Never wallow in victimhood, Roy advises writers

HYDERABAD: "Never think you are a victim. If you think so, then your enemy will be happy. If you don't, your enemy will be afraid and will even be fascinated by you. That is feminism for me,'' said Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy.

The writer was taking part in a discussion on `Problems of women in contemporary society and role of women writers' organised by the Prajaswamika Rachayitrula Vedika at a programme in Hyderabad on Sunday.

``Being a victim is a mind set. Some consider themselves to be victims without any problem but some don't despite having a lot of problems. If you feel humiliated, your enemy will be happy,'' she explained.

Professional feminists who organise themselves into NGOs usually don't object to construction of dams, mining and displacement where women are the most sufferers. Be it the Narmada valley or Bastar, the sufferers are mainly women. Because they like to see women in suffering, she said. "I am a badmash kind. I ask something, provoke and make people think. Instead of coming up with boring tracts, do things that make you excited,'' she advised women writers.

Fielding a question by K Saraswati, a documentary fimmaker, on her take on the Women's Reservation Bill, Roy said she wouldn't say that women shouldn't demand reservation.

"The Bill runs the risk of being taken over by the upper castes or the Hindu majority. In my latest book `Listening to Grasshoppers', I was critical of parliamentary democracy. It's hollowed out,'' she said.

Explaining, she said, ``When I was in school, I raided the vegetable garden of a Malayalam teacher in my neighbourhood and stole some carrots and placed the plant as it was. I used to laugh seeing the poor gardener watering it every day,'' she recalled referring to the current democratic system.

Responding to another question on how to spread awareness among laywomen, she said, ``After long conversations with adivasis, women activists and women in political parties what I understood was that there was no magic wand to change things.''

Another writer Padma wondered why construction of dams was going on despite protests against them. ``I had a devastating and precious understanding of politics when I came to know about the destruction caused by dams. When dams are being decommissioned across the world, the Indian government is constructing dams. They know the damage they are doing but keep lying and repeat it,'' she said.

Several women writers, Telugu academicians and Prof. Haragopal were present.