Thanks @sanjeevsanyal for bringing me into this conversation. Yes, there is an elite which controls publishing; just like an elite group in every industry. In Indian publishing, to be a part of that group, you have to be from the Indian-anglicised elite. 1/n https://twitter.com/sanjeevsanyal/status/1275631792419008512

They publish each other, give each other awards, run the "esteem industry" as @manujosephsan calls it. Many of them can't even name the 4 Vedas, and they call those who quote from the Upanishads low-brow. And we have to agree, because they insist. 2/n

However, not everyone among that group is biased. I've had the pleasure of working with some really good people, who have supported me, despite my books being from the real India, and not from their anglicised class. 3/n

One doesn't care about the mutual back-scratching that the publishing elite does; that's understandable; every elite group in every industry does that. What one dislikes is the disdain they have for the real India. Lemme give you an example. 4/n

I am a polytheist, so I insist that the Goddess deserves as much respect as the God. But the anglicised elite follows British English, which privileges the One Male God. In British English, God is written with an uppercase G (with an uppercase H for Him as well), but... 5/n

... Goddess with a small g (with lowercase h for her), to show the inferior status of the Goddess. I would surrender to this grammar rule earlier. But as I became more successful, I insisted that my polytheist faith be respected, regardless of grammar rules... 6/n

...and Goddess also be written with an uppercase G. My publisher agreed. However, a media website publishing an excerpt from my book Raavan (in 2019), changed Goddess to goddess without my approval/knowledge. I asked my publisher to have the website restore the uppercase G, 7/n

... for if they are publishing an excerpt, they HAVE to follow my book, and can't change it. I even had my publisher explain my reasons. But the media website refused. So, my publisher & I pulled back the excerpt. The disdain the anglicised elite has for the polytheist, 8/n

... idol-worshipping (their term for murti puja), nature-worshipping ways of us real Indians, is what truly grates. n/n