Call him a 'pavement author'

Call him a 'pavement author' - Part 1

For Yadam Ram Kumar, writing an innovative piece for ordinary folks, is a source of great contentment. t is probably his modest beginning that influences Yadam at every step. Much of his creative work addresses the downtrodden.

CJ: Ramesh Kumar Raja

Mon, Jul 13, 2009 17:48:34 IST

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Press Releases India :

FOR YEARS, writing a novel and narratives has been considered the territory of the upper echelons of the knowledge society. But it must also be said that with the way things are shaping in today’s era, as a result of increasing market-orientation, we are witnessing a certain degradation of literature. Is there an author who doesn’t think of pocketing millions in advance of crafting a creative product, meant to be a sell-out. However, there are still some who believe in the old rulebook and stick to the spirit of writing, designed for the common man.

26-year-old Yadam Ram Kumar, is one such novelist, playwright and poet, for whom writing an innovative piece for ordinary folk, market outlook notwithstanding, is a source of great contentment. And why not? It is probably his modest beginning that influences Yadam at every step. Much of his creative work addresses the downtrodden, to whom many in today’s world don’t pay heed. Born in the nondescript coastal town of Ganjam in Orissa, the youngest child of an underprivileged Telugu family, Yadam studied in a regional language medium school, and was denied English education. Nevertheless, he sailed against the tide of social and financial adversities to achieve academic qualifications and eventually become an author in English, a language that is a distant dream for many at his native village, Berhampur. Known as a ‘pavement writer’, Yadam has four books – ‘A Lonely Lady’, ‘She’, ‘The Seven Sleeping Pills’ and ‘Yadam’s Tale’ – to his credit. His upcoming works include ‘The King of Desert’ and ‘The Delhi Streets’. On a recent trip to Delhi, Yadam shared his thoughts on personal, social and literary issues. Below are some excerpts from the interview:

Q: You did not have an English (medium) school education. How then did you manage to become a author?
Y: The person with creativity is gifted. I do believe it! In fact, he is not only God-gifted, but also time-gifted, that is he has developed over the course of time. Thus, I feel my creative skill is time-gifted. I developed it from observing and experiencing circumstances happening around me, in particular, with the run of time. As far as my non-English background is concerned, I want to say the writer is not a man of literature, but a weaver of words. The creative work is a well-woven web of words. It is wrong to think that one needs to be a graduate in English literature to become a writer. Kabir and Rahim had never been to school. They neither knew writing nor reading yet produced eternal works that are close to the hearts of Indian.

Q: There is a dearth of grassroots writers in India. What is the reason?
Y: The present Indian generation is in thrall of a certain professionalism. They have the patience for hours of online chatting, gossiping at parks and pubs, but they don’t have the perseverance for books and the exploration of new ideas. The so-called professionalism circumscribes this young generation’s thoughts, and makes them uncreative and non-explorative – when creativity and curiosity are essential for any artistic work like writing and painting. It is not only the literature and creative scene in India that is sufferings from this scourge of 'professionalism', but also of the rest of the world. If you see the great institutions of Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge, they produce barely a handful of writers every few years. The reason is simple – the dominance of professionalism over the creative mindset in today’s world.

Q: You talk about the how literature and creative writing stands in opposition to professionalism. But now writing is emerging as a profession, in fact a profitable ones in some cases.
Y: Yeah I agree that the writing is counted among one of the more profitable professions and writers are at the upper strata of professionals. In fact the writing profession stands poles apart from the IT, software, management and administration work streams. As I mentioned before, the writing profession is different – the professional should possess a creative-, explorative- and gifted-mind.

Q: It is argued that budding writers are far too professional. What is your comment to that?
Y: Yeah I agree with you. In fact this is the problem in the present writing scenario. The writers of the present time, deal smartly in producing work, often times market-oriented. Their objective is to pocket royalty in the millions. Publishers want their work to have a wide market-orientation. Moreover, the creative work is now a consumer good for the publisher, and the writer has to create or produce it as per market demand. My first novel ‘A Lonely Lady’ had been rejected by a number of publishers for four years because they considered the work unprofessional. Now the consumers or readers are no longer interested in community-based works.

Very often publishers ring me up asking, “Why don’t you write success-oriented books like Harry Potter or motivational books like Shiv Khera's. We will both gain from it.”

(To be continued in Part 2)

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