We must all have read a few fantasy stories that we might have grown up reading and loving: the high fantasy of Beowulf and Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time, the Harry Potter series and its allusions, and no matter how much most of us hated it, the Twilight series. All of them provide a small window of escape from our daily hundrum into the worlds these gifted authors create - many of them being woven with masterly skill from strands of local myths and assorted bits and pieces from hearsay and folklore. My point is this - India has such a rich tradition of mythology and stories, but in the recent past, only Ashok Banker seems to have written anything worth reading, with his novelization of the Ramayana, the Mahabharat and Krishnas life. And maybe the Palace of Illusions. Where are the tales on Vikram and Vetaal, the many rishis and their curses, the tales from Puranas? For all the much-vaunted secular and interpretive aspirations of our writers, surprisingly few want to draw upon the rich material we already have! Any of you who ever write a novel - please consider the story telling traditions and stories that we already. The Jataka Kathaa, the Panchtantra, the tales from Sufi traditions, lives of Meera, Maharana Prataap, Sohni-Mahiwaal - they bear retelling. If only the self-declared custodians of history and culture dont first get a ban slapped on you and your novel first >:(
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 02:31:04 +0000