BHUBANESWAR: The time has come for Indian stories and everybody wants access to them in English, said author and journalist Aparna Karthikeyan at the 10th edition of Odisha Literary Festival here on Sunday. Participating in the conversation on ‘Jam Scones or Pani Puri? Do We have Enough Indian Tales?’ with poet and author Sridala Swami, Aparna said the translation scene in India is vibrant now and hence more Indian stories are being made available in English. Indian stories are mostly about everyday happenings. “But are we having enough space to report on these happenings in popular media?” she questioned.
For Aparna, there is great disconnect between the artist and the consumer. Everyday aesthetics that are coded into the art are not appreciated. Society only engages with the culture, only with the art and not the people and their livelihoods. “This is because you have hierarchies in India. Anything that is intellectual gets more visibility. We value a certain kind of knowledge which we can showcase and present,” she said.
Talking about her book ‘Kabadiwala’, Sridala said the way of recycling things traditionally should be celebrated. “But people who do it never find themselves in stories and in screens and are never talked about, often not positively.”
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Sridala said before liberalisation, more diverse stories were being told. There were stories about factory workers and people in different professions. “When you begin to cater to a particular audience, you narrow your storytelling to fit what you perceive to be the audience. But if you do not tie yourself to who you imagine your audience is and write what you want to write, the stories will find their audience regardless.”
“We have to give people the correct narratives. The narratives that talk about people which they (readers) otherwise wouldn’t encounter,” said Aparna as the concluding remarks of the session.