Web world is amused at a Mumbai high court Judge commenting on a terror suspect that suspect had a copy of a foreign book “War and Peace” at home. Book was put in court as evidence of terror presented by a fine Pune police department that must have a good prosecuting attorney.
No one should call for the Judge’s a literary ignorance but prosecutor and police are equal participants of the folly. How can any educated High court judge or police and prosecution not know of Leo Tolstoy. This is equal to some youngmen in Hindi heartland asking who was Prem Chand or “Go Dan”, his famous novel on evils of 19 century India.
There is no statistical data available but it’s a global phenomenon that digital age has drowned the world in cultural illiteracy and fast results to satisfy their sense of curiosity. Few people buy books . News papers and magazines are in decline. Web age demands that eye ball be caught in first five seconds before web surfing looses that eye ball. Where is the need for Kamasutra when you got pornhub 24/7 with any act that one’s libido excites at! Minimum literary requirements for college graduates are all time low, be it Delhi, London, New York or San Francisco.
Best young brains in India hunt for IIT degree, few select care about literature or letter. Majority of Indian administrative jobs are also their domain. Philosophy may be a subject of choice only at Cal, Oxford, Yale or Harvard.
This is how epics of human dignity and values be it Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Valmiki, Kali Das or Prem Chand, are strange names to most young brains. May be it is a challenge to modern society that they and their stories are portrayed as Lord of Rings, the blockbuster money making movie or its related video games and products , adding some extra millions.
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