Malay Roychoudhury’s interview by Nayanima Basu
Founding member and central figure of the Hungryalist movement, a literary torrent predicated on the subversion of India’s cultural establishment, Malay Roychoudhury is the author of more than 50 books, a Bengali poet, novelist, dramatist, essayist, translator, and social critic, he remains a seminal figure in the understanding of 21st century poetry. His association have included such literary giants as Allen Ginsberg and Octavio Paz.
Roychoudhury’s experimental work entitled “Prachanda Baidyutik Chhutar” ( “Stark Electric Jesus” ) , a deeply personal and confessional poem penned in 1963 and first published in 1964, created enormous controversy with its publication. It led to both public and private condemnation of its author and, due to the ensuing scandal, which included his prosecution and ostracization at the hands of peers, Roychoudhury refused to write again. It was not until 1983, following the death of his mother, that he would return to his writing.
First introduced to Malay Roychoudhury on a visit to Kolkata in 2007, I have found his discussions and correspondenses to be vibrant, thoughtful, frank, and often filled with levity. Uniquely engaging, he has offered opinions on everything from contemporary visual poetry ( vispo ) to politics. “An interview with Malay Roychoudhury : Part One”, appears at http://www.blackrobertjournal.blogspot.com )
Alex: You have said that Hungryalists were not “reckless”. Would you admit, however, that some members would later become self-serving ? My question relates to the idea that we become less idealistic as we grow older. Is idealism important ? How does it fit into your life ?
Malay: I am not sure whether the 19th Century concepts of “self” , “ego” and “idealism” retain their original definitions in our 21st Century world. How do you explain these concepts in the perspective of what is being called Islamic Terrorist Human Bomb ? He definitely has what we presume to be “self”, “ego” and surely “idealism!” Otherwise why should he come to India to kill Hindu, Cristian, Jew, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist infidels ? Marx, Sartre, Freud and even Darwin would have experienced a vertigo of ontological nightmares if confronted with the present world scenario . “Idealism”, thus, is a term applicable to situations in time and space. I remain idealistic in the original Hungryalist sense of being honest . Idealism does not wane with age ; it gets continuously redefined . It definitely becomes difficult to remain a social being in West Bengal with Humanitarian Honesty as an ideal.
The Hungryalists were not self-serving, since they wrote very little during the movement, and published lesser, as nobody liked to publish them. But after name and fame , a few Hungryalists did become self-serving, whom I avoid, and who obviously despise me. The problem is that when the discourse is narrowed down to ART , ego becomes relevant. The superordinate discourse is the market today, and ego functions as a conveyance.
Alex: While in Kolkata, I witnessed what I interpreted at the time to be “poetry guilds;” my feeling was that these communities were involved in the construction of an “intentional poetry of political allegiance,” with attention paid to a particular style of writing. Would you say this is true ? if so, then would this be a byproduct of the Hungryalist Movement ? What are your thoughts ?
Malay: No. Groupism evolved in mid-1950s with Krittibas and Shatabhisha poetry magazines, which claimed and behaved in a fashion as if only they had the power of definition, distinction and evaluation of literary discourses. Krittibas ultimately got inducted into the business house called Ananda Bazar Patrika ( leftists dub it as “Establishment”). The Hungryalists were treated as untouchables by these groups, though Hungryalism as a movement was in a continuous flux, somewhat like the Surrealists. Hungryalists made attempts to wrest that power and dismantle Groupism. What you call Guilds ( may be we can call them poetry cartels ) evolved in Kolkata ( not throughout West Bengal ) after the Naxalite political upheaval. Naxalites had to form secret hitmen groups. Nowadays , poetry Guilds are formed around a couple of poets who can afford to publish a regular poetry magazine. These are magazine oriented groups, and do not have an agenda. I guess most of these poets come from refugee families of erstwhile East Pakistan who wanted to legitimize themselves by re-rooting in West Bengal through a periodical based literary group. They should not be taken seriously.
Alex: Was Tagore the worst thing to ever happen to Bengali poetry ? To Poetry ?
Malay: Rabindranath Tagore‘s ( the Shakespeare of Bengali literature ) poems are now confined to academia. Academicians use him as a ladder in the cultural circuit of West Bengal, which unfortunately lacks in “Icons.” As a Bengali cultural icon, he can not be wished away. It is not his poems, but his songs which works as an impediment, the result of which has meant that Bengali music in post-independent India has failed to catch up with the world ( only now we have a singer poet in Kabir Suman ). His songs are being sung even in funerals ! Nevertheless, written Bengali diction had emerged out of the Tagore family. You can’t blame them. Had the British started their Empire from Dhaka in Bangladesh, the Bengali literary diction would have been different. Authors in Bangladesh, such as Bratya Raisu, Jewel Mazhar and Ebadur Rahman, write in their diction ; literary diction in Bangladesh is therefore changing. I would like to mention that one of the Hungryalists, Subimal Basak had written his novel CHHATAMATHA in this diction in 1965, for which he was castigated by academicians. Today, in West Bengal, Tagore is just a show piece to be flaunted, especially by middle class gentry. His Shantiniketan has been ruined by the Leftists.
Alex: Tell us about your typical day. Now, I hear you are currently putting together a daily diary. How often do you meet visiting writers and artists ? How do your wife and son assist you with your many appointments ?
Malay: I get up early, quite early, and spend a couple of hours on the Internet, as no charges are levied till 8AM. Do some yoga thereafter as advised by the physiotherapist. Have a frugal breakfast of oatmeal with vegetables while browsing through two Bengali and English newspapers. Till 1PM, I read a magazine or a book, while taking notes in my brain. I simultaneously read several books and magazines ( that is why I refrain from reviewing books ). I dislike visitors till 3PM. From 3 to 4PM, I do some freehand exercises and sit at the PC to attend to my blogs ; nowadays I concentrate on Bengali sites where I interact with young readers. As often as possible, I avoid visitors ; I have found that most of the visitors are not well-read ( the Leftist government abolished English teaching in schools in 1980s ), and it is a sheer waste of time. It is also irritating, a few obstinate readers insist on visiting me, though I do not know why. They come from remote places and I can’t drive them away like poet Buddhadeva Basu who had shut his doors the moment I uttered my name. I was born in 1939 and at this age I love to be left alone in my silence. Due to my bad health, my wife quite often intervenes ( so that I do not lapse into bronchial bouts of coughing ) if the visitor wants me to go on talking. Visitors are entertained upto 7PM, when I sit with my drinks and start brooding about the next day’s blog ( where I write the drafts and block public visibility till finalization ). My son is very busy now with an Australian firm. Since attending to my blogs, I don’t write daily diary, and have destroyed whatever I had written earlier .
Alex: What words of advice might you offer if asked to serve in the role of a mentor ?
Malay: No. No. I don’t want the role of a mentor bestowed on me. Each person should introspect and chalk out his own path.
Alex: How important have your exchanges with other writers been ? What did you gain from Allen Ginsberg ? What did Ginsberg gain from his time spent with you ? In terms of cross-cultural challenges, did you find that there were any present during this period of mutual exchange ?
Malay: Yes. That was the case till 1980s when I interacted with any or all writers. I gained a lot from the visiting authors, as varied as from Daisy Aldan to Dhumil to Kamal Chakraborty. The most important has been the visit of Professor Howard McCord of Washington State University ( later Bowling Green ) , who published my controversial poem Stark Electric Jesus with an introduction in a booklet form, and made me known in North and South America and Europe during the 1960s. It is thanks to him that this poem gets reprinted almost every year ( I do not have any copyright of any text of mine ; they are owned by my readers ). He sent me books written by US and European authors about whom I had only heard.
Allen Ginsberg visited me at a time when I was dithering in non-religious atheism. He reinforced my pagan heritage of worshiping water, light, fire, air and other gods of nature. I can’t claim that I contributed to his thinking, though, perhaps in changing the notion that there can not be only one God ; there has to be innumerable gods for innumerable human spreads out in order to be eclectic, tolerant and resilient. Three fishes with one head, which he used as his logo, was pointed out by me from Emperor Akbar’s grave floor — the Emperor who himself wrote a religious treatise to unite all the religions of India.
Ginsberg used to talk to my mother in sign language. My father was terribly angry with him as Ginsberg was interested in taking photographs of beggars, lepers, mutilated, half-naked poor Indians. After I saw his Indian Journals, I was very much upset to see those photographs highlighted.
I spent a few months with non-literary hippies in Varanasi, Patna and Nepal. That was quite an experience with women and drugs. Hippies were fascinated that Allen Ginsberg had visited me.
Alex: Tell me about the technology you employ in sharing your work and ideas with others ? I know you have a blog ?
Malay: Other than using the desktop PC for net surfing, writing blogs and visiting network sites, I don’t have access to any other technology. No blackberry, IPod, IPhone or other gadgets. I wish I was young and used the gadgets that keep on coming. In case of the desktop PC, I am also a novice. I have to request my son to lend a helping hand to sort out things when I find myself stuck. But the internet really places my work far and wide ; people pick up my work and spread it among themselves. In most cases, I come to know after quite sometime, even a year. It is a pleasant feeling.
Alex: If you could walk a mile in whatever circumstance, where where would you choose to do it ? What would be your last meal ?
Malay: I would go to the bank of river Ganges, at the place where I had kissed my Nepali classmate Bhuvanmohini Rana. My first and memorable kiss. I do not know where she is now. Must have become old or might have died ; she was two years older than me. I would sit at the same spot at the same time of autumn evening to revisit her tenderness.
My last meal will be a hot chicken tanduri and a few pegs of single malt.
( Copyright Alexander Jorgensen. Reprinted from the Chekoslovak-based GRASP magazine, May 2010 issue )
Alexander Jorgensen
Alexander Jorgensen is a globetrotter poet and artist. He has visited all the continents. He met Bengali writers and poets during his visit to India .
