Skip to main content

Critical Intimacy of Ashish Nandi and Edward Said


Change is a universal as well as subtle phenomenon. And a person who loves inertia is levelled as a 'reactionary'. I have heard many a times that one should be progressive enough, like changing colours, adapting in a way Darwin imagines in his phenomenal work, "The Origin of Species". What I find about Edvard Said and Ashish Nandi is totally opposite to the idea of 'progressivism', if I may say so. Both thinkers represent a school of thought which does not like the "hegemony of western thought". They disapprove a particular way of thinking mostly found in western schools of thought, like the rationalization and humanization of various structures, be it Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Modernism, or Post-Modernism. They don't like looking Asian, African, or Arab world in perspective of 'European progressivism'. Their project is simple; Edward tried to establish 'Orientalism' while re-reading and re-inventing the "historical traces", to refer Antonio Gramsci, to engrave a lost picture, a lost narrative, a repressed trace, in the graveyard of progressive historicism. Orientalism was the master project which never soothed the eyes of moral and intellectual progressivism. Edward was levelled as a 'reactionary'. Levelling is after all easier way to lynch the very growth of budding ideas. That is how the plethora of schools are developed underneath a few branch. 

Ashish Nandi is read more in West than East. We don't have time to think beyond Modernism and Post-Modernism! Ashish Nandi is known for his comment on corruption in India which created turmoil in newsroom studios. He became the subject matter of editorialisation and condemnatory politics after his remarks for he had apologized, and promised not to do so in future. That is how I came to know about him. Indian intelligencia does not have time to reflect on his works, particularly "The Intimate Enemy". This work is my favorite. I believe this book is one of the best imaginations, transcends the "wall of reason", in search of better alternatives, better future, beyond the hyphenation of present, past, and future, a timeless creation, which is not consciously programmed. Such kind of matrix hardly happens in life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meeting Justice Rohinton Nariman in a Sunday Morning

Aristotle once wrote in his Nicomachean Ethics that there are four significant virtues for human beings, namely Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Courage. There are a few judges who have courage and sense of justice, both. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rohinton Nariman has been truly an exemplar judge and erudite historian, theologian and philologist, a great scholar of music as well as a courageous and meticulous jurist of our country. He did his Master of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1980-81 and taught by one of the finest jurists of the last century, Roberto Unger. He became Senior Advocate in 1993 in the age of 37 and also served as Solicitor General of India in 2011 before he was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court of India in 2014. He delivered many landmark judgments, including Shreya Singhal v. Union of India. There are a few people with whom time moves too fast, but to count that experience takes ages. Justice Rohinton Nariman is one of those great jurists with whom a meet...
1 comment
Read more

Feminine Mystery

        Portrait Courtesy: Shraddha One day when 'I' die  All would born as free life The long struggle to be Would turn out to be a mirage  Whose mystery is long known But forgotten Every concern or engagement Is an escape to forget  The first germ of life; its completeness Shackles are nowhere  But imagined as real One day that image would disappear And a blank sheet would represent The Being and Nothingness My mother my light  Has merged into the shadow To witness the geist  Glittering in every particle  All around ether  One day when I laugh On the seriousness of playfulness And let the things flow  Without any expectation or resistance The day would be a new dawn To the spirit of wholeness And unity of phenomenon Fragmented in an age of reason And anarchus egoism of individuals  One day the expression of collective Would loose its relevance  When man would realise The silent spirit  And its feminine mys...
1 comment
Read more

पिरोता जाऊँ एक माला ज़िन्दगी का

पढ़ता हूँ हर एक दिन एक ही पन्ना, हर दिन हज़ार ये मालूम पड़ते हैं। जबसे होश संभाला है एक ही पन्ना सवांरते आया हूँ, लोग इसे ज़िन्दगी कहते हैं। इसपे लिखे हर एक लब्ज़ जो मेरे मालूम पड़ते हैं, ना जाने कितने जुबां पे चढ़े होंगे। आज हम भी कुछ पल के लिए ही सही इसके सारथी हैं, जाने से पहले कुछ रंग मेरा भी इसपे चढ़ जाए, बस इसीलिए एक ही पन्ना बार बार पलटता रहता हूँ। हर कोई अनजाने किताब की तलाश में बाहर निकलता है, जिसका हर एक पन्ना वो ख़ुद है। जब ख़ुद के रंग को समझ ही ना पाया, तो भला इंद्रधनुषी किताब के क्या मायने हैं? अस्तित्व में ना जाने कितने पन्ने बिखरे पड़े हैं, बस एक से ही अवगत हो जाऊँ, उसके हर एक शब्द को चुनता जाऊँ, कुछ पल के लिये सही, पिरोता जाऊँ एक माला ज़िन्दगी का।
1 comment
Read more