Book Review – The Book of Indian Kings: Stories & Essays

 

Image Source - Amazon.in

 

Well, technically, this isn’t a book, but a booklet. As just around 120 pages, this is a book that any capable reader can complete in a day at the most. An hors d'oeuvre of sorts, this book contains excerpts from books by 10 different authors – each well-renowned and established name on their own. Having read a few of their works, I thought that this would be a right book to test the waters on the writings of some other authors – works of whom I have been long wanting to read, but wasn’t sure where to start.

To go by the sequence of chapters in the booklet, Romila Thapar comes across as a historian who is old-school. Facts are laid down and presented in a purely academic fashion. No drama, no grand theatre of words on which the past events of history can play out again in front of our eyes. Interesting enough to make me want to pick her works though.

Abraham Eraly – I once had added his works to my Amazon wish-list en masse, only to remove them all as soon as I read a negative comment. My reading of his chapter vindicated my act. He comes across as bitter and cynical, waving away everything great about everyone as if it is all mere imagination or exaggeration. Not sure whether he is capable of understanding that history is a subject that is always contentious and simply scoffing at everything is the mark of those bitter old souls that spray acrimony at all around.

Kalki – the excerpt of his Tamizh magnum opus ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ is made to sound like a children’s tale, by inept translation. Hardly a page or two, I feel it is an injustice to Kalki while people like Eraly ate up so many pages.

Manu S. Pillai – Here is another modern historian who is full of sarcasm and disregard for the past. Though not on the same, bitter mould as Eraly, his treatment of past history and depiction, filled with derision and disregard for the sentiments, borders on sacrilege. Not sure why people like Eraly and Manu Pillai take pleasure in treating the past figures with disdain!

Salman Rushdie – I have a couple of his other works sleeping in my shelf. This one, an essay on Akbar, has given me a taste of what I can expect from them. Fluent, magical writing, but a tad too lengthy to my liking.

Jadunath Sarkar – One of the prominent historians of India, few people are aware of him these days. This excerpt, simple and straightforward writing, is interesting enough for me to want to read more of his works.

Rajmohan Gandhi, William Dalrymple and Khushwant Singh are all people whose works I have already read enough and relished. So, nothing much to add here.

Vir Sanghvi & Namita Bhandare – Their co-authored work on Madhavrao Scindia makes for interesting reading.

Overall, this is just an excerpt from the works of these authors and is not a complete book by itself. 3 stars!

A.

Happy Pongal / Makar Sankaranthi / Uttarayan!

 

Today, as is my wont on festive days, I went to the terrace at dawn to look at the Sun and sky. The world around was at its usual, serene best. The birds were busy with their morning songs and search for food. Stray animals were lazily relishing the remnant chill of the leaving winter. All kinds of people were busy with preparations for celebrating the day. The Sun was also slowly ascending. But the sight at the East was a lot more astounding today.

Instead of a sparkling ball of gold and orange, I saw an amorphous cloud blocking the view. Seen closely, the cloud looked like an embryo. As if burgeoning with the nectar of water itself wasn’t noble enough, the cloud seemed to be carrying the very life force of the Sun also within. With the sky playing womb and this cloud being embryo, a beautiful Sun soon grew out of it, filling the world with Her life-nourishing light and warmth. What an apt beginning it was to the day on which we express gratitude to the Sun for her boons of life!

Sun is the most visible Giver and Nurturer of life and it is no wonder then that people across the world worship the Sun in some form or the other. On this auspicious day, as the Sun begins her movement towards north, may She bestow upon you and yours all the good things in abundance. May your homes be filled with peace, good health and prosperity of the highest kind! Happy Pongal / Uttarayan / Makara Sankaranthi!

 

A.

Book Review - How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, Bill Gates

Well, let's face it. Climate change is the elephant in the room and it is slowly growing in size to loom large over the future of us humans. It may or may not wipe us all out, but it will definitely bring some not so pleasant changes to our lives. If you're aware and awake, I am sure you have already noticed its impact on the world around. Our summers are getting hotter and drier, winters bring in more chill, our storms are worsening and the rainfalls cause deluges all around. Reason? Climate change, caused by the accumulation of what are called 'greenhouse gases' in our atmospheric layers, preventing the Sun's heat from being radiated back into the void of the Universe. It is both a serious and urgent topic that more and more of us should be aware of. So, when I thought of learning about it, I let the aura of Bill Gates decide my choice and bought this as the first book on this topic. Alas, if only Bill Gates could write books as well as he could write software!

To begin with, this book doesn't justify all the negative opinions surrounding it. Bill Gates is neither the evil billionaire who wants the whole world to do his bidding nor has he written this book to earn extra income. Come on! After all this is a man that earns upwards of $20000 per minute, more than what many of us can earn over a year! So, minting some extra money on the side could not be his motivation. Two, he has obviously invested in many of the companies that are working on climate change solutions. If his intention is to raise more funds for his companies, he can simply dial up people like Buffetts and Ambanis, who are all in his phone's contact list for sure. I don't think he needed the effort of publishing a book to raise money.

Now that we have cleared it, Gates for sure has written the book with the good intention of creating awareness about climate change. His execution comes a cropper though. He has done many things right – trying to explain the impact of rise in mercury, how emissions cause that increase, causes of those emissions, current ground realities, ways in which we can reduce emissions and the challenges ahead that could thwart our efforts. But he does so in a less than perfect style. First, there are times when he sounds a bit repetitive. As a result, the writing style sags in many places. Two, he has written it with a view on how corporates and governments can bring in changes and not on how we as individuals are contributing to the problem and how we can solve it. Agreed that such a gargantuan problem threatening the whole world will not be solved by individual efforts alone, but the individual is what makes the world and I would have loved to see a couple of steps on how we can contribute more, in our daily lives. May be, that is just me expecting too much from a well-intentioned book. Finally, in the book’s introduction, he promises not to name the companies he is involved in, to avoid giving an appearance of favoritism, but ends up doing it page after, chapter after chapter, which justifies the criticism a little.

But trust me, this is a good book, written with the good intention of spreading awareness about climate change. Just that it didn’t thrill me much. But if you are looking to understand the topic at a general level, this book is a good primer for sure. 3.5 stars!

A.

Happy(?) New Year 2022!

 ‘Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'It will be happier.'’
– Alfred Tennyson

Yesterday, on 31st of December 2021, when I sent out this message during my morning text to my friends, an old, unresolved question haunted my mind. What is more important – being happy or being peaceful? As if she had read my thoughts, a dear friend of mine responded with ‘some seek peace more than happiness’. Her reply made me realize that, indeed, more people are seeking peace than happiness.

Seeking happiness is no sin, let me clarify. It’s the very basic trait of humanity to seek pleasure, happiness, bliss, joy, comfort and whatnot. But all these aforementioned emotions are fleeting and require some external stimulus or the other to be felt. In case of peace though, you don’t need an external cause to be at peace. One can be peaceful for no reason at all. (While you may argue that one can be happy for no reason too, I am bound to agree with your argument, but let me remind you, that’s a state of mind for spiritually advanced people, not for the masses.) Peace is the breeze that ever pervades the garden of our minds, while happiness is the fragrance that wafts through that breeze every now and then.

In that case, if I am to wish you well, should I wish you a year of happiness – filled with all those external stimuli that you need to actively seek and find – or should I wish you everlasting peace that requires no external cause? - This question nagged my mind as I sat to write my customary new year wishes. Realizing that, as someone who wants only the best for you, I decided to wish you all a year full of peace!

So, here’s my wish for you:  ‘May you find more peace in your lives, an everlasting serenity that helps you glide unaffected through all the chaos around. May your relationships be harmonious. May your professional lives be devoid of stress and pressure. May you seek peace more than happiness and find it in absolute abundance too!’

After all, as a favorite poet of mine once wrote, “Seek some peace too, gentlemen. For, these needs & wants will never cease to exist.”

Take care, dear all. May this 2022 be one of the most fulfilling and peaceful years of your lives!

A.