India is good at editing realities, turning a blind eye to them and believing that fail to exist, author-journalist Jerry Pinto has said.
"Be it the issue of criminalising homosexuality, of prostitution or a new political party's win as an outcome of public outburst, we tend to edit realities and ignore them. So much is happening and still nothing is happening," Pinto told PTI on sidelines of the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.
Elaborating on the Supreme Court verdict on homosexuality the author said the apex court did not take into account the actual number of homosexual-sex cases that existed in the country.
"There are only ten per cent of the cases that are registered. I am sure, there are so many cases when a gay couple is caught by the police and they blackmail them to pay money and then get away. Did we take those cases into consideration?," Pinto said.
He pointed out that various authors have attempted to addressed the issue in their writings. "There has been a rise in the sub alternate narratives. Books like 'I a Hijra' are solid examples of it," he said.
The author has been shortlisted for the USD 50,000 DSC Prize for his translation of a Marathi work.
The Mumbai-based writer said the recent victory of debutant Aam Aadmi Party was "another reality that we are trying to edit or ignore."
"Why does reality makes us uncomfortable?" posed the 48-year-old author.
"Neither the Congress nor the BJP could come up with a method to deal with corruption and now when Arvind Kejriwal has come forward with an alternative, why not accept it" asked Pinto.
The author said since voters in Delhi had expressed faith in Kejriwal "why not believe him?".
"Who knows he might just spring another surprise in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections," he said.
The author had earlier today participated in a session "Writing, Meri Jaan," where he was in conversation with Mita Kapur about his many avataar of writer, translator, poet, and creative catalyst.
