India Unbound and The Elephant Paradigm, the two collections of essays by Gurcharan Das, are analyzed in this study to understand Das' narrative style that makes for such a compelling reading. F C Bartlett's `schema theory' is applied here to determine the efficacy of words in leaving lasting effects on the reader's mind. Das creates memorable images through simple discursive formations offering a complete portrait of the economic transformation of India effortlessly. The paper looks at the `elephant paradigm' about the pace of progress in India, which is steady, while some of the `Asian tigers' gallop and stumble woefully. The Indian economy and the societal structure go through the process of change with dignified steadiness, despite detractors, especially consequent on the liberalization of economy initiated in the 1990s.
The
two collections of essays by Gurcharan Das, India
Unbound and The Elephant Paradigm, offer
a ringside view of the economic and social transformation
of India. The narrative is in the form of essays, yet
there is a common thread running through them all, making
them compelling reading. The dull pace that can easily
be associated with a collection of essays is nowhere
in sight when any reader picks up either book. Of course,
this is due to the episodic nature of the discursive
formations he creates, the events and personal experiences
working together as the warp and woof of the fabric
of the works. India Unbound traces India's journey
from Independence to the Global Information Age and
The Elephant Paradigm captures both the disappointments
and the joys that resulted from the changes in the national
economy. The underlying metaphor behind the complete
discourse is the vision of Das, which expresses his
assessment that India may not speed ahead like the Asian
tigers but it will advance like a placid and wise elephant,
slow but steady, often pausing, yet crossing the milestones
that matter. While reading the two books, these two
animal images of movement are constantly in the reader's
mind, juxtaposed together like two polarities of the
reader's journey within India's past, present and occasionally,
future. Given the fixity of these well-defined images,
one would expect the texts to be littered with references
to tigers and elephants but nothing of the sort takes
place. There is a reference to the tiger and the elephant
later and twice in each work. |
