Exploring the Realm of the Fantastic: The Story of "Indian Science" Fiction

“By making a transition, you were able to experience two worlds although one at a time. The one you live in now and the one where you spent two days. One has the history we know, the other a different history. The separation or bifurcation took place at the battle of Panipat. You neither travelled to the past nor to the future. You were in the present but experiencing a different world. Of course, by the same token, there must be many more different worlds arising out of bifurcations at different points of time.” - Jayant Narlikar

As I read this passage during my younger days, I remember how I was filled with a sense of amazement and wonder. This enchanting story about the alternate universe is the finest example of a scientific story that is firmly rooted in traditional values. The worldview of this story is not distant to the imagination of the audience even though Narlikar is grappling with the complex concepts of space and time. 

Even though Indian Science fiction can be set in distant future, Narlikar believes that “Indianness” of the characters and setting should stand out against the international backdrop and intermix of cultures The “Indianness” of Indian science fiction, created by some of the exceptional writers like Jayant Narlikar, finds its essence in the cultural ambiance which leaves a lingering impact on the minds of the readers.

Science fiction has always been viewed as a predominately Western enterprise. A genre that gives room for speculations around human capabilities in exploiting the potential of emerging technologies, it majorly grapples with anything and everything under the sun that had you asking “What if this was true? Whether it is Jules Verne’s wondrous flights of imagination that takes Phileas Fogg on a global voyage in eighty days or H.G Wells’s speculative leaps in The Time Machine which fuels the imagination of young minds even today, science fiction novels have always ventured into the unknown, taking the readers to unfamiliar landscapes and incredible journeys. Hugo Gernsback coins the term “scientification’ to explain the fascinating blend of science and fiction as he writes “By ‘scientifiction’ I mean the Jules Verne, HG Wells and Edgar Allan Poe type of story—a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision… Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading—they are always instructive.”

The story of Indian Science fiction goes back to nineteenth-century Bengal when the great scientist Jagdish Chandra Bose composed the short story called “The Story of the Untraceable” which revolved around the scientific mystery which threatened to decimate Calcutta and suddenly went missing. Written for a short-story competition where the only condition given to the participants was that the story submitted for the award should feature Kuntalin hair oil, Jagdish Chandra Bose reasoned that the film of oil spread rapidly over the troubled waters, and produced a wave of condensation, thus counteracting the wave of rarefaction to which the cyclone was due. His extraordinary knowledge of scientific principles coupled with masterful storytelling makes him the “Father of Bengali Science fiction”.

Indian Science fiction witnessed a vibrant diversity in terms of regional voices. In the west, notable Maharastrian writers like Bal Phodke wrote a prize-winning science fiction story called ‘Sadashivacha Totaya’ in 1978, in the annual competition conducted by the Marathi Vijnan Parishad. Down south in Karnataka, the first Kannada science fiction stories were published appearing in popular Kannada magazines by Professor Rajashekhar Bhoosnurmath who also wrote under the name ‘Rabhoo’. Dr. S. Rangarajan, the engineering mind behind India’s Electronic Voting Machines wrote science fiction in Tamil Nadu as he is one of the most widely read science-fiction writers in India. Professor Shonku, the amiable scientist, invented by Satyajit Ray in his science fiction short stories has intrigued the young minds for decades as each reader attempts to conjure up their own version of this fictional scientist.

India’s relationship with Science fiction is very different as it is not confined to the technocentric futures. The engagement of Indian writers with science fiction is multi-dimensional as for them; it is not merely a lens to explore futuristic possibilities. Rather, it is a method by which the writers critically engage with the existing social realities through scientific tools so as to educate the young minds as the science fiction stories are crafted around human beings as Jayanti Narlikar remarks, “Perhaps I have a deeper appreciation of Science than I had without Science fiction.”

With the changing times, writers like Samit Basu and Amitav Ghosh have brought Indian Science fiction into the mainstream as they have composed compelling masterpieces like Turbulence and Calcutta Chromosomes respectively. Writers like Amish Tripathi and Manjula Padmanabhan explore the interplay of science fiction and mythology so they venture into the unexplored territories. Moreover, the endeavors of such contemporary writers have brought the evolving genre of Indian Science fiction to the center stage as the outstanding works of this genre are carving a niche for themselves as Samit Basu remarks “There are huge problems with the Science Fiction community as well, but there is a community, and it is even becoming more inclusive and diverse, rather than the white-male space it was until quite recently.”

And, as he explores the fate of four hundred and three passengers who are traveling on British Airways flight 142 from London to Delhi, in his timeless novel, he writes:

“He feels the throb of humanity's terror, of pulses quickening across the oceans—Superman exists, and he's not American.”