Rajasthan's literary heart beats in Borunda
 |
| Presenting a shawl to Vijaydan Detha at his humble residence in Borunda village in Rajasthan |
The week before last I
was
in
Borunda
village
which
is
located
in
the
Marwar
region
of
Rajasthan
about
120
kilometers
from
Jodhpur.
This
non-descript
small
town
has
a
local
population
of
about
10,000.
Borund was
in limelight due to the saturated media coverage of the infamous
Bhanwari Devi murder incident that rocked Rajasthan and beyond.
En
route,
while
seeking
directions
to
the
village,
a
teashop
owner
told
me
the
way
of
Bhanwari
Devi’s
house
in
the
village.
But
my
reason
for
visiting
Borunda
in
this
punishing
hot
weather
was
very
different.
The
purpose
of
my
visit
was
to
meet
the
great
scholar-cum-writer,
Vijaydan
Detha
aka
Bijji,
who
has
been
nominated
for
the
Nobel
Prize
in
literature.
His
is
the
voice
(rather
the
rebel
voice)
of
the
rustic
folk.
Mr Detha,
at 86 plus years, is not able to move around. He stopped writing in
2007 but still carries out editing work. In this context, he once
said to me,“Every time I find new mistakes in my work.”
Humble
attitude and profound depth of knowledge personifies Detha who spends
much of his time these days in his spartan 10 ft by 12 ft room. What
he told me about his situation would echo in my ears forever:
“Main
zinda
hoon
lekin
likh
nahi
sakta,
yeh
maut
se
kahni
bari
tragedy
hai”.
(I am
alive but cannot write; this is a far greater tragedy than death)
Who
would
believe
that
a
village
boy,
who
used
to
tend
goats
would
one
day
become
a
doyen
of
Rajasthani
literature,
would
reside
in
this
small
picturesque
town
of
Borunda
30-40
kilometers
from
Meerta
Road
Town
or
Meera
Bai's
home
town.
Detha's
contribution
to
the
Rajasthani
literature
remains
unrivalled.
The
famous
movie
Paheli
was
based
on
his
work
Duvidha.
He
was
influenced
by
the
19th
Century
Russian
literature.
In
the
early
1950s
he
responded
to
an
inner
voice
that
said
-
“If
I
didn’t
return
to
my
village
and
write
in
Rajasthani,
I
would
remain
a
mediocre
writer.”
This
indeed
was
a
momentous
decisionfor
the
future
of
Rajasthani
literature.
Vijaydan
Detha considers Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay to be first major
inspiration or guru. Chekov and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore (much
later in life) were the other pillars of inspiration. In fact when I
met him he said that he was very happy to see me as I was from Bengal
which is Tagore's land.He said two of the three persons who inspired
him are from Bengal. However, it has been decades since he last
visited Kolkata and that old world imagery of Calcutta remains
etched in his mind.
One
of
his
early
works
(1948)
-
Bapu
ke
Teen
Hatyare
-
a
critique
of
literary
luminaries
Harivansh
Rai
Bacchan,
Sumitranandan
Pant
and
NarendraSharma,
created
a
storm
at
that
time.
Detha
wrote,
“Nathuram
Godse
may
have
killed
Gandhi
physically,
but
these
three
writers
killed
his
soul.”
And
thus
began
the
epic
literary
journey
of
this
folk
rebel
who
has
never
looked
back
since.
My trip to
Borunda to meet the octogenarian one-man institution was quite like a
pilgrimage. To sum up, I think the literary heart of Rajasthan beats
in Borunda, and in Detha.
It
is
said
that
genuine
work
never
demands
publicity
to
acheive
some
thing.
Who
has
an
idea
that
a
person
living
in
this
small
village
will
be
nominated
for
Nobel
Prize.
No
wonder
pen
is
mightier
than
the
sword.
I will be
be leaving for Jaipur today afternoon.
ess bee
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