Who is an Indian writer? Apart from nationality and citizenship, what makes a writer, Indian?
Is it the setting, the names of the characters, or writing about Indian issues? When does a piece of work become Indian; when does a writer become Indian?
And even if a writer wrote about ‘Indian life’, what life is that? If the themes, issues, subjects written about are relevant only for a small percentage of the population, would it still be Indian?
Or perhaps it is the language? Then, only those pieces of work written in regional languages can constitute Indian writing; works of English will have to carry in its own description its disclaimer: Indian Writing In English.
There cannot be a single answer, there won’t be consensus, there will be disagreement. Perhaps then, one is just a writer—plain and simple. And one becomes an Indian writer only by virtue of their nationality? Sounds logical, but it leaves me dissatisfied.
There has to be something more. Is there an intangible, inexplicable quality that separates writing from Indian writing; writer from Indian writer?
Leave a Reply