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Literary Review
PROSE
Of rotting pink threads and more
KESHAV DESIRAJU
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Kesavan both describes and dissects beautifully the ‘problem’ of the Indian male.
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The Ugliness of the Indian Male and Other Propositions, Mukul Kesavan, Black Kite, 2008, Rs. 395.
Mukul Kesavan begins his collection of essays with a charmingly self-deprecatory remark. “Every English-speaking Indian man between twenty five and sixty has written about the Hindi movies he has seen, the English books he has read, the foreign
places he has been to, and the curse of communalism.” True, too true, but at the same time, Mukul Kesavan writes better than most people, and certainly better than most English-speaking Indian men. And that is what makes The Ugliness of the Indian Male and Other Propositions such a worthwhile read.
For all those of you out there who sympathised with the heartfelt remark of the hapless Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi on the North Indian character, here is the book you are looking for. Mukul Kesavan does, however, in his title essay, embroider on the broad theme so tellingly described by the L-G. The problem’s not with North Indians (though we can talk about this), but really with all kinds of Indian men. And it’s a problem that Mukul Kesavan both describes and dissects delightfully. We’ve all seen “the thick bands of rotting pink threads that North Indian men wear around their wrists” and the “fat, lipsticked men with pencil moustaches” so beloved of the South Indian screen. We all know Govinda who “uses dance in the service of lewdness” (!). We continue to grimace privately. And we must now gratefully offer public tributes to Mukul Kesavan for bringing all his historian’s skills to analyse the problem. In his own words, “hygiene, hair and horrible habits”. I will say no more. Go on, read this book, and die laughing.
There are other treasures in this book. Kesavan’s knowledge of the Hindi film is deep, and deeply felt. (Through a perfectly constructed argument he concludes that the truth about Hindi films is that “mainly male audiences buy tickets to adore indifferent looking men”). The essay on the Urdu connection with the Hindi film is fascinating. His travel writing and political commentary is acute and compelling. For all those old enough to remember the Emergency, and the election campaign of early 1977, the essay “My Emergency” will recall many long-forgotten thoughts. A totally unexpected bonus is Mukul Kesavan’s poetry. The four poems interspersed within this collection of essays are wonderfully clever. Surely Mr. Heaney will blush? And surely there’s an unpublished collection of Kesavan verse somewhere?
More than just froth
But it’s not froth and hilarity all the way. There is an exceedingly thoughtful piece, “Good Omens”, on the nature of “Muslim-ness” where Kesavan takes the unpopular line, unpopular with politically correct secularists that is (the “pseudo-secularists”!), that when we celebrate the existence of Sania Mirza or Irfan Pathan, and by extension that of several other, cricket celebrities and film stars, we must indeed note that they are Muslims and hail the fact. For, “India wasn’t made in heaven; it was made in the pluralist hell of Partition”, and we must celebrate the miracle that allows all Indians to show us what they can do.
Provocative essay
The broad theme is picked up again. Ugliness… includes, in a very sensible publishing decision, Mukul Kesavan’s 2001 Penguin essay, “Secular Common Sense”. It is sincerely to be hoped that those who pick up this book will not just read the funny bits and will also find time for this long essay. Carefully constructed and engagingly written, it is a clear and dispassionate statement of a liberal and truly secular mind. It presents facts and analysis, it provokes and even teases, and it leaves the reader worried. Or perhaps one should say it leaves the liberal and secular minded reader worried. It seems unlikely that the ugly, muscularly Hindu, Indian male would find the time, either to read or to worry.
This brings us to a larger issue. The ugliness Mukul Kesavan writes about is physical. The aggression the L-G spoke about is possibly cultural. But there is also something deeply ugly about the forces of insularity and anti-liberalism which stalk India. There are very large numbers of bigoted, aggressive and violent Indian men, and, indeed, Indian women, and they are not about to start reading this book. Mukul Kesavan’s writing is witty and sensitive, but the sad truth is he is writing for the converted. And perhaps his opening remark is not so true after all. There are not actually all that many “English-speaking Indians” who write about the curse of communalism. It was recently reported in the columns of this paper that the motion, “This house believes that the ideal state is a secular state” was barely carried in the prestigious Oxford Union. The report further stressed, and this is also deeply worrying, the appalling quality of the debate. Where does this leave People Like Us?
keshavdesiraju@gmail.com
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