Tarun J Tejpal
Tarun Tejpal is a journalist, publisher, and novelist. In a 26-year career, he has been an editor with the India Today and the Indian Express groups, and the managing editor of Outlook, India’s premier newsmagazine.
Tarun J Tejpal - The Missionary Position
By Tarun J Tejpal
Tarun J Tejpal - The Missionary Position
Tarun J Tejpal - We all love sentimental trash, especially if it can masquerade as something artistic and meaningful. Often it needn't even do that — in an act of self-affirmation we invest it with these virtues. Slumdog Millionaire is one more representation of India as the white man sees it, not as we do. It's a five-hundred-year old tradition. Look carefully, the triumphant picture in the papers could be the enlightened missionary with the tribal boys. The tradition is strong: we've always been cosy with the representations. It's worthwhile to remember we did not tell an Indian story and force the world to recognise it. They told us an Indian story and forced us to applaud it.
