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An Oriya poet makes note of literature in the region

Deepa H Ramakrishnan

Binapani Debta speaks to poets in Puducherry

PUDUCHERRY: A separate literature for Dalits by Dalits is something new to this young Oriya poet from West Bengal. Binapani Debta has been talking to writers from Puducherry about the literature in these parts, and she found that Dalit literature, feminist literature, and folklore were the particular traits of the region.

"I have never come across Dalit literature in Orissa or West Bengal. The only reference that I have seen [on the subject] is a research paper from Maharashtra. I spoke to several authors, both Dalits and non-Dalits and they argue in favour of a separate literature for the Dalits," she said. Ms. Debta is on a travel grant of the Sahitya Akademi from Kolkata, and is doing a small project on the recent trends in Indian literature, particularly in the southern region.

She spoke to 10 writers, including Manoj Das, Panchangam, Kee Rajanarayanan, Visalam, Gunasekaran, Nagasundaram, P. Raja Pudhuvai Rajani and Uma Pushparaj, and discussed various issues with them. Ms. Debta said that all the writers she met, whether young or old, were original.

"I have grown up reading the stories of Manoj Das, who is in Puducherry and is a winner of both the Padma Award and the Sahitya Akademi Award. I was fascinated to meet him and discuss the current trend. But, I am sad because he said he will not be writing any short stories in future and that he is waiting for an inspiration for a novel. He said that he had been impressed by Sri Aurobindo's philosophy, and that the one that touched him most was the one on human immortality."

She found Kee Rajanarayanan to be a very great writer, whose strength lay in the folklore that he uses. `But, the same strength is also his weakness, because people who want to translate it into other languages are unable to do so." She said that writer Panchangam felt that one need not necessarily be a Dalit to write for their cause.

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