Good Books Are Every Teenager's Birthright
Remember that post I did about how Indian kids don't get to watch any good Indian TV shows (http://througheyeslikeyours.blogspot.com/2010/11/good-television-is-every-teenagers.html)? Well, as it turns out, they don't get to read any good books either. I walk into Crosswords and head over to the Yong Adult Fiction section and all I see is American paranormal which mostly have something to do with vampires. I don't understand one thing- why is it that there is a separate section for Indian authors? It's almost as if Indian writers are being marginalized in their own country. It should be the other way round. There should be a separate section for foreign literature. The shelves are divided in such a way that children and tenagers would never gravitate towards books written by Indian authors. But that's not the only problem. I don't really see too much of Indian YA novels on the shelves anyways. Anything which gets close to this genre are stories about people who go to IIT. I understand why these work- they capture the dreams and efforts of mle class India and are quite relatable- but don't you think that if writers keep reflecting the country in the same way, as if there is only one viable path, we shall soon have a country full of clones.
In Indian YA, we ned innovation. We need stories which have nothing to do with IIT. We need better teacher jokes. We need better descriptions of the roadside paanipuri wala. We need more female protagonists. We need to read about girls who want to live interesting lives and even though the mischief displayed by boys oesn't appeal to them, their mind works in the funniest, sassiest and sometimes angriest of ways. We need less chick-lit. Unless we come up with something as good as The Devil Wears Prada (And that's not even YA), there's really no point talking of the perfect handbag and the perfect guy. We don't need any more modern interpretations of traditional tales but we don't need vampires either.
Sometimes I wonder- are we teenagers not interesting enough to be written about? Why doesn't anyone dig eeper into our thoughts, come up with new stories about us? I never get any answers and that just makes me sad.
When I grow up, I want to write for and about children. I want kids to read about their own country, about people who were just like them but did amazing things. Maybe then, kids in India will be able to read something nice.
In Indian YA, we ned innovation. We need stories which have nothing to do with IIT. We need better teacher jokes. We need better descriptions of the roadside paanipuri wala. We need more female protagonists. We need to read about girls who want to live interesting lives and even though the mischief displayed by boys oesn't appeal to them, their mind works in the funniest, sassiest and sometimes angriest of ways. We need less chick-lit. Unless we come up with something as good as The Devil Wears Prada (And that's not even YA), there's really no point talking of the perfect handbag and the perfect guy. We don't need any more modern interpretations of traditional tales but we don't need vampires either.
Sometimes I wonder- are we teenagers not interesting enough to be written about? Why doesn't anyone dig eeper into our thoughts, come up with new stories about us? I never get any answers and that just makes me sad.
When I grow up, I want to write for and about children. I want kids to read about their own country, about people who were just like them but did amazing things. Maybe then, kids in India will be able to read something nice.
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