CHILDREN'S WRITING
A mug(gle)'s game?
RANJIT LAL
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Children's writing in India is a confusing terrain of many debates and blame games. Follow the trail with
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Illustration by Surendra
RECENTLY I read somewhere that according to a survey, Indians were amongst the most avid readers of books in the world. Excuse me? I can't recall if the survey specified what kind of books Indians read, but I'd guess it would be textbooks or "How to Become A Billionaire and Bribe God in 30 Seconds" or something of the kind. No fault of the readers, of course, given the education system in this country and the hell-bent rush to get rich in 30 seconds. But really, do we read? And more importantly, do our children read? The burning question in literary circles these days is "why hasn't India produced a Harry Potter like phenomenon?" To answer that, we'll have to get onto a blame game of merry-go-round.
Firstly there are the writers, because without writers there are no books. Till recently, Indian writing for children was driven by the burning desire to moralise, to teach young impressionable minds the difference between right and wrong, and good and evil, which, of course, most adults have themselves conveniently forgotten wholesale. But yes, every story had to have a moral in bold copperplate or it was not acceptable. Thankfully, this trend is vanishing, and even though most stories do have some kind of a "moral" inherent in them, it's no longer riveted into the mind of the young reader with a staple gun.
Whose realities?
Other major criticisms were that Indian writing for children lacked a sense of fun and humour, action and adventure, and never dealt with the tricky issues of life that one encounters while growing up or just by living in India. There's nothing in the story that a child can actually relate to and identify with. Which, I guess must be true to some extent and is why the children's bookshelves in stores are stacked floor to ceiling with Enid Blyton and now J.K. Rowling. You could argue that hey, Indian kids do not relate to scones and robin redbreasts, which occur rampantly in "foreign" books, yet those books sell. Sure they do, because those books have a compelling storyline, which keeps the child glued, and scones and robin redbreasts are just background props. (And remember we have this huge storehouse of madly adventurous mythology, which can be tapped into, provided our religious fanatics don't get their dhotis all in a twist over the issue.)
The problem is that even when you do get adventurous with your storyline, there are Rottweilers of piousness waiting to pounce. A manuscript I once submitted was sent to a "critic" (not a child) for comment (does this indicate that the publishers are not too confident of their own abilities?) and came back with the remark that the "characters in the story enjoyed too much freedom, given the social and economic milieu they came from... " That their parents would never have allowed them to do the things they did in the story. Excuse me? Too much freedom? In fiction? If children were not given freedom in fiction, where the hell can they be given freedom and what was the point of writing the story? (I wonder if that critic ever smiled at his or her own baby; and must have used nappies made of barbed wire.) Besides there are parents and parents... As a writer there are other pitfalls you have to watch out for: No bad language, please, beyond "stupid" and "silly"; even though what you hear in a school playground can make a cop's ears go red. No "big" words, because then the child might have to open a dictionary...
Question of visibility
One of the main complaints of writers (present company included) is that their books are not visible in the shops and so cannot sell. I've often had people make this complaint and have to agree that even certain secret documents appear to have a better accessibility and circulation. At the bookshops, children's books are usually tucked away in some musty corner near the toilet, and anyway, most of the shelf space has been hogged by the likes of Enid Blyton. Another complaint is that they are usually shoddily produced and lack the vibrant colour illustrations that make them appealing to kids. And that's because most publishers treat children's publishing in cheapskate fashion, and certainly do not go in for such things as "book launches" a la Harry Potter. The publishers in turn say that prices would rise unacceptably if they tried any fancy footwork, and so this cottage industry mentality remains. Further, both booksellers and publishers hold that most parents these days do not want their children to read anything beyond their textbooks, and would rather spend Rs.250 on junk food for their kids, than buy a storybook. (And I presume these parents are amongst those that make Indians the most avid readers of books in the world!)
The way out
Parents on the other hand, say that their kids are overburdened by their studies anyway, and cannot afford to waste time on frivolous reading. Besides, most Indian children's writers are not as hotshot as they think they are and certainly are not as professional and committed as writers abroad. Well, have you seen the pittance paid to writers in India — forget about children's writers? You can only write for kids as a hobby... or charity. So, as you can see, everyone's pointing fingers at everyone else... and I guess, to some extent everyone involved has to take some portion of the blame.
So what then, is the way out? Well, the good news is that progress is being made, albeit slowly, and bit by bit each party involved is trying to act on the charges levied against it. The writing's improving, as are illustrations. Publishers are becoming more committed and professional, and bookstores are being more generous with their space (only the educational system still stinks). We are happily aping the West in every which way, and children's writers can only keep their fingers crossed that Indian publishers (and parents) will ape the West in this way too in double quick time. There is a slow dawning amongst publishers that children's publishing could become a money-spinner too: we have a huge population of children and they keep coming off the assembly lines at prodigious rates! All of them potential readers of the same book, over and over again! Most importantly, in this sphere (as in most others) we have to free ourselves of our dreadful barbed wire mentality — we are our own worst jailors — and think of what can be achieved, and not of what might go wrong.
Colossal canvas
For writers, the canvas is colossal. You just have to pick up a newspaper at random and there are sure to be the seeds of at least half a dozen children's books in the news stories reported, all of which relate to the here and now of India. And then of course, you can close your eyes and think of (and thank) Rowling. Agreed she had huge backup, but when anyone sneers and says, "you write for children?", just quietly remind them that so does Rowling and she's the richest (agreed, not necessarily the best, but anyone asking such a question will be the kind who equates richest with best anyway) writer in the world... And then there's our home-grown Ruskin Bond, to whom every children's writer in India owes a huge debt of gratitude. He forged a path, all by himself, against formidable odds and succeeded, and made the way easier for those following. Hopefully, soon writing for children in India will no longer be the mug(gle)'s game it has been so far.
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