Indians-Course specially for us?

Do Indians need a creative writing course specially designed for them? Will not hurt, I would say.

I know, many of you would immediately get offended. Especially if you are not from India. Isn't music supposed to be universal? Aren't emotions and feelings universal? Hasn't great literature transcended the boundaries of geography and barriers of time?

My answer is, Yes. To all the above questions.

But here is my take.

Read Jane Austen. Read Ernest Hemingway. Read one of the early O Henry prize winner (or a O Henry short story itself.) Then compare it with a O Henry winner of last year. All of them are great. They show that great literature is universal. But you will also agree that there is a great difference between a Jane Austen and a Hemingway. Right from the ideas that form the basis to the way it is written. Our ideas, tastes have changed. So the courses to impart writing skill should also reflect those changes.

Just like the way our tastes have changed with time, it changes with geography and culture as well. In writing place and setting has got a vital importance. A story where the characteristics of the place intertwines with the story becomes that much better. Slumdog Millionaire could have happened only in the slums of Bombay.Whether it was a great movie or not is a separate discussion. Fargo could have happened only in the wilderness of mid west America. In fact literature is supposed to find the universality of emotions at the bottom of it all and celebrate it.

I am not advocating a course tailored for Indians because the principles that govern Indian writing is vastly different. I come from a more practical standpoint. The reference books that I have read from ( all published and bought in U.S) quote extensively from John Cheever, Raymond Carver and the likes. They are great authors. No doubt. But we dont get their books in India. Not in the neighbourhood book stores anyway. We get our Hemingway and JD Salinger. But the reference books want to go beyond that because enough has been said and written about them already.

But Hey, Why don't you include Ruskin Bond, Rushdie, Arundati Roy, Shashi Deshpande in the reference books. For that matter Mahabharata instead of that compulsory mention of Bible?? I am sure more Indians will find the course (or book) relevant then.

Let me close this with my pet peeve.
Right through my college, I have read all the books associating cloudy weather and the cold wind with a sombre mood. It was really strange. I am from tropic. And I have loved those days when the sun is hidden behind the clouds and the temperature drops. Only when I went to U.S did I understand what the authors meant when they went on and on about the sombre sky. It gets really cold and really grey out there. But here, we would love our skies not to be clear blue.

Same goes for 'tea with lot of milk and lot of sugar at the road side shop'. I have traveled to many places in India. Yes, tea is sweeter in some road side shops in some places. But surely, they dont put too much sugar. And definitely not milk. Common, they will go bankrupt. Then why do all these writers repeat it. (Trust me, it is a cliche) Where is that place in India where they serve tea with lot of milk and lot of sugar? I got the answer when I boarded my first flight to U.S ! (Some more cream please and some sugar too, I repeated half a dozen times to the air hostess) They serve tea with lots of sugar and milk all over India!!
But I still don't get one thing. Why do Indian authors talk about depressing grey sky, and tea with lots of milk? What next, writing about hero sneaking up on heroin during Halloween night?