Ashis Nandy delves into same topic that got him arrested at Jaipur literary festival

KARACHI:

In 2013, when Ashis Nandy talked about the prevalence of corruption among scheduled castes and Dalits at the Jaipur Literature Festival, he not only caused furore all over India but also got nearly arrested.

But that didn’t deter the Indian academic from touching upon the same topic on the third day of the fifth Karachi Literature Festival. This is not to say that Nandy enjoys ruffling feathers. Rather, judging from his matter-of-fact tone, it seems that he simply feels it is his duty to impart findings and observations from his many years of research.

Nandy, in fact, has written on so many topics that session moderator Nauman Naqvi described his work as ‘trans-disciplinary’ rather than interdisciplinary. Look him online and you’ll find the phrases ‘political psychologist,’ ‘social theorist’ and ‘political critic’ all used to describe him, although Nandy himself favours the term ‘intellectual streetfighter’.

Considering the vast scholarship of works he’s produced, it’s understandable that moderator Nauman Naqvi was a little flustered when the session began. The talk began with Naqvi introducing his guest (‘Ashis Nandy needs no introduction’, ‘It is my honour to introduce Ashis Nandy to you all’).  And when he finally got round to giving details about the Indian guest’s works, he was predictably effusive.

After a few minutes of ambling along like this, Nandy finally began to speak - much to the relief of the audience. In his talk, Nandy covered a lot of ground, touching upon genocide, nationalism, colonialism, India’s Maoist movement, the birth of the Taliban and, of course, corruption among scheduled castes.

It became apparent from the session that Nandy does not give pithy answers. He goes off on tangents, making connections that others would not see and sharing plenty of facts and figures. But, more remarkably, he does all of this in an accessible manner, often breaking into laughter as he shares anecdotes that are more idiosyncratic in nature.

Take for instance, his thoughts on the theory that Western culture is rooted in ancient Greece. The Greeks were completely cut off from Western Europe and were more connected with Eastern regions including Afghanistan, he explained. “What we are experiencing is ancestor envy!” he said, eliciting laughter from the audience.

There was another round of laughter when he gave the example of a former Indian prime minister buying off six members of the parliament. “Now that’s a good investment,” Nandy said, and that too completely straight-faced.  He explained how the act of resisting colonialism can make the colonised more like the colonisers and gave the example of Israel originating as a state for the oppressed going on to become a state that oppresses others. Such weighty concepts can be difficult to illustrate in short sessions at literature festivals, but Nandy had the audience hanging on to every word. “I don’t want to monopolise the conversation,” Nandy had said to Naqvi at one point during the session. Had the audience had a chance to respond, they would surely have said: Go on, we don’t mind.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2014.