Great video, Avdoot, and a very good point for discussion. In my opinion, I do not believe Indian fiction is on a decline or lacklustre. However, I cannot agree more about the "marketing" point that you mention. It does prove it's point on it's own, with the fact that all you came across in Indian literature is Durjoy Datta, Amitav Ghosh, Amish Tripathi or Chetan Bhagat. Vikram Sethi and others that you mention are great authors, but there are many gems in various regional literature, that teaches us about different cultures and societies. India in itself are like multiple countries in one- with every state coming with it's own flavour of culture. So, the familiarity aspect that you mention may not be true if you look towards regional literature. Also, regarding the authors not being celebrated- is kinda true when you look at it on the surface level. BUT- Indian authors have a niche audience, and this audience does celebrate their authors. There are programs, felicitations and celebrations of authors who may not be popular or treated as "celebrities" in the normal world, but within this niche ecosystem of readers, these authors do get their dues. I would like to recommend a few hidden gems from the Indian fiction, which I think deserve to be explored, if a reader wants to deep-dive into Indian fiction literature somewhere in between the two extremes from Durjoy, Chetan Bhagat, Amitav to Vikram Sethi, Anita Desai and others: 1. Age of Frenzy by Mahabaleshwar Sail (Translated from Konkani, tells us about Goa, it's culture, Portuguese colonial rule etc) 2. Leila by Prayag Akbar (A dystopian satire that beautifully paints a picture of Indian politics) 2. Ghachar Ghochar (Vivek Shangab, translated from Kannada) 3. Bombay Balchao by Jane Borges (A poignant tale about the catholic community in South Bombay) 4. I named my Sister Silence by Manoj Rupda (Translated from Hindi, tells us about the grim story of marginal people who end up joining the Maoist) 5. The Two Wanderers by Bappaditya Chakravarthy (explores Buddhism culture, however I am yet to read this) 6. The Boy Unloved by Damodar Mauzo (Translated from Konkani, a contemporary fiction based in Goa that really leaves the reader pondering) 7. Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto (In my TBR, but deals with important issues like mental health and depression.) I am sure there are many more hidden in other states- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odhisha, Gujarat, North-East, Kashmir etc. Exploring Indian fiction is a journey in itself.
Most of the literature we have in various parts in india,is in regional languages.We have a very tremendous amount of literature that we should translate to english and publish it globally.And indian society and people as well as government should promote reading and writing also read it.
As an Indian redear I really feel that Indian booktubers should promote more of indian literature, fiction books and authors. As for myself i do love to explore many genres like fantacy , classic lit , crime thriller, si-fi ! But I don't get good enough of them by Indian authors! However, I've my favourite regional author like Satyajit Ray , Ravindranath Tagore. I love their writings since childhood and I still read their works.
Indian fiction is something i can relate to and is familiar.... So hands down Indian fiction works for me. .. But you need to select the right ones.... Fiction by Bengali or South Indian authors is a work of art.... They are less popular but brilliant.... Rooted in our culture, and full of lessons in life....
My reasons - 1 - Indian booktubers haven't put enough effort into promoting good Indian authors/books(not targetting you just speaking in general) Same goes for bookstragrammers. Majority of what people buy these days is based on what their favourite book influence has recommended. Indian book influencers NEED to promote good Indian books. Its high time now. 2 - Colonial hangover. As much as it may sound weird but stillmany peole have this incorrect colonial hangover that somehow a book written by a white person is always better than a book written by Indian author. I even came across some weird comment that ' I dont like to read books which have Indian names' . So we are still just getting out of this hangover and I hope in future people embrace more Indian authors and more Indians also taking up writing and we get better writers as well
Idk why but it's weird to have Indian names in a book . However, I don't have problems with Indian names when I am reading historical fiction and mythologies. Btw I do like to read Indian authors book also
I so agree with the first point! Indian booktubers gotta stop blindly imitating their Western counterparts when it comes to following "diversified" reading trends. You will find enough reels and videos on booktubers reading a book from every country in Europe or even every state in USA but you won't find a good Indian counterpart where one is doing a book from every Indian state or reading translations from all the 22 odd official languages of India or say do a reading challenge involving Sahitya Akademi winning books and so on...
As a reader who loves to read various authors from India and other parts of the world, I have seen that there are not much people in our country who are interested in books that are written in hindi or any other Indian language. That's why lots of great classic Indian books are not that famous like any other well promoted books... Definitely in hindi also quality of books is degrading, but still some are there to keep our hope high.✊ (Although I find world literature more relatable and interesting, so I am going to explore more this year.☺️)
Great topic brother! I personally come from the Czech republic - a country with lots of book lovers. Literally if you travel, you will always see someone reading a book (including me 😁). But our own writers were not that much preferred until recently. I had the same attitude, I utterly avoided books by Czech modern writters. But slowly a change came. Our booktubers started bit by bit to include national writters and they were totally amazed. They spoke about so many fascinating topics, varieties of genres and their enthusiasm was so infectious that I myself have dared to try the same. And it changed my mind too. For example I am currently reading Czech book set in a jungle environment during a war time, so not our current time and our country at all but I got immersed inside the book immediatelly, it is so interesting. Our writters are coming with fascinating topics like very less known time in our history and they try varieties of genres. Along with it there are many people who speak about those books and promote them further. It's not that we prefer Czech books but slowly and steadily we are starting to give them the same value as to very high acclaimed international authors. So from my opinion there are many factors involved in it. It is the courage both of the writer and the reader to come out of the comfort zone and try something different and sometimes not easy too and the attention the books themselves get by their readers. And maybe there are other factors not so obvious too. But I hope for the best in your motherland too.
Absolutely insightful comment I can’t thank you enough, yes it’s a slow process but we ll get there I’d love to read some great Czech literature, feel free to recommend 🙌
@ReadTravelBecome I would gladly recommend many titles, though not all of them have English translation. Still I can mention three books that touched me deeply: Years of silence by Alena Mornstajnova (a historical family story where the word 'silence' has a big meaning), The sound of the sundial by Hana Andronikova (this book is partly set in India as the main hero works for the Bata company) and All the beauties of the world by Jaroslav Seifert (a memoir of our big poet).
As an Indian, I feel that writing is often viewed more as a hobby, something we engage in during our free time, rather than a potential career path. Very few people pursue a career in literature, as our society does not strongly encourage exploring the literary world. This lack of support prevents many from delving into novels and other forms of creative writing. In local villages and towns, there is so much untold potential and stories that could be shared, and there are many people eager to read them. However, the main issue lies in the lack of promotion and support for literature.
I agree, I picked up his "The 3 Mistakes of My Life" and I was like what on earth is happening? How the hell are these poor guys who own a sports store on rented land going to Australia? + the ending sucks, I can't understand was it supposed to be full of action or what?
One should explore bengali fiction books by sunil ganguly, shirshendu mukhopadhyay, samaresh Majumdar and many others.. They are greats and their works are availbale on english translation by well-known publishing house like rupa, penguin, oxford. Just go and give a try.
From what I feel, English is not a native Indian language, and a minute portion of the Indian population is comfortable and willing to invest in English fiction books. Further, Indian fiction falls short due to the presence of multiple languages in the country (which, in fact, should be an advantage). There's a plethora of fiction books written in different regional languages that need to be translated into English for reaching a wider audience. Recently, Niyogi Publishers has been working on the same, and i highly recommend going to their stores (much from them isn't available on online platforms) and checking out their amazing collection of translated fiction. Lastly, I totally agree with the last point. The culture and ecosystem supporting reading is dying fast, public libraries are hardly present these days, rarely authors, publishers, or readers are looked up to.
I feel that the fourth point is one of the most important point you have discussed till now . Because I love reading but my parents literally asked me if I gain something while I read novels or poem or a prose or any other thing which will not help me increase my marks and I feel that that is one very very very very very very big problem. Encouraging someone only to read to gain something makes the person hate or dislike that particular action. And for me reading from every genre helps to make a better person to make a better character or a personality of a person because sometime you cannot gain some life tips from just a non fiction but a fiction book can teach you much more than just what the nonfiction taught you. A combination of all the genres is what makes reading more fun and enjoyable. Not promoting Indian authors and their books in the market of Indian literature is really a big problem because some authors or writers are really very very underrated but people refuse or fail to see or read those works by them because it is not marketed enough and later fails to reach the public and a gem gets hidden forever. I have seen this pattern in Indian literature as well as in Indian entertainment industry that when a particular genre gets currently famous then all the other people try to copy and do the almost exact thing with just a bit of editing and continue to promote them and publish them just because that particular genre is in demand. Like if a non fiction book gets famous all the other authors will write non fictions only and if in a movie a horror genre will get famous or a mythological genre will get famous than the majority people will do the exact same. That's a huge problem people fail to recognise. The famous writer Chetan Bhagat, I have read almost all books of him but he always writes from a point of Bollywood movie. Many of his books were adapted into movies but I don't like a story because though his writings are really easy to understand but as a reader I have read diverse categories of literature and it made me realise that his women characters kind of really problematic. My first novel which made me fall in love with reading was a book by Durjoy Dutta, his " the boy who loved" book and since I always liked a dark book his book was perfect for me as a first novel. But Some of his other novels are not that good ...But I have also read Amish, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni who writes so well but are not recognised or promoted enough .
I am told enough to remember a brief period when Indian writers in English were indeed rockstars. This was the 1980s when the likes of Amitav Ghosh, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Namita Gokhale, Allen Sealy and yes Shashi Tharoor (people now know him only as a politician but his early books made a huge splash). There were many others also; they became globally popular and there was a lot of talk that Indian writing in English would match Latin American writing in popularity. Alas, that never happened, can't say why... Later, when Arundhati Roy's God of Small Things came out in 1997, again there was similar talk of Indian writing in English making a global splash. But Roy had no successors of equal talent. Even in Indian languages, writers don't have the status they used to in the 20th century. In Bengal, people like Sunil Gangopadhyaya, Samaresh Basu, Shankar and many others were also rockstars, much more than the likes of Amitav Ghosh in the 1980s. Ditto in Malayalam - Vaikom Basheer, O. V. Vijayan, MT Vasudevan Nair (who recently passed away) and many others. All that is over now, the current generation of writers even in regional languages has no such following. Is it the digital revolution that is responsible? It's a mystery....
@@ReadTravelBecome I forgot to mention Vikram Seth, who was another literary superstar in the late 1980s-early 1990s. I'm now remembering a gossip item - in some entertainment publication devoted mostly to film stars - which said Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth met at some party, Rushdie said something slightly snarky to Seth and Seth gave a befitting reply... Can't recall the details, but that was the extent of their popularity, they figured in gossip columns
As a 10th grader, I extremely agree with you that we, students of the Indian education system, struggle to build the habit of reading. Even after this I managed to buy some books and tried to build reading habit but whenever I think that I should read that novel or that self-help book my mind always comes up with one thing that I'm in class tenth I've boards so rather than reading other books I should be studying for my exam.. I'm really exhausted with this thinking cycle where I really can't start any book I have. My parents also say that you shouldn't be reading that book, I still hope that one day I will be able to read all those books which I've planned to read and make my own book collection like yours. You're a true inspiration for me because you see the world of literature in the way I see.❤❤
The first time i read proper indian fiction was in 2023 in my shool library. I had picked out five point someone by Chetan Bhagat and omggg i loved it so much and im still waiting to own my own copy because wow that book reminded me so much of my fav indian movie "3 idiots". I didnt know at that time if the movie was inspired from the book but Chetan really is a super great author & i was so happy to find out my fav movie was from his writing.
Very relevant topic as an Indian. I noticed the same thing last year, that I don’t reach for Indian authors much because I don’t find them telling the stories I want to read or the quality I am looking for( not a fan of books where romance is central or of Bollywood type stuff). If great books are there they might not be in English or they are not being marketed right. At the end I think it all comes down to demand for books( aka the majority of the Indian public) and the respect authors and fiction writing gets in India- which is pretty much non existent. If there is demand the publishing houses will supply - so ultimately it’s on the Indian public, schools, parents and the governments to support and encourage writers and books of all kinds. And that will only happen when they see value in it. Sorry to say majority of the people in daily life I know- do not read for leisure especially not fiction. Plus It’s so easy to slide down the rabbit hole of the other forms of entertainment ( often to our detriment)that reading at best takes a back seat and at worst it gets thrown from the car all together. It’s really sad because I am sure there is a lot of talent in this country but without the right soil even the best seed cannot sprout.
In Indian fiction, you could try reading Manoj Das. His writing is extremely witty and the way he frames sentences is really intriguing. You could pick up "The Escapist" or his "Tiger at Twilight"
Thank you for shedding light on this topic. Agreed with all the points mentioned, specifically the second one. What a great video! You are doing great. 👏
my school had graded assessments where we were asked to pick a fiction work from a list of books do character analysis, write about author's perspectives and many more other writings regarding that book. i developed a habit of reading from those tests, glad that i didn't just do it forsake of being graded. yes true! India needs to rejuvenate its reading culture and indians need to celebrate the authors and not just fall for heavily marketed but not so good books. and book youtubers need to talk about Indian books too! be it bad or good, like try searching for those yet to be discovered book and simply talk about it.
If anyone wants to read 'dark(blood and gory ) epic fantasy' they can read "Sons of darkness" by Gourav mohanty. It's a mixture of game of thrones and Mahabharata, it has also garnered quite an attention from foreign book tubers. It's a 3 book series and the second book is coming this year.
Finally someone who values quality over money. Money is evil. We read it in childhood, now it a reality. Its robbing us from true beauty. Everything that you speak or do has to have monetary reward attached to it. Pathetic times. Still prople like you gives me hope. In India, we are moving backwards. Fascism at its peak.
Somebody please translate the taranath tantrik book from bengali to English already. We have an English book that only covers just the two chapters of the literature Edit: you will love this book if you know bengali. My bengali friend used to translate these stories to me they are just wonderful. And I also agree with people only reading self help books and not reading stories for fun.
Many so-called readers seem overly obsessed with authors like Kafka, Dostoevsky, Sally Rooney, Murakami & other trendy authors often just to appear 'deep.' I’m not saying these authors are bad but it feels like some folks have built their entire persona around them. Last yr I read Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan & it truly stirred my soul.. making me laugh just as much as it made me reflect. This yr, I’ve set a reading challenge of 24 books & I plan to focus solely on Indian lit.
I am an author and what you say resonates with me. My genre is murder mystery and I wish marketing my book would be easier. If you want to read it my latest book is Murder at the Club by Sushama Kasbekar
Valid points stated in the video. However, I feel that now, more than ever, Indian fiction is gaining more popularity albeit slowly. I think it's a matter of time as Indians are still exploring and getting used to works of fiction by Indian authors. We have quite a few of them - Amish, Amitav Ghosh, Ashwin Sanghi, Chetan Bhagat, Anuradha Roy, Vivek Shanbagh, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, Perumal Murugan, Manoj Rupda, Bhavani Iyer, Mamang Dai, Esterine Kire, Vikram Chandra and others. There are a few writers who write in regional languages (Vivek Shanbag, Perumal Murugan and Manoj Rupda are examples) and so, their translations need to be available for larger consumption. To my knowledge, never before in India have there been so many authors offering their work for the market. Therefore, I think it'll take time for people to consume these books, explore more and appreciate the works of these authors. I accept that not all books are good/ interesting. But I guess, the market will sort that out. We'll have to wait and see. That's my take on it.
9:08 I agree with 1st 3 points. But for the 4th point, it's true but it has its drawbacks in respective countries. Indians being STEM concentric ulUS being more literature
Indian fiction is currently not in good shape. But I do see good non-fiction books on Indian polity, history, stories of entrepreneurs coming out and being received well. Indian origin authors like Tasha Suri are being received well in UK and U.S. markets. Indian fiction writers need to up their game and compete with international markets in terms of quality, that’s a tough reality due to globalization. They need also need to tell stories without falling to the tropes they are conditioned to through existing books and movies.
Completely agree with your points brother,💯. Indian authors are not celebrated with recognition and adulation the way they actually deserve. Literature needs more diversity in India.
7:14 How could you not consider Ruskin Bond an Indian author? The landscapes he writes about, the people he talks about and even ghosts he talks about are Indian. I can resonate with the things he is talking about...so i would definitely consider him an Indian author atleast over Jhumpa Lahiri. Also, besides that, the genre of non fiction in india is not limited to 'self help' books. There is a wide range of books on commentaries on politics, history and international relations. And those are the books i would want to be discussed among the youth. That being said, you covered all the dimensions and that too deep insights. So, kudos to that.
Oh yes, just from an ethnic perspective And true that, non fiction is so much more: hence I fully stressed on fiction. The range of non fiction in India is incredible
The poison of love by K.R.Meera and Keepers of Kalachakra by Ashwin Sanghi are 2 of the books by Indian Authors , which I recommend to many as those stories have stayed with me
2:40 completely agree with these points. Personally for me when I started reading hindi fiction as a kid like Banke lal comic and other such stuff I often faced criticism from school and home to read religious stuff more or books about freedom fighter. Basically it taught me that fiction is bad and I should hide I read it. So I did had access to hindi book online (i used archieve) but I had access to a lot of western books in fiction. Also most author who write Indian fiction in English have really bad English (Amish) I tried readong them but couldn't. I did read some romaces some were good but most are saturated like Bollywood. My main in self-help book and non fiction. I can't read fiction without feeling guilty😂😂😂
i'd like to add something. i've been a voracious reader since like 2017, back when reading wasn't seen as a "cool, intellectual" hobby, rather people thought it was too nerdy and boring. so in offline book stores finding books from foreign authors was hard, even on e-commerce websites when it came to foreign authors, options were limited to a song of ice and fire, harry potter, christie, dickens and a few author classic authors; so i'd usally buy and read only indian fiction and that's when i noticed a huge problem that men probably won't : the hyper sexualization of female bodies and poorly written female characters. amish tripathi is an example of authors like this. his female protagonists have a massive case of "not like the other girls" syndrome; they hate on anything girly and feminine. whereas the anti-hero female characters are portrayed as hypersexualized bimbos. most indian authors(irrespective of gender) i have read from struggle with writing nuanced female characters and relationship between women. to be honest ever since pandemic, i found tout how to pirate books and i almost exclusively read foreign authors, a lot of foreign male authors (like khaled hosseini) write much more nuanced and better female characters than indian authors i used to read from (before 2020 ofc, i have no idea about books currently being published). however i do love reading from NRI authors who do not stereotype women into either the soft spoken sati-savitri archetype or the vamp seductress. however i've been trying to get into indian fiction again, my next read will be "the god of small things" by arundhati roy that won the booker prize!! edit : btw i'm not making this an gender issue, i think contemporary indian authors (regardless of their gender ) can't write female characters.
@@rohanmulgaokar5682 i'll check it out and honestly if the characters are well written i'll absolutely enjoy it. my main critic is that authors try to write "macho" male characters and "not-like-the-other-girls" female characters instead of just writing characters who happen to be a certain gender
The reason Indian Books don't sell as much is same reason (whatever that might me) why Indian Paintings are not sold as much, why India doesn't have its own version on Disney or Pixar or Studio Ghibli and why Bollywood is on a downfall.
i will highly suggest you to read Nidhi Upadhyay books (only 3 though). i found them very interesting. also novoneel chakraborty stranger triology is epic
All valid points... Want to add some more. 4. I have found the best indian fiction in translated fiction written by RESIDENT indian authors who write in VERNACULAR. cause they are not pandering to anyone and the plots and characters are really strong. They dont patronize the readers. They are just telling their stories. 1. Popular 'Indian' author books in english are written by expats who frankly pander to the western audience. The stories are full of page long imageries of pickles drying and monsoon etc. Its written at a very slow pace. Which makes it very boring. With stereotypical characters. 2. A lot of expat and resident indian authors (specially women) write very meloncholic stories which have very downer vibes. Again making it a struggle to finish. And these are the ones that get awards and visibility. 3. Most people who can afford to buy and read books have studied in english medium schools which makes English our first language. That too in convents. There the books in libraries were very typically british authors. So we have read a lot of it and are familiar with the names of the authors.
what are books from around th eworld including india which are about cults ,black magic,which might have stuff about ritual sacrifices of animals to humans ,etc. fiction,non fiction etc
Mostly indian parents think reading fiction book is waste of time. They never encouraged children to read fiction book rather than read text book so qualified competitive exams
Thank you so much sir, you channel is one the best booktube channel।for me, i wait for your videos, daksh jindal sir videos, helly, indian booktuber and few others, i rewatch yourvideos beacuse your recommendations are not those familiar books and i have to come back again, Keep this work up sir❤❤❤
I see a lot of people saying that more Indian Lit books should be translated but no that is not the solution. Read books in your own regional language. Language is Identity. Firstly, translated versions can never fully capture the essence of the original language. Secondly, if they are translated to English, more readers might start reading the books but in ENGLISH! Else we will slowly lose our originality and decades later there won't be any regional books available. You don't see Russians reading the English translated version of Dostevsky's works, French people reading English? (They don't even bother learning English lol) Some of the Indian languages are older than English and even oldest in the world. We simply cannot allow for it to go extinct. If you know Hindi, read Hindi books. Know Tamil, read Tamil books. Even better read the English/Other Lang books translated in Indian Regional langs. If the book is really phenomenal, it will be automatically recognised outside by people who are genuinely interested in knowledge and intellectual reading and not just those who are using books are aesthetic or it's "cool" promoting over consumption. Eg: Thirukural is one of the highest langs translated non-religious text in the world (Next to Bible and Quran) translated to even German, Russian, Latin etc. This was even before the boom of technology. If it's great, it will get it's due recognition.
I only read Bengali and English language books. But I know that there are so many works in so many languages which I want to read . But I'm not fluent in those language so that's heartbreaking. We need more translations.
There is excellent regional language literature in India. My experience with Marathi literature was always outstanding. While reading those books, people would certainly feel that they are transcended. But , as an Indian i would like you to promote good books from good authors from India.
My sister read indian fiction of Mira like the gospel of Yudas and poison of love. And Munshi premchand. I read asian writers like Khaled Hosseini,Zoulfa Katouh,Marjan Kamli because these writer have some kind of depth which i think may be lacking in Modern Indian Fiction writers. I have purchased Manav Kaul's A bird on my windowsill.
Me apne career ko lekar problem me hu me apna career change nhi kar pa raha hu Me apne job 1.3 saal se kar raha hu par muje mera kaam pasand nhi aa raha aur ab me mera career change karna chahta hu lekin family aisa karne nhi de rahe hai lekin unke baat bhi galat nhi hai wo mere future ko leke pareshan hai isliye wo muje change karne nhi de rahe aur ab me koi decision nhi le pa raha hu ke change karo ya na karo. So please sir suggest any book
Indian fiction for ex : tamil literature and novels are in the international standards but idk why they need an tagline and an English author name to take an book
we really need to pick up works from authors who write in our mother tongue/regional languages. making it a goal to read at least one hindi and one urdu literature this year ✊
Another thing that I find is that, as a Hindi literature reader, I really can't find the book I want to read in good condition. Hindi upanyas are really hard to find in a bookstore. When I was in school, my school had a good collection of Hindi literature, so I read them a lot, but today, I can't find it easily like that.
First of all thx for replying to every comment,I havent watched the vid but I think its cus (I dont read Indian Books despite being an Indian) I dont see alot of Indian fiction Authors Advertised,And if they are they arent That appealing to kids,Most Dont pick up an Book that says 'Fictional Kids stories'. Other authors dont use 'Kids or Children' in their Writing,So Others will read their book (i think My explaination was terrible srryyy)
Assamese novels sell well in Assam, main problem is lack of translation to other languages.. Same way Translation to Assamese language from others also lacking 💔💔
When I read a book based in a foreign country it is difficult for me to remember the name of the cities mentioned in it and I also don't exactly know where the places are on the map and how far from each other are those cities. How do you remember such details while reading a novel? Also name of the characters when there are too many characters.
That’s a great point! I used to face that Now I do a secret thing, I go on to Pinterest and look at some images of the city. Also the setting. And mentally set in an image
Bhaiyaa me bahut slow read krta hu , Agr 5 ghntee bhi pdu to sirf 20 page hi pd pata hu 😢 kyuki kaafi words aese hote hai jinka matlab mujhe pta hi nhi hota ,to reading Bahut slow ho jati hai ,aur baar baar dictionary dekhne ki wajah se , reading process enjoy nhi kr pata !! Please give me solution ❤
@@Ecatasy ek bar me overview samjh aa jata h.. dusri bar me pura... instead of word... books me pure sentence,paragraph ya chapter ka context hota h... jo ki rapid readinge me bhi samjh aa jata h...
I’ve come across way better stuff from regional literature’s translations than the mainstream ‘English best sellers’. Just shows what we need in the first place. We have good literature, but it’s mostly hidden because of language barrier within the country. And the ones that’s accessible to masses isn’t always our best work.
Simple. Because people want to read real stories of pure hearts and not the privileged kids who themselves cant get out but rather support casteism in this country. It might seem like a cliche point, but this country needs to come out of the superiority complex first.
In India, sadly saying the habit of reading books (fiction,non-fiction etc) is missing. Parents only want their students to read those books which are in the syllabus, so there is no culture of reading books. 😢 Children are allowed to play 'video games' but not allowed to read books because they think that it only waste time( as per some respected relatives)
I think the only "literature" we are exposed to is just mythology. And still I didn't remember the writer of Ramayana. Foreign authors like Murakami are popular because of their translated work I think it would greatly help Indian literature if it was being translated I haven't read a single Hindi (language) novel I think it is because of the friction. Since English literature is readily available. And we are taught mostly in English. Hindi has become just a subject. I think instead of getting our works translated we should instead translate the popular books in Hindi and then market those. If we were to read just the foreign books in our language. It would create more authors and a market.
Hey, I will consider myself lucky that I found your video in my feed at the right time. Why is Indian fiction failing? I am an Indian Author. Very recently, I published my first book "National Highway ½ - an unsolvable question, with an unpredictable answer". It is a story about a four explorers whom the Government chooses on the expedition of a mysterious highway (a place of no-return). But, as said, they too never return. 20 years later, their children meet and reopen this case, diving into the highway. What happens next is the entire premise of the book. My book also dives deep into Ancient India, integrating puranas & Mahabharata into the story. I feel I can bring back the popularity to Indian fiction because my book is deeply rooted in the culture. If you can help me to promote my book. If you find my proposal genuine, I am looking forward to connect with you. But on a honest note, I cannot pay anybody. Thank you
Tbh, Chetan bhagat played a major role in destroying Indian author image, the way he become famous inspite of substandard writing and then start promoting political agenda set a wrong example
Half of modern (and not just recent, older as well) Indian literature is rooted in breaking tradition, and not upholding it. A lot of it is foreign, deracinated ideology translated (or not). Rest of it is pretty dull. The flair is missing. It’s not captivating like good writing should be. In a nutshell it’s derivative.
Great video, Avdoot, and a very good point for discussion. In my opinion, I do not believe Indian fiction is on a decline or lacklustre. However, I cannot agree more about the "marketing" point that you mention. It does prove it's point on it's own, with the fact that all you came across in Indian literature is Durjoy Datta, Amitav Ghosh, Amish Tripathi or Chetan Bhagat. Vikram Sethi and others that you mention are great authors, but there are many gems in various regional literature, that teaches us about different cultures and societies. India in itself are like multiple countries in one- with every state coming with it's own flavour of culture. So, the familiarity aspect that you mention may not be true if you look towards regional literature. Also, regarding the authors not being celebrated- is kinda true when you look at it on the surface level. BUT- Indian authors have a niche audience, and this audience does celebrate their authors. There are programs, felicitations and celebrations of authors who may not be popular or treated as "celebrities" in the normal world, but within this niche ecosystem of readers, these authors do get their dues.
I would like to recommend a few hidden gems from the Indian fiction, which I think deserve to be explored, if a reader wants to deep-dive into Indian fiction literature somewhere in between the two extremes from Durjoy, Chetan Bhagat, Amitav to Vikram Sethi, Anita Desai and others:
1. Age of Frenzy by Mahabaleshwar Sail (Translated from Konkani, tells us about Goa, it's culture, Portuguese colonial rule etc)
2. Leila by Prayag Akbar (A dystopian satire that beautifully paints a picture of Indian politics)
2. Ghachar Ghochar (Vivek Shangab, translated from Kannada)
3. Bombay Balchao by Jane Borges (A poignant tale about the catholic community in South Bombay)
4. I named my Sister Silence by Manoj Rupda (Translated from Hindi, tells us about the grim story of marginal people who end up joining the Maoist)
5. The Two Wanderers by Bappaditya Chakravarthy (explores Buddhism culture, however I am yet to read this)
6. The Boy Unloved by Damodar Mauzo (Translated from Konkani, a contemporary fiction based in Goa that really leaves the reader pondering)
7. Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto (In my TBR, but deals with important issues like mental health and depression.)
I am sure there are many more hidden in other states- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odhisha, Gujarat, North-East, Kashmir etc. Exploring Indian fiction is a journey in itself.
Incredible, beautiful comment. Thank you so much for sharing!
Most of the literature we have in various parts in india,is in regional languages.We have a very tremendous amount of literature that we should translate to english and publish it globally.And indian society and people as well as government should promote reading and writing also read it.
Great point!
Exactly 💯
@@ReadTravelBecomeGlad to get comment from you bhaiya.Great fan ❤
Yeah 👍
That's what the Sahitya Academy does, but obviously can do a much better job on social media
As an Indian redear I really feel that Indian booktubers should promote more of indian literature, fiction books and authors. As for myself i do love to explore many genres like fantacy , classic lit , crime thriller, si-fi ! But I don't get good enough of them by Indian authors! However, I've my favourite regional author like Satyajit Ray , Ravindranath Tagore. I love their writings since childhood and I still read their works.
Indian fiction is something i can relate to and is familiar.... So hands down Indian fiction works for me. ..
But you need to select the right ones.... Fiction by Bengali or South Indian authors is a work of art.... They are less popular but brilliant.... Rooted in our culture, and full of lessons in life....
Please suggest some good fiction
Exactly
Can you please recommend some?
I’ve heard a lot yes, looking forward to exploring these
@@ksrinibash9934 pls do read stranger triology by novoneel chaakraborty. it's fabulous
My reasons -
1 - Indian booktubers haven't put enough effort into promoting good Indian authors/books(not targetting you just speaking in general)
Same goes for bookstragrammers. Majority of what people buy these days is based on what their favourite book influence has recommended.
Indian book influencers NEED to promote good Indian books. Its high time now.
2 - Colonial hangover. As much as it may sound weird but stillmany peole have this incorrect colonial hangover that somehow a book written by a white person is always better than a book written by Indian author. I even came across some weird comment that ' I dont like to read books which have Indian names' . So we are still just getting out of this hangover and I hope in future people embrace more Indian authors and more Indians also taking up writing and we get better writers as well
These are great points. White supremacy does exist yeah. I personally dont experience it but your points are relevant
Thanks for sharing!
Reason 2 is for me I don't prefer indian😅
Idk why but it's weird to have Indian names in a book . However, I don't have problems with Indian names when I am reading historical fiction and mythologies.
Btw I do like to read Indian authors book also
I so agree with the first point! Indian booktubers gotta stop blindly imitating their Western counterparts when it comes to following "diversified" reading trends. You will find enough reels and videos on booktubers reading a book from every country in Europe or even every state in USA but you won't find a good Indian counterpart where one is doing a book from every Indian state or reading translations from all the 22 odd official languages of India or say do a reading challenge involving Sahitya Akademi winning books and so on...
It is a name why the hell is it weird @@BibbliophilesBrush
As a reader who loves to read various authors from India and other parts of the world, I have seen that there are not much people in our country who are interested in books that are written in hindi or any other Indian language. That's why lots of great classic Indian books are not that famous like any other well promoted books... Definitely in hindi also quality of books is degrading, but still some are there to keep our hope high.✊
(Although I find world literature more relatable and interesting, so I am going to explore more this year.☺️)
Meghna Verma YT talks about really good Indian gems.
Beautiful, we need passionate people like you🙌
Great topic brother! I personally come from the Czech republic - a country with lots of book lovers. Literally if you travel, you will always see someone reading a book (including me 😁). But our own writers were not that much preferred until recently. I had the same attitude, I utterly avoided books by Czech modern writters. But slowly a change came. Our booktubers started bit by bit to include national writters and they were totally amazed. They spoke about so many fascinating topics, varieties of genres and their enthusiasm was so infectious that I myself have dared to try the same. And it changed my mind too. For example I am currently reading Czech book set in a jungle environment during a war time, so not our current time and our country at all but I got immersed inside the book immediatelly, it is so interesting. Our writters are coming with fascinating topics like very less known time in our history and they try varieties of genres. Along with it there are many people who speak about those books and promote them further. It's not that we prefer Czech books but slowly and steadily we are starting to give them the same value as to very high acclaimed international authors. So from my opinion there are many factors involved in it. It is the courage both of the writer and the reader to come out of the comfort zone and try something different and sometimes not easy too and the attention the books themselves get by their readers. And maybe there are other factors not so obvious too. But I hope for the best in your motherland too.
Absolutely insightful comment
I can’t thank you enough, yes it’s a slow process but we ll get there
I’d love to read some great Czech literature, feel free to recommend 🙌
@ReadTravelBecome I would gladly recommend many titles, though not all of them have English translation. Still I can mention three books that touched me deeply: Years of silence by Alena Mornstajnova (a historical family story where the word 'silence' has a big meaning), The sound of the sundial by Hana Andronikova (this book is partly set in India as the main hero works for the Bata company) and All the beauties of the world by Jaroslav Seifert (a memoir of our big poet).
As an Indian, I feel that writing is often viewed more as a hobby, something we engage in during our free time, rather than a potential career path. Very few people pursue a career in literature, as our society does not strongly encourage exploring the literary world. This lack of support prevents many from delving into novels and other forms of creative writing. In local villages and towns, there is so much untold potential and stories that could be shared, and there are many people eager to read them. However, the main issue lies in the lack of promotion and support for literature.
That’s an interesting perspective
Very well said brother.. Whenever I try to make people understand about this they never try to listen. dwelling in the same concept and themes.
Share this video w them😇
Honestly Chetan Bhagat is so bad (and so irrelevant) that he shouldn't be the standard for Indian fiction.
I agree, I picked up his "The 3 Mistakes of My Life" and I was like what on earth is happening? How the hell are these poor guys who own a sports store on rented land going to Australia? + the ending sucks, I can't understand was it supposed to be full of action or what?
💯💯💯
I Agree
One should explore bengali fiction books by sunil ganguly, shirshendu mukhopadhyay, samaresh Majumdar and many others..
They are greats and their works are availbale on english translation by well-known publishing house like rupa, penguin, oxford.
Just go and give a try.
🙌
Im so glad so much of Bengali literature is getting translated so people from other state can read. Bengali literature always has been amazing.
I've read the adventures of Feluda by Satyajit Ray and loved it!!
thanks for putting out ur perspective loved it the way you highlighted 🎉
Appreciate the support! 🙏
From what I feel, English is not a native Indian language, and a minute portion of the Indian population is comfortable and willing to invest in English fiction books.
Further, Indian fiction falls short due to the presence of multiple languages in the country (which, in fact, should be an advantage). There's a plethora of fiction books written in different regional languages that need to be translated into English for reaching a wider audience. Recently, Niyogi Publishers has been working on the same, and i highly recommend going to their stores (much from them isn't available on online platforms) and checking out their amazing collection of translated fiction.
Lastly, I totally agree with the last point. The culture and ecosystem supporting reading is dying fast, public libraries are hardly present these days, rarely authors, publishers, or readers are looked up to.
Couldn’t agree more, thanks for sharing that thought 🙌
I feel that the fourth point is one of the most important point you have discussed till now . Because I love reading but my parents literally asked me if I gain something while I read novels or poem or a prose or any other thing which will not help me increase my marks and I feel that that is one very very very very very very big problem. Encouraging someone only to read to gain something makes the person hate or dislike that particular action. And for me reading from every genre helps to make a better person to make a better character or a personality of a person because sometime you cannot gain some life tips from just a non fiction but a fiction book can teach you much more than just what the nonfiction taught you. A combination of all the genres is what makes reading more fun and enjoyable. Not promoting Indian authors and their books in the market of Indian literature is really a big problem because some authors or writers are really very very underrated but people refuse or fail to see or read those works by them because it is not marketed enough and later fails to reach the public and a gem gets hidden forever. I have seen this pattern in Indian literature as well as in Indian entertainment industry that when a particular genre gets currently famous then all the other people try to copy and do the almost exact thing with just a bit of editing and continue to promote them and publish them just because that particular genre is in demand. Like if a non fiction book gets famous all the other authors will write non fictions only and if in a movie a horror genre will get famous or a mythological genre will get famous than the majority people will do the exact same. That's a huge problem people fail to recognise. The famous writer Chetan Bhagat, I have read almost all books of him but he always writes from a point of Bollywood movie. Many of his books were adapted into movies but I don't like a story because though his writings are really easy to understand but as a reader I have read diverse categories of literature and it made me realise that his women characters kind of really problematic. My first novel which made me fall in love with reading was a book by Durjoy Dutta, his " the boy who loved" book and since I always liked a dark book his book was perfect for me as a first novel. But
Some of his other novels are not that good ...But I have also read Amish, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni who writes so well but are not recognised or promoted enough .
Incredible comment, thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts, I really appreciate it☺️
Your video and perspective really gave great insights into indian literature and it will be helpful for the emerging authors in india..
Thank you 😇
I am told enough to remember a brief period when Indian writers in English were indeed rockstars. This was the 1980s when the likes of Amitav Ghosh, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Namita Gokhale, Allen Sealy and yes Shashi Tharoor (people now know him only as a politician but his early books made a huge splash). There were many others also; they became globally popular and there was a lot of talk that Indian writing in English would match Latin American writing in popularity. Alas, that never happened, can't say why...
Later, when Arundhati Roy's God of Small Things came out in 1997, again there was similar talk of Indian writing in English making a global splash. But Roy had no successors of equal talent.
Even in Indian languages, writers don't have the status they used to in the 20th century. In Bengal, people like Sunil Gangopadhyaya, Samaresh Basu, Shankar and many others were also rockstars, much more than the likes of Amitav Ghosh in the 1980s. Ditto in Malayalam - Vaikom Basheer, O. V. Vijayan, MT Vasudevan Nair (who recently passed away) and many others. All that is over now, the current generation of writers even in regional languages has no such following. Is it the digital revolution that is responsible? It's a mystery....
Such a beautiful comment sir, thank you so much for that snapshot of Indian writing over the years, coudnt have been put any better
@@ReadTravelBecome I forgot to mention Vikram Seth, who was another literary superstar in the late 1980s-early 1990s. I'm now remembering a gossip item - in some entertainment publication devoted mostly to film stars - which said Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth met at some party, Rushdie said something slightly snarky to Seth and Seth gave a befitting reply... Can't recall the details, but that was the extent of their popularity, they figured in gossip columns
@ wowwww
I would love to watch a full blown gossip movie about authors treated like stars😍
As a 10th grader, I extremely agree with you that we, students of the Indian education system, struggle to build the habit of reading. Even after this I managed to buy some books and tried to build reading habit but whenever I think that I should read that novel or that self-help book my mind always comes up with one thing that I'm in class tenth I've boards so rather than reading other books I should be studying for my exam.. I'm really exhausted with this thinking cycle where I really can't start any book I have. My parents also say that you shouldn't be reading that book, I still hope that one day I will be able to read all those books which I've planned to read and make my own book collection like yours. You're a true inspiration for me because you see the world of literature in the way I see.❤❤
You are going to do great, keep going!
The first time i read proper indian fiction was in 2023 in my shool library. I had picked out five point someone by Chetan Bhagat and omggg i loved it so much and im still waiting to own my own copy because wow that book reminded me so much of my fav indian movie "3 idiots". I didnt know at that time if the movie was inspired from the book but Chetan really is a super great author & i was so happy to find out my fav movie was from his writing.
Very relevant topic as an Indian.
I noticed the same thing last year, that I don’t reach for Indian authors much because I don’t find them telling the stories I want to read or the quality I am looking for( not a fan of books where romance is central or of Bollywood type stuff).
If great books are there they might not be in English or they are not being marketed right.
At the end I think it all comes down to demand for books( aka the majority of the Indian public) and the respect authors and fiction writing gets in India- which is pretty much non existent.
If there is demand the publishing houses will supply - so ultimately it’s on the Indian public, schools, parents and the governments to support and encourage writers and books of all kinds.
And that will only happen when they see value in it.
Sorry to say majority of the people in daily life I know- do not read for leisure especially not fiction.
Plus It’s so easy to slide down the rabbit hole of the other forms of entertainment ( often to our detriment)that reading at best takes a back seat and at worst it gets thrown from the car all together.
It’s really sad because I am sure there is a lot of talent in this country but without the right soil even the best seed cannot sprout.
In Indian fiction, you could try reading Manoj Das. His writing is extremely witty and the way he frames sentences is really intriguing. You could pick up "The Escapist" or his "Tiger at Twilight"
Thank you for shedding light on this topic. Agreed with all the points mentioned, specifically the second one. What a great video! You are doing great. 👏
Appreciate the kind words! 👏
my school had graded assessments where we were asked to pick a fiction work from a list of books do character analysis, write about author's perspectives and many more other writings regarding that book. i developed a habit of reading from those tests, glad that i didn't just do it forsake of being graded.
yes true! India needs to rejuvenate its reading culture and indians need to celebrate the authors and not just fall for heavily marketed but not so good books. and book youtubers need to talk about Indian books too! be it bad or good, like try searching for those yet to be discovered book and simply talk about it.
If anyone wants to read 'dark(blood and gory ) epic fantasy' they can read "Sons of darkness" by Gourav mohanty. It's a mixture of game of thrones and Mahabharata, it has also garnered quite an attention from foreign book tubers. It's a 3 book series and the second book is coming this year.
Finally someone who values quality over money. Money is evil. We read it in childhood, now it a reality. Its robbing us from true beauty. Everything that you speak or do has to have monetary reward attached to it. Pathetic times. Still prople like you gives me hope. In India, we are moving backwards. Fascism at its peak.
Somebody please translate the taranath tantrik book from bengali to English already. We have an English book that only covers just the two chapters of the literature
Edit: you will love this book if you know bengali. My bengali friend used to translate these stories to me they are just wonderful. And I also agree with people only reading self help books and not reading stories for fun.
There are TNT Comics
Many so-called readers seem overly obsessed with authors like Kafka, Dostoevsky, Sally Rooney, Murakami & other trendy authors often just to appear 'deep.' I’m not saying these authors are bad but it feels like some folks have built their entire persona around them. Last yr I read Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan & it truly stirred my soul.. making me laugh just as much as it made me reflect. This yr, I’ve set a reading challenge of 24 books & I plan to focus solely on Indian lit.
I am an author and what you say resonates with me. My genre is murder mystery and I wish marketing my book would be easier. If you want to read it my latest book is Murder at the Club by Sushama Kasbekar
Valid points stated in the video. However, I feel that now, more than ever, Indian fiction is gaining more popularity albeit slowly. I think it's a matter of time as Indians are still exploring and getting used to works of fiction by Indian authors. We have quite a few of them - Amish, Amitav Ghosh, Ashwin Sanghi, Chetan Bhagat, Anuradha Roy, Vivek Shanbagh, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, Perumal Murugan, Manoj Rupda, Bhavani Iyer, Mamang Dai, Esterine Kire, Vikram Chandra and others. There are a few writers who write in regional languages (Vivek Shanbag, Perumal Murugan and Manoj Rupda are examples) and so, their translations need to be available for larger consumption.
To my knowledge, never before in India have there been so many authors offering their work for the market. Therefore, I think it'll take time for people to consume these books, explore more and appreciate the works of these authors. I accept that not all books are good/ interesting. But I guess, the market will sort that out. We'll have to wait and see. That's my take on it.
Love your take
Yes, it’s a great perspective. We need optimists like you🥳
@@ReadTravelBecome 🙏
Need High Fantasy / Epic Fantasy books from Indian authors, instead of Mythological fictions genre.
9:08 I agree with 1st 3 points. But for the 4th point, it's true but it has its drawbacks in respective countries. Indians being STEM concentric ulUS being more literature
What are books that made you feel alive again and realize how beautiful everything is? Would love your recommendations!
The starless sea
Indian fiction is currently not in good shape. But I do see good non-fiction books on Indian polity, history, stories of entrepreneurs coming out and being received well. Indian origin authors like Tasha Suri are being received well in UK and U.S. markets. Indian fiction writers need to up their game and compete with international markets in terms of quality, that’s a tough reality due to globalization. They need also need to tell stories without falling to the tropes they are conditioned to through existing books and movies.
Fully agreed with Reason 4.
Haina
Completely agree with your points brother,💯. Indian authors are not celebrated with recognition and adulation the way they actually deserve. Literature needs more diversity in India.
🙌
7:14 How could you not consider Ruskin Bond an Indian author? The landscapes he writes about, the people he talks about and even ghosts he talks about are Indian. I can resonate with the things he is talking about...so i would definitely consider him an Indian author atleast over Jhumpa Lahiri.
Also, besides that, the genre of non fiction in india is not limited to 'self help' books. There is a wide range of books on commentaries on politics, history and international relations. And those are the books i would want to be discussed among the youth.
That being said, you covered all the dimensions and that too deep insights. So, kudos to that.
Oh yes, just from an ethnic perspective
And true that, non fiction is so much more: hence I fully stressed on fiction. The range of non fiction in India is incredible
The poison of love by K.R.Meera and Keepers of Kalachakra by Ashwin Sanghi are 2 of the books by Indian Authors , which I recommend to many as those stories have stayed with me
🙌
Once upon a time in Delhi is just an historical gem
Just give it a try
Will be hoping to get a review from you
2:40 completely agree with these points.
Personally for me when I started reading hindi fiction as a kid like Banke lal comic and other such stuff I often faced criticism from school and home to read religious stuff more or books about freedom fighter. Basically it taught me that fiction is bad and I should hide I read it. So I did had access to hindi book online (i used archieve) but I had access to a lot of western books in fiction. Also most author who write Indian fiction in English have really bad English (Amish) I tried readong them but couldn't. I did read some romaces some were good but most are saturated like Bollywood. My main in self-help book and non fiction. I can't read fiction without feeling guilty😂😂😂
i'd like to add something. i've been a voracious reader since like 2017, back when reading wasn't seen as a "cool, intellectual" hobby, rather people thought it was too nerdy and boring. so in offline book stores finding books from foreign authors was hard, even on e-commerce websites when it came to foreign authors, options were limited to a song of ice and fire, harry potter, christie, dickens and a few author classic authors; so i'd usally buy and read only indian fiction and that's when i noticed a huge problem that men probably won't : the hyper sexualization of female bodies and poorly written female characters. amish tripathi is an example of authors like this. his female protagonists have a massive case of "not like the other girls" syndrome; they hate on anything girly and feminine. whereas the anti-hero female characters are portrayed as hypersexualized bimbos. most indian authors(irrespective of gender) i have read from struggle with writing nuanced female characters and relationship between women. to be honest ever since pandemic, i found tout how to pirate books and i almost exclusively read foreign authors, a lot of foreign male authors (like khaled hosseini) write much more nuanced and better female characters than indian authors i used to read from (before 2020 ofc, i have no idea about books currently being published). however i do love reading from NRI authors who do not stereotype women into either the soft spoken sati-savitri archetype or the vamp seductress. however i've been trying to get into indian fiction again, my next read will be "the god of small things" by arundhati roy that won the booker prize!!
edit : btw i'm not making this an gender issue, i think contemporary indian authors (regardless of their gender ) can't write female characters.
You might like the Perveen Mistry series by Sujata Massey it's about a female Parsi lawyer in 1920s Bombay
@@rohanmulgaokar5682 i'll check it out and honestly if the characters are well written i'll absolutely enjoy it. my main critic is that authors try to write "macho" male characters and "not-like-the-other-girls" female characters instead of just writing characters who happen to be a certain gender
My contribution is this recommendation, the covenant of water by Abraham Verghese
I thank you so much for this video because i am thinking of writing a few vooks of different genres.
👏
The reason Indian Books don't sell as much is same reason (whatever that might me) why Indian Paintings are not sold as much, why India doesn't have its own version on Disney or Pixar or Studio Ghibli and why Bollywood is on a downfall.
Indian fiction books are being sold a lot, but pirated ones....
Great point
But sir in 'You' webseries it was being shown that in US they have no such reasing culture and the UK people actually read books 😬🤷🏼
I am reading an underrated fiction book called sadan and it is a good read with a very bold story. Crime story
I love reading Indian fiction and I will love doing so.
Totally resonating with me ❤
Happy to hear it!
A great video .... Good analysis.... Nice word for self help books - HOPIUM....
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. 😊
i will highly suggest you to read Nidhi Upadhyay books (only 3 though). i found them very interesting. also novoneel chakraborty stranger triology is epic
Best topic discussed ever on RUclips
All valid points... Want to add some more.
4. I have found the best indian fiction in translated fiction written by RESIDENT indian authors who write in VERNACULAR. cause they are not pandering to anyone and the plots and characters are really strong. They dont patronize the readers. They are just telling their stories.
1. Popular 'Indian' author books in english are written by expats who frankly pander to the western audience. The stories are full of page long imageries of pickles drying and monsoon etc. Its written at a very slow pace. Which makes it very boring. With stereotypical characters.
2. A lot of expat and resident indian authors (specially women) write very meloncholic stories which have very downer vibes. Again making it a struggle to finish. And these are the ones that get awards and visibility.
3. Most people who can afford to buy and read books have studied in english medium schools which makes English our first language. That too in convents. There the books in libraries were very typically british authors. So we have read a lot of it and are familiar with the names of the authors.
what are books from around th eworld including india which are about cults ,black magic,which might have stuff about ritual sacrifices of animals to humans ,etc. fiction,non fiction etc
Pls suggest few thriller 📖
Mostly indian parents think reading fiction book is waste of time. They never encouraged children to read fiction book rather than read text book so qualified competitive exams
Thank you so much sir, you channel is one the best booktube channel।for me, i wait for your videos, daksh jindal sir videos, helly, indian booktuber and few others, i rewatch yourvideos beacuse your recommendations are not those familiar books and i have to come back again,
Keep this work up sir❤❤❤
So nice to hear, thank you so much ❤️
I see a lot of people saying that more Indian Lit books should be translated but no that is not the solution. Read books in your own regional language. Language is Identity. Firstly, translated versions can never fully capture the essence of the original language. Secondly, if they are translated to English, more readers might start reading the books but in ENGLISH! Else we will slowly lose our originality and decades later there won't be any regional books available. You don't see Russians reading the English translated version of Dostevsky's works, French people reading English? (They don't even bother learning English lol) Some of the Indian languages are older than English and even oldest in the world. We simply cannot allow for it to go extinct. If you know Hindi, read Hindi books. Know Tamil, read Tamil books. Even better read the English/Other Lang books translated in Indian Regional langs. If the book is really phenomenal, it will be automatically recognised outside by people who are genuinely interested in knowledge and intellectual reading and not just those who are using books are aesthetic or it's "cool" promoting over consumption. Eg: Thirukural is one of the highest langs translated non-religious text in the world (Next to Bible and Quran) translated to even German, Russian, Latin etc. This was even before the boom of technology. If it's great, it will get it's due recognition.
Very well articulated. Your mention of Thirukural instantly reminded me of Dr APJ Kalam, where he fondly talked about it. Thank you!
I only read Bengali and English language books. But I know that there are so many works in so many languages which I want to read . But I'm not fluent in those language so that's heartbreaking.
We need more translations.
Absolutely
There is excellent regional language literature in India. My experience with Marathi literature was always outstanding. While reading those books, people would certainly feel that they are transcended. But , as an Indian i would like you to promote good books from good authors from India.
I’m always looking for new recommendations! Hit me up with some of your favorites!
2:17 Well, when did Ravindra Jadeja (meant - Singh I think) write books? 😂
Oops🤣🤣
My sister read indian fiction of Mira like the gospel of Yudas and poison of love. And Munshi premchand. I read asian writers like Khaled Hosseini,Zoulfa Katouh,Marjan Kamli because these writer have some kind of depth which i think may be lacking in Modern Indian Fiction writers. I have purchased Manav Kaul's A bird on my windowsill.
Me apne career ko lekar problem me hu me apna career change nhi kar pa raha hu
Me apne job 1.3 saal se kar raha hu par muje mera kaam pasand nhi aa raha aur ab me mera career change karna chahta hu lekin family aisa karne nhi de rahe hai lekin unke baat bhi galat nhi hai wo mere future ko leke pareshan hai isliye wo muje change karne nhi de rahe aur ab me koi decision nhi le pa raha hu ke change karo ya na karo.
So please sir suggest any book
Indian fiction for ex : tamil literature and novels are in the international standards but idk why they need an tagline and an English author name to take an book
we really need to pick up works from authors who write in our mother tongue/regional languages. making it a goal to read at least one hindi and one urdu literature this year ✊
🙌
Another thing that I find is that, as a Hindi literature reader, I really can't find the book I want to read in good condition. Hindi upanyas are really hard to find in a bookstore. When I was in school, my school had a good collection of Hindi literature, so I read them a lot, but today, I can't find it easily like that.
That’s a great point, makes you wonder if it’s a result of changing times! Thanks for sharing that though😊
Chitra Banerji book on mythology is awesome
Give a try once
Especially "Palce of Illusions"
Read most of her works, gorgeous writing
I so very much need a library near my place to explore books myself..
Totally understand that, happy to hear you're looking to explore!
First of all thx for replying to every comment,I havent watched the vid but I think its cus (I dont read Indian Books despite being an Indian) I dont see alot of Indian fiction Authors Advertised,And if they are they arent That appealing to kids,Most Dont pick up an Book that says 'Fictional Kids stories'. Other authors dont use 'Kids or Children' in their Writing,So Others will read their book
(i think My explaination was terrible srryyy)
Assamese novels sell well in Assam, main problem is lack of translation to other languages.. Same way Translation to Assamese language from others also lacking 💔💔
Interesting, I didn’t know. Thanks for sharing
Ok I have 3 credits on audible. Can you recommend a good book, Indian or International?
If you come across a good book from an Indian author, please do suggest
When I read a book based in a foreign country it is difficult for me to remember the name of the cities mentioned in it and I also don't exactly know where the places are on the map and how far from each other are those cities. How do you remember such details while reading a novel? Also name of the characters when there are too many characters.
That’s a great point! I used to face that
Now I do a secret thing, I go on to Pinterest and look at some images of the city. Also the setting. And mentally set in an image
Bhaiyaa me bahut slow read krta hu , Agr 5 ghntee bhi pdu to sirf 20 page hi pd pata hu 😢 kyuki kaafi words aese hote hai jinka matlab mujhe pta hi nhi hota ,to reading Bahut slow ho jati hai ,aur baar baar dictionary dekhne ki wajah se , reading process enjoy nhi kr pata !!
Please give me solution ❤
Just read chapter in flow... keep putting circle on words u don't know... then check dictionary of all words... then read again...
@ThePCPersepective pr Agr koi words bilkul hi smj na aaye to phir aage pdke kya fayda ? Kyuki jo author kehna chahta hai wo me smjh hi nhi paunga !! 😭
@@Ecatasy ek bar me overview samjh aa jata h.. dusri bar me pura... instead of word... books me pure sentence,paragraph ya chapter ka context hota h... jo ki rapid readinge me bhi samjh aa jata h...
Tomb of Sand : Geetanjali Shree.
I’ve come across way better stuff from regional literature’s translations than the mainstream ‘English best sellers’. Just shows what we need in the first place. We have good literature, but it’s mostly hidden because of language barrier within the country. And the ones that’s accessible to masses isn’t always our best work.
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hopium is the word which stuck with me
2:18 isn't it Ravinder Singh
Exactly what I though, I think he mistakenly said Ravindra Jadeja😅
True.... Good catch.. ..
Woops😜
Simple. Because people want to read real stories of pure hearts and not the privileged kids who themselves cant get out but rather support casteism in this country. It might seem like a cliche point, but this country needs to come out of the superiority complex first.
Jai Hind Jai Bharat 🇮🇳 🫂
You are the one who trying to rise reading community, numbers are increasing slowly but consistent viewers .
❤️☺️
5:40 okay this 💯💯
😊
In India, sadly saying the habit of reading books (fiction,non-fiction etc) is missing. Parents only want their students to read those books which are in the syllabus, so there is no culture of reading books. 😢 Children are allowed to play 'video games' but not allowed to read books because they think that it only waste time( as per some respected relatives)
That's a really important point, we need to change this!
Great content by great guy
Keep it up 👍
Thanks a bunch!
@ReadTravelBecome thank you for reply 😃
I think the only "literature" we are exposed to is just mythology.
And still I didn't remember the writer of Ramayana.
Foreign authors like Murakami are popular because of their translated work
I think it would greatly help Indian literature if it was being translated
I haven't read a single Hindi (language) novel
I think it is because of the friction. Since English literature is readily available. And we are taught mostly in English.
Hindi has become just a subject.
I think instead of getting our works translated we should instead translate the popular books in Hindi and then market those.
If we were to read just the foreign books in our language. It would create more authors and a market.
Bro i want to share my work with u how can i?
Hey, I will consider myself lucky that I found your video in my feed at the right time. Why is Indian fiction failing? I am an Indian Author. Very recently, I published my first book "National Highway ½ - an unsolvable question, with an unpredictable answer".
It is a story about a four explorers whom the Government chooses on the expedition of a mysterious highway (a place of no-return). But, as said, they too never return. 20 years later, their children meet and reopen this case, diving into the highway. What happens next is the entire premise of the book. My book also dives deep into Ancient India, integrating puranas & Mahabharata into the story.
I feel I can bring back the popularity to Indian fiction because my book is deeply rooted in the culture. If you can help me to promote my book. If you find my proposal genuine, I am looking forward to connect with you. But on a honest note, I cannot pay anybody.
Thank you
Try vagabond
I have lost faith in local bookseller cuz they keep generic shit, they don't even keep hindi novel anymore,
there are no good sci-fi or epic fantasies like dune or stormlight archive in India
Iam an epic fantasy and sci fi reader.I couldnt find any good sci fi and fantasy in india . Please reccomend me something
Thisss
SCI fi is rare in Indian books
I personally loved Satyajit Ray’s books on thi
Tbh, Chetan bhagat played a major role in destroying Indian author image, the way he become famous inspite of substandard writing and then start promoting political agenda set a wrong example
Very well put
I didn’t like the pulpy fiction that was being extensively read, set a wrong image of how literature us
Today's literature doesn't feel full even if it's Indian or western, i mostly prefer classics literature and of india mostly epics
Do you still read at 500 wpm or you think it's better to read at 250 wpm, what has been best for you in terms of efficiency and comprehension....
I try to read fiction fast and non fiction slow. And sometimes some fiction books also I slow down. It’s all variable and mood based
2.17, DID YOU SAY RAVINDRA JADEJA? 🤣 I THINK YOU MEANT RAVINDER SINGH
Atleast you could have shared some recommendations of Indian Authors 😂
Oops😛
Half of modern (and not just recent, older as well) Indian literature is rooted in breaking tradition, and not upholding it. A lot of it is foreign, deracinated ideology translated (or not). Rest of it is pretty dull. The flair is missing. It’s not captivating like good writing should be.
In a nutshell it’s derivative.
Have u read?( Just asking)
Father & son
No longer human
Crime panishment
White knight
The Idiot
The brother karamazov
My parents don't like when I read books🥺
Share them my videos
You look different from thumbnail 😬
☺️
Read malayalam translation. ❤❤❤❤
👍👍👍
@@ReadTravelBecome Read S Hareesh books and c the magic 🎩
'अ-गाथा', 'माई-थो-लोजी' बोलने वाले fiction पर ज्ञान न दें।