NAKED IN DECCAN

by Venkatesh S. Kulkarni ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 10, 1983

I have yet to meet the villagers portrayed in Indo-English fiction,"" says Texas-based Indian writer Kulkarni in a preface here; his own ""Indo-American"" fiction, a short novel about decaying tradition in a grim rural village, rejects the courtly, English-flavored presentation of Indians in favor of a coarser, more ribald approach. (""In India we curse like hell."") Kulkarni's hero is a bright, ambitious untouchable named Thimma: his wily untouchable father managed to become a landowner, but Thimma aims even higher--at 16 joining the mansion/estate staff of the local Brahman squire, a ""Master"" who makes Thimma his major-domo and virtual adopted son. But, ""to further his ambition and the pride of his caste he had given up Ms bed, his family, his life, Ms sense of honor."" Thimma's wife will blatantly cheat on him--with big, fat, rakish Police Marya, who embodies the sheer, raw, animal power of the peasantry (in contrast to Thimma's exercise of power through intellect). Failing to take vengeance, he is humiliated before his kinsmen, who banish Thimma and his family from untouchable quarters after giving him a violent tongue-lashing. (""Oh, oh, you cockless bastard! What do you know about the pride of children, you no-good worthless authentic one-hundred-percent Brahman shit!"") Then, later, Thimma's son rejects the non-violent approach to bettering the untouchables' situation--calling for a campaign of fear and violence. And finally, when the Master dies, his socialist son Vishnoo declares an end to the caste system (even urging the untouchables to touch his father's corpse)--which brings on chaos, Vishnoo's death, and Thimma's confused despair. Despite Kulkarni's protestations in Ms preface, the dialogue here--a mixture of stiff, literary speech-making and US-accented slang--is frequently jarring or unconvincing. Problematic, too, is the fragmented structure, with very short chapters jumping through several time-frames. But, in its spare, charged, often-ugly way, this is an arresting mosaic-portrait of an Indian village in rough, pained transition--with incidents and ideas (sex vs. intellect, tradition vs. progress) rather than fleshed-out people and shapely storytelling.

Pub Date: Nov. 10, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stemmer

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1983

Categories: FICTION