Comments on: Charles Dickens in India http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/02/07/charles-dickens-in-india/ All that flavorful brownness in one savory packet Sat, 30 Nov 2013 11:11:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Kay in India http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/02/07/charles-dickens-in-india/comment-page-1/#comment-288452 Kay in India Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:20:11 +0000 http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/?p=8395#comment-288452 <p>" It doesn’t belong to the India of teeming cities with soaring flyovers and glittering multirise buildings."</p> <p>It does. I live in the NCR, visit Mumbai and Hyderabad on a regular basis. In both, the NCR and Mumbai, you'll get a knock on your car window by a desperate looking kid with rags for clothes, asking for money pretty much every time you stop at a major red light.</p> <p>People here don't really harbor hard feelings towards the Brits about imperialistic racism shown by writers of that time period--haven't heard anyone bring it up so far. In fact, people seem to really like and quote Kipling quite a bit even though Kipling was in extreme favor of imperialism and, if I recall correctly, called 'Indians' and other 'native' people 'half devil, half child' in his infamous White Man's Burden.</p> ” It doesn’t belong to the India of teeming cities with soaring flyovers and glittering multirise buildings.”

It does. I live in the NCR, visit Mumbai and Hyderabad on a regular basis. In both, the NCR and Mumbai, you’ll get a knock on your car window by a desperate looking kid with rags for clothes, asking for money pretty much every time you stop at a major red light.

People here don’t really harbor hard feelings towards the Brits about imperialistic racism shown by writers of that time period–haven’t heard anyone bring it up so far. In fact, people seem to really like and quote Kipling quite a bit even though Kipling was in extreme favor of imperialism and, if I recall correctly, called ‘Indians’ and other ‘native’ people ‘half devil, half child’ in his infamous White Man’s Burden.

]]> By: Johnny Brown http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/02/07/charles-dickens-in-india/comment-page-1/#comment-288450 Johnny Brown Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:08:17 +0000 http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/?p=8395#comment-288450 <p>Charles Dickens, although a fantastic writer no doubt, was anti-semetic and anti-Indian. He made a comment following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 with these words (approximately) "to exterminate the race upon whom the stain of the later cruelties rested…to blot it out of mankind and raze if off the face of the earth.” I find it Ironic that one can see the plight of the malnourished children of Victorian England and call for the extermination of other human beings at the same time.</p> Charles Dickens, although a fantastic writer no doubt, was anti-semetic and anti-Indian. He made a comment following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 with these words (approximately) “to exterminate the race upon whom the stain of the later cruelties rested…to blot it out of mankind and raze if off the face of the earth.” I find it Ironic that one can see the plight of the malnourished children of Victorian England and call for the extermination of other human beings at the same time.

]]> By: Vinod Narayan http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/02/07/charles-dickens-in-india/comment-page-1/#comment-288425 Vinod Narayan Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:45:14 +0000 http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/?p=8395#comment-288425 <p>When my daughter started reading and was well into absorbing chapter books I took her to the public Library ones and got her a copy of Oliver Twist. She said she did not understand and then I did not bother, but a few years later, I again asked her to try it and said she will be happy to know there are more like it from the writer whom we read as growing up. She gave it another try and then told me that why does life have to be so sad, why do you have to always show the sorry plight. Well I told her that dickens showed the world as it was (with some imagination to weave a story around it) and it is important for us the read works that shaped English literature. I guess she was not very convinced but then her tteacher said, she is interested in reading so let her choose her books, she will come back to these when the time comes. She continued her journey through the misterious magic of Harry potter and the imaginations of vampire love stories and so on. There is quite a change in the interests of the kids growing up. When we step intoa world where reading is replaced at all levels by viewing, I think keeping intact the enjoyment of reading is more important. Charles Dickens books</p> When my daughter started reading and was well into absorbing chapter books I took her to the public Library ones and got her a copy of Oliver Twist. She said she did not understand and then I did not bother, but a few years later, I again asked her to try it and said she will be happy to know there are more like it from the writer whom we read as growing up. She gave it another try and then told me that why does life have to be so sad, why do you have to always show the sorry plight. Well I told her that dickens showed the world as it was (with some imagination to weave a story around it) and it is important for us the read works that shaped English literature. I guess she was not very convinced but then her tteacher said, she is interested in reading so let her choose her books, she will come back to these when the time comes. She continued her journey through the misterious magic of Harry potter and the imaginations of vampire love stories and so on. There is quite a change in the interests of the kids growing up. When we step intoa world where reading is replaced at all levels by viewing, I think keeping intact the enjoyment of reading is more important. Charles Dickens books

]]> By: Vinod Narayan http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/02/07/charles-dickens-in-india/comment-page-1/#comment-288424 Vinod Narayan Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:44:42 +0000 http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/?p=8395#comment-288424 <p>When my daughter started reading and was well into absorbing chapter books I took her to the public Library ones and got her a copy of Oliver Twist. She said she did not understand and then I did not bother, but a few years later, I again asked her to try it and said she will be happy to know there are more like it from the writer whom we read as growing up. She gave it another try and then told me that why does life have to be so sad, why do you have to always show the sorry plight. Well I told her that dickens showed the world as it was (with some imagination to weave a story around it) and it is important for us the read works that shaped English literature. I guess she was not very convinced but then her tteacher said, she is interested in reading so let her choose her books, she will come back to these when the time comes. She continued her journey through the misterious magic of Harry potter and the imaginations of vampire love stories and so on. There is quite a change in the interests of the kids growing up. When we step intoa world where reading is replaced at all levels by viewing, I think keeping intact the enjoyment of reading is more important. Charles Dickens books are timeless classic, but then world moves on...... She made her shift at her pace and the last book I suggested hera nd she read were the poems of the Nicaraguan poetess Claribel Alegria... So reading is more important at the early stage than reading what and as long as you have a collection stacked at home on what you love, the reader in your kids will find his or her way to your stack of books, dust thema nd read them :)</p> When my daughter started reading and was well into absorbing chapter books I took her to the public Library ones and got her a copy of Oliver Twist. She said she did not understand and then I did not bother, but a few years later, I again asked her to try it and said she will be happy to know there are more like it from the writer whom we read as growing up. She gave it another try and then told me that why does life have to be so sad, why do you have to always show the sorry plight. Well I told her that dickens showed the world as it was (with some imagination to weave a story around it) and it is important for us the read works that shaped English literature. I guess she was not very convinced but then her tteacher said, she is interested in reading so let her choose her books, she will come back to these when the time comes. She continued her journey through the misterious magic of Harry potter and the imaginations of vampire love stories and so on. There is quite a change in the interests of the kids growing up. When we step intoa world where reading is replaced at all levels by viewing, I think keeping intact the enjoyment of reading is more important. Charles Dickens books are timeless classic, but then world moves on…… She made her shift at her pace and the last book I suggested hera nd she read were the poems of the Nicaraguan poetess Claribel Alegria… So reading is more important at the early stage than reading what and as long as you have a collection stacked at home on what you love, the reader in your kids will find his or her way to your stack of books, dust thema nd read them :)

]]> By: Chicken Tikka Masala http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/02/07/charles-dickens-in-india/comment-page-1/#comment-288351 Chicken Tikka Masala Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:12:27 +0000 http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/?p=8395#comment-288351 <p>Instead of "Charles Dickens in India," how about "Charles Dickens on India"?</p> <p>Ugly racist stuff, no?</p> <p>Maybe we should think again before celebrating his birthday, two hundred years later. Begaani shaadi mein Abdullah diwana!</p> Instead of “Charles Dickens in India,” how about “Charles Dickens on India”?

Ugly racist stuff, no?

Maybe we should think again before celebrating his birthday, two hundred years later. Begaani shaadi mein Abdullah diwana!

]]> By: Happy 200th Birthday, Charles Dickens http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2012/02/07/charles-dickens-in-india/comment-page-1/#comment-288321 Happy 200th Birthday, Charles Dickens Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:32:28 +0000 http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/?p=8395#comment-288321 <p>[...] mention quickly got forgotten. Just now while quickly checking my Facebook messages I came across this blog post dedicated to Charles Dickens, and I just thought, what the heck, Dickens is perhaps the first writer I started reading seriously [...]</p> [...] mention quickly got forgotten. Just now while quickly checking my Facebook messages I came across this blog post dedicated to Charles Dickens, and I just thought, what the heck, Dickens is perhaps the first writer I started reading seriously [...]

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