The Bane of Banning Books.

I'll tell you something right now, that I can bet you wouldn't know.

I place this bet with such confidence because not many are languishing in front of their laptops at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, and even those who are, there is just a Lilliputian chance that you have been surfing sites regarding books for over an hour.

So, this is what I have learned.

(And what I completely missed, but my bibliophilic intuition adhered to unknowingly!)

September 25th to October 2nd was Banned Books Week.

It is celebrated in the U.S., a country where high school students would have to think for a minute whether college is spelled with a double 'l', but so what?

It celebrates the freedom to read. :)

Books such as "The Colour Purple" , "Catch-22'" and "The Catcher in The Rye" found their way to this outrageous list because they contained offensive words, sexually explicit scenes and inflamed certain religious sentiments. 

I finished reading the latter by the end of September, and it was such an amazing read. A story of a bewildered teenager, wishing he didn't have all the knowledge about society he had. The protagonist, who lost his innocence about money, sexuality and school does not wish the same upon others and matures through the end of the book. Catch 22 is a historical satire following the story of Yossarian, who tries to understand the self-contradictory circular logic in the military, and the world. The Colour Purple on the other hand, deals with the life of a young African American woman, a victim of rape and physical abuse.


1984, the George Orwell classic had been banned for its account of a totalitarian society, which was considered unsuitable content for impressionable minds. I am reading it right now. Gone with the Wind, The Call of the Wild, Lolita, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest... For god's sake, even Goosebumps and certain Roald Dahl books have found their way to being banned!

These books are considered as gems of English literature and all regularly feature in lists of the best English language books ever written. 


Back in Mumbai, Rohinton Mistry's "Such a Long Journey", a Booker-prize shortlisted book has been banned. 
By a political party who spouts baseless and ridiculous religious propaganda every voting season, and by a spineless Vice-Chancellor of Mumbai University. And most sadly, by a 20 year old politically-backed-and-brainwashed Bachelor of Arts student in a prestigious institution, who could have chosen to really do something useful with his life.
This, in a country, that has the words 'liberty' and 'secularism' in the Preamble of its Constitution.


Sometimes, I just fail to understand the workings of our society. How are these bunch of morons allowed to become politicians, and our representatives in the government? How is a fictional character in a fictional book using expletives an issue? I can name ten other books by Indian writers that contain offensive language and unsavory reviews of politicians. Does highlighting a few vernacular expletives and paragraphs in fluorescent marker pen allow you to become a literature Nazi and deprive others from reading a superbly written novel? And keeping all this aside, HOW do they even take themselves seriously?

Correct me if I am wrong, but these are exactly the kind of people our country does NOT require.
I am going to get myself a copy of the book as soon as possible now!


P.S. This Friday, I am going for a Pearl Jam tribute gig at B69. My first 'gig'. I am so excited! :)


P.P.S. Twilight also features on the list of banned books. Now THAT was a good thing. :P