, I celebration. As Aloka de­ ily that also has ties to , believe the author does try cides whether or not to at­ and engaging with their occupations to disrupt the absurd con­ tend the party, the reader as owners and producers in the ever­ ditions that were laid out is introduced to her changing industry of tea, as wen as initially. Aloka and Sujata's their persona11ives, results in a story younger sister, Sujata. En­ lives in the U.S.A. and that is mosdy wen-told and interest­ Canada tak¢ on nuances suing chapters flash back ingtoread. to 1990 detailing their and color that are more privileged lives in credible and interesting. Darjeeling in the home of their whose interests lie in the natu­ Their relationship with each father, the owner of a tea estate/ ral world and who is equally in­ other remains strained, but garden. telligent, is described as "dark" they grow and develop as indi­ Aloka is "perfect"; she and "homely." Despite their dif­ viduals through relationships likes classical Indian music, and ferences, they seem to under­ with others. Sujata becomes a reading and discussing Bengali stand each other whenever they successful, independent, busi­ literature with her father. are together until Aloka falls in ness woman and develops the Sujata, on the other hand, pre­ 19ve with Pranab. confidence to be the person fers magazines, has a real sense Pranab is the activist that she wants to be, and en­ for tea, is knowledgeable about manager of their father's tea abled in part through her agricultural trends and issues estate. He organizes the work­ friendship with Eva Pavlova. related to tea growing, and is ers to rally for better working Meanwhile, Aloka takes on a not interested in makeup or conditions. He, like Sujata, is career that appeals to her care­ classical music or the culinary knowledgeable about tea; he is giving character. She assumes arts. The representations of the "a born tea taster" (24). Pranab's another personality as Parveen, sisters in obvious binary oppo­ actions create· havoc in the thus freeing herself to challenge sition to each other is a plot Gupta family, causing Bir and her traditional upbringing in device that is supposed to pro­ Nina (the father and grand­ remarkable ways. vide an explanation for the mother of the sisters) to be­ In the latter half of the events that occur in the first come involved in engineering see Darjeeling page I4 6 South Asia News Fall 2002

Watumull Awardee Report Rewards and Obstacles: Historical Research in India ByJohn Pincince I conducted India research from late October 2001 J. Watumull Scholarship for the Study of India through the beginning of Feb­ ruary 2002. I intend to return The Watumull Scholarship for the Study of India will provide to India inJanuary 2003 to fol­ support for three University of Hawai'i students who want to low up on research gaps fi­ study in India. Scholarships of up to $5,000 each will be nanced by student loans. awarded to students who wish to learn about the culture and I have decided to narrow the history of India and its people. Minimum length of study in breadth of my dissertation India is for two months. UH students from across the system, at both the graduate and undergraduate level, are eligible to project to an examination of apply for support. the first-half ofV.D. Savarkar's life. This period then extends Application Deadline: March I, 2003 from his birth in 1887 to the late 1930S, around the time in 1937 For more information contact: when Savarkar was completely The Center for South Asian Studies released from the conditions of Moore Hall 219 his political exile in Ratnagiri 956-2661 (1924-1937~ [email protected] Considerable attention will be given to an historical exami­ nation of expatriate Indian na­ India (1924-1937~ (MSA), Mumbai, India: exam­ tionalists who operated in Eu­ During the period October ined records on Savarkar and rope from the early 1900S 2001-February 2002 detailed other related Indian national­ through the 191os. The most research has been conducted at ists. important locales include En­ the locations that follow: * Swatantryaveer Savarkar glanq., France, and German~~ * National Archives of India Rashtriya Smarak, Mumbai, In­ Paris and London acted as the (NAI) , New , India: ex­ dia: examined books, docu­ metropolitan centres for Indian amined records on Indian na­ ments, and photos of Savarkar. nationalists during the first de­ tionalists and Savarkar. * Pune, India: visited sites of cade of the twentieth century. * Nehru Memorial Museum importance while Savarkar was In Europe from 1906-1910, and Library (NMML), New a student at Ferguson College; Savarkar spent the majority of Delhi: Mostly relied on pub­ * Nasik, India: visited sites of his time in London, and nearly lished books by and about importance during Savarkar's nine months in Paris. Savarkar.~Consult ed two of childhood. Other parts of the disserta­ the six reels of the Savarkar flies * Bhagur, India: visited tion will focus on Savarkar's that were confiscated by the Savarkar's birthplace, and took political trials in London and Government of India during personal tour with the Bombay (1910-1911), his impris­ the Gandhi Assassination museum's (memorial home) di­ onment in Cellular Jail on the triaL/Dflittle impor tance for rector Andaman Islands (1911-1924), this current project as the files and his activities during his cover the period after 1937. Obstacles experienced: At conditional release in western * Maharashtra State Archives see Watumull page II Fall 2002 South Asia News 7

SouthAsian Films at the Hawai'i International Film. Festival 2002 BD: Poetry is alto­ gether different a form. When I am on Bhor - The Dawn (India) - An animated music video in the "style of tradi­ a poem, I am not us­ tional Rajasthani miniature painti~gs." ing the camera, but Birju (India) - A film that follows the wanderings of a boy through the the pen. But the streets of Pushkar. same thought pro­ Devdas (India) - A re-make based on the Sarat Chandra Chatterjee novel, cess creates a set of with actors Aishwarya Rai, , and Shahrukh Khan. images coming out Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (India) - A film by veteran actress and fum-maker of these poems. I Aparna . Winner of the Golden Maile Feature Film Award. The story of a personal response to religious violence. value these images Octave (India) - A film by Shaji N. Karun, where a "war between India and most in making my Pakistan" influences the past, present, and future of a particular family. films. These images Pickpocket (Sri Lanka) - A tragic story of Kamal, a pickpocket, who finds evolve.from my past; his wife's photograph in a stolen wallet and his search for the owner of the my childhood wallet. memories, my inter­ Pilgrimage (India) - Based on a novelette by M.T Vasudevan Nair is a actions with situa­ "story of love kept immaculate ... by a couple destined to stay apart." tions and people at The Island (India) - A film that deals with how government decisions to . different times, change the environment affect the people on the land. sometimes from my The Legend ofBhagat Singh (India) - The story of a Sikh activist who soli tude and finally fought against British colonial occupation of India. A film that is melodra­ matic and a musical but retains: the political integrity of the hero - Bhagat from music and Singh. painting. A static im­ The Wrestlers (India) - A film that mixes the real with the surreal to raise age of a painting issues of communal violence that erupt in a remote village community in sometimes offers Bengal. A poetic and thought-provoking fum. (See feature article - inter­ multiple images in vIew with the director). my mind and I use them all in my own way in celluloid. I Dasgupta con't voyage through these images initially and only damentalism practiced by Hitler, Mussolini or then begins the process of the creative concep­ Franco always had the direct or indirect support tion of the story. But I don't follow a story to of the Churches. Twentieth century has also seen the extent of getting trapped by it. In the course a new kind of violence practiced by intellectual of chasing a story one may unknowingly leave fundamentalism. Sometimes violence is ex­ those images aside_~ y poems and films both ecuted in a covert manner, it is too subtle for owe their magical touch to them. the naked eye. The tyranny of intellect in the modern era perhaps was quite unthinkable to MG: In the film The Wrestlers, you weave the the Elitist's two or three decades ego. real with the surreal. One of the recurring sur­ real images in this film is that of the masked MG: As a published poet*, you bring a poetic and cross-dressed Baul singers and dancers, who sensibility to your films. Can you speak about interrupt the narrative at various points in the the importance of poetry and literature on your film always to disturb the story and introduce art as a film-maker? other possibilities than the often violent and ugly reality, that eventually overcomes a character. con't page I2 8 South Asia News Fall 2002 Center News mother-power nor gesture to­ films using films made in the 2002 Fall Events wards a romanticized oneness U.K. and the U.S.A. by South Reading Gayatri Chakravorty with nature. Rather, the devo­ Asian and non-South Asian Spivak tional nexus can be (re)read as film makers. The paper exam­ indicating an engaged self-in­ ined representations of South Panel & Discussion with relation as well as a localised Asians in the following films: S. Shankar, S. and embedded epistemic sub­ My Son The Fanatic, Bhaji on the Charusheela, Laura ject. The 'play' of this goddess Beach, East is East, and Chutney Lyons, andJohnZuern and her devotee could well be a Popcorn, juxtaposed with short rethinking of cognition along clips from the Hollywood Co-sponsred with the Depart­ the lines suggested by some blockbusters Sixth Sense and ment of English contemporary feminist episte­ Keeping the Faith - as examples mologists. Prof. Dalmiya at­ to explore and articulate the complex hierarchical relation­ Knowing Goddesses, Mothering tempted to open up possibili­ ships and issues of class, gen­ Nature ties for a politics of spirituality which positions the latter as der, and sexual preference among South Asians in the Vrinda Dalmiya disrupting both spirit/matter and spirituality/rationality du­ diaspora because simple binary Philosophy alisms. Framed in that way, a explanations are not enough. goddess could come to signify What kinds of alternative ex­ C.o-sponsored with Cultural a fracturing of frozen identities planations suggest them­ Studies and Women's Studies by gesturing towards a more selves2/-And can these expla­ mobile notion of a knower. nations have relevance for a Goddess iconography has often greater discourse on diaspora? been interpreted as symbolic The research and analysis pre­ appropriations of birth which What you hear. .. What you sented in the paper placed an are then mobilized to solidify see ... That's notal! you get (Filmic emphasis on understanding the both patriarchal gender roles Representations ofthe South numerous issues and concerns and communal identities. This Asian Diaspora) of straddling two or more cul­ presentation explored how tures and how they are repre­ spiritual narratives associated Monica Ghosh sented in film through the spo­ with a goddess, even though CSAS Director, South Asia ken word. never innocent of all other Librarian structures of social power, can OfHostility and Hardship: suggest interesting possibilities Co-sponsored with the De­ partment of English Impact of9/I I on Taxi Drivers in for a deployment that might be New York City more positive for ordinary women and men. By analyzing Monica Ghosh's paper engaged Monisha Das Gupta a particular goddess (Kali) as with linguistic and cultural Ethnic Studies and Women's criticism to discuss issues re­ the intentional object of wor­ Studies ship for a particular devotee lated to the ways South Asians (Ramprasad Sen, 18th century speak English. "Indian accents" Co-sponsored with Ethnic Bengali poet), Prof Dalmiya ar­ served as a springboard for fur­ Studies and Women's Studies ther analysis of how the South gued that a female divinity need Yellow cab drivers in New York Asian diaspora is represented in not always herald an City form one of the largest and essentialised, biological independent and big budget Fall 2002 South Asia News 9 Center News tions in the industry have de­ resentations of the poor are most visible Muslim immigrant teriorate ~ cru~ially invested in the explo­ workforc ~ ixty perc ent of ratIon of their agency. It is drivers in the industry are through this exploration, S. Representations ofthe Poor in South Asian, many of them Shankar argued, that such rep­ Contemporary Literature and Sikhs, and Bangladeshi and Pa­ resentations articulate the Film in India kistani Muslims+The attacks place of the poor within the so­ on the World Trade Center on cial imaginary. S.Sbankar September II made these driv­ English ers easy targets of the backlash that followe ~ outh Asian Co-Sponsored with Cultural drivers faced anti-immigrant Studies and English and anti-Muslim violence from In Deewar, the 1975 Bollywood passengers and passers-by who Hindi ftlm, regarded Muslims, immigrants, plays the eldest son of an im­ and terrorists as one and the poverished single mother who same. Soon after 9/11, the New is driven to become an under­ York Taxi Workers Alliance world don. In Komal (NYTWA), which organizes Swaminathan's 1980 Tamil play workers in the industry, raised Thaneer, Thaneer (water!), the concerns about the grave eco­ peasants of the drought Brawn and Beauty: "WOmen nomic impact on drivers and stricken village of Athipatti Laborers in Mughal Art the violence they facedfJ n­ take matters into their own deed, drivers have suffered a hands as the postcolonial bu­ Vrrian Price severe (38 percent) drop in their reaucracy begins to fail them. Rockefeller Fellow, OWR already meager earnings as a The presentation focused on UHM ' result of the downturn in busi­ the representation of the poor (Research Scholar, UCLA nes¢ Their inability t 0 re­ and poverty in these works Center for the Study of cover from their losses has led from the Seventies, a key de­ Women) to indebtedness, and in some cade in India when arguably a cases eviction¢ Y et, yellow postcolonial political and social Women in present day India are cab drivers, like other low-in­ dispensation was coming to cri­ conveyors of mortar and bricks come service workers in the sis. The crisis of the Seventies in building projects, and com­ city, have had difficulty access­ had many facets but one was prise about 30% of the manual ing relie ~The plight of yel­ within a postcolonial labor on the country's construc­ low cab drivers in New York develop mentalist discourse of tion sites. As construction City is a window to understand­ poverty alleviation. Pointing technology changes due to in­ ing how working class South out the variety in the represen­ ternational pressures, women's Asian immigrants have suffered tations of the poor in these two place !n the industry is being in the wake of 9/11, and how works, the presentation fo­ questIoned. Using paintings their suffering is embedded in ~use~ on the question of agency from the Akbarnama, Prof. pre-existing policies imple­ In thIS context-how does each Price raised questions about mented in the city to regulate a work evaluate the poor as the gendering of work, and the workforce that has become in­ agents? The question was posed longevity of women's contribu­ creasingly immigrant as condi- out of the conviction that rep- tion to the construction indus­ tr¥~ 10 South Asia News Fall 2002 Center News and special advisor to Sisters s. Charusheela (Women's Aestheticism: Some Perspectives Offering Support. Co-sponsored Studies) from the Indian Tradition with Zang Pictures, Women's "Women's Choices and the Studies, and Aquaria. EthnocentrismlRelativism Di­ Rosa Fernandez Gomez lemma." In S. Cullenberg, J. Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Amariglio, and D. Ruccio (eds.) Philosophy Faculty Notes Postmodernism, Economics and Knowledge. Routledge: Forth­ Western aestheticism creates a Cristina Bacchilega (En­ coming. radical separation between art glish) and life. Rosa Fernandez "Genre and Gender in the Cul­ "Introduction to the Issues: Gomez interrogated the roots tural Reproduction of India as Libertarian/Postmodern vs. of this rupture in Western phi­ 'Wonder' Tale." Fairy Tales and Marxist/Post-Colonial Ap­ losophy and aesthetics. In ad­ Feminism: New Approaches. Ed. proaches to Gender and dition, her paper explored the Donald Haase. Wayne State Economy," Introduction to dynamic of detachment and Up, 2002. "Postmodernism and playful engagement in the In­ Postcolonialism: Divergent dian aesthetic tradition, espe­ Arindam Chakrabarti (phi­ Perspectives presented by cially the Kashmir Shaivite tra­ losophy) delivered the inaugu­ Deirdre McCloskey and dition. ral address "Logic, Morality and Meditation" at the 13th Inter­ Gayatri Spivak." (Forthcom­ national Vedanta Congress ing). in Miami University Oxford Ohio, in September. In early "Macroeconomic Theory for a . November he presented a Gendered and Changing paper on " I SEE WHAT?: Economy: Class, Patriarchy, Fi­ Perception and the Myth of nancial Intermediation, and the Non-Conceptual Content" Structure of Aggregate Con­ at the Moral Sciences Club, sumption." (Forthcoming). St.Johns College, Cam­ bridge. This trip was made "Post modern Marxism as possible by a special invita­ Postcolonial Economic tion from King's College Theory: An Accounting Frame­ London to deliver a lecture work for Historically Situated, and conduct a workshop Contextually Appropriate o$ "Self , Self-knowledge Marxian Analyses," with and the Inner Sense in Clas­ Stephen Cullenberg. (Forth­ The Selling ofInnocents sical Indian and Modern West­ coming). by Wil1iam Cobban ern Thought. Prof Chakrabarti is also delivering a focal theme "Do Microcredit Programs This film, shown as part of the lecture on "Is This a Dream? Help Poor Women?" with Cinema Paradise Film Festival, Analytical Reflections on Colin Danby. (Forthcoming). documents the trafficking of Objecthood and Externality" at women and children for the the International T.R.V Murty Monica Ghosh (CSAS Direc­ Bombay sex trade. The film was Centenary conference in tor and South Asia Librarian) followed by a panel Panel pre­ Varanasi on 18-21 Decmeber. published "Filmed Representa­ sented by Kelly Hill , founder tions of the South Asian Fall 2002 South Asia News II Center News Diaspora" in the lIAS (Inter­ Kirstin Pauka (Theatre and Lee Siegel (Religion) national Institute for Asian Dance) Love and Other Games ofChance: Studies) Newsletter, August Folk Theatre, Dance, and Martial a Novelty will be published by 2002, 36; "What you hear... Arts of the Minangkabau in llIest Viking Penguin in February. What you see ... That's not all Sumatra, CD-ROM, University you get" in Asian Cinema, Falll of Michigan Press (Spring Majid Tehranian's (Interna­ Winter 2002, 24-38; and a re­ 2002) tional Communications and di­ view of Darjeeling in South Asia rector of the Toda Institute for Women's Network Mimi Sharma Global Peace and Policy (SAWNET), SAWNET Book Racing through the Diaspora: be­ Research)j1at est edited vol­ Reviews, September 2002. ing Asian, Black, and British. umes are Dialogue of Civiliza­ (Online at: http:// Duke University Press; in press. tions: A New Peace Agenda for a New Millennium (London: 1. B. www.umiacs. umd. edu/usersl '~nand Patwardhan: Social Ac­ s awwe b Is awnet/b ooks I tivist and Dedicated Film­ Tauris, 2002), and Bridging a darjeeling.html.) She organized maker, with an introduction by Gulf: Peacebuilding in llIest Asia (London: 1. B. Tauris, 2003~ a panel titled, ''Artists, Arvind Rajagopal~Critical "Maneaters", and Aesthetics: Asian Studies 34:2 (2002), 279- Clashing Images of Colonial 294· Encounters on the Subconti­ nent," with Professors Eliza­ Watumul1 con't als are in very poor condition beth Fowkes Tobin (Arizona present there exist several re­ owing to insufficient archival State University) and Arindam search lacunae, some a result of 'preservatio~ Chakarbarti. She also pre­ insufficient archival and re­ In regard to bureaucratic ob­ sented a paper titled, search data, and others because stacles, the Bombay High ''''Maneating'' Tigers: Transpos­ of bureaucratic problems. In Court is the overwhelming win­ ing Anxieties to Establish Co­ relation to the former, it was ner of the "obstacles to research lonIal Control," at the 31st An­ nearly impossible to find de­ award." Here I was unable to nual Conference on South Asia tailed intelligence reports on access records of Savarkar's two in Madison, Wisconsin sched­ the activities of Savarkar and trials (1910 & I9II)-the short uled October 10-13, 2002. others at India House in Lon­ story: the man with the key to don at any of the above re­ Peter Hoffenberg (History) the records cabinet was on (per­ search sites. A constant prob­ An Empire on Display: English, In­ manent?) vacation. The long lem experienced was the failure dian and Australian Exhibitions story: too long to tell her¢ to locate documents listed in from the Crystal Palace to the The effect on the dissertation records indexes-numerous re­ Great war, Berkeley: University project: difficult to discern, al­ quests placed at NAI and MSA of California Press, forthcom­ though obtaining these records were returned "No such Ing. (if they even exist) remain a records", or "NT" (Not trans­ nagging pre-occupation as I ferred to NAI). "NT" is used by "Equipoise and its Discontents: would like to locate testimonial the NAI staff as an indication Voices of Dissent during the In­ records of intelligence officers that they could not locate the ternational Exhibitions," Mar­ and approvers (defendants who document-it could be miss­ tin Hewitt, ed. AnAge ofEqui- have agreed to assist the pros­ ing, stolen, misplaced, non-ex­ poise? Reassessing Mid-Victorian ecution). istent, or not transferred. At Britain, Aldershot: Gower the MSA, many of the materi- Press, forthcoming. 12 South Asia News Fall 2002 Dasgupta con't You mentioned that as a child you were very in­ way I talk of other ways of living which are of fluenced by the songs of the Baul, which is a folk course conceived as better in comparison to the tradition that is very syncretic and borrows from present way of living. In Uttara the dwarfs come both Hindu and Muslim teachings in a unique from a village where everybody dreams of a bet­ and popular way. Will you address the impor­ ter future. You can explain it in your own way, in tance of this tradition and why you relied on it fact everybody is free to do that. But I cannot to disrupt the narrative in the fum in such a posi­ resist the temptation of stepping forward to tive way? another world where you can walk along with your dreams. And regarding political perspec­ BD: The word 'surreal' has become quite a cliche. tives: I have opened up in my films and writ­ The surreal undoubtedly has a distinct charac­ Ings. teristic and tends to detach itself from the realms of reality. But one can still extend the zones of MG: In the discussion that followed the show­ reality by introducing real-like images in it. The ing, someone in the audience asked about the dwarfs, the masked dancers, the rolling down of homo-erotic relationship between the wrestlers the rock and so on are part of those real-like in the fum. It seemed to me and some others in images. Sometimes I seek the association from the audience, that you complicated the relation­ the folk and when the blend becomes easy, they ship of the wrestlers by introducing the homo­ gradually form a part of that extended reality. erotic possibilities, but even that possibility had The audience doesn't question their existence it's limitations because ultimately the wrestlers any 10ngeLJ-They c orne and go in the film are only obsessed with each others body, but that thereby securing a perfect concoction of the real obsession does not transcend into anything and the unreal. . greater.

MG: There's a community of dwarfs who also BD: I don't think that I have 'complicated' the function to disrupt the narrative as do the Baul relationship. I think I have depicted a possibil­ singers and dancers. It appears in the film that ity and again it has been placed very subtly. The the dwarfs live in a segregated society "across relationship between the wrestlers has been de­ the river" where they live in a contented peace­ veloped because of their sole passion for wres­ ful society. Was your description of this com­ tling which is of course something physical. And munity is influenced by any particular political it follows very logically that their relationship perspective? What I am wondering is whether will be centered around physical attraction. you are influenced by the leftist, communist Again, it is very human for them to be enticed politics in West Bengal? Would you be willing by a woman-body. Sometimes I think that had to discuss your political perspectives? there not been Uttara in their lives they would have decided to lead a homosexual life. BD: Plato conceived of a different world - Uto­ pia, which was supposed to be the better world. MG: Do you see connections between mascu­ Everything in that world was incorporated as the linity as expressed by the wrestlers obsession 'perfect form' of their counterparts in this world. with this activity and aggressive nationalism(s) The Communists also talked of another world - and fundamentalism(s)? a world better than this capitalist form of soci­ ety. However, that has hardly happened and the BD: To some extent, yes. The predominance of myth around communism has become a fiasco. physical strength does exude an aura of aggres­ But I am not referring to these 'other worlds.' sion. Today political fundamentalism is essen­ Rather, 1 always try to extend reality and in that tially nothing more than a mere obsession. Fall 2002 South Asia News 13

M G: The portrayal of Uttara, the woman who he is so deeply touched that within him stirs up marries one of the wrestlers, someone in the the power to recreate something out of that audience described as a feminist. She is an ex­ particular event. Personally I could not give an tremely intelligent and sensitive woman, who exact impression of the event but chose a simi­ understands every situation and encounter com­ lar line of thought. And regarding your other pletely. She is not satisfied with her husband who question: I can not tolerate violence of any sort. remarks after their lovemaking that he "felt as The political and religious violence that have if he were flying" to which Uttara responds that crossed the boundaries of human perception he cannot fly as he has only one wing (implying should be opposed by any sensitive person. I his body) and then suggests that to fly one needs have tried to do so in my own way. two wings - the body and the mind. Uttara is disappointed in the inability of the villagers to M G: You have another fum that is to be released act against violence and eventually is a victim of shortly, what is the title of the film and what is violence. After the showing you said that in the the film about? fight against violence, there will be losses and I suppose Uttara is that loss in this story. How­ BD: Mondo meyer upakhyan - The tale of a ever, what are you suggesting as the future for naughty girl. We all dream of making journeys the struggle against violence - should one con­ to different destinations. Sometimes they are tinue to struggle to effect change in the world real, sometimes they are magical. In this film a . and what forms should that struggle take? few people and a cat make a similar journey. The sparse Bengal countryside adds to the definitive BD: I am not suggesting anything. In fact it is character of their voyage and it coincides with not my way to preach. If someone is motivated man's first landing on the Moon. The film weaves after viewing my film, and takes any course of a patchwork of narrative style and eroticism, told action, that is different. I believe it is not the with poems, monologues, ballads and conversa­ task of a filmmaker to throw directives to the tions. activists. He should let the idea float as I have done it with my film. But now it is the task of MG: What trends among films, directors, and those who are keen, to delve deep and find out actors out of India inspires you and what would what has been saidpE ven Uttara's death should you like to see change? not be explained in such a simplistic manner. I never ever think of her death as a 'loss' or a'sac­ BD: The world cinema today is either too real rifice' for the 'war against violence.' with unwanted detail or too much of consumer­ ism in the assembled images which have been M G: You mentioned that the film is based on mutilated again and again. There are exceptions, an actual incident, I believe you were referring but they are few. However, there is this thirst of to the assasination/murder of a Christian priest continuous creation of better and meaningful from Australia who was living in . How­ fums that always inspires me to go on and on. ever, in the film the priest is a Christian but he is not a foreigner, he is Indian. Would you be Dasgupta has made several visits to Honolulu willing to share your impressions when you as part of the Hawai'i International Film Festi­ learned about the actual incident and how it in­ val and he speaks fondly of his connection to spired you to make this film? Honolulu and HIFF through which he has many friends and admirers. BD: When the innermost chord of a creator is It was a pleasure to meet the director strummed by the stroke of any moving incident, con't page IS 14 South Asia News Fall 2002 Darjeeling con't novel, Nina's relationship to her another. A tea picker is de­ cept for the tiny, chewy seeds granddaughters is emphasized scribed as an "intrepid soul" that occassionally got in the more. While she remains some­ whose labor conditions are way" (42). However, I was times conniving, she also grows summarily glossed as battling somewhat put off by the re­ to be more accommodating, "rain, chilly weather, and pre­ peated glossing of terminology understanding, and evidences a carious terrain to bring in the for every Indic word and will that shines through the ups crop" (17). There are constant phrase, such as the unnecessary and downs of her life. She pro­ references to food and again explanation when Aloka greets vides a credible connection be­ the labor is erased, except at Sujata as bon tee that it is the "di­ tween the sisters over time and the end during the preparation minutive for a little sister"(21). place and is also associated with of channer payesh. The success of If the context is self-explana­ their "home" in India - the sisters in the U.S.A. and tory, glossing is unnecessary and Darjeeling. Canada alludes to but never se­ should be used carefully rather I would recommend riously questions the paths than liberally. this book with some reserva­ open to certain women with With regards to the tea tions. This is a novel that cel­ particular advantages, such as industry, one that I support and ebrates bourgeois middle-class fluency in English and an open­ contribute to with enthusiasm, values through the lives of the ness to "Westernization", that I was disappointed that there characters both in India as well appear less threatening to ex­ was not a greater discussion as in the U.S.A. and Canada. It isting hierarchies. Along with both on the aesthetics as well does not break or disrupt the her characters, the author as the complicated and inter­ current publishing trend to pro­ therefore ultimately becomes esting history of tea and tea mote South Asian writers with complicit in these hierarchies, growing in Darjeeling. I con­ this middle-class appeal. There rather than subverting them. side'r myself somewhat knowl­ is no deep examination of any Thus, in this novel the issues of edgeable about tea and particular issue-neither that race, politics, and economics Darjeeling, having been to of single South Asian women simply reflect the status quo school in Kurseong (a hill sta­ living overseas who belong to because ultimately one could tion close to Darjeeling), which certain age groups-nor does " ... own the most organic tea is mentioned once in the book, the author explore characters' garden in Darjeeling and be but did not learn anything that lack of any political convictions able to distribute the finest I did not already know. My or motivations. The only char­ product to the North American memory of planters is not of acter who shows any political market" (298), thereby support­ Hindu (Sanskrit) and Bengali potential ultimately becomes ing global capitalism rather literature experts living genteel "{AJ fallen leader" with "no than disengaging or suggesting lives on the foothills of the place in the territory. . .lost" (94). alternatives to that model. Himalayas managing their tea Events unfold either un­ Kirchner's earlier work gardens without serious con­ believably or too smoothly. As on South Asian cuisine is evi­ cerris over labor and economic alluded to earlier, the first-third dent in this novel. I found the issues, but rather hedonistic of the novel requires a certain references to food familiar and and even disturbed people, suspension of belief Characters interesting, such as this de­ some of whom have no other act in ways that make no sense scription of a guava as "a jade- choice than to be planters and - a genteel person with liter­ green fruit ... about the size of find escape in alcoholism. ary leanings takes out what an apple ... the flesh soft as There is no reference to all the amounts to a death contract on room-temperature butter, ex- mixed-race children of planters Fall 2002 South Asia News 15

Call for Papers

The 20th Annual CSAS Spring Symposium Film and Social Justice in South Asia

April 16-17, 2003 University of Hawaii, Manoa

Keynote Speakers will include Anand Patwardhan, Keya Ganguly, PriyaJoshi, and M.S.S. Pandian

Abstracts must be received by March I, 2003 For more information or to submit an abstract contact [email protected]

Darjeeling con't the unique and remarkable Dasgupta con't and their employees from the ways by which their lives be- while he was in Honolulu. I colonial and even post-inde­ come resolved in the end. Set- commend him for making a pendence periods who oper­ ting the novel in a non-urban film that challenges the audi­ ated the Glenary Bakery, which location, Darjeeling, in a ence to think outside their ex­ is mentioned often by the au­ Bengali family that also has ties periences and engage with ideas thor. These inclusions would to Bangladesh, and engaging and content that are disturbing, have made the novel much .with their occupations as own­ profound, brilliant as seen in more complicated and thought­ ers and producers in the ever­ the film The Wrestlers. provoking. changing industry of tea, as well Notwithstanding all the as their personal lives, results in *For a list of his published limitations I have expressed in a story that is mostly well-told works see: Hood,John W. Time this review, I want to reiterate and interesting to read. and dreams: the films of my initial recommendation, Buddhadeb Dasgupta. Call Num­ which is based primarily on the ber PN1998.3 D36.H66 (Loca­ particular way in which the au­ tion: Asia Collection) thor works through the events in the lives of three women and 16 South Asia News Fall 2002

South Asia News staff INSIDE Monica Ghosh, CSAS Director Buddhadeb Dasgupta's The Wrestlers I Matt MacKenzie, CSAS Director's Note 2 Coordinator New Faculty Profile 3 Book Review: Darjeeling 5 Contributions of articles, book Watumull Awardee Report 6 reviews and commentaries are welcome. Please send them to Fall 2002 Events 8 us at [email protected]. Faculty Notes 10 Call for Papers: CSAS Spring Symposium 15 We also thank all those who have supported the Center with monetary contributions Sbaokarcon't critical contributions include in recent years. These funds provide a flexible resource to oping his knowledge of the short fiction, encyclopedic en­ supplement our (rapidly immigrant experience led to tries, scholarly articles, book re­ declining) university operating a co-edited anthology, which views, interviews, and journal­ budget and permits us to is a forthcoming publication istic articles. augment our South Asia titled Crossing Into America: Since his appointment activites. The New Literature of Immi­ at the University of Hawai'i at Your tax-deductible contri­ gration. Currently, he is Manoa, Shankar has taught butions are greatly appreciated and can be made payable to working on a novel that is set courses in World Literature University of Hawai'i Founda­ in a village in India that is since 1600, Literature in En­ tion Account No. 130910, c/o based on his mother's ances­ glish after 1900, and Twentieth Center for South Asian tral home. The story is very Century Novel in English. In Studies, Moore 4II, University localized and explores an in­ the Spring, he will be teaching of Hawai'i, Honolulu, HI ter-generational relationship a graduate course on Cultural between a father and son. Studies in Asia and the Pacific, Shankar's other literary and and Composition 100. ~ Center for South Asian Studies School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies Moore Hall 411 1890 East-West Road University of Hawai'i-Manoa Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822 USA

Monica Ghosh Asia Collection Hamilton Library - Rooln 411