"We Indians are serious people. We get easily insulted when someone makes a joke about us.” Unlike the British. Dr. Vithal Rajan worships P.G. Wodehouse. “They know how to take down pompous people. Wodehouse could be read as a social commentary on English aristocracy.” The playwright was in the city to watch his two short-plays being staged by Coimbatore Art and Theatrical Society (CATS).
Humour is a gentle form of social criticism, he says. “I hope the gentle laughs lead to some serious introspection. I could rant about serious stuff. But, I think if we make a joke of it, it will have a lasting effect.” He is influenced by William Shakespeare, who he says “held a mirror to the society. Henry V, is not just a story of a charming king, but the brutal invasions, rape of women, murder, blood and lust.” His two short plays, Indian Scams and More and In Sisterhood Circles, were staged in the city. About the feminist play he is quick to point out that he is not anti-feminist. In Sisterhood Circles “Feminism has done a lot for the world. My wife, mother and many of my friends are feminists. But, then they are not holy cows. However principled we are, we all have our flipsides.” Indian Scams and More reflected the extreme corruption in bureaucracy. Vithal says India will be the richest country only when our economic plan is inclusive. “A big section of our society is unfairly blocked out from assets like jobs, land, water, etc. That’s because the rich is afraid of losing power. It is stupid. When the poor is alleviated from poverty, the Ambanis will only get richer. They are not going to lose anything.”
Vithal was involved in the peace movement in America? “I thought the West was all modern and progressive, unlike India ridden by caste and feudal sensibilities. But, they were bombing the hell out of a nation full of peasants. Do you know there were more bombs dropped by the Americans in the Vietnam war than there were in World War II?” He joined the peace protests steered by the icons of the 60s’ such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and John Lennon. It was around the same time that the World Council of Churches decided to appoint him as a mediator when the civil rights movement erupted in North Ireland. “The 60s was a great time. I travelled all around Europe. I was received with kindness by wonderful human beings. There was no room for prejudice. People were ready to learn.”
He soon switched to academia which he thought would give him comparatively more freedom to say what he wanted. He studied on a scholarship at the London School of Economics and went on to become the founding faculty member of the School of Peace Studies, Bradford University. Vithal returned to India during the Emergency. He worked for Hindu Muslim unity by heading the Confederation of Voluntary Associations and worked with Deccan Development Society for the up-lift of Dalit women who were agricultural labourers. “That’s triple oppression. All we did was create a space for them. They, singlehandedly, fought against the landlords, police brutalities and government highhandedness. They were such strong, shrewd, clever and entrepreneurial women.”
He entered the world of literature, once his daughter got married. Vithal’s close experience working with the rural communities comes through in his novel, Holmes of the Raj, where he brings Sherlock Holmes to India. “I wanted to see Victorian literature from a subaltern perspective. I wanted my novels to reflect the view point of the common man. Instead of the eagle’s eye, I wanted to show the worm’s eye.” play The Spartan Conspiracy
Vithal now wants to dedicate his time fully for writing and says while he loves Hyderabad, which he calls a great metropolis, he would love to settle down in the hills. A little like Ruskin Bond? “Yes. We are the same generation. He started writing in his teens. I could not do that. But, that’s okay. You cannot do everything you want in life.”