Book Review – Masterpieces of World Fiction: Selected Stories – Saki

 

There is the Taj Mahal, built with decades of effort and mountains of marble blocks. Then there is ‘David’, built with a fraction of all that effort and material, but equally marvelous nevertheless. Likewise, there are Valmikis and Homers of the world, churning out magnificent epics like Ramayana and Iliad, containing thousands of lines of beautiful prose. Then there are people like Saki, who have written equally relishable literature, using less than a fraction of those words, but the magnificence of which is as good as those of the aforementioned works. This collection of short stories is a testimony to that fact. 

Saki, or Hector Hugh Munro, is one of those blessed writers in whose hands the reader becomes a helpless puppet, feeling the emotions that the talented writer wants one to feel. You smile while reading some lines, grimace while reading others and yet feel a deep sense of pain during some other part of the work. Though he has the knack of conveying all the emotions through his writing, humor seems to have been his forte. Going through this book, there were at least a dozen occasions when I found myself grinning heartily. Such was the beauty of his writing and wit!

One negative about this anthology though. The compiler has made a glaring omission of a major part of the story ‘Esme’. I was wondering as to why the story has ended abruptly, without making any sense whatsoever. An online search helped me read the rest of the text and relish the tale. Incompetent editing!

Finishing the book, I felt a deep sense of sadness recalling the fact that the life of this literary genius ended too early and in a violent manner. Wish he had lived longer and produced more works of literary glory. Wars are unwanted human inventions indeed!

A.

Book Review - Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche

Well, I am not gonna' pretend that I thoroughly understood this book. Partly due to the writing style - lengthy sentences that run up to a quarter of a page, archaic references, sentences that switch into German or French frequently, making it difficult to follow or even comprehend. As a result many parts went over my head. The edition is also to be blamed partly - poor editing that didn't care enough to correct the missing punctuation marks, or provide translations for the French/German/Greek words. There are full stops missing from many of the sentences, as a result of which I ended up reading some of the sentences twice to understand that they are really two different sentences.

But after all that, this is a book that deserves to be read more than once. Intense and absolutely scathing in its honesty, this is a book that deserves deeply focused reading to be enjoyed thoroughly. Those portions where I was able to give the book my undivided attention turned out to be truly gripping and thoughtful.

May be I will read this book again soon when I become truly knowledgeable and even end up relishing it. For this is a book that is good in parts, all those parts that I was able to comprehend. 

 3 stars for now! 

A.

Book Review - 50 World's Greatest Horror Stories

Well, this isn't the kind of book that will keep you awake at night or make you squirm uncomfortably before stepping inside a dark room. The horror tales in this book are all, written by authors of yore, full of thrill, shock, pathos and, sometimes, fear inducing. Not exactly the kind of fear that will send a chill down your spine, but the kind of fear that could shake your heart. It also evokes a sense of pain that would make you wish you could step inside the story and do something to prevent the characters do that stupid thing that will unleash evil upon them!

After quite a while, I was able to complete a 400+ pages book well inside a week's time. Thanks to all these classic tales, which are intriguing and unique in their own sense! A good read, indeed!

Book Review - India: The Eternal Magic, Antara Dev Sen

 

What could have been a wonderful book is marred by a glaring factual error on South Indian history. While writing about the famous Chola kings of Tamilnadu, the author mentions that Rajaraja Chola went on a military expedition till the Ganges. Any historian worth his/her salt would know that it was his son Rajendra Chola that went on a military expedition till the Ganges and formed a city to celebrate that victory.

If you can forgive that unforgivable mistake, the rest of the book is a pleasant read. Filled with a brief introduction to Indian history, the book offers a bird's eye view of the subcontinent - its geography, culture, tourist spots, etc. Has a good compilation of photographs too, making it a good addition to my coffee-table books collection. 3.5 stars!

Book Review - #Tatastories: 40 Timeless Tales to Inspire You, Harish Bhat

Couple of months ago, when a central minister lashed out at big business houses, training his guns particularly on Tata Group, his rant elicited collective consternation in social circles. The reason - he blamed the Tata group for working ‘against national interests’, stopping just short of terming Tata Group as ‘anti-national’ - a term used freely these days against anyone that doesn’t toe the ruling party’s lines. When the news of his silly talk came out, it is not just corporate houses that condemned the speech. Even ordinary citizens like Yours Truly felt a sense of indignation at his outburst against the Tatas. After all, very few companies across the globe cater to the needs of people across the economic spectrum – from basic table salt to high-end luxury cars – with the kind of integrity and dedication that is the hallmark of Tata.

Not sure whether it was due to that news still being fresh in my mind, or due to seeing the lone copy of this beautifully covered book sitting cosily in the corner shelf at Crossword, I bought this book within a minute of seeing it. It was a gamble I took – of judging a book by its cover – but as always, the Tatas didn’t disappoint.

The name Tata needs little introduction. A credible conglomerate more than a century and a half old, having diverse business interests that range from table salt to tea dust, IT to automobiles, steel to luxury retail, aviation to infrastructure, Tata is a brand that people trust with their wallets and wisdom. Despite being in the business world for so long, there were seldom any scandals or scams that got associated with this reputable institution, which is why most people were surprised at the minister’s outburst.

Written as a genuine tribute by one of their longest-serving employees, the ‘stories’ are all pearls of wisdom that can inspire you to action. The book is written in glowing terms for the Tatas, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t have been. For the sake of ease, let me simplify the achievements of Tatas:

•    Tatas hold the no. 1 position in commercial vehicles market with a market share of more than 50%. But never once did they manipulate the prices or exploit the customers.
•    They designed and manufactured what is considered to be one of India’s indigenously developed passenger cars – Indica.
•    Conceived and established India’s first integrated steel plant in Jamshedpur, when India was still under British oppression.
•    When HMT was the only Indian watch brand, facing competition from global giants like Casio, Citizen and Seiko, they introduced Titan, which has gone on to become a household name.
•    One of the few companies that truly cares for employee welfare, establishing creches for working women’s benefit, way back in 1870s!
•    Established and maintained an institute for sericulture in India, which went to dust soon after Tatas shifted their focus away from it.
•    Built a dam on Indrayani river (Maharashtra) to produce electricity for Mumbai.
•    Formed and operated India’s first commercial airline service.
•    Produced India’s first supercomputer – Eka
•    Established institutions like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Memorial Hospital, National Centre for Performing Arts and National Institute of Advanced Studies, that provide yeomanly service to the people in areas of academics, arts and healthcare. Tatas’ care for environment is also legendary.

Though there are more such things that I can list here, for the sake of brevity, let me hold myself back. When a company withstands the test of Time and the tyranny of British, still serving the people of its country in ethical ways, it is bound to garner respect and reputation, which any foul-mouthed politician cannot do away by careless prattle.

If you’re keen on learning about the Tatas, their early days and ethos, this is a good book to begin with. Along the way, you will pick up some timeless wisdom that can be of use in both personal and professional lives.

Call it irony, coincidence or mere motivated perception, I finished reading this book on a day when the news of Tatas acquiring Air India back from the government was making rounds. The airline that was formed and operated by Tatas with excellence, taken over by the government once the nation became independent, ruined by incapable handling and inept ministries, now limping back home with hopes of a healthy overhaul and soaring back to the skies in superior condition.

Like always, I trust the Tatas to work their magic once again!

A.

Movie Review - Sarpatta Parambarai

 

பொதுவாக இந்திய திரைப்படங்களை விட ஆங்கிலப் படங்களே நான் அதிகம் காண்பது வழக்கம். காதல் என்ற பெயரில் காமத்தையும், ஆக்ரோஷம் என்ற பெயரில் அபத்தமான கோமாளித்தனங்களையும் மட்டுமே காட்டி வருவதாலேயே பெரும்பாலான படங்களின் சுவரொட்டிகளைக் கண்டால் கூட ஒரு வெறுப்புதான்  தோன்றும் எனக்கு. அதற்காக நான் ஏதோ அறிவுஜீவி என்று என்னை நினைத்துக் கொண்டிருப்பதாக நீங்கள் எண்ண வேண்டாம். ஏனென்றால் எனக்கும் தெரியும் நான் அப்படி ஒன்றும் அறிவுடைய ரசிகனும் அல்ல. ஆங்கிலப் படங்களில் கூட அடிதடி அதிகமான 'action' வகை படங்களே நான் அதிகம் காண விரும்புபவை.

ஆனால் சமீப காலமாக, ஒவ்வொரு மொழியிலும் உள்ள நல்ல படங்களைத் தேடித் தேடி நான் பார்க்கத் தொடங்கியிருக்கிறேன். அந்த முறையில், அண்மையில் ஒரு நண்பர்  Facebook-ல் 'சார்ப்பட்டா பரம்பரை' படத்தில் இருந்து ஒரு காட்சியை பகிர்ந்திருந்ததைக் கண்டேன் . சில நிமிடங்களே ஆன அந்த ஒரு காட்சியிலேயே ஒரு உத்வேகமும் விறுவிறுப்பும் நிறைந்திருந்ததை என்னால் உணர முடிந்தது. ஒரு ஆவலோடு அந்தப் படத்தைப் பார்க்க ஆரம்பித்தேன். படம் தொடங்கிய சில நிமிடங்களிலேயே, இது ஒரு வழக்கமான படமல்ல என்பது மட்டும் எனக்கு நிச்சயமானது.

ஏகலைவனுக்கும், துரோணருக்குமானது போல ஒரு பந்தம் ஏழை கபிலனுக்கும், குத்துச்சண்டை வாத்தியார் ரங்கனுக்கும். ஆனால் இந்த வாத்தியார் துரோணரைப் போல அயோக்கியத்தனமாக  கட்டை விரலை வெட்டித்தர சொல்பவரில்லை. கபிலனின் தந்தை பெரிய குத்துச்சண்டை வீரனாய் இருந்து கடைசியில் ரௌடி ஆகி இறந்தது போல கபிலனும் ஆகி விடக்கூடாது என்ற ஒரு நல்ல எண்ணமும் அவர் கபிலனை ஒதுக்கி வைக்க ஒரு காரணம். ஆனால் ஒரு முக்கியமான குத்துச்சண்டை போட்டியின் போது ரங்கனின் சார்ப்பட்டா பரம்பரை வீரர், எதிரணியான இடியாப்பப் பரம்பரை அணியின் முக்கிய வீரரிடம் தோற்றுப் போக, பழைய பகை காரணமாக ரங்கன் அவமதிக்கப்படுகிறார். அது கண்டு பொறுக்க முடியாமல் கபிலன் போன்ற ரங்கனின் விஸ்வாசமான சீடர்களும், அணியினரும் ஒரு இறுதி போட்டிக்கு சவால் செய்கின்றனர். சந்தர்ப்பங்களும் சூழலும் சார்ப்பட்டா பரம்பரை சார்பில், இதுவரை மேடையே ஏறாத, யாராலும் பெரிதாக எண்ணப்படாத கபிலனை, இடியாப்பப் பரம்பரையின் இரண்டு முக்கியமான வீரர்களுக்கு எதிராக களம் காண வைக்கின்றன. கபிலன் வென்றானா? ரங்கன் வாத்தியாரின் மானம் மீண்டதா என்பது தான் மொத்தப் படத்தின் கதை. இதனூடே, 1970களில் ஏற்பட்ட அரசியல் மாற்றங்களும், அந்தக் காலங்களில் தலைவிரித்தாடிய சாதீயக் கொடுமைகளும் சேர்த்துப் பின்னப்பட்ட  ஒரு அழகான கதைதான் இந்த 'சார்ப்பட்டா பரம்பரை'.

தமிழ் சினிமா நிறைய நடிகர், நடிகைகளை சரியாக பயன்படுத்திக் கொள்ளாமல் வீணடித்தது வரலாறு. அந்த வரிசையில் பசுபதி நிச்சயம் இடம் பெறுவார். ஒரு திறமைவாய்ந்த நடிகனை, வெறுமே வில்லனாகவும், துணை நடிகராகவும் மட்டுமே பயன்படுத்தி  முடக்கி வைத்தது என்ன ஒரு கயமைத்தனம்! வடசென்னையின் பேச்சுவழக்கும், வாழ்க்கையின் அனுபவங்கள் பல நிறைந்த ஒரு முதிர்ச்சியும் காட்டி, பசுபதி இங்கு ரங்கன் வாத்தியாராகவே வாழ்ந்திருக்கிறார். அடுத்தது ஆர்யா. ஏற்கனவே 'நான் கடவுள்' படத்திலேயே அவர் தனது  திறமைக்கு ஒரு  கோடிட்டுக் காட்டியிருந்தாலும் அதன் பின் வந்த பல படங்கள் வெறும் கணக்குக்கும் காசுக்கும் மட்டுமே ஆனவை. ஆனால் ஆர்யா இந்தப் படத்தில் திரை முழுக்க நிரம்பியிருக்கிறார். கலையரசன், சந்தோஷ், ஜான் விஜய், ஷபீர், அனுபமா, ஜான் கொக்கன், துஷாரா என்று பல நடிகர்களும் தம் பாத்திரங்களைக் கச்சிதமாக செய்திருந்தாலும், படம் பயணிப்பது முழுக்க பசுபதி மற்றும் ஆர்யா தோள்களில் தான்.

படத்தினூடே இயக்குனர் தனக்கே உரித்தான பாணியில் அம்பேத்கர் சுவரொட்டிகளையும், புத்தர் சிலைகளையும், மற்றும் பல சாதி அடையாளங்களையும் புகுத்தியிருப்பது நிறைய பேருக்கு நெருடலைத் தரலாம். ஆனால் இந்தக் கதை வெறும் குத்துச்சண்டை போட்டியை மட்டுமே காட்டுவதற்கில்லை. அந்தக் காலகட்டங்களில் தலைவிரித்தாடிய சாதிப் பிரச்சனை பற்றிக் கூடத்தான். எனக்கே கூட சமயங்களில் இவர் ஏன் இன்னும் 'கீழ் சாதி - மேல் சாதி' என்று ஆறத் தொடங்கியிருக்கும் ரணங்களை நோண்டி எடுத்துக் காட்டிக் கொண்டிருக்கிறார் என்று சமயத்தில் ஒரு கோபம் வரும். ஆனால் அப்போதெல்லாம் 'நீ மலம் அள்ளவும், பிணம் புதைக்கவும், தோல் தைக்கவும், அழுக்கும் குப்பையும் சுத்தம் செய்யவும் மட்டுமே படைக்கப் பட்ட இழிபிறப்பு. நீ சக மனிதப் பிறவியாக மதிக்கப் படக் கூட லாயக்கில்லை' என்று சொல்லிச் சொல்லி, பல தலைமுறைகளாக செருப்பும் சட்டையும் கூட அணிய அனுமதிக்கப்படாமல், விடிவு வரும் என்று நம்பி வாழ்ந்து இருட்டிலேயே இறந்து போன நம் சக மனிதர்களின் தேற்றப் படாத அழுகைகளும், ஆற்றப்படாத கோபங்களும் ஒரு நொடி கண்முன் வந்து என்னை தலை குனிய வைக்கின்றன. இன்னும் கூட, இந்த அறிவுசார் தமிழ் மண்ணில் 'தாழ்த்தப்பட்டோர்' என்று சொல்லி நம் சக மனிதர்களுக்கு கோவிலுக்குள் செல்ல அனுமதி மறுக்கப்படும் கொடுமைகள் நடந்துகொண்டு இருப்பதைக் கண்டால், இயக்குனர் இது போல இன்னும் ஓரிரு திரைப்படங்களாவது எடுக்க வேண்டும் என்று தான் தோன்றுகிறது.

வேகத்திலும், ஆக்ரோஷத்திலும் இந்தப் படம் 'Rocky' வரிசைப் படங்களுக்கு இணையென்று சொன்னால் அது மிகைப்படுத்தல் ஆகாது. ஒன்றுக்கு இரண்டு முறை பார்க்கக்கூடிய படம் இந்த 'சார்ப்பட்டா பரம்பரை'!    

AK
             

Book Review – City of Djinns, William Dalrymple

My septuagenarian father-in-law has the heart of a wanderer. So much so that when he first visited my hometown, he used his habitual morning walks to explore various parts of the locality. Like most Indians of his generation, he had never stepped out of his home state till then. So, when he visited the southern part of the country for the first time, he was excited by all the sights he witnessed – cows being milked on the streets, women adorning front yards with rangolis, temples and mosques opening in those wee hours for early morning prayers, restaurants offering fresh filter coffee, etc. Even now, years after that visit, he fondly recalls all those sights and speaks glowingly about the ancient traditions prevailing in my hometown.

I often compare myself with him – a man of his age preferring to explore by walking around, in places he doesn’t know, amidst people that speak languages he doesn’t understand. Myself on the other hand, young and with energy, a polyglot to boot, preferring to use private vehicles or book taxis to move around in new places, going from one point to another, seldom stopping to breathe in all that is new and peculiar about that place. He is a traveler by heart, while I am an ordinary tourist, a stranger even in my own place, never having wavered from routes that took me to my college or office, never having seen a major part of my own hometown!

The world, luckily for moored mortals like me, is filled with travelers like my father-in-law, people that step into the streets, take in all that smell and sights, get acquainted with the local customs and culture, be a part of the milieu and become one with it. Many such travelers have been able writers too, who could soulfully share their experiences so that people like me could feel a vicarious pleasure. William Dalrymple is one such traveler, an able historian and an interesting writer, full of anecdotes and cutting wit. When he writes a book about his first visit to Delhi, a city with a history that is as old as one of India’s greatest epics, if not more, you can expect it to be a great treat. And, a delight this turned out to be!

First published in 1993, during a period when India was soaking up the effects of globalization and privatization, the book recounts Mr. Dalrymple’s arrival in India for the first time, along with his wife, and stay for about a year before his return to his homeland for a brief visit. The book contains two strands. One strand follows Mr. Dalrymple’s arrival, his experience with the prevailing bureaucracy, the quirks of Indians stuck in the transition from the so-far cloistered Indian society, marked by the docile Doordarshan, to the ‘liberal’ Western culture, epitomized by half-clad VJs of MTVs and V Channels. The strand is made colorful by the presence of some interesting characters. His flirtatious landlord and the mildly-grumpy-often-friendly landlady, Mr. and Mrs. Puri, Balvinder Singh the boisterous taxi driver and the ageing Islamic scholar Dr. Jaffery are some of the characters that add vibrant hues to this strand as it moves forward.

The other strand travels in the opposite direction, drawing concentric circles in the sands of Time, tracing the history of Delhi backwards, starting from the British Raj and its gory legacy – the Partition of India. Moving backwards in time and moving across a few miles from the lush lawns of New Delhi to the dusty lanes of old Delhi, the second strand takes on hues of blood and tears, beauty and betrayal, vices and virtues. Detailing the now-fascinating, now-revolting Mughal history, describing the early days of sultanates, talking about the little-known Hindu kings like Anangpal Tomar, the book makes an ambitious effort at going all the way up to the pre-historic days of Indraprastha, the famed city of Pandavas, which stood in or around the area where modern Delhi now stands.

While the strand that moves ahead in time is full of trademark wit and sarcasm, eliciting chuckles often, the strand moving backwards lends a sense of pathos. The glory of old Delhi, its current decay, the yearning for those days of regal grandeur, the revulsion one feels at the fratricides and parricides that stained Mughal history, the pride for some of the greatest monuments that adorn Delhi’s landscape, the helplessness with which we bid adieu to that glorious past that is being irretrievably lost – this book will take you on an emotional roller coaster.

Interweaving these two strands, Mr. Dalrymple has produced a tapestry full of life and longing. As colorful as Delhi’s history, this is a must read for anyone in love with India, its heritage and history. Man, I felt a sigh and a tinge of sadness as I closed the book and kept it aside!

A.

Minding the Mistakes

It was a typical Sunday dawn, showing all the hints of languor and leisure. I was just snuggling into the couch with a cup of steaming hot tea, listening to the voice of Ronkini Gupta flowing through my music player. Outside my window, the Mumbai skyline looked sombre, the early dawn drizzle drenching everything and the gathered clouds presenting a foggy appearance. Pampered by thoughts of a long day of leisure ahead, I took a sip from my cup.

Turning inside, my half-awake eyes fell on the wall in front. Hanging there was an impasto work, done by applying thick layers of paint in vibrant strokes. The painting portrayed a brown sail boat gliding through the choppy sea. On the background, there were a few more boats with billowing white sails. The pastel shades of mauve, green and grey produced a sky that was much similar to the one outside my window – glum and overcast.

Ever a sucker for anything artistic, I felt a strange pull about the painting, despite having seen it umpteen times already. For all my interest and curiosity, it wasn’t even a realistic work that faithfully brings the scenery before your eyes. There wasn’t single fine line anywhere in the painting, nor was a stretch of same colour. Turbulent waves, blowing winds, swathes of greenery on the seashore and even a hint of a lighthouse – these were all produced with spontaneous strokes. Looking at the painting, I could feel the artist, creative energy pulsating through his veins, flourishing his palette knife across the thick cartridge paper, applying a medley of hues all tangled together, in a show of energy and enthusiasm for his craft.

Looking closely, I found erratic lines, uneven edges and specks of colours that had dripped unexpectedly, all across the landscape. All these could have marred paintings of a formal kind. But here these same things lent a curious charm to the work. The artist seemed to have completed this painting in a single sitting. There was no trace of correction anywhere in the work. There was no application of paint one atop the other, for correction, except the necessary layering of the sky and the sea. That spontaneity is what made the painting unique and special.

My mind turned towards my own amateurish paintings. Ever the one bent on perfection, I work meticulously, trying to correct every line and every layer of paint. Eager to produce the straightest of lines, most perfect of curves and neatest of colours, I end up messing my works by overdoing things. I draw and then redraw the lines. If there is a slightest spot in the canvas where the colour hasn’t reached properly, I apply paint all over again. If a stroke appears to have some uneven edges caused by the odd bristle, I try to hide it by adding another coat of paint there. All such things, while satisfying my quest for perfection, leave a not so aesthetic effect on the final work. Is that my lack of confidence or my excess concern for the perfection of my works, I had never understood. At least not until that morning.

While I was toying around with such thoughts, I found a simile with our own lives and our mistakes too. We all commit mistakes in our lives, most of them unintended and out of ignorance. But how often do we create a bigger mess, trying to ‘correct’ those mistakes! While a simple acceptance of our fault and a sincere apology could set matters straight, we insist on laying upon our mistake layers of excuses and explanation. We try to justify why we did things the way we did. We try to add a veneer of good intentions atop our bad behaviour. End result? Our mistakes assume a greater magnitude for the worse and leave all the parties involved in a poor state of mind.

So, next time I pick up a brush or perform a deed, which results in an unintended mistake, I will try to accept it, apologize and move on, instead of trying to gloss over it with excuses, silly amends and senseless justifications. End of the day, acceptance of such imperfections is what makes human lives unique and beautiful. Not all of us are Michelangelo’s ‘David’, polished and unblemished. But we can all be the clay works from the hands of a skilled artisan – each unlike the others, imperfect with uneven edges and yet, each beautiful in their own unique imperfections!

A.

Book Review – Mr. Sampath: The Printer of Malgudi, R.K. Narayan

 

 

There is this special quality about the books of R.K. Narayan – each and every one of them feel like a journey. The initial enthusiasm before commencing one, the excitement once it is started, witnessing fresh and familiar scenery, meeting new characters, the lull of the monotony one slips into after a while, the subtle boredom that creeps in and makes one look forward to closure, the stir one feels as one nears the end, and the happy arrival at the destination – these are all emotions that one feels during the journey as well as while reading the works of R.K. Narayan.

There is no denying the fact that RKN is one of the geniuses to have graced the world of Indian literature. Imagine the fecundity that pervaded his mind and brought forth an entire town in fiction, which went on to serve as a beautiful backdrop for almost all his works. Apart from the town, his way of writing - capturing those Independence era habits and societal customs for posterity to relish - is another mark of his genius. The old-world charm of the pre-technology days flows out of these pages, sending the reader’s mind into a serene journey into that halcyon past.

‘Mr. Sampath’ is no exception, though this may not be the best of Mr. Narayan’s works. Srinivas arrives in Malgudi, trying to find his life’s purpose by venting out his thoughts through a journal, ‘The Banner’. As he stands almost on the verge of giving up the idea, with no printer forthcoming to print ‘The Banner’, Sampath the printer arrives in his life as a god-sent ray of hope. Leaving just the writing part to Srinivas, Sampath takes it upon himself to run the nitty-gritties of the journal. All seems to go well for Srinivas, when one day, without any warning, the printer shuts shop due to labour trouble. The resourceful Sampath quickly gets into a film production company, roping in Srinivas as the script writer. But all that glitz and glam of life under spotlights slowly gets into the head of Sampath. What transpired in the end forms the rest of the tale.

All the qualities mentioned in the first stanza are present in this book too, except the stir towards the end and the happy arrival – a meaningful closure. Normally Narayan’s novels end leaving one mystified and even pensive about some of the higher truths. Not this one. The end of the tale neither satisfies the reader nor makes much sense. It feels as if you started the journey hoping to arrive at a faraway, beautiful destination, but were yanked out midway through the journey, to be left behind on a barren, no-man’s land.

An OK read from RKN!

A.

Silly Infants or Petty Adults?!

Whenever I used to present toys or games to my tiny tot niece, she used to show more interest in the colorful cardboard boxes that carried those toys, instead of the pricey contents. I used to laugh it off as the silly nature of infants.

As I am learning these days, we are all akin to my little niece in our silly fantasies and fetishes. The marvellous blessing of Life has been bestowed on us. Instead of making the most of it, we are clinging to the shiny but cheap wrappers and boxes - religious identities, political affiliations, border affinities, stupid gossips, ego clashes, shiny gadgets, career identities, silly pursuits, along with all the resultant debates, disputes, bickering and senseless hatred!

 

What a world ours will be, if only we could all learn up, discard the cartons and embrace their contents - Life and the Love for it?! ❤️🙏

Book Review – Modern South India: A History from the 17th Century to Our Times, Rajmohan Gandhi

Writing a book on history is no easy task. Any aspiring writer of history needs to read wide and research deep. If the author presents unverified information, s/he runs the risk of losing credibility. If s/he simply lines up facts in chronological order, with no flair, s/he will end up losing the readers’ attention. It takes some skill to write an interesting book on history and Mr. Rajmohan Gandhi has proved his mettle here.

History books are of two kinds. Either you speak about the history of a nation, an era, a political movement or other noteworthy events. Or you extol the virtues of a king, an artist, a reformer or an inventor. Between presenting the details of forest (overall history) and picking up trees for special treatment (biographies, for example), few people have the knack of speaking about the forest, while allowing a clear view of the individual trees as well. Mr. Rajmohan Gandhi does a splendid job here too.

This book on South Indian history begins after the fall of famed Vijayanaraga empire, defeated by the combined armies of Deccan Sultanates. Arguably the greatest empire in South that spread across all five modern Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra, Telangana and Tamilnadu, would its fall have been the harbinger of things to come for the country as a whole? We may not know. But seven decades before the fall of this empire, a man arrived at the west coast of the country, travelling all the way from Europe. The arrival of this man set off a series of quests to set up trade routes with a country whose riches were said to be beyond measures. Seven decades after the fall of Vijayanagara, the Dutch and Danish too arrived, but on the eastern shores. The scourge of India, the British, too arrived at about the same time. Of all the European powers, the French were the last to arrive.

The book feels like a treasure trove for history lovers, with its vast coverage of events that unfolded during those centuries. The typical infighting amongst the Indian royals, gullibility and greed of native Indians that let these alien powers ease into place, the treachery and traitors that gave up honour and their leaders for the proverbial ‘thirty pieces of silver’, this book recounts every tale in such detail that you will feel your pulse racing.

Covering vast ground, trying to do justice to each of the major linguistic provinces by describing their past history, the book feels like a breeze. The Zamorins and Rajas of Malabar, detailed tale of the Tiger of Mysore, the fiery social reformers of Telugu land, colourful warriors of Tamizh kingdom, communist revolutions to freedom movements, the book has almost all that you can think of, depicting the forest as well as detailing the trees.

But all that flow hits a serious brake midway through. Now, let me remind you that Mr. Rajmohan Gandhi is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, offspring of Devadas Gandhi and Lakshmi, daughter of Rajagopalachari (or Rajaji, as he is better remembered). The fondness for his grandfathers takes over the writer and the reader is made to suffer for the same. For almost one third of a book, you are presented with the history of the entire south only from the perspective of Mr. Rajmohan Gandhi’s maternal grandfather, Rajaji.

While the writing about Mr. Rajaji is mostly unbiased, it is done at the cost of some glaring omissions. For example, anyone from the Tamizh country will remember Tirupur Kumaran and Velu Natchiyar for their heroics in the fight for freedom. But there is not even a passing mention of their names in this book, while Mr. Rajaji’s whole life is recounted here, making me wonder whether I am reading a work of history or the biography of Shri Rajaji. Since the author writes mostly from the corner of Rajaji, there is a hint of bias while writing against his political opponents. Though the author makes amends by covering the rest of the history, till our modern days, as clearly and as exhaustively as possible, the damage to the reading flow is already done.

Having said that, this is an interesting book overall that I finished it within two days, a feat that I achieved after quite a while. Interesting and as exhaustive as humanly possible, considering the nature of the project, this is a must-read for every history aficionado, provided you can withstand the author’s love for his maternal grandfather!

A.

Book Review - Mahavamsa, (as translated by Wilhelm Geiger)

 

Well, imagine waiting to read a book for more than 25 years, only to find it being a dud. I got to know about the book ‘Mahavamsa’ during my high-school summer holidays, while reading ‘Ponniyin Selvan’, the semi-fictional magnum opus of legendary Kalki Krishnamurthy. With the Sinhalese history being an indispensable part of that novel, and the mention of Mahavamsa therein, I was intrigued to learn more about the history of that beautiful island nation.

After almost a decade and more of searching for this book, mostly during the pre-e-commerce period, I gave up the search but not the desire. Then, fortunately, when a good friend of mine was on a visit to Sri Lanka, she thankfully fetched this book for me from there and gifted what I imagined to be a read of a lifetime. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

As I think of what I should write in my review, I see more cons than pros. First and foremost, the language. Mahavamsa was originally translated from Pali language to German by Wilhelm Geiger in the second decade of the 20th century, and then translated into English a little while later. While the translators have been true to the original, they haven’t been true to the readers, the result being archaic language that causes confusion often times. ‘He did this to him who said to him who was a good king’ was the kind of reading that puts of the serious readers and makes them resort to skimming.

This was a compilation of the chronicles maintained by the Buddhist monks at the Anuradhapura Maha Vihara and the resultant politico-religious tone of the book is hard to miss. The book begins with the beginning of Buddhism in India, the arrival of missionaries tasked by Ashoka with the spreading of Buddhist message to the farther shores, the arrival of the first person of royal lineage in the island and the tales of his descendants. The book ends with the reign of Mahasena, recounting the religious merits gained by the kings leading up to him, by way of building Buddhist monasteries and reliquaries. No matter what you think of Buddhism, the contempt of the Buddhist monks for people from other religions and the deprecating mentions in the book are hard to miss. So are the religious schisms that had the monks use their political clout to settle scores with their opponents (from other factions). But the book covers next to nothing about the prevailing social customs or lifestyle of the people at that time, things that one normally wants to learn through such books.

The history of every dynasty is rife with infighting, patricidal / regicidal / fratricidal outcomes, incestuous relationships, queens that changed their paramours like they changed their upper clothes, conspiracies and cruel rulers. This ancient Sri Lankan history is no exception. In this long tale, only two characters stand out for me. Duttugamanu, a rebellious Sinhalese prince that was bent on freeing the northern part of his island from the Tamil kings and Elara – or Ellalan – his sans pareil arch rival, who is better known to the people of Tamilnadu by the name Manu Neethi Chozha. The rest all feel like names that came and went at the end credits of a movie.

May be, I am missing the true pleasure of the book due to the poor or outdated translation. Someday I would love to lay my hands upon a better translation. Till then, it is only 2.5 stars!

Book Review – Tableau for Dummies, Molly Monsey & Paul Sochan

I am giving this book only 3 stars. Of course, I have only myself to blame. Having already had a fair bit of exposure to Tableau, I was looking for some good books to improve my skills. Going by the recommendations on a blog, I chose this book to begin with. Well, who am I kidding?! Everybody knows that ‘For Dummies’ series is just that, for dummies (absolute beginners). Having already dealt with Tableau, I found most of the content here to be too basic to be of any use to me.

Having said that, this is a good book, if you are an absolute beginner, having no idea about data visualization or Tableau. It will guide the learner step by step, starting from the menu options and toolbars. It also gives a fair bit of introduction into some of the advanced ways of Tableau. But it all stops only at the introductory level. Don’t expect yourself to become well-versed in Tableau by reading this book.

Another shortcoming is that this book has no practical exercises. It feels like a picture book for children, sharing screengrabs for every option. It tries to teach everything by mere theory, which, as we all know, isn’t the right way to learn anything, especially computer technology. Overall, this is good for those taking baby steps into Tableau. Nothing more than that.

A.

Book Review - The Intelligence Trap, David Robson

A couple of months ago, I came across a post on LinkedIn, where a senior professional with an IIM degree had shared a post about an Indian student. This student, in his late teens, was said to have secured two patents in his name already and he was also said to have rejected the invitation from  the then US President Donald Trump to join NASA. Under the message and the said student’s photograph was a nationalist slogan. The fact is, this message was proven to be a fake information more than a year ago, but our senior professional had no clue about it. Neither did he bother to check the truth before posting it on a professional forum like LinkedIn. There was this stinging comment under that post – ‘Can’t you differentiate fake news from the real ones? How the h*** did you pass from IIM?’

Well, we all have that one friend (or many, as in my case) that shares fake news or unverified information on their social media posts or through WhatsApp. While I have been able to change a few of them and make them verify anything before they share it with others – or at least with me – I have also lost friends due to what they consider to be my ‘pedantic’ approach. I have always wondered about what makes these people, most of them well-educated and in respectable professions, share fake information without ever checking its veracity. This book is an apt answer to that question.

Well, this book isn’t purely about debunking fake information, but about why supposedly smart, well-educated people do stupid things and end up with egg on their faces. Starting with how we mistake IQ as a measure of intelligence, though people with much lower IQ scores often outperform such ‘geniuses’, the book lays down its arguments for how often intelligence is nothing but thin ice – cool and shiny but fragile and pointless.

Starting from a Nobel prize winning scientist that denied climate change and HIV to detailing the whims of Steve Jobs, the man who made Apple what it is today, the book delves into the logical fallacies that plagues every intelligent mind. Becoming myopic due to their acknowledged genius, having their ideas and opinions crystallized despite proven facts to the contrary, inability to listen to the opinions and learn from others are some of the mental malaises that victimized many of the most brilliant minds in human history. This book speaks about such weaknesses and elicits lessons from their mistakes. Speaking about organizations, it states the reasons for why even the most successful organizations like Nokia went into a tailspin and why NASA had to have more than one disaster to strengthen its engineering processes.

There are still people that believe that the world is flat and, at present, that COVID is a hoax, despite glaring evidences staring at their faces. The tragedy is that most, if not all, of these people are well-educated and supposedly of sane minds. The logical fallacies that dominate their thinking is all laid bare in this book. The cure to such malaises? Curiosity and intellectual humility.

In an age when ultra-nationalists and bigots are taking over every public forum to spew venom by spreading lies and misinformation, books like these can boost rational thinking and logical abilities. It gets a tad slow at times, but is a worthy read nevertheless!

A.

Lokāh samastāh sukhino bhavantu!

 

लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु

Lokāh samastāh sukhino bhavantu!

 

"May all beings everywhere be happy and free!"

 

In the last 48 hours, I have heard about the demise of at least 4 people due to COVID. The most tragic of them being a family friend's mother and father passing away on the same day, within 5 hours, due to COVID related complications. Never in my living memory did the whole world around me need as much healing and peace as it does now.

 

Ignore all the petty differences like religion and politics and stand united. Care for one another and help those in need. If we don't learn the lessons and let go of our ego, COVID might prove to be very much the reckoning that the arrogant mankind so deserved!

 

Take care and stay safe. Mask up and stay alert. Take care of the elders at home. Remembering you all in my prayers today!

Book Review – Firefighting: The Financial Crisis and Its Lessons, Ben S. Bernanke, Timothy F. Geithner, Henry M. Paulson Jr.

It was the year 2008. I was happily settled in an MNC NBFC, having been promoted recently and destined for more growth. Just as I was thinking that things could only get better from here, the scales tilted and everything went on a downward spiral. Within a span of 6 months, I was left searching for jobs - twice. What was looking like one of the most memorable periods of my life for all reasons good, turned out to be an unforgettably forgettable period. Reason? The conflagration that was threatening to burn down the Wild West of American economy – the Wall Street.

While wild fires are normally limited to the geographies where they started, this financial inferno was spreading far and wide, threatening to bring down the global economy, thanks to its interconnected nature and growing ambitions. Though I had an inkling of what caused the Financial Crisis of 2008, resulting in the not-so-memorable changes in my life, I was curious to learn more about it. The aptly titled ‘Firefighting’ is the first of the shortlisted books and it turned out to be a worthy prelude.

Subprime Mortgages – these two words caused all that chaos. To tell you the background in simple terms, just like me the world was highly optimistic in the years leading to 2008. Investors were willing to bet on high-risk investments that promised high returns. Banks and financial institutions were flooding the market with liquidity. People were starting to chase the dream of owning a house. As a result, there was a boom in real estate in the US and elsewhere, with real-estate prices increasing every day. Financial institutions that were lending to fuel this boom wanted to raise more funds to lend more. One of their ideas was to repackage these loans into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and sell if off to return-craving investors, on promises of regular returns.

With the demand for MBS growing more and more, the financial institutions started giving home loans to even uncreditworthy people – people with no solid income, no credit history and no assets to guarantee the repayment. On one end, investors were pouring in money, driven by greed, and on the other, banks were throwing it all away by lending it to all and sundry, based on overconfidence bordering on arrogance. It was all based on the assumption that the real-estate demand will keep up and the prices will go on increasing.

Then came the slump in demand for housing and suddenly there were more houses than takers. Also, the subprime mortgages were starting to go sour. With defaults piling up and the investors starting to pull out their investments fearing losses, the financial institutions that were indulging in this perilous business were starting to fall like dominoes. Their collapse resulted in serious recession and unpleasant fallouts elsewhere too – in the form of job losses, negative spends, resultant decrease in demand and in turn, more job losses – including that of people like me.

This book is written by the people who were in the forefront fighting that financial hellfire – Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Timothy F. Geithner, Treasury Secretary (Obama) and Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Treasury Secretary (Bush). Advantages of reading a book written by people who fought the fire is that you expect to get a front-row view of the crisis as it unfolded. The book lives up to that expectation. With their experience and wisdom, they have well explained the causes of the crisis, events during the crisis, the casualties and the cure administered. Comprehensive and unbiased, they have pointed out the pros and cons of the corrective measures taken by both administrations – by George W. Bush and his successor, Barack Obama. Having written the book by 2019, they have also shared their thoughts on how America is well and ill-equipped to handle a similar crisis at present, especially as it stood polarized under an uncouth president like Donald Trump.

One of the negatives is that they have written the book in a diplomatic manner and from too high a view to recount the pains of people at the bottom of the financial pyramid. Neither is there a recounting of greedy arrogance of the CEOs that dragged American economy to its nadir (but who received safe exits – ‘golden parachutes’ – sans compunction). Nor is the resulting global financial pandemonium spoken about in detail. But considering the authors’ positions and the fact that this book is mainly about the financial crisis in America, we understand that those topics are simply out of the scope of this book.

Clear and comprehensive, this will be one of my favorite books on the financial crisis 2008!

A.

Transience is all there is!

Even amidst a life gone numb with innumerable travails and turmoil, Mother Nature never fails to give me goosebumps through seemingly trivial scenes. Stepping out of the office today for a tea-break, I just looked up at the sky and saw this. 

Pure blue sky, with puffy white clouds, providing the backdrop, two trees stood side by side. One with its leaves in various shades of yellow, falling down at the faintest hint of a breeze, standing next to a rain tree that had just sprouted a whole set of fresh green leaves. Young and aged, old and new standing juxtaposed, providing testimony to the passage of Time, accentuated by the floating clouds. 

Life is all about transience. Life is all about movement. Life is all about the fleeting moments. Pains or pleasures, we are all here for a while. A very brief while! ❤️

A.

A Late Winter's Dawn

 

When I woke up and opened the doors this morning, fog and chill winds greeted me. The Sun didn't yet wake up from Her slumber and it was dark all around. Yet, up above on the sky, away from all that sombreness, a pale gray cloud shone with a lovely tint of orange on the side that faced east. Like a harbinger, signalling the impending arrival of light and warmth, that solitary cloud shone beautifully.

Waiting at the terrace, I was able to watch the Sun climb up on the East like a shy bride, appearing all decked and docile in a glowing shade of orange. If only cellphone cameras could capture her regal splendour!

P.S. Why do we always speak about the Sun in masculine terms and the Moon in feminine terms?! By sheer virtue of nourishing and nurturing all that is good on this planet, doesn't the Sun deserve to be considered a female?! And, the Moon, for all her glittering glow, all borrowed from the Sun, akin to a man who is only as good as a woman in his life?!

Book Review – Tongue-In-Cheek: The Funny Side of Life, Khyrunnisa A

Let me confess. I am that guy on whose jokes nobody laughs. Be it in school or in college, or even at work, not many people break into a guffaw when I utter, what I consider to be, wisecracks. On the contrary, there were always some back-benchers - or junior staff members now - who made people around fold up with laughter, by uttering simple grunts and groans. Naturally, I have always envied people with such astonishing sense of humor. As I grew up, I understood the most important trick of making people laugh – never trying to make them laugh. Good humor is based on spontaneity and smartness. While I assumed that I had the smartness, I was never spontaneous. I always tried to make my jokes smart and sharp, ending up sounding incomprehensible in the process.

For example, read this joke and tell me how quickly you understood it – ‘There were two retired professors sitting in lawn, sipping tea and discussing things. One of them asked the other ‘Have you read Marx?’ The other one promptly responded ‘Yeah, it’s these pesky wicker chairs’. It took me a couple of minutes to understand this joke, but as the sheer smartness of the joke became clear, the joke got etched on my mind. While such ultra-smart jokes are fun to feel, they don’t tickle you at once and make you roll on the floor. Spontaneity is what produces such end results. Very few people exhibit such a perfect blend of smartness and spontaneity – to make people laugh with jokes that stick to the heart. Ms. Khyrunnisa is one such a blessed writer.

Blessed with perfect command over language and a keen eye for the innate quirks of human minds, the author has beautifully documented all those tickle-worthy moments of our day-to-day lives. From simple household chores to showy weddings, health fads to age-related ailments, silly fetishes to serious mishaps, there are so many things that we go through on a daily basis, blinkered and blind to our idiosyncrasies. This book will make one stop and think about similar incidents in one’s own life and smile in hindsight. I loved how the author repeatedly kept pulling the mickey out of herself and her own family members. Even while documenting the hilarity hidden in the acts/thoughts of the people around her, she makes us laugh, without exactly making them the laughing stock.

In a world that is increasingly feasting on silly, senseless, scatological ‘jokes’ and sexual innuendos, her style of writing, steeped in subtle, sensible, decent wit all through, feels like a breath of fresh air. Her style of alluding to things past and present, historical and everything else, wordplay and funny flow all remind me of Albert Uderzo and Rene Goscinny, famed creators of my favorite Asterix and Obelix comic series.

You may not ‘LOL’ at the end of every other sentence, but the genuine hilarity of these tales is guaranteed to give you a lightened mind and some hearty laughter. Tongue-in-Cheek is cheeky indeed!

A.

Book Review – The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee

My first introduction to the dreaded disease of cancer was through movies, where the hero bleeds through his nose, wraps a shawl and goes around with unshaven face, singing sad songs about his plight. My mother’s narrations about her elder sister’s traumatic experience with breast cancer and resultant mastectomy at a young age didn’t make much of an impact on me. As I grew up, there were so many characters with cancer in so many movies that the word cancer itself started to feel like those foreign locations that the lead characters go to for their duets – exotic, intriguing, yet faraway, having nothing to do with me. But as I matured into adulthood, I started seeing relatives, families of friends and colleagues bear the brunt of this ominous disease. My brief volunteering with an NGO that works for cancer patients brought me face to face with the seriousness of this scourge of humans. Young children suffering from leukemia, men in their early twenties fighting lung cancer caused by smoking, elderly people disfigured by throat cancer due to tobacco use - cancer was no longer exotic and faraway. It was close and gross.

When recently someone near and dear was diagnosed with cancer, I felt my curiosity piqued. I was looking for resources to learn more about this disease and do what I can to spread awareness. That’s how I found this book. And, what a worthy primer this turned out to be!

Cancer is not a modern illness. Its ancientness parallels that of our own. For millennia, people have suffered from and succumbed to cancer. But what makes this dreaded disease unique is its ability to evolve at the same rate as we do. Every time we find a cure and hope to kill this disease forever, cancer evolves and moves the bull’s eye. To borrow an idea from the author, imagine an Achilles whose vulnerability shifts someplace else, just as you target an arrow at his heel.

All those centuries of painstaking research has taught us one thing – this disease emerges from within. While external agents – like viruses and carcinogens - play a crucial role in waking this demon from its slumber, cancer is something internalized. It is our own body cells gone rogue, disobeying the lifecycle of birth-growth-decline. In a cruel twist of fate, our own body cells, nano-representations of our own selves, find a mutated vigor for ‘life’, start proliferating so profusely that they end up killing us, their collective image. Killing a harmful virus or bacteria has been relatively easier, because they have definite shape, purpose and, especially, are apart from us. But cancer is a part of us, our own cells, our genes, DNAs gone rogue. Not just that. Each of these mutations takes its own unique form as there are individuals. Cancer isn’t one single disease to find a cure against. It is a bunch of mutations, the perverted race of cells to proliferate and spread all over.

This book taught me those things in an intense way. Starting from the earliest mentions of this disease in history, nearly 2500 years ago, to the latest development in the field of oncology, this book tries to light up a very vast area. And, it succeeds too. The tug of war between cancer and science, the misunderstandings, poorly designed treatments, lessons learnt, sacrifices by patients as well as physicians, their tenacity in the face of adversity, emotional / physical reliefs brought by discovery of cures, relapses and remissions, egos and ebullience of the people involved, this book tells it all. If you are looking to learn what cancer is and what a devastating trail it has left all through the annals of mankind, then this is a book you must start with. The sheer effort and research that fills these pages is astounding. Dr. Mukherjee has put his heart and soul into this book.

The book is comprehensive but not complete though. For example, the book doesn’t dwell into ovarian cancer, something that I was so keen to learn about. The book doesn’t provide any advice on how to prevent cancer, if at all it is possible, or what kinds of lifestyles are prone to the risk of it. But, of course, the good doctor promptly justifies his reasons in the annexures.

This book doesn’t tell you everything that you would like to know about cancer. But it will tell you all the basics that you need to know about it. If you are pursuing the subject with curiosity, this is a good book to begin with. Not an easy read, but definitely worth the time.

As I finished reading and sat staring at the covers, I had this strange emotion – in their traits of reproducing profusely, migrating to wherever possible, reshaping the landscape of their destination (organ), and increasing ability to defy death that results in the ultimate demise of the host organism, isn’t cancer quite akin to us humans? Are cancer cells the microcosmic parallels to what we humans are to the macrocosm, i.e., the Universe?!

Who knows?! May be, we are!

Happy New Year 2021!!!

 

Hope!

In all these years of my life, of whatever little duration I have been fortunate to be here, never have I seen a single emotion dominate the collective consciousness of us humans like the way hope does now. In the past, we have started our years with dreams, desires, passions, ideas, goals and ambitions. But in living memory of the majority of us, this must be the first year where we have all started the year with burgeoning hope. I see ‘hope’ being the keyword in most of the wishes I have received throughout the day.

 As I have been repeatedly telling, Nature doesn’t care for our definitions of Time and Space. These notions of months, years and hours are all abstract little chunks that we use to understand Time. So, as we move from one little chunk called 2020 to the other one named 2021, we have all decided to leave behind the fears, chaos and uncertainties that ruled most part of 2020 and face 2021 with abundant hopes in our minds.

2020 was a year of mixed emotions. It gave immense pain to many of us, but it also fulfilled lot of our dreams. So many people lost their lives, but there were so many new arrivals too. Many businesses shut down, but so many new entrepreneurs found their passions. So, let us be thankful that we did weather through one of the toughest time periods in our living memory and are entering 2021 in good health and hope.

I am sure you are also one of those innumerable good people that are starting 2021 in hopes. My wishes to you is that may you spend this whole year in good health, with your heart and mind soaked in love, peace and compassion, surrounded by the people who matter to you and to whom you mean the world, with enough of good things for you to enjoy and share with those around you! May your positive aura rub on those around you and lift them higher. Convey these good wishes to your beloved ones too.

Happy New Year 2021!