Fears three kinds of dangerous silence that would make democracy dictatorial

Mysuru :

Two distinguished speakers last evening captured the minds, hearts and imagination of the people gathered at the A.V. Hall, Mahajana First Grade College and set them, hopefully, on the path of thinking and acting on what they conveyed in the speeches.

The occasion was the inaugural ceremony of the Mysore Literary Association (MLA). Highlighting the importance of the year 2016, Prof G.N. Devy, a renowned literary critic, an activist and the Founder-Director of Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, Vadodara and Adivasi Academy at Tejgadh, Gujarat, in his inaugural address, began his talk going back to the years 1616 and 1756 and their significance to Indian history and literature.

He then talked about the identity issues that were prevailing during the pre-independence days and how those issues are considered in the post-independence days of our country. He then came to the most important subject of the day that has been confronting the people of the country but are afraid to address them directly.

“I am talking about Silence now, which is completely different from the identity issues. There are three types of silence that the world is facing today and our country is no exception to this,” said Prof. Devy even as the audience were just warming up to the subject.

“There were around 6,000 languages in the world out of which 4,000 have disappeared. This is the first type of silence where a systematic attempt to impose ‘Aphasia (Inability to use or understand language)’ is going on. From a multi-lingual society we are becoming a monolingual one,” he cautioned.

Is all this bad, he asked and then added, “it is an evolutionary process and the present day youth are exposed to the multi-planetary, multi-temporal consciousness and the cyberspace is also imploding.”

“However, there was a time when I came to Mysuru and remembered 25 phone numbers of my friends. Sadly, now I don’t remember my wife’s telephone number. It is the telephone which remembers it,” he said.

The second silence, he spoke about is the lack of conversation between people. “Society has become successful. But with the mobile phones, texting has become the norm and even there, in the texts there are no full sentences. It is a networking society of silence,” he regretted.

The third type of silence is the most disturbing and to which most of us are helpless witness or a part of it. “This is the silence of protests all over the world. Most of the Democratic Governments in the world are becoming monopolitical and India is no exception,” Prof. Devy said and added, “All democracies are becoming dictatorial.”

“Any kind of protest or anyone who protests is termed as a traitor. I was in Grenoble in France, where the night talks were banned by the Corporation there. When I asked the Mayor, he said that it cannot be allowed. I cried that day because that is the place where the idea of freedom of free speech had begun,” he revealed and said, “as littérateurs you have to voice against this kind of silence.”

He spoke about the three writers who had great influence on his life and they are: Dr. U.R. Ananthmurthy, Naryan B. Desai and Mahsweta Devi and how the fears of all these three about the government suppressing the voice of dissent have come true.

Prof. Devy called on the members of the Association to take up the issue of silence ‘again and again’ and said, “only then will Mysuru, one of the cradles of civilization, will stand in the front and the forming of the Mysore Literary Association will have a meaning.”

Then, it was the turn of renowned Kannada poet and author Jayant Kaikini who preferred to speak in Kannada. Taking a dig at Prof. K.C. Belliappa, the President of MLA, in lighter vein, he said that, the President called him and wanted him to speak in English. When he (Kaikini) refused, he (Belliappa) agreed and then only he agreed to come.

Peppering his talk with a great sense of humour, Kaikini regaled the audience about how he was not able to connect with Mysuru though he had heard so much about it simply because there was no direct bus to Mysuru from his home town Gokarna.

“Every town is becoming a Vriddha Ashram (old age home) and unlike our childhood where there was so much about connecting, the children today have completely lost it,” he said.

Giving example of how a family boards a bus in Bengaluru and talks to their children only in English and how by the time they reach Chitradurga their languages becomes a mix of English and Kannada and finally pure Kannada when they reach Gokarna, Kaikini explained how languages are used in our country.

He exuded much of bonhomie and exuberance as he spoke. He was full of information about the way the society was moving, the sounds of silence, where the parents were going wrong etc. that brought applause from the audience.

However, after the talk, when this writer tried to connect with Kaikini, somehow, he could not find the same warmth that Kaikini exuded on the stage both with his words and body language.

President of MLA Prof. Belliappa welcomed the gathering and spoke about the Mysore Literary Association and how they planned for a Mysore Lit Fest on the lines of other Lit fests being held in the country in near future.

Ms. Ayesha Huq introduced the speakers and Prof. Balajee proposed a vote of thanks.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News  / July 31st, 2016