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theStack THE PASSION TO WRITE

AN ESSAY ON COMPASSION
War over Words: Censorship in india, 1930-1960 Paul Zacharia’s A Secret History of Compassion
By Devika Sethi; Cambridge University Press; 795; 288pp valiantly drags the two disparate worlds of fiction
and fact to a busy crossroads without traffic signals
Debates over freedom of expression make a significant chunk of the
civic thought in a democracy like India. Censorship, too, has been an This is a sTory about God. No, religion. No, it’s a
universal phenomenon throughout history. This book novel about Communism and Marx and Kerala. Or is
is about the history of censorship of publications in it about the original sin, and the follies of man? Yes,
India over three crucial decades — encompassing the that’s what it is. A novel about men. Two in particular,
Gandhian anti-colonial movement, the Second World and both rather talkative: Lord Spider, famous writer
War, Partition, and the early years of Independent with a string of pseudonyms, one of them female (and
India. “In India, the contest over ideas and identities long forgotten) and JL Pillai, learned executioner, car-
did not end in 1947; neither did the use of print as a penter and aspiring writer with the ability to morph
means of disseminating views of various hues. Cen- into bat or bird.
sorship, did not cease in 1947, and this book explores In his quest to pen down the essay, Spider finds
censorship of the printed word in India in the 15 years partners in crime, in the form of his wife and part-time
before and after independence from British rule,” the philosopher Rosi and Jesus Lambodar Pillai, who is
author, who teaches Modern Indian History at IIT Mandi, Himachal essentially a man of many diverse traits and exotic
Pradesh wrote in the introduction. skills rolled in one. In the complexity of the plot as
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- well as the characters, the writer does away with the
basic limitations of style and
The indian neWsroom takes an irreverent look at
By Sandeep Bhushan; Westland; 499; 216pp philosophies, people, institu-
tions, taking potshots at them,
The book, written by veteran journalist Sandeep Bhushan, asks as the plot whizzes in and out
pertinent questions of television journalism in its introduction, of the realms of fact and fic-
and tries to answer them in its pages: What caused the death of tion, with a few pauses.
field-based reportage, and the marginalisation of The irreverence is illustrat-
reporters? What is access journalism, and what’s ed in parts like the one where
wrong with it? How did India evolve the star system? Spider, in his early teens,
It goes on to ask: Is the reporter-editor relationship ‘suffers’ from an erection in
necessarily adversarial? How does the owner-editor Church during service, when
system, perhaps unique to India, work in practice? he has visions comprising of
What about corporate ownership? And importantly, an angel and aliens. “He had
how does India compare to more mature industries, heard that aliens have gooey
like those in the USA or UK? Expressing his thoughts sex things. The result was that
over the changing face of TV journalism, the debut he found himself with a big erection just as the priest
author has written in detail about studios, stars and as offering up the sacred host for transformation into
the unmaking of reporters. Jesus’ body. Spider was shattered. oh, what a faux pas!
------------------------------------------------------------------------- What if Jesus found out? As a conscientious sinner, he
had included this unfortunate event in his next con-
Girl, sTop apoloGizinG fession. The priest told him that the erection was not
By Rachel Hollis; HarperCollins; 499; 216pp worth writing home about, being a mere expression of
carnal desire for a geological feature. Jesus had better
Bestselling author of Girl, wash your face and founder of thechicsite. things to do than keep count of idiotic erections of
com, Rachel Hollis urges women to stop apologising for their de- idiotic fellows. But snoozing during mass was a deadly
sires, hopes and dreams and instead to go after them with passion business”.
and confidence. Rachel Hollis has seen it too often: women being On a more realistic note, the novel, Zacharia’s first
afraid of their own goals. They’re afraid of embarrassment, of falling in English, after a string of short stories and essays in
short of perfection, of not being enough. But the big- Malayalam also presents an irreverent critique of the
gest fear of all is of being judged for having ambi- Left ideology, which is struggling to find relevance in
tion at all. Having been taught to define themselves contemporary India. While his narrative does slip into
in light of other people-whether as wife, mother, flights of absolute fancy, there is a trace of regional
daughter, or friend-many women have forgotten who earthiness, almost as if the ace author did suffer from
they are and what they were meant to be. In girl, stop a slight hangover from all the rich Malayalam prose
apologizing, Rachel encourages women to own their which he dished out over the decades.
hopes and desires and goals and reminds them that By one of India’s foremost writers, widely known for
they don’t need permission to want more. Hollis iden- his wicked turn of phrase and irreverence for all that
tifies the excuses to let go of, the behavior to adopt is considered the Establishment, this is a novel in bril-
and the skills to acquire on the path to growth. liant, irresistible freefall.

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