Interview by Miss Snigdha Nanda, published in “ The Pioneer” dated 15th February 2012
Manoj Das, a noted contemporary writer in English and Odia literature, shares his experiences of the formative years and influences on him besides his observations on contemporary writings with The Pioneer representative Snigdha Nanda.
You started contributing to periodicals in 1948, when you were just 14 years old. Please share your experience in this regard. And how was the literary scenario in those days in Odisha and India in comparison to today?
There were only three dailies in Odisha then —The Samaj, The Prajatantra and The Dainik Asha. There were a very few periodicals — Dagora, Jhankar and Asantakali. In the national sphere, the situation was much brighter. There were a number of English dailies, the prominent among being The Hindu, The Times of India, The Statesman, The National Herald, The Hindustan Times, The Statesman and The Amrita Bazar Patrika. Unlike today, all these newspapers devoted their Sunday supplements to creative writing — short stories, poems and belles-letters. Among the periodicals, the most popular one was The Illustrated Weekly of India from the Times group. Books published annually in Odia could be counted instantly. In English too, there were a few creative writers, the most outstanding among them being Mulk Raj Anand.
Today there is proliferation of books, dailies and periodicals, but the fate of genuine creative writing is dubious. Till the other day, there were several magazines in English such as The Illustrated Weekly, Imprint, Mirror, so on and so forth to introduce a gifted writer. Today there is none. Newsmagazines have devoured them all. Luckily, it is different in Odia and other Indian languages. We have plenty of magazines to publish creative writing.
When did you launch the cultural periodical Diganta and how did you get inspired to do so? How was it different from the magazine The Heritage of which you were the editor as well?
Diganta was launched at Baleswar, when I was a student of the Zilla School in 1950. The inspiration and motivation behind it were various. We were living in the house of the legend Fakir Mohan Senapati. How could be the town which had nurtured this genius of our literature and who in turn nurtured our literature can go without a literary magazine? Then there was enthusiasm to simply do something purposeful.
Thirdly, there was a sad dearth of publications in Odia. These factors were combined with the fact that there were some older friends who came forward to help me in my venture — the most prominent among them being Shyam Sundar Mahapatra, who later became an MP and General Secretary of All India National Congress (Indira).
The Heritage was launched in 1985, out of anguish. One day B Viswanatha Reddi, the Editor and publisher of Asia’s largest circulated children’s magazine, Chandamama, was on a visit to Pondicherry. We were talking about the absence of any journal in English that could encourage good literature while highlighting the country’s cultural heritage. Reddi suddenly asked me, “If we decide to bring out such a monthly, are you prepared to edit it?” I could not back out. I agreed. It was widely appreciated. People who subscribed to it continue to preserve its copies.
Your writings include almost all forms of literature, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, travelogue, philosophical and spiritual writings, etc. And you have written for all age-groups, the young and the adult. Which form you like the most and who is your favourite target audience?
Writing came to me in my childhood as a spontaneous activity — just as talking, singing or swimming. I had no idea about a target audience. Of course, that concept had its indispensable role to play when I wrote for children. You cannot dump a psychological complex or a gruesome tragedy on them. Otherwise I had two channels of writing — writing that belonged to the creative genre such as short stories, novels, poems and features on topical issues which I wrote as my personal columns in some of the major newspapers in English as well as Odia. The creative writing depended on my inspiration while writing features was motivated by social commitments. There is a difference between creative inspiration and creative motivation or even provocation — for some time you may be provoked to write something critical of what you think to be unjust.
I have taken the grown-up readers as my target when it comes to creative writing. For multiple appeal to my story at different planes, the credit goes to the quality of my inspiration — or if you allow me to say so —the grace of Mother Saraswati who resides at every plane.
Don’t you think Manoj Das as a poet has been not much highlighted or promoted as I feel as a reader your poems like your stories are equally superb, enchanting and vibrating, for example, the poems in Kabita Utkala and Tuma Gaan?
Dr KR Srinivasa Iyengar, the doyen of Indo-Anglian literary criticism, has bracketed Manoj Das as a writer of short stories with Tagore and Premchand and distinguished writers like Graham Greene, HRF Keating and A Russell have appreciated your works. However, often it is felt that you, as a writer in English, have not been glorified, the way the writers like RK Narayan, Ruskin Bond and Vikram Seth have been in India. Do you think it is because you write both in Odia and English?
What you stated while concluding the question is one of the correct answers. But there are other factors too. My writing in English is not voluminous. Chance too plays a big role in bringing books to limelight. Personal effort from my side has been almost zero. But I am happy with my steady though limited readership in English. They appreciate the Indian and human ethos in my works. They do believe that readability must have beneath it some true vibration of a vision. However, the love I get from my readers of my works in my mother tongue is overwhelming. That is reward enough for me.
Sri Aurobindo. I could not have dreamt of such magnificent prose as we read in The Life Divine or such poetry as in the epic Savitri had ever been written if I had not read them. Then there are other writers, for example Winston Churchill for history, Shakespeare for plays and William Saroyan (an Armenian) for short stories.
It has been more than a decade, you have not written a story. But, you are concentrating on philosophical writings and writings for magazines. Should we expect that there will be no new stories or novels ever written by you?
That was commissioned to me by the Centre for Studies in Civilisations launched by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, with DP Chattopadhyaya as the General Editor. It was a complex task. We located scholars who could authentically write not on theories but on experiences of those seekers who followed a certain line of Yoga or mystic discipline. It demanded of me a great deal of study and concentration. For two-and-a-half years, I had to suspend my zeal for writing practically anything. Even after applying all my editorial skill I could not bring all the contributions to a uniform level. However, it helped me in my own understanding of innumerable channels of India’s adventure in consciousness. I had to write a lengthy introduction to this giant of a volume.
If you have a convincing revelation in your consciousness, it is bound to influence your creativity. But so far as my short stories and novels are concerned, they have had their spontaneous and autonomous development.
I had seen only glimpses of it — so far once. I had tried my best to dissuade my friends from launching any such venture. But soon I found out that it will be wrong to check someone’s loving and unprompted passion and ardour. All I know is their affection and goodwill for this writer is impeccable. All I can say is I am grateful to them, despite my hesitation.
(Courtesy: “The Pioneer” dated 15.02.2012)
Prof Manoj Das for April Conference 2016
About Manoj Das
For thousands of men, women and children of the past two or three generations, Manoj Das has been the very synonym of light and delight, whose writings in Odia and English inspire in his countless readers faith in the purpose of life and also open up concealed horizons of confidence and compassion in humanity a dire need today.
You started contributing to periodicals in 1948, when you were just 14 years old. Please share your experience in this regard. And how was the literary scenario in those days in Odisha and India in comparison to today?
There were only three dailies in Odisha then —The Samaj, The Prajatantra and The Dainik Asha. There were a very few periodicals — Dagora, Jhankar and Asantakali. In the national sphere, the situation was much brighter. There were a number of English dailies, the prominent among being The Hindu, The Times of India, The Statesman, The National Herald, The Hindustan Times, The Statesman and The Amrita Bazar Patrika. Unlike today, all these newspapers devoted their Sunday supplements to creative writing — short stories, poems and belles-letters. Among the periodicals, the most popular one was The Illustrated Weekly of India from the Times group. Books published annually in Odia could be counted instantly. In English too, there were a few creative writers, the most outstanding among them being Mulk Raj Anand.
Today there is proliferation of books, dailies and periodicals, but the fate of genuine creative writing is dubious. Till the other day, there were several magazines in English such as The Illustrated Weekly, Imprint, Mirror, so on and so forth to introduce a gifted writer. Today there is none. Newsmagazines have devoured them all. Luckily, it is different in Odia and other Indian languages. We have plenty of magazines to publish creative writing.
When did you launch the cultural periodical Diganta and how did you get inspired to do so? How was it different from the magazine The Heritage of which you were the editor as well?
Diganta was launched at Baleswar, when I was a student of the Zilla School in 1950. The inspiration and motivation behind it were various. We were living in the house of the legend Fakir Mohan Senapati. How could be the town which had nurtured this genius of our literature and who in turn nurtured our literature can go without a literary magazine? Then there was enthusiasm to simply do something purposeful.
Thirdly, there was a sad dearth of publications in Odia. These factors were combined with the fact that there were some older friends who came forward to help me in my venture — the most prominent among them being Shyam Sundar Mahapatra, who later became an MP and General Secretary of All India National Congress (Indira).
The Heritage was launched in 1985, out of anguish. One day B Viswanatha Reddi, the Editor and publisher of Asia’s largest circulated children’s magazine, Chandamama, was on a visit to Pondicherry. We were talking about the absence of any journal in English that could encourage good literature while highlighting the country’s cultural heritage. Reddi suddenly asked me, “If we decide to bring out such a monthly, are you prepared to edit it?” I could not back out. I agreed. It was widely appreciated. People who subscribed to it continue to preserve its copies.
Your writings include almost all forms of literature, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, travelogue, philosophical and spiritual writings, etc. And you have written for all age-groups, the young and the adult. Which form you like the most and who is your favourite target audience?
Writing came to me in my childhood as a spontaneous activity — just as talking, singing or swimming. I had no idea about a target audience. Of course, that concept had its indispensable role to play when I wrote for children. You cannot dump a psychological complex or a gruesome tragedy on them. Otherwise I had two channels of writing — writing that belonged to the creative genre such as short stories, novels, poems and features on topical issues which I wrote as my personal columns in some of the major newspapers in English as well as Odia. The creative writing depended on my inspiration while writing features was motivated by social commitments. There is a difference between creative inspiration and creative motivation or even provocation — for some time you may be provoked to write something critical of what you think to be unjust.
I have taken the grown-up readers as my target when it comes to creative writing. For multiple appeal to my story at different planes, the credit goes to the quality of my inspiration — or if you allow me to say so —the grace of Mother Saraswati who resides at every plane.
Don’t you think Manoj Das as a poet has been not much highlighted or promoted as I feel as a reader your poems like your stories are equally superb, enchanting and vibrating, for example, the poems in Kabita Utkala and Tuma Gaan?
I agree with your observation, almost completely.
Dr KR Srinivasa Iyengar, the doyen of Indo-Anglian literary criticism, has bracketed Manoj Das as a writer of short stories with Tagore and Premchand and distinguished writers like Graham Greene, HRF Keating and A Russell have appreciated your works. However, often it is felt that you, as a writer in English, have not been glorified, the way the writers like RK Narayan, Ruskin Bond and Vikram Seth have been in India. Do you think it is because you write both in Odia and English?
What you stated while concluding the question is one of the correct answers. But there are other factors too. My writing in English is not voluminous. Chance too plays a big role in bringing books to limelight. Personal effort from my side has been almost zero. But I am happy with my steady though limited readership in English. They appreciate the Indian and human ethos in my works. They do believe that readability must have beneath it some true vibration of a vision. However, the love I get from my readers of my works in my mother tongue is overwhelming. That is reward enough for me.
Who is your favourite Indian writer in English and why?
Sri Aurobindo. I could not have dreamt of such magnificent prose as we read in The Life Divine or such poetry as in the epic Savitri had ever been written if I had not read them. Then there are other writers, for example Winston Churchill for history, Shakespeare for plays and William Saroyan (an Armenian) for short stories.
It has been more than a decade, you have not written a story. But, you are concentrating on philosophical writings and writings for magazines. Should we expect that there will be no new stories or novels ever written by you?
I will write one if it brings me creative satisfaction.
Please share your experience in the development of the title Streams of Yogic and Mystic Experience edited by you.
That was commissioned to me by the Centre for Studies in Civilisations launched by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, with DP Chattopadhyaya as the General Editor. It was a complex task. We located scholars who could authentically write not on theories but on experiences of those seekers who followed a certain line of Yoga or mystic discipline. It demanded of me a great deal of study and concentration. For two-and-a-half years, I had to suspend my zeal for writing practically anything. Even after applying all my editorial skill I could not bring all the contributions to a uniform level. However, it helped me in my own understanding of innumerable channels of India’s adventure in consciousness. I had to write a lengthy introduction to this giant of a volume.
How have your spiritual life and Sri Aurobindo and his philosophy influenced your writings?
If you have a convincing revelation in your consciousness, it is bound to influence your creativity. But so far as my short stories and novels are concerned, they have had their spontaneous and autonomous development.
Some fans of yours have launched a website — worldofmanojdas.in. How do you feel about it?
I had seen only glimpses of it — so far once. I had tried my best to dissuade my friends from launching any such venture. But soon I found out that it will be wrong to check someone’s loving and unprompted passion and ardour. All I know is their affection and goodwill for this writer is impeccable. All I can say is I am grateful to them, despite my hesitation.