Kaavya is Innocent, Until Proven Otherwise

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Dear Kaavya,

This is your Akka writing. The fact that you have never met me is immaterial; we are brown and we don’t live in the land our parents were born in—that alone means that you probably have relatives you’ve never met, just like I do, so Akka it easily is.

Paavum Kaavya (letÂ’s call you PK for short), there is something I want you to know, but before I disclose that, I have to admit a fault of which I am rather ashamed, a fault which I hope youÂ’ll forgive your imperfect Akka for.

I was jealous of you.

Just a bissel, but it was enough to make me loathe myself for a few minutes. Green looks fabulous on me, but envy surely does not flatter. Wait, don’t frown—I promise that once I was aware that I was being a twat, I earnestly called myself out on it and owned my jealousy. Long before I admitted that my “unlikely-fantasy-if-wishes-came-true” job was acting, I cherished what to me seemed an even more far-fetched aspiration: to write. Getting a book deal seemed like the greatest thing which could possibly happen to someone. To get paid to write? Wow. And that you did, with a stunning advance, which everyone bandies about ad nauseum, since it makes your “fall” all the more violent.

Sigh. How I wished that my parents had been savvy enough to enroll me in an Ivy-League-Prep-Camp-Thing. Where my counselor, who just happened to be a published author, would discover me as if I were some naïve starlet in a ‘40s era soda shop and then pluck me out of the sweaty, freaked-out ranks of cloned overachievers and marvel at my genuine uniqueness. My parents made me turn down Columbia for U.C. Davis. My parents are SO not your parents. Your parents gave you everything, including an inadvertent star-making opp that made me want to howl. You’re nearly half my age. It’s like watching your little sister get married before you do. It’s a little humiliating to endure, in this obsessed with chronological-milestones culture we share.

So, whenever this group blog of mine did a post about you, I’d look down and notice that my skin suddenly looked wayyy more olive than usual. Then I’d take a deep breath and tell myself that you deserved it. That you had hustled for it, working on your writing when in comparison, 17-year old me probably would’ve been brooding over which Smiths or Ultravox LP to spin next. My skin would go back to the shade my mother calls “irrantharam” and I’d exhale with relief. It felt good to be silently proud of you.

Here’s the thing my little PK: I still am. And I’m a little appalled at how many people are crowing elatedly about your alleged toppling. The first thing I thought of when I read the “Crimson” writing on the blog was that tragically accurate, snarktastic story about the pet shop with international crabs. You’re looking at me blankly. I’m sure you haven’t slept. Tut-tut. That won’t do. You know brown girls are predisposed to developing those nasty under eye circles. Take a benadryl, bachi. Your skin and, well, everything will thank you. Hell, take a nap right now. I’ll dispel your probably non-existent curiosity about crabs for you, like a wee bedtime story.

So, there was this pet store and it was renowned for carrying the most exhaustive selection of crabs aroundÂ…there were specimens from Mexico, Japan, RussiaÂ…almost everywhere, really. Each tank had a very secure looking cover to hold in the precious crab-cargo. All, but one, that is. Perplexed, a customer pointed to the open cage and asked the pet store proprietor why it didnÂ’t have a lid.

“Oh. Those are the crabs from India. A lid isn’t required, because as soon as one of them climbs up, all of the others furiously yank it back down. So they never get out.”

Look at you, almost asleep. And I haven’t even come to my main point yet! No wonder you got the book deal and I didn’t. We hadn’t met, so I have no way of knowing if we have this in common, but something tells me we just might—you see, I have a near photographic memory for all things useless. Didn’t help me with German vocab, but it does help me recall conversations I’ve had almost flawlessly, even if it’s been some time since the words were originally spoken (as you can imagine, this makes me a terrifying girlfriend, since it’s exceptionally easy to destroy my boyfriends in arguments…but we won’t go there, in case your parents are reading. Wha-? OH. Hi Viswanathan Uncle and Auntie! I promise I’m a virgin who’s never conversed with men, even ones I’m related to—I’m totally safe to keep around Kaavya!) Whew, that was close.

Anyway, I remember lots of other things as well. I can remember what my very best friend Eileen Perfume was wearing the day Los Angeles exploded in to riots over the Rodney King verdict. (Maroon boucle turtleneck sweater, black crinkle skirt with blood red roses here and there and black knee-high boots, which she had folded down slightly. She had her hair half-up and half-down, eyeliner on the lower lids, ruby lips and no other makeup.) Like you probably are, I’m a devoted bibliophile who can’t bear to be without something to read at all times. My memory kicks in here, too, since as edifying as Gita Mehta or Vikram Seth might be, knowing what either of them wrote at some point ain’t gonna get me an “A” on anything.

So this memory of mine, which I suspect you got too—sometimes, it is almost dangerous, yes? I can remember being in graduate school (has it already been five years since I graduated? Mein Gott.) and being so exhausted, because I worked full-time (as required by my program) AND took all my classes from 7-10 pm each night. I’d read books and articles throughout the entire day and then sit at my computer around 1 am, after the dinner dishes had been washed and my then-boyfriend had been tended to like some entitled Maharajah who keeps asking for “pani!” when he’s supposed to be asleep. Then, exhausted to the point of sleeping mid-keystroke, I would type. And sometimes, I’d go back and see a sentence and think, “weird”.

I’d feel that odd tingle that unmoored recognition evokes. And then slightly horrified and suddenly awake, I’d realize that I had typed, almost verbatim, something I had read earlier in the day. Sometimes, what I had borrowed wasn’t even brilliant. I’d shake my head then. I was terrified of getting caught, since I was certain that one day I’d turn in a paper that contained a sentence that I hadn’t “re-recognized” in time. “Dear Lord, please don’t let it be something craptacular…if I get in trouble, at least let me parrot something genius.” But that’s not how my little universe works, PK. When I was in third grade, my dramatic ascent up the Spelling Bee ladder was destroyed when I misspelled a word so simple, I’m too ashamed to even type it. It’s always the little things that I trip over, in the end.

I donÂ’t believe that you are the torment-deserving fraud that many of my fellow pajamahadeen think you are. I donÂ’t think you copied those words, that youÂ’re a plagiarist. I think that either one of two things occurred, neither of which is really your fault:

1) You pulled an “Akka” and regurgitated something that was playing on your mind. Like the number “170”. Even if this is true, I blame your handlers for not vetting a manuscript that had received sooo much attention, in this post-Frey era. Perhaps I am mistaken, but aren’t they supposed to read, re-read and triple read what they’re hawking? I can’t help but believe that this is quite common in terms of the writing process, this borrowing a phrase or voice. If this public flogging hasn’t happened often to other writers, then I feel like some critical step was missed in this entire process. Even if I’m wrong, and the process allows that manuscripts DON’T get vetted as carefully as a cabinet-level appointment (WTF?) I think you didn’t intend to lift such craptacular writing. If you were pushed over the ethical edge by exhaustion, pressure and your Ivied obligations, I think you would’ve chosen someone better to borrow from.

2) And this one is the more sinister, more galling and I think, most possible. I keep reading that your book was initially quite different. Darker. Truer. Kaavya-er. I heard that THAT manuscript wasn’t “marketable”, not with a pinkish cover and some strappy stilettos. I heard that lots of Kaavya disappeared and in its place, fluff was stuffed in to Opal Mehta. I don’t know if you’re being set up (that would be even MORE sinister! Perish the thought!) but I do think that someone else did that heavy lifting, dear girl. And I think you’re the one who’s getting marched up to Golgotha for it.

Speaking of Golgotha, perhaps the reason I have so much faith in you is because I suddenly have a lot in me, quite literally. I spent enough time in church last week to qualify being religious as a part-time job, potentially with bennies, if itÂ’s like Starbucks. I emerged from my week of holiness, calmer, stronger, fortified with light. Buoyed by hope and a renewed determination to see good everywhere, in everyone, in all things. If I can have faith that bread and wine when consecrated by a priest, become the body and blood of my savior, I can give my PK the benefit of my doubt. Let people trash and thrash you, Kaavya. Blogging has thoroughly taught me that the bile which they spew (my sinful self included, natch) indicates more about them then you, anyway. You deserve to be innocent until proven otherwise. And I believe that you might just be exonerated of these heavy, back-breaking charges which lay now on your similarly irrantharam shoulders. And if you should fall, while on your way, no matter what causes you to stumble, you will have my prayers and support. We are all human, pots and kettles the lot of us and we all deserve a little bit of compassion.

Sincerely,

Anna-akka

564 thoughts on “Kaavya is Innocent, Until Proven Otherwise”

  1. “Americans are sick to death of liars, espcially those that don’t come clean.“

    Dude, excellent insight here. Americans in general are pretty forgiving as a group. Coming clean and owning up to one’s mistakes or lies is definitely seen as responsible behavoir and somtimes redeeming. Leaders, artists, businessmen, etc. all have played a large role in what you say. The information age spawned from the internet is bringing a whole new level of scrutiny on public figures from various walks of life. Only problem is, that these public figures haven’t caught to the fact that what they could get away with before, they cannot today.

    This ‘mob frenzy’ will significantly serve to further the interests of the common man/consumer, increasing the quality of art, politics, business, etc.

  2. As a grad student at Yale in the late 90s, I was initally in awe of Indian-American overachievers and their “achievements”. Until I discovered that “fluent in Tamil” meant “I speak 48 words of the language”, “founded a charitable organization” meant “Dad set something up and I visited once when I was on vacation”, “bharatnatyam dancer” meant “I took lessons for two months when I was seven”, “hindustani classical vocalist” meant “I(think) I’ve heard hindustani music”. You get the picture. To be fair, there were exceptional Indian-American kids but they were the exception, not the norm.

  3. As a grad student at Yale in the late 90s, I was initally in awe of Indian-American overachievers and their “achievements”. Until I discovered that “fluent in Tamil” meant “I speak 48 words of the language”, “founded a charitable organization” meant “Dad set something up and I visited once when I was on vacation”, “bharatnatyam dancer” meant “I took lessons for two months when I was seven”, “hindustani classical vocalist” meant “I(think) I’ve heard hindustani music”. You get the picture. To be fair, there were exceptional Indian-American kids but they were the exception, not the norm.

    dude…that’s not an “Indian” thing…that’s a human thing or an American one. everyone pads their resume or talks up their high school extra-curriculars, regardless of ethnicity. yalie, please. 😛

  4. SepiaMutiny Poll for today-

    I hate KV because…

    a. She’s at Harvard b. My 800 page scintillatingly insightful novella on the displacement of the assamese immigrant diaspora in Fayetteville, AS hasnt found a publisher yet. c. My claws need sharpening, bring out the fresh desi-bottoms. d. We are at war with Iraq(wtf??) e. ..and I am haterading on KV for the same reason I pee in my community swimming pool-no one knows its me, and its fun to get tox out in public, once in a while.

  5. must agree with the crimsonite comment #50 about the hhharrrrvaaahhhhdd factor…everything is magnified at that school…the good, the bad, and the ugly…

    and i concur with MJ #43… i applauded her on my blog when she came out with the book..and just wondered when the hell this girl slept… but when it comes out as a stunt like this.. it’s really just above and beyond a silly mistake…it isn’t a jealousy of ‘let’s pull the crab down’… hell i wanted to push her up.. (even though her book isn’t something i would read personally)… but different strokes for different people…

    all i know if i was in her shoes at this moment… i don’t know what i’d do… honestly.. the whole world seemingly crashing down on you…from the public, publisher, school, classmates, professors… i hope she gets therapy/people who love her surrounding her…because it’s likley a sh*tty place to be in…

    abhi: like the philosophical comment.. and can agree with your point somewhat… and yes… i’m laughing…since medicine was a fallback (NOT!…why would i choose to live in a library?–well i do save on rent/mortgage…)

  6. i really think that she wouldn’t get quite as hated upon if she went to Michigan, btw. something about that H-bomb…

    But what I disagree with is this being characterized as “hate.” This isn’t hate at all. This is people wanting justice. People aren’t upset because of her lauded writing skills (which might be better than their own) and most definitely not because of where she went to college. They are upset because she may have lied. Hate is something not deserved and something I would not participate in even peripherally. Forgiveness and compassion however can only come once a person admits their mistakes. It is the media’s job, and even more so the job of the blogosphere to relentlessly punish “the wicked” until they come clean and ask for forgivness. Whether that is the 43rd President of the United States or a 19 year old girl, neither case is “hate.”

    I will have not sympathy for KV until she comes clean or explains why she is not at fault. After that it will be up to each individual whether they choose to see past this or not. The burden will then shift to those who judge.

  7. Anna, I’m also very uncomfortable with maintaining the assumption that merely because she is of Indian heritage she is comparatively immature and not as ready to handle adult-level decision making processes. Notwithstanding the fact that that’s not quite a justification for what has transpired, none of us know much at all about her upbringing. Can you infer from the fact that she was raised by Indian parents that she needs additional time to mature? I don’t agree with that at all. Also, given some of the info about her parents that she has given to various publications, I’m not entirely sure that her parents are of the conventional South Indian variety to which you may be referring:

    UC: What are some of your favorite bands? KV: I really like Coldplay. I like Travis. UC: I love Travis! KV: Yeah! Keane too. UC: I LOVE Keane! I’ve seen them three times. KV: You have? I’ve never gone to their concert. I’m really mad because I wanted to go to a Coldplay concert and my parents bought tickets for themselves and it was really bizarre. They ended up going while I was in school. Okay. That’s so not cool.

    Indian parents who go to Coldplay concerts? Damn!

  8. the media helped build KV up, now it’s relishing bringing her down.

    Is that because of her specifically, or because Oprah-fans wouldn’t mind another round of some Frey-style author smackdown? Next, we’ll see some “in-depth” coverage on the “disturbing plagiarism trend” that’s rocking the world of publishing.

    Rani made a good point. So, did this happen because Kaavya’s parents weren’t good at teaching her right from wrong? Whether she acted alone or collaborated with her publisher remains to be seen (and as I said, I’ll wait to hear whatever she has to say), but she’s definitely old enough to be held accountable for being less than honest – there’s no getting around that, whether she’s a “brown baby” or otherwise.

  10. Sidd, don’t bother. If “truth” is so honest, she’ll comment with her REAL NAME and call me out/insult me needlessly as someone who ain’t hiding behind all the undeserved power and bravery that anonymity brings. She don’t know me. I’ve consummately established myself on this blog as someone who stands up for other women. Obviously her overpowering lust for Abhi has clouded her capacity to think, not that we all haven’t been there at one time or another (Ennis included). 😉

  12. Girls (read ANNA) standing up for each other and all that, it’s all a bs act.

    Ew. What a misogynistic weirdo.

  13. Um, “Truth” = misogynistic weirdo. That comment looked confusing right after I posted it. I’m done talking now.

  15. My thoughts over the last few minutes:

    “Hmmm. I wonder if Truth will literally hit below the belt and try and call me a liar about being raped. Nah, as lame as their comment was, they can’t be THAT pathetic.”

    Yet…you are! And we wonder why other survivors of violence (dozens of whom emailed me after reading my post) won’t EVER come forward. How proud you must be– calling someone who was raped a liar. Even my rapist didn’t do that.

  18. Sorry for this, but I don’t feel bad for her. Not one bit.

    Between the 5 figure Ivywise program she/her family used to ‘brush up’ her application, the connections that got her a $500,000 book deal, the packaging company that helped her put the book together, her blatant sense of entitlement (comments to press about a Booker by the time she’s 30, eventual pursuit of Investment Banking career with this little lucrative dabble in writing), etc….Sorry, but this is called a comeuppance.

    She may not have copied deliberately, memory does play tricks, as ANNA argued in this post. And/or the packaging company may be responsible for the similarities. I’m not calling her a plagiarist (yet).

    But this is certainly not something to ignore or forgive given a context in which there are tens of thousands of writers out there, desperate to get their life work published. When so many brilliant writers are paid advances that equal out to something below minimum wage, when the number of hours spent writing gets factored in. When genius writers toil in obscurity, (Siddhartha Deb, anyone?). When everyone in publishing scrapes by, financially, so $500,000 is a blinding sum of money.

    Schadenfruede is an active part of a writer’s life. Affects almost all writers who get lucky (and I stand firm that talent gets no where without a little luck) and is felt by all writers who don’t.

    I’ve typed impassioned defenses for many a writer here (Lahiri springs to mind immediately), when they’ve been critized as not deserving of their success. I’m certainly not going to waste my time defending the hubris of young Kaavya.

  19. It is the media’s job, and even more so the job of the blogosphere to relentlessly punish “the wicked” until they come clean and ask for forgivness.

    lower lip quivering That’s harsh. Eliciting a desired response is much easier with positive stimulation.

  20. “rani, i TOTALLY stand by my contention that IMO, brown kids are “younger” than their unbrown counterparts,…i know it’s a controversial idea to assert, but i’ve seen it too often (not just in my family) to not say it.”

    controversial idea, indeed 😉

    i see this as the exception and not the rule, at least in my neck of the woods…the kids i see who fall in this category usually have daddy’s credit card to back them up …but if i can make a generalization, this applies to people of all ages & ethnicities…

  22. lol @ “syphon”

    Ummm, I didn’t perceive too much in the way of hate being shot at KV here on SM, but then again, I don’t read many other personal blogs. I did feel dissapointment when the news hit precisely because I was proud of her beforehand. I wouldn’t qualify that as hate. Sometimes the feelings are stronger when you are dissapointed by someone you admire: a friend, a parent, an inspiring young woman. The President, on the other hand – yes people are waiting for evidence of deception because they suspected it all along; Thus, there is a “I told you so” smugness in such instances. With KV on the otherhand, it’s more – “damn, why’d you play me like that?”

    Now I feel and/or hope that there is something more to the story. I strongly feel there is alot of evidence of plagiarism, but I am waiting to see who the perpetrator was.

  24. *lower lip quivering* That’s harsh. Eliciting a desired response is much easier with positive stimulation.

    Abhi the civilian ALWAYS positively stimulates. Abhi the blogger is in this business to punish the wicked so that ordinary people can feel safe at night. 😉

  27. Abhi the civilian ALWAYS positively stimulates.

    I can’t seem to get my head out of the gutter today. Heh heh.

  29. Does anyone else get the feeling Truth is a regular? Can’t we find out who he is, ‘out’ him and then dump him?

  30. “Truth” has already been banned. Nothing to see here, folks, move along. Kaavya-gate awaits the return of your attention and wit. I’ll even play some Blondie, (“Rip her to shreds”) to inspire ya. 🙂

  31. I’m sorry but I dunno..I just don’t know how one can regurgitate this much almost verbatim from the same author from memory and not have a clue that you’re doing so: List of Similarities. And obviously this is not a court case here, this is a forum for public opinion (and sure, we all know how fickle that can be, but seriously that’s what it is). And sure there may be an undercurrent of jealousy, against a successful Indian, against a Harvard freshman. And sure, I would hate to be in her place right now, cuz shit is hitting the fan. Both the above two arguments are somewhat irrelevant to the crux of the matter: that this reeeaks of plagiarism. We can come up with maybes…maybe Kaavya’s publishers did it (those bastards!), maybe her subconscious photographic memory kicked in, maaaybe it was all a huuuge publicity stunt. Those are all somewhat possible, yet I think somewhat improbable scenarios. Sure stranger things have happened, but usually the simplest explanation is the best (let’s hear it for Occam and the Art of Shaving). I dunno, but I think it’s reasonable to say and expect, for better or worse, that in the eyes of public opinion, you’re guilty until you prove yourself innocent (er, ask for forgiveness).

    My two cents. I’m not a bad person, I swear.

  33. In response to the extensive plagiarism of his first novel The Rachel Papers by one (now forgotten) Jacob Epstein, Martin Amis had this to say:

    “The psychology of plagiarism is fascinatingly perverse. It risks, or invites, a deep shame and there must be something of the death wish in it.”

    So, maybe this was all Kaavya’s subliminal way of saying “I’m tired of being so perfect. Get off my back!”

  34. Haha, uh yea… I just made that up…err…I think??

    (caught red handed: damn my publishers, damn my overdoting parents, damn Harvard, damn you fickle public, turning on a dime.)

  35. Actually I’m not against the mob-style justice in this case. Without small flashpoints there would be an ultimately larger explosion. I just wanted to point out why there is a mob to begin with.

    Oh. Well, I take back my compliment. A “larger flashpoint” about something important might be better than skewering a (choose one or more: morally bankrupt; misguided; confused; driven around by her parents; immature; cynical) teenager who fucked up. This is like Natalie Holloway for desis (i’m comparing the public reactions, not the the peoplem).

    Of course, I take what cicatrix says at #68 to heart too. Maybe I just got my schadenfreude out early by not reading this girl’s book or any of the press around it…and dissing on Jhumpa Lahiri too much 🙂 I find it’s the easiest way to deal with these things–that’s why I didn’t read Brick Lane after I heard a reading by Monica Ali.

  36. I am a little torn in this regard. On the one hand, she wants public adulation and she plays to the crowd, so I think she should probably bear this too. “If you live by the sword, you die by it” kind of stuff.

    Still, she is a kid, not just the “brown kids are younger” sort of way. I would lay off, she will have enough legal problems as it is. No point hitting her further.

    I have a lot more to say abt “the brown kids younger part”, but I am waiting for the discussion to get into doldrums first.

  38. anna, your post was well argued and definitely gives us all the insight to be a bit more objective before passing judgement.

    the only reason i cannot sympathize with her (if it is her own fault) is that she has to have known plagiarism is wrong. anyone who aspires to achieve something related to the field of literature MUST know that plagiarism is not tolerated. four years of undergrad and in every class i’ve taken at u of t we’ve gotten a shpiel and a handout on “HOW NOT TO PLAGIARISE”. i mean it’s a running joke with my friends and i, that if we get another one of those damned packages, we’re going to freak out! but every prof hands these out for a reason. i’m sure any harvard student would understand the concept; i’m sure harvard professors don’t think their exemplary students are above a little lecture on the difference between right and wrong. even prior to university i knew that plagiarism was something that would not be tolerated. if she’s as much of an overachieving brownie as we assume she is then she should know that she did something wrong….IF she did do something wrong.

    now, what is important to remember is that anyone who edited this book could have inserted the parts in question. if you don’t read the original book, how are you to know that it’s been lifted..that’s the job of those who edit the book.

  39. now, what is important to remember is that anyone who edited this book could have inserted the parts in question.

    Editors cannot make changes to a manuscript without the author’s approval. An author generally gets to vet each and every change. An editor can, in a hypothetical situation, bulldoze a young inexperienced author into tactily giving him/her carte blanche over the manuscript, but I really can’t see an editor meddling to that degree. The general complaint these days is that editors don’t edit enough. I’m more interested in the contributions of this “packaging company” (17th Street? Alloy? Both?) …

  40. Anna, while on a recent flight back to New Orleans (and woefully short on reading materials due to a long and unnecessary layover in Chicago), I borrowed my neighbor’s People (cringe desparation cringe) magazine and came across a sidebar on Kaavya and this book. On noting her last name and age, I wondered what my problem was at the age of 17 that I could not have landed a book deal. Oh, yes, ADDing, MUDDing and learning to program servers were much more interesting and mass market material I was not. Something about youth and wasted comes to mind.

    Anyway, zoom to present: I can definitely see how certain phrases resonate with us and coalesce with our vocabularies to the point where they are indivisible parts of us. For instance, when enraged, I am apt to source many of my statements from the Rage Against The Machine repertoire. (Only partly joking there.) For your first hypothesis to work, she must really LOVE that book, albeit one with quite unremarkable lines.

    However, having read this, your second theory seems more plausible. This is where my abject ignorance of the publishing industry rears its head – does an author not have the opportunity to pore over her manuscript before it is unleashed on the reading public?

    Did the pressure to “lighten” her previously overcast work force KV to excise her original work and to insert pink, fluffy pablum in its stead? Is this her way of saying “Screw you. If you want vanilla and lackluster, here!” Why would she commit literary suicide like that, before she’s even begun? I just don’t know.

    Crimsonite, as a Venkat-Ramani related to a bunch of Viswanathans, let me be the first to inform you that we’re coming together with all of the Freys of the world to commit mass seppuku over this blotch on our good names. Tomorrow morning at 8:15am. The panchangam has been consulted.

    Please.

  41. ‘Reached on her cell phone Saturday night, Viswanathan said, “No comment. I have no idea what you are talking about.”’

    I read somewhere, maybe the Boston Globe, that she had a sweatshop workshop of people working with her to finish the novel. Maybe KV really didn’t plagiarize. That could happen only if she wrote the novel. I’d love to hear her side of the story.

    Well, anyways, welcome to the other side, Kavya, where the disgraced browns live: the ones who don’t fit the glowing stereotype and tend to avoid family gatherings. What will the ‘Uncles’ say?

  42. Editors cannot make changes to a manuscript without the author’s approval. An author generally gets to vet each and every change. An editor can, in a hypothetical situation, bulldoze a young inexperienced author into tactily giving him/her carte blanche over the manuscript, but I really can’t see an editor meddling to that degree. The general complaint these days is that editors don’t edit enough. I’m more interested in the contributions of this “packaging company” (17th Street? Alloy? Both?) …

    ahhh i see. i just assumed that the editors making one or two changes that kaavya was ok with is what may have led to something like this (ooh conspiracy theories).

    rasudha: hahaha maybe we should point her to badindiangirl.com ? i keed i keed!

  43. Dammit what did this Truth character say? Did he speaketh the truth? Cos you know, truth hurts and truth be told truth is stranger than fiction and truth laid bear, lucky bear. Or was it lies, sweet little lies, oooh tell me tell me lies.

    Because I put undue importance in what cica says, I am no longer sure if I like this girl, completely contradicting what I said in the other thread. I’m a flip flopper.

    God I contribute absolutely nothing to this thread. Nothing. I feel quite proud about that.

  44. I dont understand why she wud plagiarize. Was she dumb enough to think that she wouldnt be caught? I dont think so.

    I think there’s something fishy here…though I dont have any theories.

  46. Comment #53, SM Intern said.. dude…that’s not an “Indian” thing…that’s a human thing or an American one. everyone pads their resume or talks up their high school extra-curriculars, regardless of ethnicity. yalie, please. 😛

    SM Intern, yalie or yatalkitup, right? It’s a fine line though…. It’s the brazen lying that took me by surprise. Sort of like borrowing a plot or whole sentences I guess…

    As a previous commenter said, People do hate being lied to… Lest we prejudge, KV does deserve a chance to explain her actions…

  48. could you be any more pretentious and self pitying, anna? ” i refused columbia for u.c.davis” oh, boo hoo…………….

    Oh shut up. Let the woman be.

  49. HG- there are shallow over-achievers of every ethnicity. Your sweeping generalization about Indian-American overachievers based on some Indian-American friends from your college days reeks of ABCD-ABCD or, more likely, FOB-ABCD bitterness. Somehow implying that what Kaavya did is representative of Indian-American over-achievers is true “haterade”.

  50. I’m with you, Anna. I’ve literally cried and combed through old papers worrying that I had accidentally recalled a sentence and typed it in as my own, or roughly translated something from one language into another and not cited it properly, or just copied phrases into my notes and then re-used them without realizing it. I’ve never copied whole sentences consciously, but I’m sure that a few turns of phrase here and there have found their way into my writing without my being aware of it.

    As a student, moreover, I want to say that yes, of course we’re told not to plagiarize, and yes of course we get a handout about it in every class, but the line between “research” and plagiarism, especially at the undergraduate level, is more blurred than one might think. We read hundreds, if not thousands, of pages of text a semester, often in classes with overlapping content. We take notes on much of that, plus lectures. When assigned a research paper, we read hundreds more pages from books and journal articles and take more notes. Rather than support our “unique” ideas from one source, we’re instead asked to draw from many. (Some wise soul – or perhaps wiseguy – once opined that the difference between plagiarism and research was the number of sources. Can anyone cite that?) We’re supposed to paraphrase and cite other people’s ideas without accidentally absorbing a single series of three words into our heads. Then there’s all the other stuff we’ve already read, before this semester and this paper. And we can’t slip up, right?

    Maybe Kaavya plagiarized purposely. Maybe she didn’t. Maybe someone else did it for her. We don’t know yet. Maybe I’ll be eating my defense of her in a few days. I don’t know.

    But congratulations to all pilers-on (and that’s in general, not SM-directed). I’m sure your integrity is rock-solid: never cheated on a test, never passed off someone else’s funny story as your own, never forgotten to cite a passage in a paper. Never fucked up when you were eighteen. Eighteen? Anyone remember that? Definitely, last I checked, not old enough to know better about absolutely everything.

    Even before the plagiarism, Kaavya took some harsh hits in the Crimson. Now they’re running snarky cartoons about her. I’m sure she’s reading this, seeing as how it’s the top hit for her name on Google. Probably her social life is ruined. She’s probably gonna have a tough time on campus. Actually, even if she transfers, she’ll probably have a tough time. Yes, plagiarism is a really serious thing, and yes as a writer I can’t condone it, but come on. She’s nineteen, and she probably just had her life and her parents’ lives get a lot tougher. I really don’t see anything great about that.

    And also, I too want to see what “Alloy Entertainment” and “17th Street” have to do with all of this!