Years ago , I read a book, a guide for Hindi grammar actually ,at the end of which there was a compilation of essays. One of the essays was about the effect of books on society. It discussed it in a tone of a practical man who assumes that his moral background is solid, correct. The example of the books which were supposed to be a bad influences on society was "Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie.
The blasted self proclaimed critic says that that book drove people mad, triggered violence and hurt people's feelings ,concluding at the end of the paragraph that such books should not be read, written or published. I decided that I will read that book. Adam's apple. Besides I knew I was completely bonkers, what more a poor book could do to me ! (not being able to read it back then had several reasons: couldn't ask my father to get me "story-book" which costs around 400 rupees; the book was banned in India; had no access to book stores or libraries which had English books; had no knowledge about piracy and torrents). Somehow I got hold of the book (smell of illicit means you smell ,huh ?) and read it all in six days. The book is marvelous, magnificent, grand and really sensitive. But it actually did change my perceptions, my beliefs..... made me a totally different kind of mad. It did hurt people's feelings (so much so that they blew themselves up in a bookstore just because it had copies of this book!) and stirred some shit up which ,before that, was just lying around in streets.
The book constructs a background music that slowly peels off the skin off the priestly face of religions and dissolves the line of good and bad created by them. On the other hand it does not try to rationalize everything (unlike atheism, which does it with sheer arrogance and brute-force) and finds some space to adjust the feelings which we toss away for being ridiculous. This is my view and could be wrong, doesn't matter.
I would just ask the people out there not to misguide other people when they are supposed to write guides or textbooks. They have a deep impact on the personalities of readers since they have their trust at that point of time. Careful, you might crack a vase or two!
The blasted self proclaimed critic says that that book drove people mad, triggered violence and hurt people's feelings ,concluding at the end of the paragraph that such books should not be read, written or published. I decided that I will read that book. Adam's apple. Besides I knew I was completely bonkers, what more a poor book could do to me ! (not being able to read it back then had several reasons: couldn't ask my father to get me "story-book" which costs around 400 rupees; the book was banned in India; had no access to book stores or libraries which had English books; had no knowledge about piracy and torrents). Somehow I got hold of the book (smell of illicit means you smell ,huh ?) and read it all in six days. The book is marvelous, magnificent, grand and really sensitive. But it actually did change my perceptions, my beliefs..... made me a totally different kind of mad. It did hurt people's feelings (so much so that they blew themselves up in a bookstore just because it had copies of this book!) and stirred some shit up which ,before that, was just lying around in streets.
The book constructs a background music that slowly peels off the skin off the priestly face of religions and dissolves the line of good and bad created by them. On the other hand it does not try to rationalize everything (unlike atheism, which does it with sheer arrogance and brute-force) and finds some space to adjust the feelings which we toss away for being ridiculous. This is my view and could be wrong, doesn't matter.
I would just ask the people out there not to misguide other people when they are supposed to write guides or textbooks. They have a deep impact on the personalities of readers since they have their trust at that point of time. Careful, you might crack a vase or two!
