In an era of deteriorating literary values and the intelligence of today’s youth
degraded by likes of Chetan Bhagat… my experience in a small city Lviv in Ukraine was stunning. I was amazed at the literary endurance of this country having preserved the works of the great Polish writers and of course the last remnants of the Bolshevik regime. Despite their hatred for the Russians, the great works of the literary laureates of that era are imbibed in their culture.
Having visited the country before the war, I sensed the under-lying hate of public in Kyiv to Russia. Maybe it is the debris, Stalin era left behind. But as I travelled towards the eastern cities—primarily situated in the industrial Donbas region—have a deeply complex affinity to Russia, largely rooted in intertwined histories, Soviet-era industrialization, and high concentrations of Russian speakers. While specific cities historically harbored stronger pro-Russian sympathies.
Leaving aside the politics, what fascinated. me were Museums of writers… squares anointed not on political figures but thinkers and writers. A new man with a pen on each square… tantalizing experience that it was… it speaks volumes of the a rich legacy of literature & thinkers that that this part of continent still beholds….
And the tragedy… the greatest of literary works having happened in India in more that 14 languages… yet the youth is deprived of that treasure until date.
Indian literature seems to have become obsolete without even being explored…SAD STORY…
