Is the title of the latest book I read. Two words are sufficient to sum up the book’s review: powerful and path-breaking. But I’ll prattle along.
The book’s title almost reveals its theme: that colonialism is not dead. It is thriving inside the minds of both the formerly-colonized as well as the “liberal” (read: white) people. And its dangers are compounded because it is invisible. Richard Crasta the author, uses the word invisible to denote the neo-colonized who willingly wear the slave badge and proudly strut around with an air of superiority.
The book is a collection of essays which follow a logical sequence in exploring the theme of cultural colonization. A satire, it is written in thrilleresque, racy language, which breezes along holding you in its grip. It took me all of 5 hours to read it. And changed so many (mis)conceptions I had taken for granted so far.
The fact that it is not popular owes precisely to the cause of the hard truths it reveals. An Amazon search revealed that it is “out of print/limited availability” and there’s not a single review: editorial or otherwise. Crasta, a Mangalorean Catholic by birth–now settled in the US–pithily recounts the hardships he had to face trying to get it published. And notes that the most opposition came from the Indians (settled in the US) themselves. He calls this phenomenon the Brown Man’s Burden.
The essays are as sarcastic as they are witty and insightful. For example, he uses Coconuts to describe the mentally-colonized Indian. Coconut because it is brown on the outside whereas the real stuff inside, is white. This new form of colonialism Crasta demonstrates, has successfully created entire colonies of Brown Sahibs whose disdain for the “natives” far exceeds that of the whites.
The author correctly traces the roots of this intellectual slavery to the Macualayite educational system that created intellectual wimps whose inferiority complex regarding their own culture has itself become a leash in the hands of their white masters. In the US as Crasta observes, Indians are the most docile of all “South Asian” immigrants; in sharp contrast to the Chinese immigrants who let their hair down in countrymen-only gatherings, laugh boisterously and generally make merry, their Indian counterparts in similar social settings behave more stiff-upper-lippedly than the white men themselves, but we’ve not even been introduced.
Crasta profiles such class of people as hailing typically from middle-to-upper middle class families who have had the typical Maculayite education and their dream of “arriving in life” is to get the coveted Green Card. Unaware of their roots, combined with a superficial knowledge of “Indian culture,” they try throughout their lives to escape–instead of understand–from their rootlessness by denigrating India and trying to become whiter than the whites.
The book gives us a multitude of methods Indians use to impress the whites. The foremost is to pander to their stereotyped ideas about India and Indians. While a majority of those ideas are downright false or don’t exist at all, the Coconuts ensure their perpetuity by:
- Reinforcing these biases through fiction and media
- Clamping down dissenting–or opposing–voices
Richard Crasta singles out the literary domain to prove his thesis, his chosen targets: Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh, and Arundhati Roy and Pankaj Mishra, to an extent. He traces their literary careers in some detail and shows how they have become the spokesmen for the West to understand India. It is their ideas of India that the West accepts. And perversely–and it is really sad–any Indian author who wants to get published here is rejected, nay told outrightly to “go get published out there first.” The rules of the game are stark clear. Thus, any Indian writer with a different portrayal of India is not allowed entry by these gatekeepers of the white masters: the writers of Rushdie’s ilk.
The West’s interest in the “Third World”–if at all–is very limited. As Crasta says in the essay, Monica Lewinsky’s thong underwear, the West is more interested in the political, social, economic and philosophical implications of Pamela Anderson’s breast implants and Monica’s thong than the suffering lot of several African countries. Their interest in the Third World merely serves as a diversion from the serious issues of thongs and boobs. Which is what the Third World house niggers have shrewdly understood. This explains the phenomenal success of hundreds of Indian “Spiritual” gurus who’ve never had it better than now. They simplify Indian philosophy and present it in the form of easily digestible sound/newsbytes to the ever-hungry and spiritually-dead West.
Returning to literature, Crasta calls the writers of Rushdie’s breed as “public school writers.” This alludes to their education–in elite schools like the St Stephens where children are taught to denigrate the Indian heritage. That Pankaj Mishra called David Godwin after reading Arundhati Roy’s manuscript instead of an Indian publisher is a beacon for how things are skewed.
And then there’s an insight into the politics of names. This is extremely subtle but powerful. Arundhati Roy’s real name is Margaret Roy but the West refuses to publish books authored by an Indian who has a non-Hindu name. From experience, Crasta says he was promised a hefty advance for one of his novels the moment he said he was contemplating a change of his name to Avatar Prabhu. There’s also a converse of this theory, which again is aimed to please the whites. Changing Indian names to “American” names so that they can pronounce/remember them easily. Thus a Sharatchandra Rao becomes Sonny Rao, a Chinmay Patel becomes Chris Patel, and Jaithirth Rao becomes Jerry Rao. Ever heard of a Pringnitz change his (her?) name to Pran, or Vaughn (pronounced “von” but how the hell am I supposed to know?) to Vani? As Rajiv Malhotra says
The [Washington] Post should be wary of Indian writers who are in the habit of dishing out the negative stereotypes which are easy to sell in the American market. It should not assume that an ethnic name implies competence in that culture. To become aware of the sepoy syndrome, a good starting point would be Richard Crasta’s courageous book explaining this phenomenon.
Crasta also calls the male Indian writers neutered or in plain language, eunuchs. To figure out why he calls them so, buy the book. It’ll be well worth your time and money .
Update: To those who commented that they were unable to find the link to buy the book, head here.
Tags: Books, International Politics, Literature, Society & Culture
I just finished Pankaj Mishra’s book on Buddha and got to say, your review is right on the money. I will post a detailed review soon.
Hey !!
Thanks for that link. I’ve been looking for this book all over and hadn’t found anywhere to buy it.
By the way, isn’t that thing named Arundhati Susan Roy?
Neo-slaves. That’s a neat word to describe the likes of pankaj mishra.
JK,
I remember you mentioning to me about the Buddha book some time ago (in my comments section I guess). CAll it my bias or whatever, I’m highly skeptical of what Mishra writes especially after his self-righteous outburst of phony anger on the eve of (or after?) the Babri demolition. I think it appeared in the NYT. Like SV commented, he is one of the neo-slaves with a king-sized inferiority complex about his being an Indian and Hindu. But then it has paid off very well, hasn’t it?
Sri,
I don’t know if she’s called A “Susan” Roy but I’ve heard “Margaret Roy” quite often.
I don’t know why, but this “Buy” link is not working.
Alka,
I guess there’s an error in that url. Try this: http://www.invisiblemanpress.com. This opens the publisher’s site and the buying instructions/links are clearly set out there. Hope it helps.
Very good piece Sandeep. Although, I must point out the westernization of names is far more prevalent among Asians such as Chinese.
The button to buy this book is not working -
the message is “www.invisiblepress.com could not be found. please check the name and try again”.
Would like an update of the correct website name.
“Although, I must point out the westernization of names is far more prevalent among Asians such as Chinese.”
They are not westerinizing their names. They are changing their religion.
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Hi Sandeep, I agree with your bold blog. One does not realise this phenomenon till s/he goes abroad to the bastion of the former colonialists.
There one is rudely awakened to the fact that education since independence has consisted chiefly of demeaning our own culture and heritage by ourselves.
Throwing away one’s superior culture to mimic the pompous westerner is not only bad but has subtle and dangerous consequences. In india we have a very famous saying we should now start appplying to ourselves - Kauwa chala hans ki chal.
I hope your open to debate. I feel that a few arguments you made could be re-examined.
> In the US as Crasta
> observes, Indians are the
> most docile of all “South
> Asian” immigrants; in sharp
An inaccurate generalization at best. To disprove the theory - Diwali is one of the largest festivals in NY’s/Toronto’s cultural calendar.
> The fact that it is not
> popular owes precisely to
> the cause of the hard truths
> it reveals.
This hardly follows a logical path. A book need not be unpopular or ignored purely due to the fact that it reveals a (subjective at best) hard truth.
Overall, I really appreciate that you took time out to highlight Crasta.
I get the feeling that Richard wants is only trying to get cheap traction by denigrating Indians (for example, their “green card chase”). I don’t really believe that the “coconut” really exists. However, some of the arguments against the Indian literary community are interesting. I can only be sure after having read his book.
I remember someone writing on your site that the book was hard to get in the U.S. Indeed, I have just noticed that it is selling for $220 a copy on Amazon. But the books are available at http://www.richardcrasta.com for far less, and if someone wishes to stand behind their appreciation of their books, they could buy a few dozen copies and distribute it (or sell it) to persons within their network.
Talking About Names!!
Searching web for Lokkur I found thet it has Scottish origin!! .
it in fact simply means ‘Lac ooru”
town of Lac which is a form of Resin .
Lokkur Vasanthi Rao
I’m honoured by your visit here, Richard. Can you please write me an email offline at deepu DOT sandeep AT gmail DOT com? I need to talk to you about something.
Thanks.
[...] The image of India as caste-cow-curry seems to have receded a bit despite the exertions of Indian gatekeepers of the West to perpetuate it. Of the three, the first is definitely the most favourite stick to beat India. However, there exists a far more powerful stick used with increasing ferocity: female infanticide. [...]
It is sad that the things are the way they are. Most Indians may say that West is liberal but know its not. Its similar to the fact that most Indians dont say that Muslims have problems. But things will change. Once we have power, people will open up and speak up.
[...] Reader Santosh made an observation on my review of Impressing the Whites and asked me if I’m open to debate. [...]
Talking about Westernized Indian Names!!
After completing my studies, I was trying very hard to find a job. Those were the very difficult days for us with no financial support. I was repenting for having left established job in India and coming over here in mid-thirties with my family. Some well wishers advised me that changing my name to more easily pronouncable westernized names which might make the recruiters more comfortable. In fact, some of their kids had the ‘modified’ names (Anurag = Gary, Sunil= Neil). I told them I don’t want to convert my name. If the situation warrants, we would rather go back to our country. I was surprised how this kind of ideas could get into somebody’s mind. I stuck to my decision and convection and everything worked out nicely. We have been living in US for more than a decade and settled here. We like this country. We are proud of our Indian heritage. All of us go by our Hindu names. If we are not proud of our heritage, who else will be?
I just looked up your site again, and noticed that the BUY and HERE links in your article go to the wrong places. invisiblemanpress.com is not up, and the link for richardcrasta.com/books/impressing… etc is and old one.
Please correct both so they go to the main page of
http://www.richardcrasta.com
Clicking on the buy button on the main page will immediately take them to Paypal, a secure payment site.
And my email address, should you wish to reach me, is invisible_man_books@yahoo.com
Some time in the future, I will tell you about the Indian millionaire “philanthropist” who praised my book, but admitted somebody had given it to him. (I never heard from him after a couple of exchanges.) Another, Dr. Ramesh Pai, one of the Manipal Pais (KMC, etc), wrote me for a copy, but we lost touch: life has been fragile and disorganized for me. At present, the author of Impressing the Whites—a book that has not impressed white people, and none except a handful of brown persons, is in dire financial straits. It’s no shame for an author to be poor—I consider it a badge of honor, indeed, one that proves that I have not compromised. However, I need to eat to write, and I am in the process of finishing and launching a book as powerful and important, in my opinion, as Impressing the Whites; one that is going to need serious money.
Let no one think that he is doing me a favor by buying one copy of my book; he is doing himself (or his friend) a favor. Two thousand copies, maybe; one or even a hundred copies—not likely, in my present state! Indeed I have high costs and don’t even make my costs back on a small order (I plan to increase my prices soon). But it’s gotta start somewhere, and the greatest American poet of all time, Walt Whitman, had to shlep his masterpiece from door to door.
So if you’re really serious about supporting the book, there are fewer than two hundred unsold copies worldwide, and I don’t even dream that there will ever be another edition; there is even a chance that I won’t be alive much longer, and if that happens, those copies could, ironically, be worth a lot more. Also, please test your links to my website and correct them.
If someone were to buy copies (of this and other books of mine, including Fathers, Rebels and Dreamers, an appropriate gift for Fathers Day—also unlikely ever to be reprinted) in bulk and give them away, or distribute or sell them to his friends and his circle, this allows me to concentrate on writing, which is what I was really meant to do. (By the way, I tried amazon.com and found them frustrating to work with; they still prefer to sell used copies of Impressing the Whites at over two hundred dollars a copy!)
It happened with The Revised Kama Sutra in Mangalore, and I am proud of it: a reader bought ten copies of that book and gave them away to his friends, exhorting them, “You have to read this book.” Because if he had merely told them, they would have said, “Yes, yes,” and forgotten about it. Why is this kind of conviction so rare among Indians?
Richard,
I’ll surely correct the links when my project is not killing me like this.
Meanwhile, you’re bang on the point in your second comment. I shall get in touch with you soon over email.
Thanks for writing in.
Meanwhile, the price of “Impressing the Whites” and all other books on my website have been temporarily reduced, in honor of India’s 60th Anniversary of Independence. Thank you, Sandeep, and all of your friends, for your support of Indepedent Writing. At this rate, I may indeed manage to publish another book before I die.
The books are available at http://www.richardcrasta.com . That is the only site at present; a few other sites list them, but can’t deliver (as far as I know). As for independence: my poverty is a mark of my independence, and I wear it proudly.
I have no idea why this site keeps turning up on the first page of the searches for my name, however, the promised new book (the third book of my Freedom Trilogy), THE KILLING OF AN AUTHOR, is out, and is available at http://www.richardcrasta.com . Also, I have blogs up at http://crasta.typepad.com and richardcrasta.blogspot.com . You might be interested to know that I have a new edition of IMPRESSING THE WHITES ready and waiting for a sponsor. Only around 150 copies of “Impressing the Whites”, the second book in the Freedom Trilogy, remain.