Editorial: The Scene Is Not Dreary

It was only to be expected that Nirad Chaudhuri’s article “A Sterile Intelligentsia” (May 25) would invite extreme reactions, both favourable and unfavourable. Nirad is always contentious. But the proper response to a stimulating writer is not to agree or disagree with him. That kind of lazy reaction amounts to an admission that his charge of sterility is justified. A good writer does not set out to dope his readers into agreement or disagreement. His purpose is to stimulate them to think afresh. Like others, Nirad does not often succeed. His readers easily divide into admirers and critics. This response is as good an indication of the state of our intellectual life as any other. It is stagnant. It is not responding to stimuli. But there is another side to this story. The stimuli emanating from the West now as in the past 200 years have themselves become feeble. The West is not half as self-confident as it used to be. In an adjoining article Nirad himself explores the decay in what was not long ago a rich source of ideas and ideals for us. In a sense Britain is a special case. It has lost an empire and has not yet found a role which is exciting enough for its people. But which Western country is brim­ming with intellectual energy and confidence? Even before the present crisis of confidence swept the West, it boasted not of its Christian humanism and its liberal values but of brute technology. We have duly followed it in India and we have not done too badly. It is true we have not scaled great heights in this field. But we did not contribute much that was original to the study of religion and the humanities in the 19th century either. Most third world countries are in the same plight. But we are struggling manfully in various fields. Intellectual   stagnation   has,   for   instance,   its counter-point in expanding commerce and rising material ambitions. Indian music, dance and handicrafts have come alive. Creative writing in some Indian languages is pros­pering. If idealism has declined, so has hypocrisy. The overall scene is not at all dreary.