Madness as Method: Subversive Intelligence and Anti-Disciplinary Childhood in Pagla Dashu

Name of Author : Isha Rani Das

Abstract: This paper attempts to read Pagla Dashu not just as a humorous children’s text, but as something more layered. The figure of Dashu, who is repeatedly called “mad,” is usually taken lightly. But this study argues that his so-called madness is not simply irrational behaviour. Rather, it works like a method—a way of responding to and quietly resisting the rules imposed by school, society, and authority. Using some ideas from Michel Foucault, especially about discipline and normal behaviour, this paper tries to show that Dashu does not fit into the system, and perhaps does not even want to. His actions disturb the expected order, but not in a destructive way. Instead, they reveal how fragile and constructed that order actually is (Foucault, 1977). In this sense, Dashu may be seen not as a deviant child, but as someone who thinks differently and acts from that difference.

Keywords : ‘mad’ , discipline and normal behaviour , expected order , destructive way , deviant child

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