1 “Writing the Village, Becoming the Nation: the Work of Manoj Das

1 PODCAST TRANSCRIPT “Writing the Village, Becoming the Nation: The Work of Manoj Das” Manav Ratti When you stand and look out from the seaside promenade in the city of Pondicherry, the vast horizon of the Bay of Bengal seems to stretch forever. The sea melds with the sky in a continuous and silent dance of colour, cloud, and wave. The long, straight promenade mirrors the long, flat horizon, suggesting infinity. In the mornings and evenings, the palm tree-lined promenade is closed to traffic, becoming filled with people performing yoga at sunrise, and walking with friends and family after dinner. A former French colony that united with India in 1962, Pondicherry is many cities in one, with parts of the city retaining French influence in architecture, churches, and wide boulevards with French names; with monuments along the promenade to Joan of Arc, World War I, and Gandhi; and with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram attracting people from around India and the world. Within contemporary literature, Pondicherry appears in Yann Martel’s 2001 Booker-prize winning novel Life of Pi, as well as in the film adaptation directed by Ang Lee in 2012. And so it was towards this city, located about 100 miles from Chennai in the south of India, that I journeyed in order to meet Manoj Das. Manoj Das is one of the most distinguished writers in India. Born in 1934, and living in Pondicherry since 1963, he is especially renowned as a master of the short story. His writings capture some of the most distinctive aspects of Indian culture, art, religion, and history. His fiction is marked by dramatic suspense, magical realism, and a style that with a minimal touch can convey nuances of character, motivation, and emotion. His work has been compared with other famed Indian authors, particularly those writing in English, such as Mulk Raj Anand, R. K. Narayan, and Raja Rao. Born and raised in a village in the state of Odisha, Das writes centrally about village life, with scholars comparing his writings about rural culture with those of R. K. Narayan and Chinua Achebe. In addition to short stories, Das writes novels, poetry, travelogues, historical and cultural scholarship, and children’s literature. His children’s books have remained bestsellers in India for over forty years. His work has earned him numerous prizes and distinctions in India, including the highest literary honour, the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest award for creative writing, the top literary prize in his home state, several honorary doctorates, and the fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shree. Among the greatest influences on Das has been, and continues to be, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, where he has been a devotee since 1963, serving also as a professor at its International Centre of Education. The Ashram was formed in 1926 based on the teachings of the guru Sri Aurobindo (the word Sri is used as a title to express honour and respect). Sri Aurobindo lived from 1872 until 1950, and began life as Aurobindo Ghose, a civil servant, freedom fighter, and nationalist. The Ashram’s philosophy can help us understand how and why Das’s literature explores questions of morality, empathy, awareness, and ethics. Central to Sri Aurobindo’s system of thought is his concept of the supramental. He believed each of us is constantly evolving and that we must aspire to liberate and transform ourselves by opening towards and unifying with divine consciousness, or, the supermind. Das explains this concept further in the 2 interview. There was also a second guru at the Ashram, known as The Mother, the name given to her by Sri Aurobindo, who considered her to be his spiritual equal. The Mother was born in France in 1878 as Mirra Alfassa, and she settled in Pondicherry in 1920. The Mother was in charge of every part of the Ashram, from the material to the spiritual. She taught and interpreted Sri Aurobindo’s work until her death in 1973. Today, one can find a steady stream of artists, scholars, writers, and seekers undertaking their unique and common journeys to the Ashram. The central site of their devotion is the meditation courtyard, which contains the samadhi or shrine in which the bodies of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother are laid to rest. The samadhi is a white marble block covered daily by a large pattern of flowers, and it lies beneath a towering tree whose branches bend towards it as if in eternal prayer. So it was in this combination of the physical beauty and spiritual power of Pondicherry that I met with Manoj Das, at his home, close to the meditation courtyard. I was greeted by Das himself, clad in a white kurta pyjama. Upon entering the front room, I noticed large rosewood- framed photographs of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, displayed side by side on the wall. Perhaps that was a fitting prelude to my time with Das, with his calm presence filling the room and complementing its soft silver walls and white borders, the symmetry of our settees, the slow and silent ceiling fan, and the morning light of the skylights. And again rosewood: this time in the glass-panelled bookcase below the photographs, with several vases of flowers and a portrait of Krishna on its white surface. Manoj Das is a natural and charismatic storyteller. He speaks with ease, with passion, and with a seemingly effortless grasp of character, event, and detail. The minutes became hours, became days. It was a joy for me simply to listen, to learn, to ask questions as the occasion arose, encouraged throughout by Das’s openness and generosity. This interview covers several topics. You will discover how Das began writing fiction, including why he started writing about village life, based on a memorable anecdote. He shares how and why he writes in English, and why he writes poetry only in his native language, Odia. He shares with us the writers who have influenced him. Das also shares his candid views on the art and politics of Indian literature written in English and Indian literature in what are called “regional languages”. You will also read how Das has been influenced by India’s transition from colonialism to independence, industrialization, and democracy, including a discussion of his views on the future of democracy in India and the world. Lastly, Das shares with us the influence of Sri Aurobindo on his work and life, and discusses some of his most recent projects, including his research that he conducted in archives in England and Scotland. I was left with an impression that Manoj Das has a deep love for three things: for storytelling, for India, and for the spiritual life. That he writes so passionately and with such determination about village life and the natural world reminds me of the argument that we cannot separate human history from natural history. And that he writes so passionately and with such determination about the supernatural, the mystical, and the spiritual reminds me of Latin American writers who insisted that magical realism for them is not only a literary technique but, more fundamentally, a way of thinking, of feeling, and of knowing life and the world. It is the same for Manoj Das: the supernatural is simply factually true and alive in his writings. The day before I met Manoj Das, I met a man on the seaside promenade who said that in Pondicherry the entire air is a prayer. That image has remained with me ever since. Das has said that Pondicherry has changed a lot over the decades, but that the original Pondicherry is still there, and we can see it and hear it and know it. I was moved by Das’s conviction and his 3 positive outlook, and perhaps you also will sense them in this interview. This is the first interview with Manoj Das to be published outside of India and in the West. I would like to thank the entire team at The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, including the anonymous referees, and especially the journal’s editors, Dr. Claire Chambers and Dr. Rachael Gilmour. I hope you will enjoy reading this interview with as much pleasure as I had in conducting it. [Interview conducted December 2017, Puducherry, India] [Podcast created March 2018] Dr. Manav Ratti Associate Professor of English, Salisbury University [email protected] How to cite this podcast: Harvard style: Ratti, M (2018) Writing the Village, Becoming the Nation: The Work of Manoj Das. [podcast] SAGE Journals. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/page/jcl/podcasts [Access date, as day-month-year]. MLA style: Ratti, Manav. Writing the Village, Becoming the Nation: The Work of Manoj Das. SAGE Journals, 2018, http://journals.sagepub.com/page/jcl/podcasts. .

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