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. Whose God is it anyways

    Thanks – really depressing and shocking. I guess I am just naive though.

  2. A N N A U plagiarized my thought before i had the chance to type them. How did u get access to my thought 🙂 Anyways…i loved your crab analogy. So fuckin true. Lets wait to hear what PK will say !!

    SFT? How? Had the book sold a few more copies or won awards it would have been mentioned in this blog to little india/india abroad whatever…. Bla Bla? Desis would have put her up on a pedestal much more quickly than to tear her down. This is the same kind of silly attitude i once heard from a desi who could not raise money for his tech company… A desi technical consultant hired by the VC gave them a poor review. His response was as banal as what i read here “Its desis man they dont want to see another desi get ahead” I felt like laughing on his face but refrained as i needed a ride that day. Why wouldnt a bright guy like him realize that evaluating technical proposal for funding is hard and error prone, and complex people make mistakes, or do find other ideas which seem less risky. Same thing applies here. Early indication is that her cousin was not the mole but some non desi was…. And the fact still remains that some one elses work was used w/o credit…. I wonder if the makers of the The Whole Nine Yards. will ever go to india and sue the writers of Awaara Paagal Deewaana.

  3. Huffington Post:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-kornbluth/scandal-at-harvard-how-d_b_19767.html

    Scandal at Harvard: How Does a Novelist ‘Accidentally’ Plagiarize? (28 comments )

    Have you followed the story of Kaavya Viswanathan, the 19-year-old Harvard undergrad? She’s a novelist with a $500,000 contract for two novels. That advance seemed shrewd — her first book, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got A Life, made the New York Times list less than a month after publication, and film rights were sold to DreamWorks.

    It now turns out that this novel was considerably “inspired” in at least 40 passages by two books by Megan McCafferty.

    Ms.Viswanathan has made all the expected apologies and given the usual explanation of “unconscious influence.” I don’t believe her. It is very easy to plagiarize in a non-fiction book — a sloppy writer types up her research notes, shovels the prose into her text and and forgets to acknowledge the source. But in fiction? How does it happen? Can a novelist honestly say: “I remembered a whole paragraph, word for word.” No way.

    A freshman writing teacher at Harvard has weighed in: “Kaavya was my student last spring. I was surprised to learn she had written a book, as her writing was awful — I had given her low grades on her papers.” Given that, journalists’ attention should turn to the author’s relationship with Alloy Entertainment, which calls itself “a creative think tank that develops and produces original books, television series and feature films.” As a book blog called Shelf Awareness points out, the author’s agent “says that the book’s plot and writing was ‘1000%’ Viswanathan’s. If so, why does a book packager share the copyright?”

    Do you suspect, in a week or so, more dirty linen will tumble out, and then the question will be: Did Kaavya Viswanathan really write her book? Or — like the members of a boy band — was she simply the “face” for a team of ghostwriters?

  4. Nothing more about book packgers :). Just respoding to the posts that assert that desis are out to tear a brother/sister down. In the artist/writer circles in which I roam, there is almost a constant support for each other and each others’ successes. I have desi mentors. Almost all my desi friends–regardless of profession–are happy when they see another desi succeed and are always ready to hook another desi up.

    Maybe I live in a bubble, but this assertion makes me sad.

  5. A freshman writing teacher at Harvard has weighed in: “Kaavya was my student last spring. I was surprised to learn she had written a book, as her writing was awful — I had given her low grades on her papers.” Given that, journalists’ attention should turn to the author’s relationship with Alloy Entertainment,

    i know, this thread is sooo long, it’s too much trouble to read what’s already been written, BUT, the huffington post should heed the beatnuts and watch out now. i’d really caution against portraying a writing teacher as some expert on kaavya when said instructor freely chooses a derogatory racial epithet for black people as her handle when she’s posting on metafilter. biased against the darkies much?

    sigh. you lost me there.

    20, 30, 40 passages that are too close for comfort? THAT is damning evidence. the opinions of a potential racist? no.

  6. From wikipedia:

    “Sambo is an derogatory term for an African American. Several origins of the term itself have been proposed, but it gained notoriety as a racial pejorative by association with the children’s book The Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman, in 1898. It was the story of a boy named Sambo who outwitted a group of hungry tigers.”

    Mowgli is the name of the feral child in “The Jungle Book” and was originally a Rudyard Kipling character.

  8. Here’s some intelligent commentary in favor of Kaavya. The part about the choice of her name (poetry) indicating her parents’ literary inclination made me smile though. My parents’ sunny optimism about my future is all over my name too.

  9. That is a great link Zai.

    He says

    Let’s dispose of copyright infringement first. Even if Ms. Viswanathan had copied 24 passages literally from Ms. McCafferty’s work she would not be guilty of copyright infringement because those 24 passages constitute a tiny fraction, less than 1%, of both novels and there is no sense in which they are of any particular importance. That falls well within the amount of copying permitted by the Fair Use doctrine. I doubt very much that any court would decide in favor of Ms. McCafferty on this point.

    Is that true ? I did not know that. Please confirm this SM law-geeks.

  10. i agree with ashvin– fantastic link. for a few hours today, i started to wonder if i was crazy for making the “memory” argument. good to know that i’m not the only one who thought it.

  11. ANNA,

    I must agree that Zai’s link made me think too.

    I have been leaning toward Cicatrix/ Jinal/ Abhi’s camp but am willing to give her the benefit of doubt if need be. Initially, I was upset that she was not owning any similarity (on Sunday-Monday morning).

    Also like Siddhartha, would like to throw a light on assembly line publishing.

    No matter, e-lynching is not fun. I do not think anyone here is doing but still.

    I also agree with Eddie, she’ll do fine. Just stay put.

  12. Is that true ? I did not know that. Please confirm this SM law-geeks.

    I will run naked across Fargo singing Lisa Loeb songs if that bit of logic stands up in a court of law. Unless Jonnie Chocran is brought back from the dead to defend her, the jury will convict.

  13. Unless Jonnie Chocran is brought back from the dead to defend her, the jury will convict

    If the paragraph doesn’t exactly fit, you must acquit!!!

  14. I will run naked across Fargo singing Lisa Loeb songs if that bit of logic stands up in a court of law.

    Chicken. At least choose a highly populated area.

  15. Is that true ? I did not know that. Please confirm this SM law-geeks.

    law-geek to the rescue! (sorta)

    Yes, it’s true. Ihe damage will be confined to her reputation. Its far too small to warrant legal action.

    In the court of public opinion, however, I hold her guilty! (sorta)

    She’s playing it off marvelously, gotta give her credit for that.

  16. I will run naked across Fargo singing Lisa Loeb songs if that bit of logic stands up in a court of law.

    youtube! google video! SO WORTH LOSING this debate for. 😉

  17. I’m not a lawyer of course but I will contest this. It isn’t just the 40+ paragraphs. There are also accusations that the structure of the book and key plot elements match up. I think we will see a lawsuit within a matter of days or else a big payoff of some sort.

  18.  odds 10 to 1 she loses her 500K advance

KV + 17th/alloy will be sued for infringement on 40 separate counts..

    Little Brown sued on complicity…will take monies for defense from KV’s earnings which are generally held in escro for one fiscal quarter (for remainders)

  19. From what I understand, if she intentionally copied the “heart” of the work — and McCafferty wants to push it, she might be in trouble. There are a lot of little things that would have to be proven. And since she admits to having been influenced by the original, it might be hard to prove that she copied in a way that would make her legally culpable.

    Anonymous Lawyer (porn for law students) has a fun take on it.

  20. Thanks law-geeks 🙂 I know there are more of you out there (maybe tomorrow when you’re procrastinating at work).

    It does sounds like the Fair Use Doctrine is not very clear-cut though. That blogger also make some observations about the “increasing privatization of our common culture” — a slight tangent from the KV story, but interesting. I remember hearing Siva Vaidyanathan make similar observations when talking about his book.

  21. espressa great link!

      " I tried the "unintentional and unconscious" defense when I got assigned a pro bono case defending a guy accused of murdering nine children with a pitchfork. Needless to say, it didn't work. Even Barry Bonds wouldn't buy this explanation, and he claims to have not realized he was taking steroids even as he tripled in size."


  But I would have to say she is basicly screwed sorta like when rodgers and hammerstein sued BIz Markie for obvious sample infringement... if KV was more subtle...but the fact is whole paragraphs were lifted...random house called it outright

    theft…the sheer arrogance to think you could get away with it…kinda ballsy..very stupid…

  22. I’m not a lawyer of course but I will contest this. It isn’t just the 40+ paragraphs. There are also accusations that the structure of the book and key plot elements match up.

    Wow, that makes it harder for Kaavya if true.

  23. but the fact is whole paragraphs were lifted…random house called it outright theft…the sheer arrogance to think you could get away with it…kinda ballsy..very stupid…

    I think that is actually reason to believe that it might really have been unintentional. You’d think that a harvard sophomore would know that the similarities would be easy to identify, and would make more of an effort to try and make them as different as possible. I think Bill Poser says it pretty well :

    Without meaning to justify their actions, one can easily see why a dishonest but rational person would engage in plagiarism. The question is, is there any plausible parallel scenario in which, if we assume, for the sake of argument, that Ms. Viswanathan is dishonest but of normal rationality, she would have plagiarized the passages in question?
    I submit that there is not. On the one hand, unlike term papers and obscure academic journal articles, best-selling novels are read by a lot of people, and novels of the same sort are likely to be read by the same people. The risk of detection is therefore fairly high. On the other hand, what had she to gain? Remember, the passages in question are a miniscule part of her book and of no particular importance or salience. What could she possibly have hoped to gain by copying a few passages out of an entire book? With the risk of detection high and the potential gain nonexistant, to believe that Ms. Viswanathan engaged in plagiarism requires us to believe that she was utterly irrational.

  24. hmmmm….. re: bill’s input – I think psychology and memory could be interesting twist, IF there’s any literature out there to support this. Bill doesn’t cite any specific sources. Maybe I’m just wishfully hoping.

    With the risk of detection high and the potential gain nonexistant, to believe that Ms. Viswanathan engaged in plagiarism requires us to believe that she was utterly irrational.

    And for this, 19 year olds DO behave irrationally. Not all criminal or wrongful acts are committed by the reasonable person. Age, depression, psychological issues, arrogance, stress, life in general can all add up and make one behave less than rationally. Note that I’m not saying she is suffering from any of these. My point is a lack of motive may not mean there is no case against her. I am not a lawyer, but I think this is reasonable.

    I do agree that from what we know has been copied so far, these don’t seem significant to the story – unecessary really. Who knows why she or/her handlers would even bother copying these…. c’est bizarre! There are speculations of a set-up, or that there could be other sources for the remainder of the book. This whole thing is way too surreal, thatsforsure.

  25. metric : it is possible that this was the irrational act of a 19yr old but i’d be more inclined to believe that if this was a spur-of-the-moment act. But she had many months to think about it and change things to reduce her risk.

    And back to Bill Poser’s hypothetical assumptions (that she is both rational and dishonest). One possibility is if the initial drafts of the book were written long ago at a time when she didn’t expect it to be widely read and therefore percieved the risk to be small. And somehow those passages remained and weren’t filtered out in the editing process.

  26. it is bizarre… that’s why they’ll be over 300 posts by morning….

    My expertise is music law pertaining to copyrights…mainly licensing for commercials…..There are so many ways to come after KV …bill’s points are good but mainly academic and logic based….law is only logical in theory…in practice it is hard nosed and brutal…. in the real world lawyers smell blood and they line up to feast…you could seriously file 40 counts of infringement…that is serious bidness…the whole ‘internalization’ thing is bollocks and insulting……..as a SA I am saddened for a girl who I think got in WAAAAAy over her head but is totally responsible now…she cashed the check! she wanted the flashy car…she straight up copied paragraphs line for line….I am pissed I suggested this book a week ago to a 12 year old cousin of mine…..I wish KV would apologize to her :(…we have too few SA role models for the under 20 crowd for this bullsh@%

  27. One possibility is if the initial drafts of the book were written long ago at a time when she didn’t expect it to be widely read and therefore percieved the risk to be small. And somehow those passages remained and weren’t filtered out in the editing process.

    Ashvin,

    It is very possible.

    Often, when you start writing you build on something reverbrating in your head or read recently or you use somebody’s work as a template. When I write anything scientific, often it is very close to a source or sources related to my work – then I keep flushing it till mutates away from the orginal sources – they only remain as cited references. Sure, I do not get paid half a million and they are published in obscure journals. More so for 17 year old writing a chick lit – It is not she is like VS Naipual going on travels, and agonizing about it. Also, 50 pages a day I do not think one can original ideas worth 50 pages a day.

    It is also possible that 17th Street has stock passages, or templates that get used around in some form or other for chick lit. Some of the passages were filling in as meat were from 17th street.

    Only she, Alloy, and 17th Street knows the answer. Hazaar* possibilities.

    *Hazaar = thousand

  28. I’m relating more now to ANNA’s original post above, now that I am looking at comments on other websites. Some really harsh stuff has been posted on Amazon (in reviews and forums), for example.

  29. Fair use excuse wont work here.You cant lift paragraphs and sentences from others works and pass them off as your own.Fair use is meant for specific purposes.One has to acknowledge or indicate the source.I have written in my blog how this might have happened.This is not an unique problem. Researchers and academics who make notes without a reference to the source end up wondering whether its their own thoughts or somebodys.If you mix up your notes with extracts from others you can say I am sorry but law will not excuse you.

  30. Dayuuuum! Deepa you were right Amazon posts were harsh

       "the wholesale lifting of entire passages from the McCafferty was brazen. Things like that are never unintentional. Some remarkably clever scenes and narrative were appropriated with what appears to be an attempt to transpose only a few choice nouns with Viswanathan's own Eurotrash trappings. The author's words feel irregular, as if hammered into the wrong holes on a page.  What a brat. You can bet her proctors are running every phase-shifted, overlapped 5-word passage of her school work from now until graduation through Dogpile"

    That is harsh…..But true..sigh…So how do you guys feel about the ‘Namesake’ movie?

    .

  31. Hey Bhagwaan,

    So much hand – wringing over someone who cheated and got caught, to top it all her apology is worse than her transgression,

    People are seemingly being gleeful not because she has cool parent who go to coldplay (?) shows but she got money (lots of it)by plagriazing.

    And please don’t give this sorry excuse about unintentional copying and photographic memory, you can not copy the whole paragraph without knowing it.

    Reading the thread reminded me of Karan Johar movies.

    Also, I find it ironical that while First generation immigrants are criticized for being provinicial, the same attitude is displayed by many of the critics (most of them second generation)themselves.

    I can understand if someone asks me to cut slack because she is young (Although I disagree with that) But to cut slack because of her being “brown”.Again Hey Bhagwaan !

  34. Who is responsible for the plagirization? 17th street or K. Viswanathan? or both?

    Either way, regardless of who is responsible for lifting the prose, it’s wrong, wrong, wrong! I don’t buy the “unintentional” argument; not from someone who is capable of getting admittance to Harvard and certainly not from an outfit of professional ghostwriters. But god knows how low I would have sunk for $500K at the age of 19; probably pretty low.

    Am I alone in seeing this sordid affair as a symptom of how low publishing standards have sunk rather than a reflection upon South Asian writers?

  35. Sher (285#)

    No you aren’t. The issue should be standrad of modern publishing.

    Regards

  36. Sher,

     Frankly its a bit of both...I've known plenty of SA overachievers who would cut a corner to get ahead..our parents

    all have legendary stories of cheating in Indian schools…there is a bullsh*& SA quality that does exist unique to us…not lying itself..just our unique masala…there is so much corruption in India as a whole that everyone from the rickshaw wallah to the congress party to the mighty Reliance cuts corners…its stuff that even chase manhattan talks about in their meetings regarding indian investment..and now we’re getting far from KV…its just her quickness to lie lie lie….reminds me of some of my family I’m ashamed to admit…maybe the goras have the same yet…honestly the vibe I get from KV is totally desi evasive (i’m grinning just thinking about it)..like I just got caught with my white bf in bed and now I must tell dad we were studying…and dad will buy it…whereas …crucial difference the gora dads don’t buy it…I think KV forgot she was dealing with an american audience not keen on being lied to….she took a risk and she lost.

  37. I’m relating more now to ANNA’s original post above, now that I am looking at comments on other websites. Some really harsh stuff has been posted on Amazon (in reviews and forums), for example.

    Me too. If she did plagiarise she and her cohorts should face the legal consequences. Hopefully this will be a reminder to writers, publishers and packaging peeps of the seriousness of plagiarism. But I do feel for the girl though, making one mistake and getting such nasty reactions. The fact that she is young, female, smart and attractive doesn’t help her cause either – the initial Crimson article was an eerie mix of glee and spite.

    If only people would be so morally concerned about war mongering zealots who are OK with killing thousands of Iraqis or lying politicians whose actions actually hurt people.

    Oh, and a million anti-props to Nina what’s-her-face – I’d rather be a plagiarist than a racist.

  38. Begali (288#)

    The fact that she is young, female, smart and attractive doesn’t help her cause either

    I doubt she is smart, or may be she is too smart for her own good. Having said that, she was elevated on a pedestal, now she is being dragged down, a normal course for heroes with feet of clay.

    If only people would be so morally concerned about war mongering zealots who are OK with killing thousands of Iraqis or lying politicians whose actions actually hurt people.

    If only people would have so much moral integrity to actually go to Iraq to oppose war instead of posting pointless comments on blogs

    Regards

  39. I doubt she is smart, or may be she is too smart for her own good.

    Considering that she’s in Harvard she obviously got there due to some academic merit/smartness.

    If only people would have so much moral integrity to actually go to Iraq to oppose war instead of posting pointless comments on blogs

    And get myself killed? How would that help, Einstein? I’d rather keep bugging my politician thanx.

  40. Bengali (290#)

    Considering that she’s in Harvard she obviously got there due to some academic merit/smartness.

    And got caught for lifting passages out of another writer’s novel ! It is possible to be academical meriterious and a ignoramous in ethics.

    If only people would have so much moral integrity to actually go to Iraq to oppose war instead of posting pointless comments on blogs And get myself killed? How would that help, Einstein? I’d rather keep bugging my politician thanx.

    If you can talk about Iraq war on a thread which is concerned with (mis)adventures of KV, it is reasonable for me to expect you to do something.

    Regards

  42. Gaurav:

    It is possible to be academical meriterious and a ignoramous in ethics.

    Yeah, but being an ignoramous in ethics doesn’t negate the fact that she is most likely intelligent/smart (getting into Harvard and all..)

    (ps: I humbly apologise, Your Highness, for comparing public & media reaction to plagiarism to that of The War)

    Bong:

    I forget, what was the most-commented Sepia thread ever?

    I dunno, but recently the Sepia Destiny thread got 440 posts.

  43. Bengali (293#)

    (ps: I humbly apologise, Your Highness, for comparing public & media reaction to plagiarism to that of The War)

    While accepting your regards, I think it is unfair for you to claim that there has been insufficient criticism of Iraq war in public discourse.

    Regards

  44. firstly, i have to say that Gaurav (above) is the politest writer in the blogosphere…always with the ‘Regards’ and actual capital letters, i for one can’t be arsed but a for awesome for you my friend, its almost enuf to guilt-trip this little curry into writing properly…but nah, don’t think i will.

    secondly, i think just the number of posts on this issue vs. other more political ones does show the famed stereotype of south asians as back-stabbing, biatchy be-grudgers rearing its head in all its ugly glory.

    thirdly, i firmly place myself in the A N N A/ A K K A/ O T H E R N A M E F O R P E O P L E W I T H E M P A T H Y camp NOT because i support plagiarism or that i’m againts the ‘principles of justice’ but because not only did she copy a few passages into her badly written book from another badly written book, the whole genre of chick lit has just exposed itself for all its CRAPNESS!

    If it took this long for people to see KV copying McCafferty, after all those advances and people ooh-ing and aahing over Opal Mehta, AND if her copying had to be so stupidly close the original that the passages had to be that obvious for people to notice regard it as copying, then this just exposes how unoriginal the whole genre is. how many chick lit books are so similar you could just mindread the plot from looking at the pic of the girl on the cover? if people want mindless blockbusters they should go to commercial cinemas and not turn to the beautiful form of the book.

    However despite my regret that someone’s Ivy-League education is leading them to produce the equivalent of turds… there is a v disturbing trend of brown-bashing going on here…and it would seem that we’re best at doin it ourselves, we don’t need any help from other colours thank you v much

    Even before people found out it was plagiarised, this book was being bashed for the white girl vs Indian-looking girl on the cover, for the inauthenticity of the name Opal, for the fact that Patels could not live in Madras etc. etc.

    There are MANY other desi writers who have copied from other writers. Vikas Swarup who wrote Q and A and just got a movie deal for his book has a main character who goes from rags to riches and is emblematic of modern India. Did somebody say Rushdie or Midnight’s Children?

    I find it more insulting when people appropriate whole ideas and stereotypes than small passages because this is where plagiarism and unoriginal thought starts, not in copying things word for word but in creating a model of literature where caricatures replace characters and movie scripts replace plots.

    sorry for rant but book lovers cry over stuff like Opal Mehta, plagiarised or not plagiarised.

  45. Kaavya was just on the TODAY show, getting pointedly interrogated by Katie “too much eyeliner on the lower lashes” Couric.

    It will make me slightly late for work (and it will make my skin very dry, that I didn’t get to moisturize apres shower), but I dropped everything to watch, rapt and I don’t regret the decision to do so. At one point, I looked down and found both of my hands covering my mouth, something I do when I’m exceptionally upset or scared. Her voice was quavering, it’s obvious she was so terrified. But she approached the show and agreed to do the exclusive b/c she wanted the “opportunity” to address the clusterfuck. She apologized over and over…and you can now skewer ME for the next ten or 100 comments to come, but more than ever, I am behind her. How easy would it be to just come clean right there, with Katie, tearfully get it over with, get on Oprah and then become an extra famous Kaavya OR retreat somewhere as the whole thing turns in to a “Fuck that stuck-up Harvard Bitch! Told you she lied!”-mela…which would then be over as soon as the Pitt-Jolie offspring drops.

    Sometimes I think we want someone to confess to something so badly and when they don’t, we smirk at their lack of ethics or honesty. But what if Kaavya, shaking with anxiety, apologizes for exactly what she (thinks she) did and says she is sorry for the distress she caused and that it was unintentional? It’s not going to be good enough for those who are out for blood, but it was good enough for me. I had imagined her, based on shards of nothing gathered from an article here or there, when I sat down to write this post. I saw her clearly.

    I really do wish I could put her to bed and smooth her hair ’til she falls asleep. Poor child. Brave girl, I just wanted to hug her after watching that.

  46. It’s not going to be good enough for those who are out for blood, but it was good enough for me.

    Anna, you can clearly see from my (few) posts on this subject that I am not out for blood at all. But are you seriously saying you buy her “it wasn’t intentional” line? I too feel bad for the clusterfucking, a phrase I feel you use quite appropriately here, but I still don’t quite get how you are so keen to apparently reward her with hair-smoothing.

    I know people have been presenting their own teenage cockups – so here’s mine, briefly. I did something bad and got caught. It was nowhere near as public as Kaavya, but for me it was my entire world that knew. My whole school, all the parents and all my Mum’s friends. The police moved into our school for a few days and it was all due to me. No one smoothed my hair down and frankly if my Mum had, perhaps I would not have learnt my lesson. I kept my head down for the next few months and things blew over. She should do the same. No public lynching, but likewise no mollycuddling. I completely dispute her being brave just for coming on a TV show to claim it was unintentional. If I had done this, the first thing I would want to do is get a primetime TV slot to explain myself.

  47. If I had done this, the first thing I would want to do is get a primetime TV slot to explain myself.

    I agree. It worked for Hugh Grant, didn’t it?

  49. Bong Breaker (297#),

    I concur

    Honestly speaking I am hardly a fan of Chick Lit, and hence no axe to grind with KV. Also I do not begrudge her cool coefficient or her place in Harvard. But she cheated (and got caught),that was first strike, she tried to weasel word out of it that was second strike, and now I hear why she should be cut slack because she is young (or in some rare cases brown)this is the third strike.

    I mean at least consider she was paid for her work and therefore her plagiarism is considerably more unethical and serious than for example a blogger lifting other’s work.

    Regards

  50. agree with Bong Breaker and with Gaurav…

    she messed up big time..and of course she is scared..hell the whole world is watching her downfall from the ‘literary world’.. after 40 passages… how can it be unintentional..

    the saddest part is, that she was likley brilliant enough (i’m pretty sure of that) to write something better on her own…sans some unintentional bullsh*t…

    but honor is honor…and plagiarism is plagiarism…

    and a rewrite doesn’t erase the past.

    but in all due time, this time will pass for her.. lessons learned (hopefully)…and it will one day become a question in some trivial pursuit game… or a jeopardy question perhaps… as with anything…these things are transient in the media world…

    her book sales may rise (as they did with frey)…but her integrity is tarnsihed… and badly so…