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Hi Arundhati,
I address creatures of intelligence, idealism and courage this way. Your name started making waves about 10 years ago with your first book The God of Small Things. How did it happen? Is this book that worthy or this person or both? This question does not have reliable answers but I often encounter it. You are simple, humble and endearing for me.
I did not read your first book or other books because I have not been a good reader. Rather than the fame and success you achieved through your first book, what made me find you as admirable creature is your devotion to the burning issues in India, the liberal donation of your money for some causes and people and your constant struggle to do something good for this nation at your level. Every writer is not a good creature at individual level. Many write books for fame and money. You do not belong to this class of superficial writers and worthless celebrities of India. You are an admirable and daring Indian thinking and working for this nation honestly and powerfully. This is what I admire in your personality.
I think that those who are struggling for great causes, which benefit many directly or indirectly, can’t find enough time to enjoy their personal lives. When millions of foolish and corrupt Indians are misusing their lives and spoiling the beauty and peace of this nation, through their acts, one is supposed to reform them. The role of a social activist and idealist is very tough in these testing circumstances. Many social reformers struggled hard in the past to change the order of things in India but conditions deteriorated soon after they left the stage of their material performance. The evident fact in this phenomenon is that evil is spreading across faster, defeating virtues simultaneously. Fighting against these universal truths is not an ordinary thing. Idealists and thinkers like you are engaged in this mission in India; changing the mindsets and lives of those, who are not interested in changing at all.
I think that it is collective Karma that influences the course of events and phenomena on this earth planet always. If some are born to smoke, drink, debauch and ruin their lives, some are born to educate and reform them with patience and love for them. Unrest and pain have always been part of human lives. Nobody is happy in this world. Everybody is suffering for one or the other reason. Some are expressing it and some are not doing it. In this mess of things around us, what can we do to change these people and make them happy? Indians are not ready to change? They want to perish practicing their age-old superstitions and beliefs.
Even intellectuals and achievers are making people like Satya Sai Baba God and spending most of their time in those useless pursuits. Indians are very unreliable and dishonest creatures. They lead immoral lives and then go to temples to pray to God. This is applicable to all people living in India now. For them religion and spiritualism are also a formality. They are not changing psychologically but acting easy and attractive roles as ideal folks for special recognition and shallow appreciation from worthless blokes around them. They want to become celebrities this way.
Can we change the collective Karma of a society or nation? If a tribe is accustomed to a set of bad practices, do they change if we educate them? When politics and businesses are in the control of dirty rogues in India, what can the few social reformation acts we indulge in do in this direction? The government banned smoking in public places but very few are practicing it now. All know that consumption of alcoholic drinks is harmful to health but how many drunkards stopped consuming it minding their lives? Even educated ones are smoking and drinking. Prostitution is rampant across India.
Indians are not practicing standards and values in their lives now. Everybody is playing some role to satisfy a few people in his circle. When corruption and immorality are at dangerous levels in every part of India, what can a handful of creatures like you and me do through our writings and campaigns for social causes? Don’t we look as innocent and foolish creatures to these dirty Indians? Why should idealists lead such difficult and disturbed lives for the sake of rogues?
Why are you living ideally and intellectually when nobody is bothered about such people in India now?
Are not intellectuals and idealists cheating themselves in India now in the name of social reformation?
To know about me, visit my blog sites http://virahini.blogspot.com and http://dcraju.blogspot.com
I am a 34-year-old Indian living and working at Hyderabad now. I have a beautiful wife and a cute kid now. I also think like you for this nation and often lose balance and peace of mind due to it. Birds of same feather flock together! So, this message to you. My email id is rajayogi@live.com
Sent this letter to Arundhati Roy this evening through the following link on the website of Penguin Books, India. http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/WritetoAuthor.aspx?AuthID=163
