Trails

The encouraging thing is that publishing in India has finally come of age. Even in this age of televised entertainment, people are picking up books perhaps due to the wide range that publishers offer. More and more writers are getting published, and some are even making money. No longer do I have to hawk my books and stories in other lands. My readership has always been here, and now I can write exclusively for the Indian reader, without having to make compromises that are often necessary in order to get published in the UK or USA. So away with the sensationalism, away with the exotic East, away with maharajas, beggars, spies and shikaris, away with romantic Englishwomen and their far pavilions.

This excerpt from the preface of Ruskin Bond ‘s ‘The India I love’ is significant of what is happening in India right now. Things are changing. I see it everyday. I see it in people all around, I see the change that people are allowing in their lives as they realize that all change is not bad. I see my 54 years old mother using the Internet to work and network. I do not stand in any queues these days. My tickets are booked on the net (and I no longer fear using my credit card online), my clothes are washed without me having to lift a finger, my bills are paid by auto-debit, my taxes are calculated online. I like it. I am now left with more time to work, to play, to read, to paint. When I go to bookshops, I see all kinds of people buying books, the same with music stores, where I see people of my parents’ generation snap up the latest releases with a glee equaling those of the teenagers. I see confident young people, I see young people who have made it despite all odds. I see young people who still have a twinge of conscience, who elect to stay on in India. I see hope everywhere. I also see rickshaw pullers alongside gleaming Hondas. I also see beggars trailing people emerging from gleaming malls. I also see people grow green tea in plains and people chucking it all up to teach in the land of their birth. I see talented actresses setting up workshops and encouraging young people in theatre and the arts. I see struggling single mothers with fractured legs working and smiling. I see happy young couples at amusement parks and movie theatres. I see the mosaic of life sparked off by a preface and my melancholia lifts and I face another day and I know where I have to be.