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 Karuna Chettri's Plot-less life.

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Posted on 08-29-05 11:56 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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http://www.kantipuronline.com/artha.php?&nid=50242 



 A Plot-less Life


 BY KARUNA CHETTRI

Like a spider, Naipaul weaves a slow, deliberate web, ensnaring and drawing both fans and critics alike, into the internal struggles of his characters.

If one were to sum up Willie Chandran's life in a single word, 'inertia' would do it efficiently.

Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul has done it again. His new book, 'Magic Seeds,' leaves his readers wondering, interrupted and inconclusive about life - to be precise, about Willie Chandran's life. Willie Chandran - the novel's protagonist who, in 'Half a Life' (the prequel to 'Magic Seeds'), leads a rootless, meandering existence starting from India to England and finally to Africa. His perfunctory summation of his own life as one 'not his own' leads him to abandon Ana (his wife) during an African revolution. Armed with this sudden insight, Chandran moves to his radical sister Sarojini's home in Berlin. There, he hopes to find himself and start afresh.

Naipaul, however, is immune to his character's aspirations as Chandran continues to drift aimlessly - a flotsam dragged along by tides. One such tide is Sarojini, who hectors him about his self-indulgent, rootless existence until he succumbs to her righteous lectures. In an overwhelming wave of guilt to set things right, Chandran joins a rabble of freedom fighters, deep in the jungles of India.

Despite his good intentions, Chandran finds himself a passive observer of the so-called people's revolution. He reflects, 'How unfair it is. Most of my time in the movement, in fact, nearly all my time, was spent in idleness. I was horribly bored most of the time.' The guerillas, he notes, are a conglomerate of failed personalities; a motley crew of 'trouser people' who, out of sheer boredom, have banded together to 'liberate' the common people from themselves. The notion, as Willie observes, stems out of sheer vanity and has little to do with the plight of the 'commoners'. Even then, Chandran is incapable of taking ownership of his days and nights as he listlessly trudges through jungles, sporting a cheap, hand-sewn uniform with a red star that supposedly represents communist ideologies of 'the people'.


Through Chandran's idle observation, Naipaul projects his own antipathy toward left-wing ideologies and 'disillusioned city people' dressing up in uniforms to play at 'guerrilla warfare', while looting, terrorizing and living off the very people they were trying to 'free'. He leaves his readers wondering: how many of such freedom fighters are purely driven by ideologies, how many by sheer boredom? Naipaul spares none, not even Gandhi. He compares, through Sarojini's perspective, Chandran to Gandhi's early life as a confused young student in London, a depressed and disillusioned man in South Africa, and an India-returnee with nothing to show for his twenty years abroad - that is, until he became a revolutionary, and 'made waves'.

V. S. Naipaul, the Oxford-educated British writer, born in Trinidad to an immigrant family from North India, is a Noble laureate (2001) who has given a frank commentary on postcolonial disintegration through his collection of stories, memoirs and novels on India, England and Africa. Naipaul is a cosmopolitan writer evolved from his own disconnect with Trinidad, India and England. In 'A House for Mr. Biswas' (1961), he explores the disorientation of the elite-class from the postcolonial era and the emergence of a dispossessed lot, very much like Chandran. At times, Naipaul's cynicism borders on the vitriolic in his opinion of the English welfare people and their illegitimate babies, whom he refers to as 'profitable mistakes' they could comfortably live off.

Few authors can carry off the bleakness and dispassion with which he treats his characters in 'Magic Seeds'. Much of the book is composed of terse dialogues (not conversations) and the protagonist's idle musings as he stumbles upon brief moments of enlightenment. One such example: 'Time [always] lay heavy on his hands, there was little he found he wanted to do.' While many find Naipaul unappealing in his ability to reduce his readers to one of unresolved confusion, none can ignore him. Like a spider, he weaves a slow, deliberate web, ensnaring and drawing both fans and critics alike, into the internal struggles of his characters. Naipaul is unflinching in his narration of Chandran's aimlessness where Chandran organizes his experiences solely by the number of beds he has slept in - beds which he never owned, always borrowed - much like his life which was 'not his own'. Yet, Naipaul's Chandran is not a victim. He simply happens to live a plot-less life just as Naipaul intended for him to, just as many of us do - an existence of inertia randomly guided by external energies.
 

 
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Posted on 08-29-05 8:05 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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" Methodman and ur still awake?that u managed to type?:O:O wat a contradicting statment :O:O....or did u even read at all? "

^ I do not know what you just typed :0 :0, but I somehow doubt that you even read this article..Your english suggests that you read at no higher than a third-grade level..So please do not offer praise to the author when you are unable to comprehend 80% of the words she uses...Get your naak outta her chaak..fukin buttsniffer.
 
Posted on 08-29-05 8:19 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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"I do not know what you just typed :0 :0, but I somehow doubt that you even read this article..Your english suggests that you read at no higher than a third-grade level..So please do not offer praise to the author when you are unable to comprehend 80% of the words she uses...Get your naak outta her chaak..fukin buttsniffer. "

well if u read more than one line...

sorry for me 3rd grade english...mero english bad cha..nepali pani...but i am who i am...so dun mind me too much ;o).

but just wanna clarify smthing...i didnt praise...(or did i?i dun think i did...duh!!!)i just said hi...but how would u know.as u didnt read or comprehend wat i typed up there.....

and nope i havent read yet...i took ur warning....but seems like u aint sleeping yet...so either u didnt read it...or ur warning was a bluff..(too much games of bluff eh?)

i see if i will try to read and most prob i wont be able to understand the article..but we come to that when i do try to read....

and oh seems like u sniff too much asses...i mean duh!!can u only think of ass sniffing?im sure u do only that..so well...just to let u know..u can do many more things with ur face on ppl ass..u can lick them too ;o)....anyways enuf said...this thread was meant for smthing so let it be for that smthing..lets not get out of point...gave u some attn there...if not like u(i think im like u in some ways...scary thot aint it?)...i hate giving attn...esp to attn seekn ppl...(like u ..like me hehe..like everybody)...yap hate is too strong a word to use..but 3rd grade english ke..hehe...

and im sure u wont manage to reach this line...well its me 3rd grade english not ur fault....guess it i have just too much time on me hand dun i?well let me do smthing productive....

i do think i know wat ur writing..but wat do i know?(wahahaha did wanna use thapap bros line once...dyam i did!!WOOHOOO!!! hope i dun get sued for plagiarism ;oP)....and wat u dunno wont kill u..so its all good ;o)...

goodday...and sleep well...if u cant sleep well u know wat to do ;o)...


(dyam writing nonsense is additive..time to stop again..)
 
Posted on 08-30-05 6:27 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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^ ^ Hi bro. Chine chine jasto lagyo. Hope you are doing allright.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hell, it had taken such a long time just to know the real name of the revered author. Wish somebody had told me when I had requested:) Seems me was not worth of knowing but the popularity has no boundries, has it?

 
Posted on 08-30-05 6:47 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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The unimitable K Chettri writes:

"V. S. Naipaul, the Oxford-educated British writer, born in Trinidad to an immigrant family from North India."


From North India, eh?
How about from our own dear old Nepal?

In his Nobel acceptance speech, this is what Naipaul himself told the world:

"I know nothing of the people on my father's side; I know only that some of them came from Nepal. Two years ago a kind Nepalese who liked my name sent me a copy of some pages from an 1872 gazetteer-like British work about India, Hindu Castes and Tribes as Represented in Benares; the pages listed - among a multitude of names -those groups of Nepalese in the holy city of Banaras who carried the name Naipal. That is all that I have."

Source:
- http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2001/naipaul-lecture-e.html



Here's some additional masala:

"What is Nobel Laureate Vidia Sagar Naipaul?s ances-try? Dare we say Nepal? A century or so ago a mass of indentured labourers from Bihar and what was then the United Provinces traveled to the sugarcane plantations of the West Indies, Fiji and Africa. As a result, Trinidad today is full of Gangetic surnames such as Kanjai, Kallicharan, Ramadhin, Ramprakash, Ramsumair, Chanderpaul, Asgarlai ? Naipaul. Interestingly, there is no surname in the Ganga maidaan today that comes close to ?Naipaul?. On the other hand, we know this was one variation of the spelling the British used then for Nepal ? Nipal, Nipaul, Nepaul, Naipaul... As for tradition, many Nepalis do take on Nepal as a surname even today (Madhav Kumar Nepal is the head of the Unified Marxist-Leninists of Nepal), and it is used by dalit families who want a neutral identifier. Vidia Sagar, who is a fourth generation Trinidian (and hates it, evidently), had this to say about his ancestry in a speech delivered in 1990, ?We were an agricultural immigrant community from India.? Per-haps you are wrong there, Sir. And Nepal has always wanted a Nobel Laureate, and this would be just a little more in-terested than being listed in the Guinness World Record Book for this or that exploit, no?"

Source:
- http://www.himalmag.com/november2001/media_files.htm

Enjoy,

oohi
ashu
 
Posted on 08-30-05 8:17 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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newuser bro ...hello!...hehe..

i should be emailing i guess....but not into that these days ;oP...anyways i feel weird and out of place in topic about Nobel laureate etc...oh well just wanted to say hi back too....well one turn after another hoina ;o)...and dun worry i havent forgotten about the bhaat offer hehe..i never forget bhaat!!;oP hehe....anwyays hope ur doing good too..(still debating and posting a lot..so that means ur fine ...i hope its ok with u if i assume that hehe)....so wil catch u around ;o)...ok lets stop the replies here hai...dun wanna come back..(and well even if i do..next time diff nick ma..and diff way of typing ma hopefuly ;oP hehe...)

ok guys pls carry on discussing....dun mind me intrusion ;oP hehe..

good day!!
 
Posted on 08-30-05 8:26 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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monks ke cha ? mich u :d
 
Posted on 08-30-05 4:09 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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I have to agree with Sitara here... what she said was,
""V. S. Naipaul, the Oxford-educated British writer, born in Trinidad to an immigrant amily from North India."

If V.S. Naipaul's immigrant family came from Nepal, I'll give you a cookie. She's talking about his parents, not his forefather.


 
Posted on 08-30-05 5:40 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Hi Ashu; Long time! How have you been? "unimitable!", indeed. Indeed, like you, like everyone else. :)

Thank you for posting those masaladar pieces. Made good for reading. But as thugged out aptly put it, my focus was on his parents' origins not the ambiguity of his ancestry.

In Naipaul's "Literary Occasions", a collection of autobiographical essays the author himself reasserts, " We were an immigrant Asian community in a small plantation island in the New World. To me India seemed very far away, mythical, but we were at that time, in all the branches of our extended family, only about forty or fifty years out of India. We were still full of the instincts of people of the Gangetic plain, though year by year the colonial life around us was drawing us in." After which he dedicates a whole chapter to "his personal India" (as opposed to the historical/political India we read about) with naught a mention of Nepal. However, Naipaul knew his audience well when he flirted with the concept of a Himalayan ancestry in his famouse speech!

Houston, good observations. I thought about that while reading "magic Seeds"; he himself seemed bored out of his mind while writing the book. As for the other, Willie does not go whoring in India like he did in Africa.

Hello, Anonymous, Newuser, Methodman; thanks for dropping by.

Deep ji; height of exaggeration?! :)
 
Posted on 08-30-05 7:50 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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No problem Sitara, enjoyed your article..

* goes back to sleep *
 
Posted on 08-31-05 5:44 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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These days somehow I am more attracted to non-fiction (the little I read), so your recommendation matters. Do you recommend the book, Sitara?
 
Posted on 08-31-05 8:58 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Hi NK;

If you like fast paced, "Magic Seeds"would not be one I'd recommend to you.
 
Posted on 08-31-05 9:04 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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उता अभिबादन गरें, नजर भएन। अब यतै आएँ। कताको बढाईचढाई हुनु नी। सत्ते हो खतरा लागेको रामो राम।




Solitude I see, I thought -
Chaos inside me- then
Now, the course's reversed
Know and don't what I missed
Say I don't- but I did.

 
Posted on 08-31-05 9:09 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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मैले त title को plot-less लाई POT-LESS झैं देखेछु र केही गरिहाल्न पो सकिन्छ कि भन्दै scouting गर्दो भा'को

कुरो आर्कै दुनियाको पो रहेछ त ।

All the best

Keep rolling...
 
Posted on 08-31-05 9:23 AM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Solitude you sought-- I thought,
Chaos you shadowed-- Blindly,
Now Your course is reversed-- I see,
I read what you miss--Now,
Not what You lived--Then!

Dhanyabad Deep ji for taking the trouble.



Shree5, Grow your pot in a karesa bari;
You'll live a pot-less life. ;)
 
Posted on 08-31-05 7:17 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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darn katrina,

I almost missed this thread...had read "The house of Mr. Biwas" many years ago....buwa loves his books, they are marvel.

check out some other books written by indian writers:

choker bali - Tagore
the god of small things - Arundhati Roy ( one of my favorites)
Satanic verses - Rushdie
A suitable boy - Vikram Seth


 
Posted on 08-31-05 7:17 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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Deepji, I hope you didn't mind the "you" is a generic "you".

:)
 
Posted on 08-31-05 7:18 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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John Galt, did you just call me "Katrina"? !!!! hummmmmmmph!

You've got a good list there, though.
 
Posted on 08-31-05 7:47 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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No Sitara.....how dare I?

We just survived the wrath of Katrina for few days and the power came back few moments ago.


 
Posted on 08-31-05 7:55 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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John Galt,

I was there just last week for a convention. The tour guid was explaining how strong the levees were :)
 
Posted on 08-31-05 8:04 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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well...the tour guides of N'orleans need to be updated houston. The levees were made ages back and they all have sustained the wrath of all regulation hurricanes. It was time one could question about their reliability.

Even if there were no any hurricanes, the ever splashing waves of lake pontchartrain would weaken the bulwark over the period of time.
 



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