We should have stood up to Naipaul: Shashi

bangalore: ‘‘just becausehe is a nobel laureate, we listen to him making pronouncements on everything. ithink we indians are too polite. we should have stood up and spoken our minds. iam glad i got to say what i wanted to say,’’ says writer shashideshpande. just back from the international festival of indian literature inneemrana, she was referring to the exchange of words with sir vidia naipaul whenhe called her reference to gender a banality. she clarifies, ‘‘i wasnot whining, i was not moaning, i was not complaining, and i took only threeminutes. i was only saying that as a writer, i had to find my own space, my ownnarrative, my own style, my own voice. i thought any writer would be interestedin hearing another telling you how one reached one’s writing self. idon’t question his writing, or his views. any writer should respectanother’s writing, but without listening, you cannot dismiss something asbanal.’’ sir vidia was slotted to speak first, but said he’dspeak later. ‘‘i was next, so amitav ghosh, the moderator, asked meto speak. i was explaining how the tradition of indian writing in english doesnot give space for a woman writer, that i had to carve my ownspace,’’ recalls shashi deshpande. earlier, writer nayantara sahgalwas speaking of colonialism and how it had affected her work, ‘‘whensir vidia stopped her in the middle of her speech. i think it’s extremelyrude and extremely offensive to stop anyone, specially when you are not themoderator.’’