@minminfan Sadhana
Let me tell you what I am searching for in Indian books: Sometimes I feel I know everything about and sometimes I fell I know nothing about life in India. So I wanted to discover life of people in this country, to understand them much better but at the same time, when I see most of the books, they are not deep, they don’t explore what I want to know (not that I know what I am really looking for in this country) but still. Most of the stories are from long ago, we have a strange ability to be stuck in past or mythology or have an even strange ability to talk about things from the most extreme point of view of a sex-worker (I am not going to debate on their status or why such books are necessary and should be read or why I had enough of them), or we just talk about the strange middle class’s obsession with money, I think I know all that there is to know about such an Indian family, they are almost totally same in their behavior across all the demographics of the country.

I think I am looking for some form of exploration of the concept of individuality or a lack of thereof in this country. More like what these people think or don’t at all. This I expect to be very different across different various regions, even though oppressive and corrupt environment and balant sexism has such a strong uniting bond in this country.

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    Language: I can read in Hindi but for other languages I would need a translation.
    Also, I don’t like this language at all, which makes a big part of my complicated relationship with the country!
    Also, the amount of armed conflicts that keep on happening in this country which I have never heard people talking about or writing books on, maybe its just me who does not know.
    So maybe a bit more on non-fiction but not from those absurd news report authors, they make everything into a fiction. More from some body who lives there and writes a memoir of their life, minus the judgement.

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    Pardon me for jumping in:

    You are originally from here right? And you moved away for work and studies? Or have you never stayed in this country?

    Life here is mundane but to live here is not so bad. In looking for an exploration of the concept of individuality and searching for a discussion of armed conflict, you may be looking at the country through the eyes of a “westerner”. Yes to the environment being oppressive and blatantly sexist, but the sense of community isn’t always an oppressive and sexist thing. Also, I suppose you’re not reading the right books? Not all books will cover these kids of topics obviously – and they shouldn’t, there is life here that does not struggle with armed conflict (like mine) – but you’ll find plenty that will.

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      Yes I lived in India for 23 years I think! I was raised there. Feel free to jump in! Every one is welcome 🙂
      Yes and no, to what you say, the country I lived in and still come back to is a very different from what I write, I have been made so by the people who lived with me, they were/are not perfect and they were/are not sexist at all. I have fond memories and bad memories as well of the country, that is why I am looking for books which tell me a very different India from what I know. If there is any. Some self reflectory and some how talking about philosophy which makes us. Oppressive and corrupt I say because it is a lot corrupt but for oppressive I meant the caste divide and dosmetic abuse and violence in general, which for me is still some thing I was a lot protected from while growing up so I have no knowledge. Also I find it hard to find such stories because I don’t know what is authentic and also the people who experience it are not all literate a lot as well. So they who tells their stories?

      Greenie, I don’t know any books about such things or kinds of topics. I have no idea of this part of the country. I want to know about them. Do you have recommendations for me?

      Your and mine life are somehow the people who have a very protected life and without armed conflict and I know mostly how it is.

      I will be more able to appreciate it if I know the spectrum of life in this country.

      About individuality is something I want to explore in my culture, my mom is even more so than I am and she has not lived in a European country, but was raised in the wilderness of a dacoit village and she is a professor. We have this individuality a lot in us so I wanted books which talks about men and women and how does which culture influence such things. Sexism and class divide oppression is something that unites the whole world even, so nothing special about India.

      Do I make sense?

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        You make sense. 🙂 And sadhana covered book suggestions. I normally read non fiction, stuff like “Environmental jurisprudence and the Supreme Court” and I don’t think that’s what you’re looking for.

        I did mean eyes of a “westerner” in the way that @minminfan says it. The lens from which you’re judging your reading offers no answers, but in fact, all books about everyday life/ordinary protagonists will explore will these ideas. It may not be “overt” perhaps but I actually tend to dislike authors like Arundhati Roy or Amitav Ghosh for sometimes excessively going into these concepts.

        The caste divide and dosmetic abuse and violence hmmm…I recently read a book called “Democracy on the Road” wherein the author, an elections junkie, chronicles over 25 years of elections in India, that he covered as a journalist. It’s not an academic book, just a chronicle. He talks extensively of the caste system and how it affects votes. It’s a fun and insightful read.

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          Oh I read non fiction as well.
          I can do well with books which do not offer any answers. I am a researcher that for me is the most natural situation to end up in. I love academic exposition unless they write in a very obscure way. Arundhati Roy I have only partially read when I was very young, so maybe I should try again to finally decide I don’t like :). Thank you for the books I will read them and get back to you if you would like to discuss.

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        Reading this comment gives me a better idea of the kinds of books you may be after. Ants Among Elephants is definitely a great starting point. So is this list – https://lithub.com/11-books-to-read-if-you-want-to-understand-caste-in-india/
        [[A Fine Balance, mentioned here is really really really really really devastating and powerful]]

        Also the ones in this collection – https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/110024.Dalit_Literature

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    India is so vast and varied that literally every single thing you think about India (even if they’re contradictory) will be true of at least some part of India. We have some of the poorest and richest people, and some of the most progressive-thinking as well as the most retrogressive-thinking (as typified by our current govt) co-existing here.

    In novels exploring the Indian psyche, even in the ones that you feel are overdone or “stuck in the past”, you have to read between the lines to get at what the authors mean. All the novels that talk about family in India tackle, at some level, the concept of individuality that you speak of. Who gets to be an individual? Who doesn’t? At what cost does that come? You will see questions of borders and what makes home, in Amitav Ghosh’s Shadow Lines. You will see how women constantly subvert all that you speak of, and challenge their environment in their own way in the works of many women writers – Shashi Deshpande for example. You will see the glitz and glamour of the “high-society” folks in a book that was mentioned on the other thread – The Windfall. I don’t think we’d have books that explicitly say “this is the only thing this is going to be about.”

    If you’re talking about the conflicts in Kashmir, in the heartlands in the jungles, or in the North-east – there are plenty of books that do so.

    Also, saying “absurd news report authors” is a little harsh. There are journalists who spend their lives immersed in the conflicts or issues they are reporting on, and do so with great credibility and care. A famous example being P. Sainath’s Everybody Loves a Good Drought. (Highly recommend this book.) You can also watch this video to see how the farmer suicide crisis circa 2001 was covered (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q6m5NgrCJs)

    Check out all the books from this publisher – they have works that are not common in the publishing scene – https://zubaanbooks.com/product-category/books/

    Sujatha Gidla’s Ants Among Elephants might be something you like. But even memoirs come with a lens of judgement. Every piece of writing does.

    Just a suggestion – before you delve into books, perhaps read up on what’s happening in various parts and demographies of the country? There are excellent sites (in my opinion) like Scroll, The Wire, Newslaundry, The Newsminute, Down to Earth that cover a spectrum of issues. This might give you a better idea on how to interpret the various things you read in books, whether they’re using “judgement” as you put it, or if they’re being fair.

    Wow, this was a really long comment! The longest ever I’ve written on DB I think. Will stop it here. I hope I linked to enough sources that you can explore your interests.

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      Everybody Loves a Good Drought. I have read this one and sadly some how I knew everything that the book said from real life, I did expect things to happen like that and they did. That is why I said that I know this country too well, that I want to explore it from points I don’t know, now I think I will make an argument circular.

      But the other ones I will read and get back to you if you would like to hear. 🙂
      Thank you very much for your time and effort in answering my wierd queries about Indian literature. I have my issues with it in a sense that after reading a book I would mostly just reconfirm my understanding of this country. But some how I feel many people talk of a different country.
      Thank you once again.

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