Book Review - The Absent Traveller, Prakrit Love Poetry from the Gathasaptasati of Satavahana Hala

All amidst our mundane lives, we humans find pleasure and seek succor in two ways. We either indulge in beliefs, hopes and dreams of lofty kinds, think of the afterlife and believe in a divine scheme of things that handholds us all through our lives. Or, on the other hand, we celebrate our basic carnality by diving deep into pleasures of the senses. Art, music and poetry have been three channels through which we try to bridge the gap between our carnal and ethereal selves. While the spiritual aspect of life has been left for a few of us to lead with a fair degree of success, the rest and the most of us face and celebrate our carnality on a day-to-day basis. This book is an example of such unabashed celebration and it celebrates our concupiscent nature with candor.

Lovemaking had never been a thing that people shied away from discussing in ancient India. For ancient India, sex was not just an act for procreation but was one of deep pleasure too, no matter how short-lived the pleasure may be. Our paintings portrayed it with élan, our sculptures depicted the various ways of copulation and the standards of beauty for men and women. And, who can forget that the much-talked about treatise on love, the Kamasutra, emanated from this land? Or, Kokkogam? Not to forget the greatest gallery of the art of lovemaking as hewed on stone in Khajuraho. All that was before the Victorian mores of a hypocritical nature invaded our land, but let me not digress.

Talking about poetry, this book is an example of how even banal topics like adultery can be presented with unparalleled aesthetics that even the most self-righteous mind would relish reading for the sheer poetic value, without any sense of judgement and aversion. The love and the lust, the blissful and the banal, the surreal and the venereal have all been arrayed here in this collection of poems and poetic excerpts from Prakrit literature. Extracted from the works of various poets - both men and women - and peoples from across ages, they prove that love and lust have both been topics of equally pleasurable pursuit for us Indians. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, said to be a renowned poet on his own, has done a commendable job in selecting and translating the works for the benefit of poetry lovers.

This book is a glimpse into that lost age, when people were candid about their physical passions and unpretentious in embracing their animality without the modern-day hypocrisy of finding cheap titillation in 'wardrobe malfunctions', all the while pretending to have risen above the lesser physical nature. And all this, centuries before 'Lolitas' and 'Lady Chatterley's Lovers' caused furore in the 'civilized world'!

This is a very worthy read that one can enjoy for the aesthetically presented amorous themes!

Book Review - On Painting, Leon Battista Alberti

I picked up this book with a lot of hopes, since this was the treatise that was said to have influenced the likes of Leonardo da Vinci. However, the much lesser mortal that I am, I couldn't gain much out of reading this book. Though Leon is said to be a Renaissance master himself, modesty seems not to be one of his virtues. Ego oozes out of his words in many pages. He seems to have believed that he could do nothing wrong and people can all start painting in a much better way by merely following his techniques. And, those with alternative view points are simply brushed aside. Such a egoistic attitude leaves a poor taste behind!

As for the book, it comprises of three chapters, or, as he calls them, three 'books'. The first one is mostly about geometrical patterns and viewpoints. Though it begins easily, soon it devolves into genius-talks. Only the second and third 'book' speak in a normal tone and are easily comprehensible and useful. The second and third chapters indeed make for a breezy read. But, as already said, his egoistic attitude shines throughout the book. Don't read this book just because it is called a 'classic' and don't read this book, if you are hoping to learn much about painting. This is a very casual work that you can do without!

Book Review - Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely

It has been quite a while now that I have come to the conclusion that we humans are not the rational, noble, sensible and sane species that we have been thinking of ourselves to be. While my opinion happens to have had its genesis in watching my fellow humans driving their vehicles, skipping the queues and behave in dumb ways wherever and whenever they can, Dan Ariely seems to have done a study about it in a proper, unbiased and academic way.

This is my second read of Dan's books and I can't help feeling a sense of déjà vu going throughout the book. Dan Ariely runs most of his experiments in a controlled environment - almost all the participants in most of the experiments are students who have been informed well in advance that they are taking part in an experiment. Sometimes, I wonder whether he conducts the experiments to find the truth or to affirm his pre-concluded notions.

A major part of the latter half of the book feels like you have landed in his other book 'The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty', through some secret portal inside the paper. Repetition of his previous ideas and experiments, along with the controlled and simple nature of experiments - where he conducts experiments with his students and concludes that the uncontrolled animals that we are in the real world will also behave like those students - spoil the fun.

I can give this book somewhere between two and three stars. May be, 2.5?! Not sure!

Book Review – Abstract Expressionism, David Anfam

The human mind always develops a serious passion for two things – things that it couldn’t understand and things it couldn’t attain. Abstract art has been one such a passion of mine, one of those many things that I never understood, no matter how much I tried. Picking this book was one attempt of mine to grasp that art form called ‘Abstract Expressionism’. But little did I glean after having gone through this book.

Abstract Expressionism, or Gestural Abstraction, as it is called in another of many ways, is a form of art that is more visceral and volatile than any bit formal or constructed. Of course, even such a visceral art gets constructed by the artist through serious and sincere focus. And, all that I wanted to learn was about the stimuli and milieu that led to the genesis of this art form. I also wanted to learn as to what constitutes ‘abstract expressionism’ and other such qualifiers. David Anfam has done a good job with all that introduction, but the trouble begins with his delving deep in abstract terms to tackle his task of defining the history of Abstract Art forms.

I always love artworks that don’t reveal everything in mere lines, forms and colors, instead carrying a mysterious aura around them, taunting the viewer to look deeper to discern the same. Such works are what art is all about – an expression of the soul, catharsis for the pent up emotions and passions. While Abstract Art easily wins this award hands down, I don’t believe in artists merely splashing paint on a canvas and calling it abstract painting, letting the wannabe’ intellectuals offer any and every meaning that they can dig out of it, thus heaping undeserving glory on the ‘artist’. An artist expressing something of real sense through his work and allowing the viewer to discern the meaning out of it is one thing, while the artist doing the 'splashing' and letting the viewer’s perceptions allot a lofty sense and purpose to an otherwise ‘accidental’ art is something altogether different. The first part is what Abstract Expressionism is all about, whereas the second one is merely a sophisticated sham!

Coming back to this book, many of the artworks appear more like what you or I can do in a simple notebook, but David helps us delve deeper into their meanings and see beyond their seemingly simple exteriors – something that I always dread. If an art aficionado finds more meaning in a work of art - more than even what the artist had really intended to convey – what do you make of such a work? Is the artist to be glorified for encouraging such a thought process or is the viewer to be praised for assigning a meaning - when there were none (or not as much as was made out to be)?!

This and many more such questions of mine about Abstract Art were left unanswered as I closed the book. Little did I learn from this book and I feel that only I am to be blamed. Being a budding artist – of course, I can call myself so and still remain a humble being – I couldn’t understand all that greatness of the works of masters like Jackson Pollock and de Kooning. I can pin the blame on none other than Anfam for making the book a tad difficult for beginners like myself. May be I will revisit the book once I grow wise in life and art. May be then I will be able to understand this book better and revise my rating, but for the time being I can offer it nothing more than two-stars!

Book Review - Hind Swaraj, M.K.Gandhi

Are Gandhian principles relevant to today's 'Modern India'?

If you're a person who entertains such a question in your mind, then this book is definitely for you. Written more than a hundred years ago, this book continues to be relevant today and some of his views are indeed prophetic.

Even if you're one of those Gandhi-bashers, if you could keep your hatred for him aside for a while and read this book with the only aim of contemplating on the deeper meaning of his words instead of seeking opportunities to bash him further, you will find that his views on celibacy, soul-force, non-violence and self-rule all hold relevance even today.

There may be some points of his that may make us doubt his sanity or progressive nature. For example, be it his hatred for machines and modern civilisation or for the professions of law and medicine, a mere superfluous reading may make one squirm with disbelief at such 'backward' ideas, but read them in the context and they start making more meaning than ever before.

Of course, not all his über-ideal views will impress everyone and definitely none of us will even want such a world to come to truth, but this is a book worth reading if you want to know the truth that is Gandhi's mind and the convictions that pushed him onward on the path to excellence in the freedom struggle. A must-read for all those who love Indian History.

The 'Gift' of Nature?!

The more often you spend time with Nature and IN Nature, the more you get disillusioned about this human world and its frail prides. Plethora of flora and fauna, innumerable forms of life, the magical beauty of the environment around, the abundance of real wealth - air, light and water - around us, this whole planet that has survived billions of years of turmoil both within and around it, the vastness of the Universe that stares back at us in the form of the night sky - what a blessing it is to be alive!

There are people who believe that all this glory was created for the sake of only one species - the humans. To cast a look around the world, to be overwhelmed by the gifts of abundance from this Universe, and to listen to people's belief that all this greatness was created by a bloodthirsty megalomaniac of a god, for the welfare and enjoyment of only one of the species (stupidest, meanest, most exploitative and extremely self-aggrandizing species to have ever lived upon this planet) - us humans, feels like an insult to the Nature.

 

Even if there is really a god, calling this vast Universe as a creation for the amusement of only the mankind feels like an insult to that god. An insult that not even the worst kind of atheist can heap upon Her!

Book Review – Wild In The Backyard, Arefa Tehsin

Wondering what should you gift your pre-teen kid for this birthday? Buy them this book. Even otherwise, you can give this book to them as a casual gift. In fact, not just your kids, but to your nieces, nephews and the kids in your neighbourhood as well, in case you still happen to have such an affectionate bond of old days with your neighbours. Even if there are no kids at your home (or your neighbourhood), just gift yourself with this book. You will not regret it.

The author Arefa Tehsin is said to be an enthusiastic naturalist since her childhood days and it reflects clearly in this work. Once you start reading this book you will understand why. A lovely book about all those critters that pervade our homes and gardens. Ants, bees, frogs, birds, squirrels, snails, centipedes, millipedes, rats and mice and lizards and mosquitoes and monkeys and…have you ever cared to stop and look at them attentively as they cross your path – or as YOU cross THEIR path? This book will make you stop and notice them like never before.

The author shares many facts about hitherto uncared for creatures in our lives in a funny – at times crossing the lines of politeness and decency though not in a serious way - yet professional manner. The book is written as if addressing a school-kid, but who says that grown-ups cannot read children’s books? In fact, this is a book that contains facts that even we grown-ups have not learnt or known till date.

While telling us about the little bugs, birds, rodents and insects that live with us in our homes and backyards, the author has subtly stressed on the need to preserve nature as well. Her care for all the life forms is quite evident. When you finish reading this book, her love, concern and enthusiasm for the ecosystem are bound to infect you for certain – without even any of those critters biting you!

If you are a parent, I would recommend that you read this book sitting with your kid. This is a way to instill in those young minds the love for nature and empathy for our fellow occupants of this beautiful planet.

An interesting read indeed!