| November 24, 1997 | ||
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AUTHORSPEAK:
RAMACHANDRA GUHA Versatile Ventures A Social anthropologist not limited by his subject. By Stephen David
"It is interesting how some of the Britons assumed their Indianness here in our country," says the writer-cum-visiting professor of the University of California, Berkeley. "Even Elwin who came as a British priest, a Franciscan, transformed himself into an Adivasi, and in the process contributed to the study of the tribals. Savaging the Civilised: Verrier Elwin, his Tribals and India is being published next year. It is this quest for the "men who are neither here nor there" that led him to Palwankar Balu who excelled himself during the 1911 tour of England. "Ambedkar was inspired by Balu and it was he who was responsible for Ambedkar entering politics. In the Bombay Pentagular cricket tourney, Balu played for the Hindus where he was discriminated against for his Dalit background." In the book, Guha hopes to recall how "Balu fought all those prejudices". His earlier books on cricket like Wickets in the East and Spin and Other Turns make him a fit candidate to extol Balu's contribution. In between all this, the environment remains a major concern. The Global Green Movement: a Cross-cultural Twist, to be published in the US next year, draws the distinction between the aesthetics-oriented environment of the West and the survival-oriented environment of the East. If this isn't enough, Guha is a Gandhi expert too, a subject he teaches at Berkeley. How does he cope? One reason could be that he's passionately involved with his subjects. "I write whenever I feel like, sometimes at a stretch and sometimes when I am forced to react like this," he says. But whether he is poring over books in a library, lecturing or watching a Ranji Trophy match in Bangalore, you know Guha's mind is working feverishly on his next book.
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© Living Media India Ltd |
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Everything is within Ramachandra Guha's arc of consciousness. At
39, the social anthropologist has authored nine books -- the subjects ranging from the
threats to the environment to the intricacies of the Iyengar school of cricket -- and is
working on two more. Obviously he is a restless soul, reads and researches relentlessly to
pick out hidden truths and then holds them up for scrutiny. Who else would find British
social anthropologist Verrier Elwin interesting enough to do a biography on him? Heard of
an Indian cricket player called Palwankar Balu of Pune who took 114 wickets in major
matches between 1905 and 1920? Well, you will soon when Guha's book, on the first Dalit
cricketer who inspired Dr Ambedkar, is published. 
