Impact of westernisation over Hindi language has emerged as one of the biggest challenges in today’s time for the writers and those associated with literature said renowned poet and essayist, Ashok Vajpeyi during the inaugural session of TATA literary Meet here in Ranchi on Friday.
Presenting his views over contemporary style of writing and over the interest of youngsters in developing reading habit among themselves in the presence of modern gadgets, the recipient of Sahitya Akademi, Vajpeyi said, “This is a bitter truth of young generation that their interest in reading has decreased considerably in the recent years. It is true that modern technology has given some amount of relief but I hardly find the devotion like foreign countries where people have developed and inculcated the habit of reading in them so religiously that here we cannot imagine something like that.”
Vajpeyi, a noted literary-cultural critic on the occasion while giving tips to the budding authors clearly stated, “Merely with the help of Google and other search engines, knowledge cannot be obtained or improved. Even to understand the society and for expansion of humanity, one must be a voracious reader. Also, for all emerging writers it is important to understand that until they will not study and analysis different literary works, they just cannot do justice with their piece of writing. Reading, exploring other writers work is the key to succeed in this genre.”
He further added that besides the reading habit that link one generation to other, familiarizes one about various cultures, civilizations, level of tolerance must be also encouraged among all especially who firmly believes in power of writing. Citing the current example of a movie controversy, he added, “Decrease in tolerance level is the clear indication that the true essence of democracy is being exterminated.” Meanwhile, he also said that public must be sensitive enough while posting their views and opinions on the social media platforms.
The former civil servant while sharing his opinion on one of the most important key issue that governs the fourth estate of democracy, Vajpeyi said, “Commercialization has severely influenced broadcast industry. Undoubtedly, there is no scope left for good literary work here but it is slowly spreading over the print medium as well and that need to be addressed.”
In the meantime, Former BBC Chief to India, William Mark Tully who almost worked for two decades in New Delhi covering various socio, economic, political aspects raised his voice for uplifting regional languages through literary festivals for keeping the vision of unity in diversity alive. “It is a harsh truth that even in the era of globalization, regional languages does not get enough space and adequate attention, these kinds of literary work helps in giving regional writers a platform to share their work that demands equal respect and promotion.
According to Tully, literary fests are important in diverse ways. Also according to Tully, emergence of new media applications can never take away the power of specific medium of expression.