‘Save Cubbon Park movement was a fad of the rich’

‘Save Cubbon Park movement was a fad of the rich’
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The tragedy of the environmental movement is that it is led by a class that participates in environmental degradation and benefits from globalisation, says a new book by Dr Rajendra Chenni.

‘Speaking for Someone’, released at Crossword book store, on Tuesday, is a compilation of essays on contemporary Karnataka society and culture.

In his piece on the movement to save Cubbon Park, Dr Chenni analyses the sociological profile of the agitators, and denounces their lack of sympathy for the underprivileged, ‘‘the peanut sellers’’.

Dr Ramachandra Guha, well-known sociologist, who released the books, described Dr Chenni as a ‘‘linguistic pluralist’’ who could write ‘‘wonderfully well’’ in English and Kannada, and who was familiar with the other linguistic cultures of Karnataka as well.

‘‘Chenni,’’ he said, referring to the writer’s essay on the Datta Peetha controversy, ‘‘is also a religious pluralist.’’ Chenni can be tender and loving, wide-eyed with wonder and also angry, Guha said, summing up his work as one of ‘‘stylistic pluralism’’.

Prof Manu Chakravarthy, literary critic and author of a book on feminism, introduced the books. Chenni, he said, locates many topical debates and controversies in their larger ideological context.

Chenni takes issue with Rushdie for his dismissal of writing in the Indian languages, and suggests Rushdie actually owes his much-lauded fragmentary style to Indian writing inspirations. ‘‘Chenni writes neither for the diasporic scholar nor the native informant,’’ Chakravarthy said.

Dr U R Anantha Murthy, well-known novelist, remarked that while there was much to be said for pluralism, writers had to guard against superficial eclecticism.

‘‘It is not enough to take a little from here and a little from there and feel happy. A writer, like a musician, has to be rooted in a style,’’ he said.

He praised Chenni’s concerns, and the efforts of CVG Books, which, after publishing 110 books in Kannada to mark Kuvempu’s birth centenary, had now ventured into English publishing.

Chenni said he had written many of his pieces to ‘‘deadly deadlines’’ but he had striven to record his responses honestly. ‘Of Many Worlds’ is a compilation of essays on contemporary Kannada writing.

Chenni heads the English department at Kuvempu University and ranks the most respected literary critics in Kannada. His just released books are priced at Rs 100 each.