Indian children born abroad -- some (more) clarifications

[Robert Zydenbos]

Sumedh Mungee wrote:
>
> Partha Banerjee <partha at CAPITAL.NET> writes:
> [...]
> Once upon a time you were a RSS member. 15 years later you made a
> complete volte face, and have dedicated your life to hate-mongering
> about it. Who knows, 15 years from now, you will start hate-mongering
> about the dead left-wing stuff you so passionately advocate now. I
> think I'll just wait it out. :-)

There is a similar publication in Kannada:

A.K. Subbayya, _Aar. Es. Es.: antara.mga_. Bangalore: Sa.mgaati
prakaa;sana, 1988. 80 pp., price Rs. 10.

Subbayya was with the RSS for 11 years and also went to prison with
fellow members during Indira Gandhi's emergency. According to the
author, the Hinduism propounded by the RSS is typical of the highest
castes, and the leadership is keen on preserving the caste system (p.
12). The organisation demands slavish obedience to its leaders (p. 17),
and the brand of religion which it propagates is, unlike that of truly
traditional institutions like ma.thas etc., a diseased religion of
hatred (p. 14).

This sounds very much like what I hear from my wife's cousin, who too
was an enthusiastic RSS member once upon a time. And he is a
traditionally devout, very patriotic, brahmin gentleman, and he cannot
possibly be accused of being a communist or Hinduism-hater.

Such reports should at least alert us that perhaps not all is fine and
glorious about those three-letter organisations.

I have written in detail about how the best-selling Kannada novelist
seeks to promote the RSS through his novels, in my _The Calf Became An
Orphan - a study of contemporary Kannada fiction_ (Pondicherry:
EFEO/IFP, 1996): xenophobia, communal discrimination, distorted readings
of history and world geography, misrepresentations of Christian
religious practices (no, sorry, I am not in the least interested in
'defending Christianity', and I am not a Christian either, thank you),
and much more (lengthy, detailed summaries are given, with page numbers
and everything else for those who wish to check). I know the author in
question personally (he too is a distant relative-in-law of mine), and
as a person I cannot think of him as 'evil' or anything of the kind; he
seems rather misled and ill-informed. (And, very noteworthily, he too
has moved away from his original energetic enthusiasm in his more recent
novels.)

Where did your book appear, Partha Banerjee?

--

Dr. Robert J. Zydenbos
Mysore (India)
e-mail zydenbos at vsnl.com