Category: Books

For God’s Sake

       A book by an adman, alumnus of IIT and IIM; one more IIT guy excelling  in fields other than engineering.       It is not about how God influences your life , but about how the idea of God affects business in India.      Written in a lively , chatty, yet informative style, as a … Continue reading “For God’s Sake”

       A book by an adman, alumnus of IIT and IIM; one more IIT guy excelling  in fields other than engineering.

      It is not about how God influences your life , but about how the idea of God affects business in India.

     Written in a lively , chatty, yet informative style, as a series of somewhat disconnected essays, it makes a nice office hours reading ! It is particularly good for random access reading, if I may call it so, jumping from chapter to chapter not in any particular order, switching gears as you go. A casual skimming over the table of contents  took me to  the chapter ‘burkha ke peeche kya hai ?’ ; the answer is not what I thought or what you are thinking nor ‘dil’ as in ‘choli ke peechhe kya hai  ‘but ‘designer-ware clothes‘. It is a phenomenon that has led to hundreds  of garment factories in a country populated by millions of burkha clad women. 
     Then there are essays on divine arts, divine tourism, sacred music all contributing to the way Indians of all religious hues think, earn and live.
     If the western idea of secularism keeps  religions insulated from politics, business, education and just about everything, Indian idea of secularism is so inclusive that it demands some measure of every religion in every aspect of life !

lean in

The last blog post I did on the subject was ‘When work doesn’t work any more ‘ . WOMEN, WORK AND IDENTITY and Sheryl Sandberg’s  ‘Lean In ‘ bears a similar subtitle with a major shift in goal., WOMEN, WORK AND THE WILL TO LEAD. ‘Lean in ‘; What does it mean ? Is it … Continue reading “lean in”

The last blog post I did on the subject was ‘When work doesn’t work any more ‘ . WOMEN, WORK AND IDENTITY and Sheryl Sandberg’s  ‘Lean In ‘ bears a similar subtitle with a major shift in goal., WOMEN, WORK AND THE WILL TO LEAD.

‘Lean in ‘; What does it mean ? Is it one of those untranslatable American slangs ? (Unfortunately none of Cambridge, Oxford, and Merriam Webster Dictionary includes “lean in” as an idiom.) But going through the net, there appears to be vast differences in what even Americans understand by that term. Reading and re-reading the book doesn’t throw much light as there seems to be an effort to keep the meaning vague, elastic and inclusive so as not to upset any section of the society.

Now consider a ‘leaner ‘ as described by the author …My mother has leaned in her entire life. She raised her children, helped her parents spend their final years in dignity and comfort, and continues to be a dedicated and loving wife, mother, and grandmother. She has always contributed to her community and the world. She is my inspiration……..
So, the term can be used in an elastic mode. It can mean anything from grabbing an opportunity, staying focused on a career and reaching the top posts with out holding back for any reason, internal or external. It can also mean ‘just being assertive and boldly expressing the needs and wants of women individually and collectively”. by the way, why do Americans always ‘grab’ ‘stuff’ ? Grab a coke, grab a plate etc, why can’t they just take a drink or pick up a plate ?

Well, I am digressing, coming back to ‘leaning in’ ; from the book it appears to have two essential ingredients viz, sitting at the table and keeping the foot on the gas (reminds me of the motto of Sikh Battalion “Jo hoga so hoga ,Dabbi chal” – come what may, bash on regardless-) . And all this requires making your partner a real partner!

Here we go.

The first part is applicable for anyone, man or woman who wants to go up in his/her career. grab opportunities, sit at the table, raise your hand, don’t mute your achievements, negotiate well for your compensation (ask for more and get it) and so on. There are any number of men who are shy or self-effacing as there are pushy women. If you want to stick to stereotypes  well , anybody in India should be able to compare Tamilians and Punjabis, to get an idea.

The second part , don’t leave till you leave.. focuses on the unavoidable obstacle in the career path (ladder or jungle gym) . People talk of women’s liberation , first wave, second wave etc…. . It is child birth that confined women to home rather than men or a patriarchal system and it is the pill which liberated them from multiple / unwanted pregnancies. Pregnancy meant the end of economic independence, and the pill meant ‘freedom to choose your own path’ .With almost 100% fertility control, women were able to postpone having children or space births to pursue a career or a degree that had never been possible prior to the Pill.

Despite all modern medicines and equipment, there is still the issue of ‘period of confinement’, however short, that is sought to be addressed through ‘leaning in’. That is where the institutions need to change the work culture to suit moms and expectant moms and of course, the work place needs to be considerate to dads and expectant dads as well. Here again it is not men or the patriarchal society that has evolved the current work culture, but capitalism and corporate values .

Be that as it may, neither sitting on the table nor stepping on the gas will be possible without the right partner at home as the author points out. Making  your partner a real partner can be broken down into identifying a partner , and settling down to a working arrangement.

Sendberg’s advice on looking for a partner, ………….. When looking for a life partner, my advice to women is date all of them: the bad boys, the cool boys, the commitment-phobic boys, the crazy boys. But do not marry them. The things that make the bad boys sexy do not make them good husbands. When it comes time to settle down, find someone who wants an equal partner. Someone who thinks women should be smart, opinionated, and ambitious. Someone who values fairness and expects or, even better, wants to do his share in the home. These men exist and, trust me, over time, nothing is sexier. …….

The operative phrase is “Someone who wants to do his share in the home” And what does a woman offer ? ..”to be smart, opinionated and ambitious and of course an equal partner, whatever it means ” Does it just mean equal share of house hold chores, or does it mean equally share paying of the bills, financial management, maintenance of car / gadgets etc equal time and energy spent on family…. ? It is easier to understand equal partner in a commercial venture; ie equal ownership and equal rights in decision making; but equal partners at home ?! Sounds vague. May be it could be equal respect and dignity . 
On the lighter side, in a culture where dating is rare or non-existent , I can visualize the matrimonial advertisements !

There is an anecdote on how to test a date. After finding the right guy, then you train him, to suit your requirement, …..Even after finding the right guy—or gal—no one comes fully formed. ………If you want a fifty-fifty partnership, establish that pattern at the outset. (What kind of user manual is this ? Why stop at 50-50 and not go for a guy who would do 80 or 100 % of the work at home ? What if you want a 25-75 partnership or 75-25 partnership,or may be 25-75 in one aspect and 20-80 in another aspect, and different ratios at different stage of life ?)


After trying, testing, and clinching the deal, still things can go wrong. The author sums up the issue of women having both a career and family in the words of Nora Ephron of the famous “When Harry met Sally” , “It will be a little messy, but embrace the mess. It will be complicated, but rejoice in the complications. It will not be anything like what you think it will be like, but surprises are good for you. And don’t be frightened: you can always change your mind. I know: I’ve had four careers and three husbands.” 
 The purpose of the book is a clarion call to the women to lean in and attain half the top positions in every field and change the world from top. More than the book itself, it is thought-provoking to read articles/blogs and comments  on the net from working moms, stay at home moms, feminists and so on.

New terminologies learnt

  • Traditional marriage(Only man works outide), Neo traditional marriage(man does full time job and woman part-time job) and Modern marriage (Both work outside)
  • Jungle Gym Career Path
  • Stay at Home Mom (not home maker or stay at home wife)
  • Benevolent sexists or nice guy misogynists
  • Maternal gate-keeping (mother in law like supervision on household chores)
  • Intensive Mothering (Done by stay at home moms to justify their title, shall we call it smothering ?) 



A View from the Outside

Recently read a book “A View from the Outside” by P Chidhambaram. It is a compilation of articles written by the current Finance minister, in the period from 2002-2004, when he was out of power and in political wilderness. He was not even in the Congress Party, but in a kind of splinter to a … Continue reading “A View from the Outside”

Recently read a book “A View from the Outside” by P Chidhambaram. It is a compilation of articles written by the current Finance minister, in the period from 2002-2004, when he was out of power and in political wilderness. He was not even in the Congress Party, but in a kind of splinter to a splinter party of Congress. Fresh from his stint as the union finance minister and with plenty of time on his hands and with no compulsion to stick to a party line, he has expressed himself freely on a range of political and economical issues. He has unambiguously expressed his views on monetary policy, black money, inflation, trade policy, FDI issue, Support to farmers, election reforms, and so on. It is creditable that till date he has not had reasons to regret for expressing any such view which would embarrass him or his party which is now in power.
On the issues of political parties diametrically changing their views on critical issues,P Chidhambaram had once remarked, “Where you stand (on various issues) , depends on where you sit”. For once , as a leader of a one man party (congress jananayaka peravai , much like Subramnyam Swami’s one man party) he could take any stance on any issue, any time. There are many controversial ideas like he argues then , as he argues now that colour of money does not matter. The Nation needs money for infrastructure, so let the black money rotting in swiss banks (or now in Indian private banks) come out in the open
Most of the articles are critical not only of the then NDA Govt , but also of earlier govts on various aspects of commission or omission on economic policies. His view on politicians and corruption in the political system is strikingly similar to those of Anna Hazare and Arvind khejrwal. It is ironical that he was in the receiving end in 2011, during the so called August kranti.
View from outside is always interesting on any issue. Retired cricketers look so much more relaxed and so  enthusiastic when commenting on the game now than in their playing days.
Life itself is more interesting when viewed as an outsider, with ‘Sakshi Bhava’ (as a witness), or udasin Bhava (detached state) as a Hindu philosopher would call it; may be that is why it is easy to find solutions for most difficult problems concerning others while a trivial issue concerning oneself gives such sleepless nights.

Listening to Grasshoppers

  Read a collection of essays by Arundhati Roy Titled “Listening to Grasshoppers– Field Notes on Democracy” Arundhati Roy must be one of the most hated figures in India, as she spares nobody, be it the govt, the judiciary or the celebrities. Always ready to court controversy, she  manages to be politically incorrect ,so consistently.  She is against free market, … Continue reading “Listening to Grasshoppers”

 

Read a collection of essays by Arundhati Roy Titled “Listening to Grasshoppers– Field Notes on Democracy”

Arundhati Roy must be one of the most hated figures in India, as she spares nobody, be it the govt, the judiciary or the celebrities. Always ready to court controversy, she  manages to be politically incorrect ,so consistently.  She is against free market, against US brand of democracy; and she speaks for naxals, for Afsal Guru and Geelani, people considered the enemies of the state.  She doesn’t get much support from the media as well. Arnab Goswamy, in one of the debates on “Kashmir issue”, fired an unprovoked salvo, “Arundahthi Roy and Bharat Bhushan ! are you listening ? we have not invited you to our studio, because we find you disgusting.” Ironically, the very people she is fighting for, the farmers, dalits, down trodden, adivasis, Naxals etc would  be hardly aware of her, and even  if they do their voices are seldom heard.

It is extremely difficult to hear any views from an Indian on our own national media, speaking up  openly in favour of Kasmiri separatists or the naxals. It is easier to view / read news of ‘patriotic indians kicking and punching any compatriot indulging in such open criticism.

There is indeed a very thin line between suppression of criticism and tolerence of sedition , in a democracy.
This title of the book is drawn from an essay, “listening to grasshoppers” , a lecture delivered by the author in Istanbul, on the 1915 genocide of Armenians in which more than one million people were killed. the lecture, the author says, was about the history of genocide and genocide deial and the old organic relationship between ‘progress’ and ‘genocide’
While nobody says genocide is right, there is little critcism of ‘acceptable genocides’ for eg, the great genocide, in which the europeans exterminated 50-60 million native americans or australian aborigins, all in the name of development and progress. Whereever there is a western model ‘development’ there are victims whose cries go unheard. While holocost of jews is much talked about, there is hardly any awareness of other groups like gypsies and homosexuals, systematically annihilated by the Nazis during the period of  ‘nation building’ in Germany, even prior to WW II. The great powers of the time were just looking on the legitimate aspirations of the German people.

Martin Niemöller was a German Pastor who became controversial by openly supporting Hitler’s policies in the early stages of the Third Reich.He later expressed his misgivings about some of Hitler’s acts,for which he was jailed and narrowly escaped being sentenced to death.After the war, he became active as a pacifist

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out for me. 

Genocide does not necessaily mean killing people; it may be achieved by systematically creating an environment for an entire people to gradually fade away. Our rural popuaion is slowly getting choked as all resources from the rural areas are appropriated by the Rich, with full support of the police and judiciary and millions of people are forced to move to the urban slums where they have few rights even to food and water leave alone the democratic rights to voice their opinion.
The essays are published unedited, as written at various points of time; after the attack on Indian Parliament, after Gujrat riots, during the peak of uprising in Kashmir and after 26/11.

Mostly it is an expression of  raw anger against all kinds of injustice ; for  some satire,  here’s a link to a street play performed by students protesting against George Bush’s visit to India in 2006.

However, bitter the ideas are, there is definitely an element of truth and it calls for a lot of soul searching on the part of every policy maker and opinion maker in the country.

 

Mammaries of the welfare state

Reading  ‘English August’ and ‘Mammaries of the Welfare State’ by Upamanyu Chattterjee, prompted me to pen my own experiences with babus of the Welfare State . Most people include army in the ‘babus’ category, but, despite being a govt organization it is more like a corporate, in terms of order, work culture, efficiency and accountability; in short, … Continue reading “Mammaries of the welfare state”

Reading  ‘English August’ and ‘Mammaries of the Welfare State’ by Upamanyu Chattterjee, prompted me to pen my own experiences with babus of the Welfare State . Most people include army in the ‘babus’ category, but, despite being a govt organization it is more like a corporate, in terms of order, work culture, efficiency and accountability; in short, it is more like HDFC bank than SBI.
So when we do get to work in a civil govt org, we too undergo a cultural shock. I have had to deal with three different State Govts, while serving with NCC (National Cadet Corps) , viz, Tamilnadu
(TN), Madhya Pradesh (MP) and West Bengal (WB). There are vast  differences betwen the States in  language , resources, and work culture. In most of the states, NCC comes under the Education Department or the Department of youth affairs, but in WB, it comes under the Department of Civil defence and Disaster Management (CD and DM), though NCC has little do with Civil defence or disaster management except in extreme circumstances.

 

Be that as it may, considering that everyone is interested in milking the welfare state, it is a common factor that in any State you approach the dept, mostly for finances. Milking the state is a full time job, and it can lead to ludicrous situations. In WB, there was an NCC BN, where not a single clerk was posted out of authorized strength of 10. Of course there were 12-15 Group D staff posted. The question is how do you do the paper work for drawing the salary and other allowances . A clerk was hired to do the needful and he was paid out of the unit’s private resources. So the only work done in the unit was preparation of salary bills and that too was outsourced !

 

While at TN and MP, I was just one of the users, in WB, I was one of the privileged few to be involved in budgeting, release of funds and such aspects.
This took me to the famed Writers’ Building atleast twice a week. The WB Govt , or the Party, as they call it, loved to exercise tight control over everything and what better way to achieve this  than by holding on tightly to the purse strings.
An NCC unit incurring an expenditure of say, Rs 2000/- for sending just one cadet for some training, had to send  a proposal to the Department through the proper channel of communication. This was finally approved by the Dept of CD and DM, and  a Goverment Order (GO) was issued based on which the amount was drawn from the Govt Treasury.
Issuance of a GO is a torturous process, requiring the concurrence of the triumvirate, Pricipal Secretary (PS), Joint Secreatry (JS) and Deputy Secreatry (DS) , duly approved by the all powerful “finance dept” and the invisible hand of the trade union. Despite all efforts,  the funds may not be available in time if the particulr clerk responsible for  typing the GO glares at you and says ‘hobe na’ (not possible) for whatever reason. It may be due to the fast approaching Durga Poojo (Poojo starts approaching  a month in advance) or ‘jomoi shashti’ or one of the many ‘poojos’ in the land of ‘barah mahino, teroh poojo’. When poojos didn’t oblige, the didi did by calling for a bandh on the odd working day. Those were the days when didi was in the opposition.
Coming to the ring side view of the working of the Govt, the minister was young, highly educated and a genial man. But any interation with him started and ended with exchange of pleasantaries. The PS, of the IAS cadre, was again a very affable person, but had definitely imbibed the work cuture of the State, with the long years spent in the districts. When he was not pan-chewing in a comtemplative mood, or discussing office politics, he could be seen laboriously working on a draft letter with one bare foot perched on the chair, and tongue sticking out in deep concentration. The entire process of issue of a letter, from dictaion to his PA, typing, corrections, recorrections, retyping and final despatch could take about a week in good times.ie when there was no disruptions due to strikes or poojos. A computer was seen in his office, but it was seldom used.
The real work or obstruction to any kind of work took place in the large halls, populated by hundreds of clerks, duly supervised by JS s and DSs from their tiny cabins. One had to negotiate through a labyrinth of corridors, with only the singara vendors and huge stacks of files and the public toilets, for sign posts. You literally had to use your nose for navigation.
It all may sound very depressing, but surprisingly things do move, if you keep at it. People are good natured and courteous even if they didn’t like being rushed in their workplace. Only in their workplace they take it easy; they are just personifications of efficiency when it comes to participating in Durga poojo celebrations or while organizing a musical night. The PA to the minister was secretary of his mohalla Durga poojo cmmittee and by the way he plotted and planned to mobile resources for the poojo, one would think that was his primary job. So, things did move if you are patient.

 

West Bengal Civil Defence Minister Sreekumar Mukherjee



It was a great day, when I saw the ‘Master GO‘ declaring that the senior most army officer responsible for all NCC activities in the state , was empowered to draw and expend money, based on a lump sum allotment for the whole year. It also meant the end of my biweekly or triweekly visits to the Writers’  Building. Fortunately for me, my tenure there alo came to an end around that time, for I would definitely have missed the trips through the corridors of power. 

A Married Woman : Manju Kapur

After her debut novel, Difficult  Daughters, Manju Kapur has followed it up with ‘ A married woman’, another story highlighting the struggle within a seemingly conventional woman to find her identity in the family and the society. ‘A married woman ‘ starts in the period 70s and 80s, the period, when the ‘difficult daughter’   signed … Continue reading “A Married Woman : Manju Kapur”

After her debut novel, Difficult  Daughters, Manju Kapur has followed it up with ‘ A married woman’, another story highlighting the struggle within a seemingly conventional woman to find her identity in the family and the society. ‘A married woman ‘ starts in the period 70s and 80s, the period, when the ‘difficult daughter’   signed off.

If the first novel was about education vs marriage, the second is about a woman’s right to own property, manage finances, develop her talents, explore her passions, thrive for self actualization and all this from within the safety and security of a rock solid marriage.

The story starts with, Astha, a middle class college student,  running away from ‘girl seeing ceremonies’ and the constant talk of her marriage at home. She has a couple of teenage flings before finally getting married to a ‘good boy’ as arranged by the parents.

While the husband has relatively liberal views on women, he continues to take his role as the ‘sole provider’ too seriously. I suppose, this is one role men have to go easy on and women have to be a little more serious about to bring about harmony at home.

As the story unfolds, there is a nice description of the fears and aspirations of a middle class family , in the 80s. Astha’s parents, pay the price for not preparing well for the retirement, while Hemant’s parents ride the boom in demand for property.  

After a few months of married life, ‘dullness’ sets in. With, undemanding in-laws and  ample support from domestic help, she has enough free time to be restless. She has to take up a job. It had to be a teaching job, which she dreaded.

In-laws approved ” It is a good time-pass”
Mother: ” As a teacher you will earn some money, you will be out only half a day, so the house will not suffer”

father: “It will do until you decide to develop yourself in other ways”
Husband :- With a job you won’t get fidgety if I am a minute late”

So, a career is made, for all these reasons, while Hemant’s business picks up well to provide for the family.  Kids come, grow old enough to go to school, depending less and less on their mother. Obviously it is not a life fulfilling enough for Astha.

Astha’s latent talents surface, encouraged by the attractive Street Play director , Aijaj. She starts painting. Babri masjid issue comes up , conveniently enough, so that Astha can express her social awareness and responsibilities with her painting talents.

Enters Pipleeka  Khan, to arouse in her a kind of sensuality, which she did not know that it existed.

Now you have a married woman donning many hats and switching deftly among the many roles that she plays; as wife , daughter in law, mother, an artist  a social activist and  a passionate lover to her lesbian partner. So much for self-actualization.

Naturally, it is not easy to play so many conflicting roles. She resorts to lies and deceit which is sort of justified , for whatever reason.

“She began to lie at home about where she was going and what she was doing. Most of the girls she knew who were seeing boys lied. It was routine self protective thing . And how necessary, Astha had seen.”

“Her lies grew skillful. Her desperation and her need had ensured that they tripped off her tongue, as though she had rehearsed them for hours.”

Much has been said about the rendition of a lesbian relationship. Frankly it is not easy to understand.   

“…….Afterwards, Astha felt strange, making love to a woman took getting used to. And it felt strange, making love to a friend, instead of an adversary.”


Strange it is ! to call men as adversaries, and if so, it is stranger to call ‘having sex’ as ‘making love’.

A good read, if only to learn or understand  a little more about the women in your lives.






























A tale of two indians

In the past month, I read two books with similar settings , but diametricaly oppposite story lines., “the White Tiger ‘ by Arvind Adiga and ‘a tale of two Indians ” by Maharshi Mehta.  Both the stories are set in rural India and have protagonists struggling to break out of a vicious cycle of poverty, ignorance, casteism … Continue reading “A tale of two indians”

In the past month, I read two books with similar settings , but diametricaly oppposite story lines., “the White Tiger ‘ by Arvind Adiga and ‘a tale of two Indians ” by Maharshi Mehta. 
Both the stories are set in rural India and have protagonists struggling to break out of a vicious cycle of poverty, ignorance, casteism and feudalism .
That is where the similarity ends.The white Tiger, from rural Bihar  finds his way to Delhi through cunning and deceit and finally obtains a fortune by murdering his employer. He then goes on to use his ill-gotten wealth to bribe the powers that be and become what he calls an entrepreneur.  
The second story, set in rural Gujrat, follows a course diametrically opposite. Our hero, loses both parents early in life; and he is particularly upset that he could not save his mother as medical help could not reach her in time due to poor roads. Fired by his mission to participate in building good roads in rural areas, he struggles through his way , through sheer grit and handwork to become an engineer in Goverment service. Through out his life he faces more than his quota of  tragedies and yet finds ways to overcome his personal grief by serving his fellowmen. It is also significant that most of the characters in the novel are based on real people , as mentioned in the ‘acknowledgments’. 

The ‘white tiger ‘ won the Man Booker prize, while ‘the tale of two Indians’ is hardly known. Is it necessary to expose the dark underbelly of the country for an Indian work to win an Oscar or a Man Booker prize? 

The Solitude of Emperors

Having read Davidar’s first book, it was only natural to pick up his second book, “ The Solitude of Emperors”; to read. It is so different from his first book, yet there are similarities. If caste and racial issues were intertwined in  the earlier plot, communal violence dominates this plot. The narrator of the story, young Vijay is a … Continue reading “The Solitude of Emperors”

Having read Davidar’s first book, it was only natural to pick up his second book, “ The Solitude of Emperors”; to read. It is so different from his first book, yet there are similarities. If caste and racial issues were intertwined in  the earlier plot, communal violence dominates this plot.

The narrator of the story, young Vijay is a budding journalist who , due to sheer boredom of life in a small town in South India, breaks out his cocoon to take up a job with a magazine in Mumbai. Mr Sorabji’s magazine, “The Secularist”,  has a small but dedicated readership of people who share his vision of a secular India.
Mr Sorabji becomes a  father figure for Vijay and he just soaks up the ideas and vision expounded by his mentor. But for Vijay, it is all just abstarct ideas till the time communal violence breaks out in mumbai, following the demolition of Babri masjid. He gets caught up in the violence on the streets and is a mute witness to riots and killings in all the gory details. His magazine runs a major story on the riots and riot victims as part of the campaign for a secular India.
The second part of the book covers Vijay’s experience at the Nilgiris where another disputed Shrine is under attack by the right wing activists. It is here that Sorabji’s manuscript is introduced, from which the title of the book is derived.  The artcle is addressed to the young people of the country for instilling of secular values through a study of the lives of Asoka, the emperor of renunciation, Akbar, the emperor of faith and Gandhi, the emperor of truth.
There are two imposing , well defined characters to cover the two main divergent view points, viz, Mr Sorabji, the editor of ‘The secularist’ and Rajan, the entrepreneur-politician. While Mr Sorabji, believes in convergence of religions for the good of the mankind, Rajan convincingly argues that a strong Hindu rashtra alone can bring in peace and prosperity for all including the minorities.
The most lovable character in the novel, is the  vagabond called Noah, who has seen it  all, done it all , in his ‘ripe’ age of 36 and is now content to live in the local cemetry with his dope, flowers, a dog called’ godless’ and his great collection of contemporary european poetry. While all other characters move on predictable lines, it is this loose canon that adds life to the narration in the second part of the book.
The first part of the novel covering Vijay’s escapades in mumbai is highlighted by a gripping narration with a meticulous eye for details. In the second part, the narration is more like a tourist guide book, with long interruptions by  sermons in history, ie Sorabji’s manuscript on the ’emperors’. Yet there is enough momentum to keep the readers’ interest in the ultimate fate of the shrine. Will it also go the Babri Masjid way and if so with what consequences ?
An immensely readable book, if only for the excellent characterization of Mr Sorabji and Noah.
 

 

Book Review : House of Blue mangoes

What drew me to the book was that it was set in rural Tamilnadu and that the author was my class-fellow at school. Firstly, about the author, I shall restrict myself to some trivia, which is not in the public domain, since a simple googling of the name can give you more inputs than you can read. Roll No … Continue reading “Book Review : House of Blue mangoes”

What drew me to the book was that it was set in rural Tamilnadu and that the author was my class-fellow at school. Firstly, about the author, I shall restrict myself to some trivia, which is not in the public domain, since a simple googling of the name can give you more inputs than you can read.
Roll No 605, Bharathi feeder house in 1968, Chera house and finally passed out from Valluvar house in 1975.  In all likelihood, his writing career started with “Nonsense Rhymes” , published in the school magazine, Amarsainik 1968, If my memory serves me right, it went something like this;
there was Mr cork,
who killed a huge hawk,
with a piece of chalk,
………….
In School, David was a voracious reader and he won prizes for recitation, essay writing and short story writing. 
Coming to the book, the story covers three generations of the Dorai family, set in rural Tamilnadu, in the period from 1899 to 1946. These were very turbulent and eventful years that saw more churning, in the political, economical and social life in India , as compared to any period over 2000 years of history.
The main characters are Solomon Dorai, Daniel Dorai and Kannan Dorai, who respond to the challenges of their own generations in the ‘Dorai’ spirit. If the first generation was mired in caste wars, the second was affected by nationalist movement. The third, had to tackle the social churning and the uneasy equations between, Indians, white-men and the Anglo-Indians. There is a portrayal of two strong women , Charity and Lily, who free the Dorai men to pursue their eccentric ways and to nurture their inflated egos, while they themselves toil to keep the family together as much as possible.
Narration is simple and easily flowing, particular when Tamil words are easily interposed, with no annotation, brackets or italics.
…..spinster chithis and decrepit thathas were singing along….
The rural beliefs and way of thinking is conveyed through the characters, without any commentary or moderation.
………Every villager knew that a man didn’t find soil that suited his nature would not prosper. Brahmins thrived on sweet soil, like that found in the delta at the mouth of the river, which is why Subramania Sastrigal and his ambitious young son would never thrive on the astringent soil of Chevathar. They might squeak and flail away at the Dorais but one roar from Solomon would send them scurrying for cover. But surely the kunam of the Vedhars matched the soil of the Chevathar, which was neither sweet nor sour, salty or pungent but fairly bitter-the soil of people of the earth, farmers and artisans……………
Right through the book, the blue mangoes are loved, missed, venerated, glorified; well, the blue mango is more than a fruit; it represents love for one’s native place, மண் வாசனை , family, clan honour, clan spirit and what not.
There is detailed descriptions of well jumping in rural tamilnadu, shikar and life in a tea estate. There is a vivid description of tadpole catching by a little boy, which took me back to our own tadpole catching sprees in the puddles among the rocks between Chera house and the water tank. David was very sharp and I could never catch a single one.
There are many historical events interpolated in the story, and at time it is difficult to separate facts from fiction. 1899 caste riot at Sivakasi, ‘upper-cloth’ wars of Travancore, assassination of Ashe Dorai (the collector of Thirunelvali) are the major events described in the novel. DD mentions in the Author’s note , that he had to invent three new castes so that he did not add to the caste controversies, in Tamilnadu, Kerala and the country at large. The author also says that these castes share some similarities with some of the non-brahmin casstes in the south. I must say , there is more than just some similarities.  I think, in the land of ‘Satyakam’ , we should not be shy of speaking a bitter truth.  David’s ‘Andavar’ is so much like nadars and one of the fictitious castes ,’ vedhar’ sounds so much like ‘dhevar‘  



The acknowledgement section is exhaustive, which goes to show the kind of background research which had gone into writing of the book.
It is definitely a readable book,

The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville

On Board the First Fleet that bought convicts to Australia in 1788 was a young lieutenant of marines, William Dawes. Although nominally a soldier, he was a considerable scholar in Austronamy, mathematics and languages. The records left of the language of the indigenous people of Sydney area (Cadigal tribe) is by far the most extensive we have. … Continue reading “The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville”

On Board the First Fleet that bought convicts to Australia in 1788 was a young lieutenant of marines, William Dawes. Although nominally a soldier, he was a considerable scholar in Austronamy, mathematics and languages. The records left of the language of the indigenous people of Sydney area (Cadigal tribe) is by far the most extensive we have. It contains not only word lists and speculations about the grammatical structure of the language, but conversations between him and the indigenous people, particular a young girl, Patyegarang. 
These are the basic facts , on which the extraordinary life of Lieutenant Daniel Rooke is based, in the book ‘The Lieutenant ‘ by Kate Grenville. Most of the characters are based on the accounts of the first settlers in New South Wales (NSW) .   It is interesting to note that, all cadigal words and conversations quoted in the book have been taken verbatim from Dawes’ language notebooks.
The story describes the clash of civilizations, when the white man meets the natives of Sydney, NSW.  For the white man, be it the marines or the convicts (declared unfit to live in the civilized world of Europeans), the natives were simply savages, though for Lieutenant Rooke, it was difficult to say who was more civilized. The author compares the two peoples, through the eyes of Lieutenant Rooke, not based on the advancement in science and technology and standard of living , but based on quality of life and from a linguistic point of view.

At one point of time, The linguist in Rooke is so excited , when he discovers that the cadigals had different words for “You and me’, ‘all of us’ or “me and these others but not you’, all embedded in the pronoun !While English makes only the crudest of distinctions, the natives were a race of people using a language as supple as that of Sophocles and Homer”

The xenophobic and culturally blind Europeans have caused  untold miseries to natives of america, and Australia. When you think of the word ‘holocaust’ what comes to mind is the history of Jews. But there has been a holocaust on much larger scale, perpetrated by the then civilized world. It has been estimated that by the seventeenth century, more than 50 million native Americans perished as a result of war, disease, enslavement, and deliberate brutalities of Europeans.

Who is a savage, what is savagery ? A savage is considered “A brutal and vicious person”. But don’t seemingly civilized people act more cruelly to their own fellowmen ?  A scene in the novel, illustrates the point. The entire British marine forces form up in their ceremonial  best, for a punishment parade. A man who had stolen potatoes from the garden was being flogged methodically, mercilessly, till his back is reduced to a bloody pulp, all in the name of impartial justice and iron discipline. There is only one person on the scene who sees just ‘cruelty’  and nothing else. He is the only one  dares to protest and he is a native whom they call a savage.

Nothing tells more about a civilization than its untranslatable words.  I quote from the book ;
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“She went over to the fireplace and held out her hands to the coal…Then she pressed his fingers with her own….He felt her skin warm and smooth….. Their hands were of the same temperature now.
“Putuwa”, she said.
From her gestures and actions he deduced that word ‘putuwa’ to mean warming one’s hands by the fire and then squeezing gently the fingers of another person. In English it required a long rigmarole of words….. Tagaran was teaching him a word and by it she was showing him a world”
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A very interesting book indeed !