Internet propagates myths: Sidin Vadukut

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 01 Juli 2014 | 18.47

Book title: The Sceptical Patriot
Author: Sidin Vadukut
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Pages: 187

In the warp-speed world of today, where fallacious information proliferates faster than the unerring one and any content that goes viral on the Internet is taken at face value, Sidin Vadukut questions the authenticity of such propagated '60 Reasons You Should Be Proud You Are an Indian' messages by digging into the history in his latest, 'The Sceptical Patriot'.

The book that looks promising in the beginning with the aim of debunking popular 'Indian facts', be it the claim that the country invented zero, or the assertion that Indians never invaded a foreign country, or the belief that Sushruta was the world's first surgeon falls flat when your quest for answers is elongated with the issues needing further delving. Nonetheless, it's a quirky read for the history enthusiasts as it offers esoteric topics in a narrative style. The chapter on 'Quotes about India' deserves a special mention for unearthing provenance of popular quotes accredited to India besides other intriguing subjects.

Here are some excerpts from the conversation we had with the author of 'Dork trilogy', Sidin Vadukut on his first non-fiction venture...

What has been the biggest surprise or learning experience while writing the book?
The biggest learning experience has to be how little I knew about Indian history. There were quite a few other things that surprised me like the extensive India archives in London, the sheer volumes of books about India that have been written, the curious passion for Indology that drove so many scholars in Germany and Austria all those years ago. These things were somewhat new to me as an amateur stumbling his way through records, but after the entire process I was left astonished at how little I knew about India.

How was the transition from fiction to non-fiction?
Both easy and hard. It was hard because I had never attempted anything as ambitious in non-fiction before and thus, I was not at all prepared for the mental and physical labour involved in writing a well-researched book on Indian history.

In fiction, I have the freedom to make last minutes changes to plot and structure. There are no narrative boundaries in fiction or at least the boundaries are pliable and forgiving, whereas, in non-fiction these boundaries are tighter and work in different ways.

The book seems to be an outcome of years of research in different fields, but are there any topics still on your mind that you couldn't include in the book?
Well not years of research, but around an year and a half of pretty intense recording and note-taking. There were plenty of topics I left out of the book. For instance, I tried but couldn't verify the number of Indians who actually work in NASA and then I also wanted to investigate the wildly popular idea that Taj Mahal pre-date the Mughals but that got dropped for want of time. Another topic I have been fascinated by is the history of food in India.

Social media has enabled a platform to deliberate where enthusiastic netizens can actively participate but do you think it's also contributing to the spread of misleading information?
I think the Internet and social media have only helped to make the problem of misinformation worse. I am, so far, a sceptic when it comes to the ability of the 'good Internet' to keep pace with the 'bad Internet'. The ability to publish at zero cost propagated myths and bad science, instead of helping to control or fact-check them.

Do you think it's the responsibility of every person to check the authenticity before sharing any information?
In an ideal world, yes! But this is not an ideal world. And it would be a truly boring world if we had to walk around with 'RTs are not endorsements' or whatever is the latest disclaimer hanging around our necks on boards. I'd be more than happy if people would have a nose for bad information.

A literary figure who has inspired you in your life.
Oh there are so many but predominantly, Bill Bryson and William Dalrymple inspired me to write about our world in engaging, informative ways. I think if it weren't for the curiosity kindled by their books, I wouldn't be a writer today.

Your upcoming projects
I am currently working on three projects; one of which is a non-fiction that would look at the history of India and the world between the 15th and 17th centuries and the other two are fictions; a crime novel set in Delhi and a tentatively titled novel 'Provident Fund'.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/followceleb.cms?alias=The Sceptical Patriot,Sidin Vadukut,Internet,Dork trilogy,book review


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