Not many youngsters would be aware of
it, but there was a tooth paste brand named ‘Binaca’ during the 1980s. I
distinctly remember the name, because those were days when television sets were
switched on only for a few hours each day as the transmission began only at five
in the evening. So it was a time for young children like us to watch eagerly
and relish whatever is telecast, be it movies, Chitrahaar or even commercials.
Binaca soon caught the attention of us with its chic ad campaign designed to
appeal to children. Then, all of a sudden, the company was taken over by Ciba
Geigy and the brand was renamed ‘Cibaca’. Then followed a vigorous PR blitz
covering both the print as well as electronic media to make the customer aware
that the name has changed. One such commercial showed Alibaba of Arabian nights
chanting ‘Binaca” three times and the cave door remains shut. Then he utters the
magical ‘Cibaca’ and the door opens. It was sheer fun to watch the ad again and again. And we genuinely wondered why the
company decided to change the name of its brand which had long established
familiarity among the people. And it caused a huge effort of man power and
money to advertise the new name.
Fast forward to 2015, and we again
watch a subtle script being played out in Tamil Nadu. Perumal Murugan, a small
time Tamil author, suddenly declares that he is hunted by casteist forces and
vows to stop writing altogether. And he also wants to drop the word ‘Perumal’
(god) from his nom de guerre. Henceforth, he would be known simply as P. Murugan.
And what is the reason for this change of heart? He had published a Tamil novel
titled ‘Mathoru Bhagan’ which was translated into English as ‘One Part Woman’
(ardha nareeshwara). This book is reported to have angered Hindu militant
groups and they allegedly threatened the author, who was promptly scared to the
core and withdrew from literary career. Don’t worry, the man is a professor of
Tamil language in the government service and literature is only his part time
interest.
Predictably, progressive minded people
with strong subconscious affiliation to the Stalinist Left came out firing on
all guns against Hindu fascist forces that cut off a veritable fountain of
creativity in curbing Murugan’s talent. Watching what was going in Communist
Russia, and what’s still going in China, I am at a loss to understand what the
Left has got to do with freedom of expression! Anyway, here comes the curious
part. The author says that he was threatened for some remarks in the text,
which offended some of the conservative segments. This is plausible in Tamil
Nadu where the lower castes are still oppressed to an inhuman degree at least
in some of the villages there. But, isn’t this what an author with a radical
bend of mind must endure, like Salman Rushdie and Tasleema Nasreen did?
Bringing in sensationalism would greatly help in larger sales figures, but
there is bound to be opposition. Just as the author has the freedom to
knowingly or unknowingly hurt the sentiments of a section of the people, the
supposedly offended also has the freedom to protest against it – peacefully. We
have no information that the author was the victim of any violent action on
behalf of the protestors. All of it was purely verbal. It was only last week
that we read about the French satirical magazine, ‘Charlie Hebdo’ restarting
publication after 12 of its staff were brutally gunned down by Islamic
terrorists. The magazine didn’t stop its publication forever in the style of
Perumal Murugan, but came back with more cartoons designed to inflame the
feeling of those who have a very sensitive perception of what constitutes
religious outrage. Whether you support Charlie Hebdo on its foolhardiness or
not, there is no denying that it possesses great inborn courage to stick to
what it feels is right. Compare this to the pathetic cowardice of Perumal
Murugan who quickly drew the tail between the legs and went back to literary
oblivion (from where he emerged last year).
Hey, don’t be so quick in passing
judgment. There are subtle issues that don’t meet the eye at first. The
original Tamil version, ‘Mathoru Bhagan’ was published way back in 2010 with
absolutely no protests in its wake and also lukewarm sales. Then why the
protests now? This is something which we find it difficult to digest, till we
learn that the English translation, ‘One Part Woman’ was published only in
2013. The English version targets a pan-Indian audience and some controversy
would help no one better than the author and the publisher. A rustic author who
commands no great following in Tamil Nadu itself was surely going to be a flop
on the national arena too. This is doubly so, as the book tells the story of an
obscure village in Tamil Nadu with a plot set over 100 years ago. Naturally,
the outside readers should ideally be introduced to the author with a bang, and
the publishers were saved from a great expense on ad campaigns by riding on the
wave of a helpful controversy and aimless public debates of leftists. Now, the
country is aware of who Perumal Murugan is, and the title of his book in
English. The sales will soar now, and it will be translated into more
languages. There will be more revenue for Penguin, and more royalty for
Murugan. He can safely go back to his full time profession of teaching
comfortably with the thought that burgeoning royalty will afford him a rich second
income after retirement in addition to assured pension.
Everything is cleverly stage-managed
by intelligent people. But who were made the fools in this camouflaged advertisement
campaign? The unsuspecting public, of course - as always.
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