'There are other issues'

Ever since Mrinal Pande's novel My Own Witness hit the stands barely two weeks ago, curiosity has been rife, with the media, particularly the "vernacular" press, trying to guess the identities of the characters mentioned. But for those familiar with the media scene in Delhi, it is not difficult to identify the thinly disguised personalities. Pande thinks this is not fair and, explains to SUCHITRA BEHAL what the book is really about. Excerpts from the interview:

GIVEN the storyline of your novel, is it auto-biographical?

It could be construed that way, but I would imagine otherwise. A novel has many layers to it. Yes, the obvious reaction has been to relate to it on purely autobiographical terms. I suppose that is because the protagonist is a woman and a journalist. But I think for a reader who really wants to get down to the heart of the matter, there will be much more than this.

What is the idea behind the book?

The effort is to try and trace India's historical scene which has been very volatile - the assassination of two Prime Ministers, the Mandalisation of politics - all this has had a major impact. Alongside has been the entry of private television channels which has changed the face of the media. No journalist can say that they have not been affected by all these factors, either professionally or personally. Like a doctor, a journalist never really closes shop - they are always on call. There has been a strange dichotomy that we have seen in the last 50 years. The vernacular press was healthy but after Mandal the English language media is suddenly being touted as the only national media - forget about Bengali, Marathi and the rest - though English is not the preferred language of 90 per cent of the population.

It is also the first time that market and political forces realised that now everybody wants an equal share of the pie. Strangely, it seems to me that the more you globalise, the more regional you become. I am not judging it. There is just a sense of curiosity and an attempt to understand what is happening to us.

Are you saying that there is a divide between the vernacular and the English print media?

Yes. This is rather interesting because it is this 90 per cent which is the largest segment of buyers today. It might not be as sophisticated as the 10 per cent segment, but the fact is that it represents the big buyer. This is a trend that is also not reflected in the print media. An English paper will have 40 pages for Rs. 12, the Hindi one will have 20 pages for the same amount. It is because of this that some of the national dailies have been on the decline. The new generation of proprietors does not identify with the people its forefathers did. Also, what does not strike this section is that as democracy progresses the vernaculars are going to demand a larger share of the economic pie. It is a very fluid situation where the shots are being called by the multi-nationals and the bureaucrats who are English-centric. The media is pulling in one direction and the audience in another.

Through the novel, I have tried to examine the ground realities that since the 1970's, have undergone a lot of change. It is not about being vague, generalised or abstract. It is an effort to try and understand our times, the role of the survivors - who are they? Did they pay a price? Did it change the media? Because the people in the media are constantly in the public eye. Everybody's life is public property.

So is the book really your story?

Do not jump to judging the novel. Why are people so quick to dismiss it? There are other issues that I have focussed on.

This entire allegation of Hindi not being accorded the right status ... Does it stem from the fact that Hindi and Urdu, for instance, are the domain of purists? English, after all, has integrated itself as an everyday language?

It is not true that people do not understand the Hindi that is written or spoken. The middle classes have disowned Hindi. It is the urban dwellers who want their bulletins in Hindi to be capsuled into 250 words so that they can comprehend it. When you are dealing with a vast number of issues and topics, the right words have to be used. Anywhere else in the country, most people do not feel that the news bulletins are difficult to follow.

Eventually, like English, Hindi too will evolve if there are healthy changes in the media. More and more news agencies are realising the importance of the vernacular. Strangely, it is ironic that the vernaculars are taking their place in the sun for the wrong reasons. At the same time, Hindi is becoming a tool in the hands of political and market forces.

I think Hindi needs to do a lot of soul-searching. It should dissociate itself from being the Raj Bhasha. As a literary language it has made in-roads effortlessly. Hindi now has to de- stigmatise itself. I do not think there has been one honest to goodness debate within the Hindi speaking lot on this.

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