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| An Iconoclast and his craft | | | Shreya Garg | 10/13/2018 9:58:51 PM |
| Can a naïve & unsullied person have potent powers to see the world through a vicariously stimulated experience ? How can one happen to resonate others through his writings, so much so, that a person begins to concur to everything said or written without having any first-hand experience ? Or is it the potentness of the writer whose writings are so organic & written with an undainted perception that he can actually influence one's viewpoint especially so, in the case of an unworldly person, for a simple reason that his writings correspond to the reality or organic instincts of people ?
Manu Joseph, often addressed as an equal opportunity offender, could be viewed as a cynical person by some but one with an undainted perception, realness & conscience still intact would probably view him as someone who makes a lot of sense & seems to adhere to no conventional stands in life. However, one who might view him as a whiner or a lamenter are seriously mistaken. Come to realistically think of it, isn't the world full of vices (his go-to word is farce though) and well, virtues also - then what is wrong with somebody reflecting on the instances of farce and facade, be it in the people, institutions, or society at large ? Well, maybe his sardonic mocking of left, right and centre could be construed as his muse and for readers, a means of seeing things in a different light.
The most impressionable age is said to be either childhood or teenage years. Back in Chennai, although Manu prefers to call it as Madras, Manu's childhood and teenage years were spent in a rather very different social milieu with his very early rejection to many friends or to the idea of friendship and absence of family social gatherings. The probable conclusion to which one is led to is that the solitude and oblivion to many conformities in life are reasons partially or perhaps solely, responsible for the creation of an idiosyncratic and an iconoclast person - Manu Joseph. From a coerced misanthrope owing to his given social milieu to a misanthrope now for real, he says, "Yes, it was a good toss to lose. It is not that I had no roots at all. My mother brought me up to be moral and tried to make me religious. My sister showed me family can be fun. And I did enjoy most of school. But what I figured early on is that people don't really care about if you have suffered a misfortune. What the world respects is luck, your luck, and their luck. They give respectable names to this luck. And that's all there is to it. This understanding makes you cut all the bullshit that the world throws at you and see the heart of the matter."
Once he said in one of his interviews that he sometimes regrets rejecting many of his friends and losing out on many years of life, citing that my prompt reply was my own philosophy that I abide by, which is to enjoy the company of the friends and many cheap frivolous thrills concomitant to that but not mentally accept them. Although, it's not something calibrated or deliberate but again an intrinsic way of how to function. Call it some other level of detachment, probably a smart one at that, for one gets to enjoy the life and yet be intrinsically detached.
Manu believes in the juxtaposition of humor and tragedy & that, when one is extremely accurate about something, it becomes funny. All his books have numerous instances where one can see this rather formidable juxtaposition of humor and tragedy. It almost seems like that he has the understanding of how not to conflate the bouts of effusiveness or so-called tragic moments in life with the bottom line of the Universe.
Why is easy so breezy but shitty most of the time ? And yet, many of us tend to invest on the easy-breezy-shitty rather than complex and heady. Despite this awful fact, one would wonder why a man is not ready to give up one aspect of his writing if it could fetch him substantially more readers ? The one aspect here being referred to is his style of writing. His style of writing makes it difficult for masses to read his columns or books; some even post reviews where they question his inability to use simple words instead of go-to dictionary words. What's holding him up when confronted against talking down a little to make reading an easy if not a facile exercise for many of his prospective readers ? He says, "I really do believe that I write very simply and that only when I write poorly am dense. Also, I will never talk down to the masses. I enjoy talking down to the frauds who are the establishment; the artistic middlemen who stand between me and my readers."
However, it's a splendid treat for some of his readers to read his writings, be it his columns or novels. It's kind of ironic that though his books do not belong to the comedy genre, so to speak, yet he manages to entertain & exhilarate his readers than writers who write comedy (supposedly). To this, he responds, "In my view there is a type of humour that is intended, attempted and hence achieved -- to some extent. But this is never as funny as humour that emerges from a very different intent, which is to make an accurate observation or to punch in violence at an injustice. This intent in some people emerges humour. Or it appears funny to people who are willing to accept reality. It is not only the originator of 'humour' who ensures its success, it is also the receiver. You can make very funny observations about men, but they may not find it funny for exactly the same reasons why you find them funny."
Manu likes to call himself a journalist before a novelist, probably because his career as a journalist helped him to bring more credibility to his craft, for it brought a fair & just perspective to situations; unlike many of the other out and out writers who are sometimes gullible enough to accept and take things on face value. But boy, maybe his righteous place belongs to the world of art and cinema. His latest book "Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous", a work of fiction, is truly an insightful and thought-provoking account of society and the system governing us. This book is most palpable when it comes to Manu Joseph - as an equal opportunity offender. It is a political satire, and hits hard at our political and social hypocrisy. It's very courageous and path breaking in many regards and Manu does a no holds barred attack on everyone. Being an equal opportunity offender, he critically intersects into the nature of politicians, cops and social activists. He brutally exposes the police and politician nexus and puts to the fore glaring loopholes in our investigation system. Laila could go down as a fictional novel or even a factual narrative, however, Manu says, "Laila is only 30% based on a true story and rest is fiction." It is a book that makes you stand up when you read. It has such excerpts of brilliance that one wonders if the book is speaking to the reader itself. It's also symbolic of the fact that one can more effectively stimulate people to take stock of the situation through fiction.
Being an underdog can be really fulfilling and helps one to look at life and understand it in a much better way. It helps one build a bonafide and veritable perspective. Joesph being an underdog has pulled off his first book "Serious Men" with so much elan. This book talks about social structure and caste hierarchy in India, the depth of the book is amazing and is one of the best researched book one could ever read. It goes beyond the social stigmas towards the end and actually mocks at how our society functions in reality. The mark the book leaves on you is everlasting.
In a world where sanity may be overrated, Joseph, a contrarian with an askance viewpoint, delves deeper to prove the point that sanity should not win over insanity (every time) and it's too a psychiatric condition. His second book "Illicit happiness of other men" is set in his homeland, Madras in 1980s, and could be considered as a spin off of his observations, personal and fambam life whilst growing up in Madras. Its quirkness lies in the blatant honesty with which it portrays the characters; the characters in the setup of a family are probably relatable to many from Indian families; they are characters with shades of grey and very plebeian. Generally one does not get to read such characters written so beautifully with all their foibles, frailties and idiosyncracy still intact in the most aesthetic way. The favorite and takeaway line is," When the body is young and strong, it's easily brutalized by deception which comes either in the form of love or conviction."
All his books are critically acclaimed and one of the hallmarks of all three books is his witty, insightful and profound observations - the soul & trenchant voice in the books. I wonder if he would ever run out of the observations? |
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