George Orwell & Bihar Connection

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA           DECEMBER 03 , 2012           11.59 P.M.

In today’s newspaper I read an innocuous article about my favourite writer George Orwell . It was about his birthplace in Motihari , Bihar . I always knew that he was born in Bihar but I was shocked to see the dilapidated building where George Orwell was born and spent some of his earlier years . Rooftop tiles are caving in and its neglected existence is precariously waiting for a calamity .

Compare the above structure with Orwell’s well maintained house in London . You can see the difference .

George Orwell’s House, Portobello Road – London. (Photo credit: Jim Linwood)

Even his house in Burma , where he stayed for few years ,  is well maintained compared to the Motihari , Bihar house where he was born .

The house George Orwell stayed in while in Katha, Burma (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nitish Kumar – Chief Minister , Bihar (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bihar government headed by Nitish Kumar is doing nothing to preserve the historic structure . Nitish Kumar has time to visit Pakistan and sing paeans in praise of present – day rulers of Pakistan . He has enough time to criticize Narendra Modi and still maintaining relationship with Bharatiya Janata Party but he or his government has no time for preservation of George Orwell’s birthplace . I doubt majority of present – day dispensation in Bihar is oblivious of Orwell’s importance . For them demonizing Narendra Modi is more important .

[ To make Nitish Kumar and his ministers – in – crime aware of George Orwell’s importance , I am reproducing some fact about his literary genius from Wikipedia . ]

George Orwell in Hampstead On the corner of Pond Street and South End Road, opposite the Royal Free Hospital. The bookshop has long gone. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Eric Arthur Blair

(25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950)

Eric Arthur Blair , known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist and journalist.

Orwell wrote literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. He is best known for the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) and the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945), which together have sold more copies than any two books by any other 20th-century author.

His book Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, is widely acclaimed, as are his numerous essays on politics, literature, language and culture. In 2008, The Times ranked him second on a list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945″.

Cover of Animal Farm: Centennial Edition

George Orwell, 1984. This self-made image is based on a picture that appears in an old acreditation for the BNUJ.) Picture of George Orwell taken from File:GeoreOrwell.jpg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Orwell’s work continues to influence popular and political culture, and the term Orwellian—descriptive of totalitarian or authoritarian social practices—has entered the vernacular with several of his neologisms, such as doublethink, thoughtcrime, Big Brother and thought police.

It is sad that his birthplace is so neglected and is on the verge of extinction . I am a huge fan of George Orwell and during my Allahabad days , have read his above mentioned books , ” Animal Form ” and ” 1984 ” . I remember many dull and dusty summer afternoons and long , cold and wintry winter nights of Allahabad , when sitting in my room of Sir Ganga Nath Jha Hostel , I used to discuss these books with my friends and seniors . Orwell had huge fan following among my generation .

My generation used to hero – worship George Orwell . I am extremely sad and I know that every one of my generation will be feeling the same .

I , on behalf of myself and all the students and staff of my acting institute  Vidur’s Kreating Charakters  , denounce Bihar government in strongest term and urge them to shed their apathy . George Orwell is too important a literary giant to get this treatment .

VIDUR

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA

www.vidur.co.in

www.kreatingcharakters.net

www.vidurfilms.com

www.twitter.com/VidurChaturvedi

www.jaibhojpuri.com/profile/VidurChaturvedi

Related articles

• #India-Online campaign to save George Orwell’s birth home #ancientmonument (kractivist.wordpress.com)
• Why We Write: George Orwell (ctwesting.com)
• Dwight Garner: Meet George Orwell (coreyrobin.com)
• Keep the Aspidistra Flying, by George Orwell (friendsofatticus.wordpress.com)
• George Orwell plaque is defaced (telegraph.co.uk)
• Notes from George Orwell on Writing and Revolution (arablit.wordpress.com)
• Orwell – Why I Write (irresponsibility.wordpress.com)