Visiting scholars to unravel India

Visiting scholars to unravel India
Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre

FEBRUARY 23: The best creative ideas come out of India, opines Italian poet Erba Luciano So impressed is he that Luciano wants to unravel the myth of India over the coming week. Accompanied by fiction writer Marina Minghelli and India-born Italian scholar G Singh, Luciano is part of a three-member delegation on a cultural exchange programme by the Sahitya Akademi.

Luciano, a Milan-based poet teaching French literature in the Catholic University of Milan, takes the help of his English-speaking wife to elucidate his theory. He has read the transalated version of the Upanishads, the Mahabharata, Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses and some poems by Nissim Ezekiel. ``It is too little to form an impression of India. But I have come here to understand more. I have heard a lot about the mystique of the land,'' Luciano exclaims. He is a much-respected and honoured literary figure in Italy. ``I can only say that I am read by large numbers, not including my wife,'' he grins. He is considered a specialist in 17th century French Literature.

Very excited about the prospect of visiting the Elephanta caves and Gandhi Memorial (Mani Bhavan) tomorrow, Luciano says ``India is a rich civilization of ideas. I feel that I am too old to devour every aspect of this culture.'' He said that many concepts of the contemporary modern world are borrowed from India. For instance, the concept of tolerance was put forth by a Mahatma Gandhi. ``And today the entire world is talking of harmony, peace and tolerance.'' Simlarly, he adds, the concept of oneness with the Divine God is thoroughly Indian. ``I am much impressed by this concept of God. Unlike the western view in which God is a seperate entity, the Indian philosophy states that God is part of the human beings he has created.''

Writer Minghelli has a different account of India which she is putting down in a novel. Stationed in India for the last six months, Minghelli wants to provide a female traveller's viewpoint in the novel. ``So far mostly men have portrayed India to the western world. The last 20 years has seen many upheavals in the country, but I want to depict the country from a woman's perspective. I have travelled far and wide for the purpose.'' Minghelli's earlier book is on mystique of godesses.

Scholar G Singh, who is returning to homeland after a long time, said there were many stark similarities between Italy and India. It is said that two-thirds of the world's cultural institutions are influenced by India and Italy. ``That is why you find stamps of Indian and Italian painting, literature and music in every part of the world.''