Mumbai Lovebirds will be extinct

Do You Hate Lovebirds?

Thanks to Mumbai Police soon the race of Mumbai Love Birds is going to be extinct.

Forty couples were caught by Mumbai Police from the hotel rooms in Madh Island Mumbai in a raid (storypick.com)

What a great news? Are we not satisfied with our limit of stupidity? Or we want to touch a new horizon?

Is hotel room, a public place? A public space is a social space that is generally open and accessible to people. Roads, public squares, parks and beaches are typically considered public space. (Wikipedia)

How there can be any public indecency when the place is not a public place.

According to Supreme Court of India consensual heterosexual relationship between two adults, including pre-marital sex is no offense.

They have just ruined forty beautiful lives. The perpetrator are not the couples, but the system which compels them for hideouts. Just imagine the trauma the parents, friends and relatives of those caught by police are suffering from. Someone is contemplating a suicide and others have eloped from social life to save their face.

The terrorist could give statement that they enjoy killing laughingly making mockery of the whole law and order system of a country, but Indian Youth cannot have conjugal pleasures in their privacy.

In every society there are always people who are averse to giving any liberties to youth. Most of them are those who themselves suffered from some trauma in childhood, which conditioned their mind to be vengeful for pleasure- seekers. Mahatma Gandhi has also confessed it in his autobiography.

The love birds are not harmful to society. Mumbai is so much crowded that couples don't have privacy in their own home.

The incident of Kozhikode stirred a movement in Indian Youth and Indian youth demanded their right to Public Display of Affection. That was an issue ! How much intimacy shall be permitted in public places. Even at that time my post Kiss of Love supported the rights of Indian Youth.

India has the largest habitation of prostitutes in Sonagachi. Mumbai is not far behind. If you consider all illegal activities like drug trafficking, flash trade and weapon smuggling it is the capital of India.

And we are hunting for love-makers and not hate-makers?

India has a rich cultural heritage. We have Khajuraho to explain what is acceptable by society and what is not. Almost all laws of the land are enacted keeping in mind the inheritance which is called precedents in law. That is why Hon'ble Supreme Court passed its verdict in support of consensual heterosexual relationship.

Just like the decision to ban porn sites was taken back by Government very next day, how wonderful it would be if all criminal charges against these lovebirds are lifted and someone somewhere whosoever is responsible apologize.

In "A Love Affair" Emile Zola has beautifully described how lovers find a rendezvous to consume the passions.

In Last Tango in Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci), the rented apartment becomes their secret meeting place.

In "Contempt" by Alberto Moravia the philosophical explanation of such relationships is found.

Moravia's novel is the quintessential example of "modernism," the movement that emphasizes the human limitation for self-understanding and the understanding of others.

The incident should ensue a sociological debate. If society is heading for Modernism, does it only want to reap the benefits of Technological advancement or is it prepared to have a broader outlook on all other related issues.

© Vipin Behari Goyal
Advocate, Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur, India

Renaissance of Indian youth By Kiss Of Love

Kiss of Love-Keep It Simple Stupid

Whether kissing in public is a legal offense or not, Whether moral policing is good or bad for the society is not the issue. Whether the police and authorities should harass, lath charge, disperse the people who are peacefully demonstrating their opinion is an issue.

                                               (let's go somewhere else, its prohibited here)

Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director of Human Right Commission said " The Indian authorities are clearly missing the bitter irony that a law used by the British to imprison Gandhi is being used against those who disagree with the government".

Moreover, those who opposed the demonstration were violent and had a support from authorities. In all probability either they will not be arrested or they will be released without any harassment. Are we on the same track as Taliban? How they would be different from us if we too are fanatics about imposing a self made Moral Code for the society.

Friedrich Nietzsche also approved the Law of Manu, which is only authentic code of conduct for Hindus and it has no where condemned Public Kissing. Law of the land enforced by highest judicial authority, Supreme Court Of India  also made it clear that 'no case can be made out' of two people consensually hugging and/or kissing. The verdict was passed  by the Supreme Court when unscrupulous authorities tried to arrest Richard Gere for kissing and embracing Shilpa Shetty on the stage in an awareness program.

The Moral Policing has its origin in the history of India which remained slave of Mughals and British for almost one thousand years. Both of these races were permissive and considered beautiful Indian girls as their properties. A lot of stories of Mughal Harems and British concubines are written on the black pages of Indian History. Chastity of a woman has always remained an issue in all the religions of the world, may be because paternity is still a belief unless someone go for a DNA test.

We have to appreciate Indian Judiciary, which has always worked with an open mind and acknowledged the change of values with time. They passed judgments in favour of homosexuality, live-together, property rights of women and of 'other woman' who is not married legally but is kept or concubine of a man.

But unfortunately the same 'Justice, Equity and Good Conscience' do not prevail in law enforcing agencies.

The NHRC has formed a "District Police Complaints Authority" to examine the grievances of the public in the matter of rude and uncivil behavior towards the public, abuse of authority, misuse of power, wrongful arrests and detentions, custodial violence etc."

The scene at Kozhikode and Jhandewala estate  reminds us the barbarian troops of British regime implementing sedition law on freedom fighters. All Free Thinkers are freedom fighter and already society of youth, which comprises the maximum population of India, and on whom our respectable PM has put lot of trust has come forward to curb the fundamentalist from imposing a Moral Policing.

India is a multi cultural country, and in Mumbai, which is also a fort of Shiv Sena the public kissing is not a big issue. In the evening at Juhu and Band Stand one may be surprised that he/she is in India. The same is true for Golden Beach, Chennai and lot more places. In Goa on Kalingut beach not only foreigners but Indians have been seen taking a nude bath right under the banner by the Government stating "Nude bath is illegal and prohibited."

Kolkata rightfully demanded 'Amar shorir amar mon bondho hok raj sashon' (It's my body, my mind, I won't allow moral policing).

Come on, there are other issues, India is having the highest number of children suffering from malnutrition.

An innocent kiss of Love may not harm society but a clandestine racket like Kochu Sundarikal involving minor girls is abhorred. 

Kiss is a simple, innocent ethical act of expressing love.

So "Keep* It* Simple* Stupid*"

© Vipin Behari Goyal

Cover Page of Novels By Vipin Behari Goyal

                                                What is in the Cover Page

The art of cover design of a book has become very important these days. Authors and publishers spend a lot of time and money on that. The buyers who are sincere readers have started taking the decision to buy a book on the basis of cover design. Though they also might read the blurb of the book to decide if the contents of the book suits to their taste. They also cast a cursory glance at the bio of the author, if they have not already heard about him. Does bio help them to decide whether to go for the book or not in any way? Or the cover design is the most important thing when a book is in hand. What makes the first impression on the mind of the reader title of the book or blurb, name of the author or his bio? If a reader has already heard about a book or author and he has already made up his mind to go for it, then of course there is no stopping for him.

Many publishers put the title of the book and the name of the author on cover page without any artwork. Still, those books are sold in volumes. But those authors belong to classical series for whom one can say "even name is enough". Those books are like jewels in the bookshelves which the owner proudly displays. Nothing distracts your mind from the contents of the book.

What could enhance the beauty of a good book? Amrita Pritam's books use to have paintings of Imroz as cover design. It was a unique combination to show how two different artists perceive a phenomenon with same intensity, except that a writer depends more on the imagination of reader while painting the picture of a scene with a keyboard on the screen.  

Sometimes an author would be puzzled if the cover page is more important than the content he has written. Many times publishers ask the author if he has any cover design in his mind. If he is suggesting one, the publisher would distort it with so called artistic improvisations that the author would even feel ashamed to condemn it.

Who is to be blamed if the cover page is totally irrelevant to the crux of the story? It is made on the basis of the title of the book and has nothing to do about the contents of the story. The cover designer is not a reader mostly. He is someone who more or less is, technically adept to tackle a cover design software. Cover designing a book is not lucrative profession, or rather it should not be. There is ample scope in other commercial fields for them like advertising. Publishers are commercial people, they are in the trade to make money. They are not a philanthropist or social activist. They are only happy when they earn profit by selling books. So they adopt gimmicks of attractive, sensational cover design. The reader might be misguided but the purpose of publisher has been served.

Author at a point of time is made to think that he has done some mistake by writing a book and having desired to see it published. So he suffers the punishment of harassment and pecuniary losses with determination to succeed.

Because he has faith in genuine readers.

Howsoever complicated this business of publishing and nexus of publisher, copy editor, cover designer, distributor, typesetter, professional reviewers, advertisers may become obnoxious, but the whole trade is merely a link between author and reader.

In India the youth has become mature as readers and his craving for serious reading is apparent. The days of Indian M&B and that type of cover designs are counted. May be they would target preteens instead of Young Adults in the future.

Kudos to generation x...y....z...

©Vipin Behari Goyal

Honesty is the best policy

                   Tips for Writers : Honesty is the best policy

Like in all other walks of life, in literature also “Honesty is the best policy”. When it is written with honesty and read with equal or rather more honesty, it makes the book immortal. The more burden lies on the shoulder of the reader. If he reads the book that are based on false values, it means he appreciates and promotes Hippocratic literature. Ultimately he becomes responsible for dragging the society in the wrong direction. He does not want the people to understand the true meaning of life, and condemns any efforts made in that direction by the author as well as other readers. Why he would do so?

Upbringing of a person plays a very important role. What type of parents, school, friends and environment an individual is subjected to in early childhood, frames his personality. Society condemns a person with a negative approach, but it is society that has played an important role in making him so. “I am not OK, you are not OK” to “I am OK you are OK” an individual has to travel a long journey, identify his conditioning and work on it to make his mind pure and unconditional.

We may think that it is the best option for anybody and he would readily accept once it is pointed out to him. But unfortunately it is not so. Such people have another problem of inflated ego. They are not ready to accept that their projection to outward situations of life is imbalanced and they need to work on it, on the contrary they become furious and react aggressively to defend their self projected image in their subconscious mind, that they are perfectly normal.

If you come across such person by misfortune, who are commonly called pain, you know where, believe me you are at the end of a blind alley. This is the high time to rest on laurels on behavioral therapy and subjugate yourself and the subject in the hands of supernatural powers. Some miracle may happen and the strong bond of stimuli and response in the mind of the subject would break, and he would be able to see the spark of Holy light that dwells in the pure unconditioned mind.

Honesty is a tool to explore the different realm of your psyche and thus takes you to the core of your existence.

                                                              ~Vipin Behari Goyal © 

The future of English fiction writers in India (2)

The future of English fiction writers in India (2)

                                                                                 [Mehek Bassi - Indian English Author]

The interesting generalization about Indian English Authors who have become famous recently is their background. They have a higher technical degree and work in Banks/Financial Institutions. What makes them author? Except that they were born to be authors. They had a natural talent for the art of telling a story. Whatever novels have been written and published in the last one decade which one of them fall in the category of English Literature?

Encyclopedia Britannica defines “English literature, the body of written works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles”. Many famous authors of English Literature settled outside the British Isle like James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Aldus Huxley, Christopher Isherwood, Robert Graves, and Graham Greene etc. The books written by Indian authors are classified as Indian English Literature or IEL. In India English has a status of second language. English as a second language (ESL) is the use or study of English by speakers with different native languages.

The countries like Great Britain, USA, Canada and Australia form an inner circle where English is the primary language. India and Singapore, are extended circle of English where it is the second language in a multilingual society. The third category is of countries like China and Japan, which form expanding circles where English is getting popular as a foreign language.

Unfortunately it is not the Hindi our mother tongue and national language, but English is the lingua Franca that connects the whole country. Much powerful literature has been written in regional languages which need to be translated in English. The business of publishing books seems to have more moral and ethical responsibilities, which again is a debatable issue. But one thing is sure that the future of Indian English fiction publishers is co-related to the future of Indian English writers.

The future would not be decided by The Great Authors like Vikram Seth or Arundhati Roy as they do not have mass appeal. Their novels were read by book lovers, who was already reading foreign authors. The English novels of Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi etc. found a niche market.

A niche market is defined as “the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing. So the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact.”

English should be the first preference to write if you can think, imagine, read and write in English. English like any other language is not monopoly of any nation.

About a thousand years back the nobility of England spoke French and read Latin and ordinary people spoke Old English which evolved as Middle English under the influence of Germanic, Romance and Celtic languages. Modern English has come a long way in last hundred years and it will be New English in coming hundred years.

English is the universal language by chance. Now it belongs to all equally. Books written in one part of the world in English are as good as written in any other part. So let us not confine language in the man-made boundaries of nations.

Kudos to the authors and publishers!!!

Salute to the whistleblowers and torch bearers!!!

The niche market is hungry and few books that have come so far are only appetizers.

Give them healthy food, lest they fall for junk food.

                                                                               ~Vipin Behari Goyal
Other related articles:

The future of English Fiction Writers in India (1)                                                      

The Facts about Self Publishing a novel

Copyright laws in India

The future of English fiction writers in India

Indian Society is complex, so Authors need to work hard

                                                      [Jyoti Arora-Indian English Author]




The English fiction writing has undergone many ups and downs in last few decades.

 Since, Nirad C. Chaudhuri (The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian), Mulk Raj Anand (The untouchable) and R.K.Narayan (The Guide), who wrote simple heart touching stories about the people around them, the flavor has been maintained by Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake)  and Sudha Murthy(wise and otherwise) till the current decade.

Some authors became famous for controversial writing as Khushwant Singh(A history of Sikhs) and Salman Rushdie(Satanic Verses) who wrote against religion or Shobha De to Arundhti Roy who said, did or wrote things to hurt the sentiments of people.

Vikram Seth(A Suitable Boy), Amitav Ghosh (The Glass Palace )wrote  literary English books that were highly acclaimed by Indian as well as foreign critiques.

The contribution of R.N.Tagore and V.S. Naipaul (both are Nobel laureate) is beyond my words.

These authors caused ripples in the literary world which was enjoyed by all those who love reading Indian English Authors.

Then the new wave emerged called Chetan Bhagat with his debut English novel “Five point someone”. It was a retold Indian version of Peter Robinson’s novel “Snapshots from hell”. Many surfers took the ride and a new wave was set in.

Love story is an eternal theme of literature since eleventh century when first novel was written. The youth of India had so far read few Mills and Boon was eager to explore the Indian counterparts of that series. The authors of this wave did not disappoint their readers and Indian book stalls were flooded with Boy-meets-Girl kind of romantic novels. It developed reading habits in youth that was lost in maze of cricket, cinema and career. The identity crisis of Indian youth and their dilemma to follow traditions and anxiety to be identical to their Western counterparts led them to read books in search of solutions. How far the Indian authors have been successful in suggesting remedies or at least, a better comprehension of the situation is anybody’s guess.

Literature is said to be the mirror of society. Indian youth is torn between old and new values but is not ready to revolt against age-old traditions. The medieval values of caste system, arranged marriage, dowry, child marriages, veil system, female feticide, divorce, inequality of men and women have become issues of yesterday, and youth is open to new wave of gender equality, choosing life partner and ready to share equal responsibility in raising children.

The basic values are deeply rooted in the psyche of Indian youth. Most of them respect and take care of elders and parents and are religious from the core of their heart. The medieval values emerged with Muslim invaders and strengthened with British Empire in India. Now after 65 years of Indian independence, when most of the population of India is born in free India a radical change is bound to come.

The Indian English authors should divert to serious writing suggesting pragmatic solutions of contemporary social issues, to sustain the hobby of reading in youth.

Amar Nath Prasad in his book Indian Writing in English said"The plant of Indian writing in English must develop its root quite deep into the fertile soil of Indian myths and culture."

Related Post

The future of English Fiction writers in India - 2

© Vipin Behari Goyal