In a video posted on Facebook, an Indian radio jockey narrates a short story, “Jamun Ka Ped” by Krishan Chander that has recently caused something of a stir. The story was recently removed from the ICSE Hindi literature syllabus for Class X. The change was announced and implemented just three months before the board examinations.
Gerry Arathoon, secretary and chief executive of the council, told The Telegraph that the story had been dropped because it was “not appropriate for Class X students.” He failed to say why it is being considered inappropriate, or who in particular had objected to it.
The text itself is a satirical take on bureaucratic red tape, told through the story of a man who needs to be rescued from under a jamun tree. The late author, Krishan Chander, has a large body of work, consisting of about 30 collections of short stories and 20 novels.
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