Random notes

Yesterday I went kuttikkol, a remote village in Kasaragod district to speak in a literay seminar organised by the Neruda Library with the support of D.C.Books kanhangad.It was a humble function attended by less than hundred villagers.The most impressive feature of the seminar was that more than half of the audience were youngsters.The topic of the seminar was Valarunna Keralam ,Thalarunna Vaayana(Developing Kerala and it's Withering Reading).Presenting the paper for discussion I told them that no one can deny the fact that during the last half a century kerala has made tremendous progress in almost all walks of social life,though in areas of humanrights and awareness there are so many issues remaining unresolved.About the complaint raised from many quarters that our youngsters shun the reading habit in favour of so many other trifle things which help them to pass their time idly,I said that such observations are not alltogther correct.Publishing industry is growing very fast and even in a small town like Kannur there are four or five publishers,two of them well established and it is known from reliable sources that books worth more than one crore is sold every year from this town alone.What we have actually lost is the sociality of literature.In the earlier decades of twentieth century when even one percentage of our people were not literate the works of a poet like Kumaranasan had great social impact in kerala.Now we boast of cent percent literacy but the total effect of a literary work upon our society is far less.I didn't elaborate on this point since I was not in a mood to generate a heated debate.
In Kerala the sociality of literture has faded mainly because the left has lost interest in keeping literary discussions and cultural activities alive.They are interested only in pampering the already established idols.The sociality of literature was strongly felt in kerala when the communists had a vision about the function of Art and Litrature,though it was often dim and focused in wrong directions.Now they have given up that vision and moved far away from their own politics.There are writers and political thinkers who argue in favour of this change.Change is inevitable and a political party should have the wisdom and courage to make necessary changes in it's policies and programmes from time to time.But when the changes obliterate the very ideological fabric of a political party,thngs become hopeless.