Friday, August 16, 2019

Sita Under the Crescent Moon by Annie Ali Khan

Book Review 

Sita Under the Crescent Moon by Annie Ali Khan




"Meeting Durga at Hinglaj reminded me of the sacrifices life demands at every step." (From the book's foreword)
Sita under the Crescent Moon by Quratulain (Annie) Ali Khan chronicles sacred sites through the length and breadth of Sindh and Balochistan provinces in Pakistan in vivid detail where women seek solace in worship, derive strength to fight their ordeals, pray for a cure for illnesses that plague them and their loved ones and share a few moments of ecstasy, a feeling of oneness with the Almighty.
The author born in Karachi returns to her city as a writer after spending a few years in New York. She sets off on a pilgrimage to a site highly remote and equally sacred - Hinglaj, the resting place of Durga, popularly known as Nani Pir by locals in Balochistan, the largest province by land in Pakistan, constantly in strife against the state, sparsely populated and extremely rich in natural resources.
Sati fought for her husband, Lord Shiva's dignity and immolated herself turning the sacred fire of her father Daksha's yagna into a sacrificial pyre. Her body was chopped into pieces by Lord Vishnu, 52 of which fell on Earth, her head falling on this remote mountain at Hinglaj, nestled in the heart of a lush oasis along the barren Makran coastal belt.
Treacherous terrain, persistent political issues and threats from militants, repeated attacks on religious minorities, innumerable security checks hardly deter the pilgrims from flocking and paying their respects at Hinglaj. They arrive at Devi's cave temple after a difficult trek up a barren, dormant volcano called Chandra Goop en route where prayers are offered to Lord Shiva.
From here on, the author sets on a quest to learn more about the legend of women burned or buried or swallowed by the Earth and then worshiped.



The Spiritual Odyssey Begins

Accompanied by a social worker from Lyari neighborhood in Karachi - Naz, the author sets out to witness a Maalid ceremony, a dhamaal or a Sufi dance in a settlement called Kalri. We get an insight into types of dhamaal, their origin traced to Sheedi community (settlers from Africa) and from people of Ratanpur, Rajasthan.

The dhamaal commences well into the night to the beat of drums. Heads circle, arms sway, some women fall into a rapture to the music and frankincense fragrance. The dhamaal bestows few moments of oneness with God for women with untold suffering - guarding their kith and kin from gang wars, police encounters, sudden disappearances and routine domestic violence.

The spiritual sojourn begins from Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine facing the sea in Karachi, the seventh largest city in the world, earlier only a fishing hamlet called Mai Kolachi after the local deity here. It is believed that this shrine was well connected to Haji Ali in Bombay and was an oft frequented route by many Sufi saints before the borders came into existence. 

The author thereafter travels to Manghu Pir shrine, the tale behind a lake of crocodiles here is an interesting one. Gaji Shah shrine, one visited only by women in Johi, close to Hyderabad is the next stop. Livelihood is extremely difficult in this town with the water poisonous and unfit for consumption and almost no electricity supply.

The Mecca of shrines- Laal Shabaz Qalandar's shrine - Sehwan Sharif with its beautiful golden dome in Dadu is the most popular tourist spot for spirit seekers. Unfortunately, this was the site of a devastating bomb blast in Feb 2017. The author travels further down to Keti Bunder wildlife sanctuary near the delta to pay a visit to Shah Aqeeq's shrine who is widely believed to be the spiritual surgeon. 

Every visit details out popular tales woven around the sacred site, provides a description of nearby villages, and prevailing social conditions. The seemingly incongruous accounts of travel shape up as we read a detailed account of Miran Pir shrine, Karachi.

We understand that the word 'Sita' used in the title is only metaphorical as the author compares Miran Pir to Sita in Bala Kand of Ramayana. Much like how a chasm in the Earth opened in front of Sita and welcomed her and closed over her head; Miran Pir was also swallowed by the Earth as she prayed to save her dignity.

Women from different countries come here for a sacred thread and some clay, with the hope that water from Shah Pari will cure their children. Their resolute faith keeps the shrine's caretakers going about their chores with a smile even when they are on the verge of giving up on life and living.

In search of Sati and Sita

"That is how a young woman's body was, a pot made of unbaked clay that had to spin, spin, spin before it was emptied of its milk- before the clay pot , like the body, fell , turned to dust. " (as quoted in the book) 

The author's spiritual excursions take her to shrines in Thatta in Sindh, to the hill of Makli, to shrines of Sheik Ali, Satiyan Bibi, as far as Khuzdar in Balochistan to the shrine of Shah Noorani.

She worships the seven sisters, the Satiyan who fled the clutches of evils that accosted them and prayed for the earth to consume them at Mai Mithi in Tharparkar, east of Karachi, very close to the Indian border.


Every where she encounters women who cannot leave their homes without a male company making a difficult pilgrimage alone. She delves into many life stories that render a plain fact - many women led and lead lives worse than a caged bird.  

Analysis and Recommendation

Sita under the Crescent Moon, a work of non fiction centered on travel to spiritual sites, provides information on local folklore, socio-economic conditions in a region with few details from contemporary political history. Through a kaleidoscope of all elements mentioned above, the book gives a voice to women who want nothing, who have nothing and for whom nothing is everything.

The read definitely gets cumbersome at places with information overload. Accounts of women's strife and girls possessed by spirits though elicit empathy get trite with repetition, A rudimentary map behind the covers of the book does minimal justice for the scale of travel undertaken. Few photographs from shrine visits and of locals would have illuminated this work of reportage better.


Nevertheless, the epilogue of the book written by the author's friend provides reasons why one should read this book. The author's painstaking efforts over three years to give voice to the women who would never be heard or allowed to speak undertaking extensive travel alone to the most remote and dangerous locations in Pakistan is highly laudable.

In small parts, the book also serves as the author's memoir, of her childhood days largely. From a simple, curious girl to a brave writer, her life was one truncated too soon. This book serves as a testament to her passion for writing and sacrifices that life demands ruthlessly at times. In a way, she too reminds us of Sati or Sita, under the crescent moon.

Rating 
3.5 stars - Buy a copy and assimilate this work slowly.

Suggested Reading

The author's stories as a journalist  -
  1. Missing Daughters of Pakistan - https://herald.dawn.com/news/1153516

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Marooned in the War against Nature



Book Review 

A short preface before I get down to the review

NA D'Souza, the author worked for about 25 years in connection with the Sharavati hydroelectric project and has seen the Linganamakki Dam come into existence. He has seen people dismantling homes, loading their families into lorries and carts migrating to lands allotted to them, deserting an identity and life they knew all along for generations. His keen and upclose observations of displacement and loss that development spurs to produce gains for a few are poured out into this novella.

Development-induced destruction is the central theme in this novella Dweepa and his many other books that include Mulugade (submersion) and Oddu (Dam/Barricade). He is known in Kannada literary circles as 'submersion' writer for he has exclusively focussed on people and families affected by big dams.

Dweepa, first published as a book in 1978 though written years back, describes an insider's view of what it means to live amidst fear of being marooned. The river Sharavati, bound by a dam, the rain - river's companion form central characters in the book. The chapters are named after stars that influence different phases of monsoon. The dam, a man-made evil not only threatens livelihood but creates deep chasms in human relationships.

The book was made into a movie too by Girish Kasaravalli and won President's Gold Medal in 2006. The translation into English is by Susheela Punitha, a retired professor of English, Mount Carmel College.
The translator's note elaborates the challenges translators face and asserts the importance of the process. The Oxford Novella series editor vouches to bring literary excellence bundled with socially relevant themes to the reader's table.

The review

Five families in a small village on the banks of river Sharavati - Hosamanehalli find themselves living in constant fear of submersion due to Sharavati hydroelectric project and construction of Linganamakki Dam. Two landlords and their labourers move to government allotted land in nearby towns in haste, content with compensation available.

Ganapayya, his wife Nagaveni and his ailing father Duggajja become the sole human inhabitants of the village. While cultivation of areca nuts and paddy in their lands engrosses them initially, the dread of loneliness, the fear of rising waters leaving them marooned in Hosamanehalli soon engulf them completely, damaging their lives irrevocably.

The river Sharavati is a principal character in the story, first free to flow her natural course, only to get blocked later, to get restless, swell in size and get unpredictable; quite like a human being who wriggles and gets violent under a loathsome, compelling force. The monsoon rains along with whistling winds are her companions instilling more power in her to break free from bondages the dam impose upon her.

The chapters are named after stars that influence different phases of monsoon - Krithika and Rohini where grey, overcast skies urge man to prepare for a rough monsoon period ahead; Mrigashira and Aridhra describe rain's unabated fury, it's only intent to soak the parched earth until verde green.

Ganapayya harbors many untold worries that turn him bitter and taciturn with time. This affects his relationship with his wife which only worsens with arrival of Krishnayya, an orphan/labourer who grew up in Nagaveni's house who comes to lend a helping hand with farm work.

What happens to Ganapayya and his family, the village? Do they withstand the onslaught of river that monsoon? What havoc does the huge concrete dam wreak? To know the answers, read this perfectly crafted book with an end so befitting, well translated, rendered with elements that show how man is closely knit with nature and how his intent to often alter it affects him in ways more than one causing unfathomable damage with time. HIGHLY RECOMMEND this read!!

Creepy tales all the way from Argentina


Book Review 

Twenty stories - eerie, haunting, creepy, unsettling, vaguely dystopian that leave a feeling of walking down dark and cryptic alley ways during an unearthly hour are bundled into this slim volume.

Most of the stories twitch your eyelids, send a shudder down your spine and chill your bones as the author, a master of macabre, presents peculiar content with immaculate precision. Praises heaped on her at the start of the book addressing her as Edgar Allan Poe of Argentina and a modern day blend of Grimm brothers and Kafka are no exaggerated claims. The first five stories literally bowled me over, churning my gut at times; an impactful start for the book that doesn't disappoint you till the end.

Stories - Butterflies and Slowing down reveal the author's exceptional talent in crafting powerful tales in an extremely  limited space. These reminded me of Daphne du Maurier's short story - The Old Man.

Headlights, Preserves, Mouthful of Birds, The Test, Olingiris, Heads against Concrete, Underground, The Heavy suitcase of Benavides are other big favorites from the collection. Violence is a strong undercurrent in all stories - in some it is explicit and brash and in others it is subtle, like a vehement force that constantly works for a change. The book only little over 200 pages demands absolute attention to detail and slow absorption over time. I loved reading this book and definitely look forward to reading more from this author.

Have you heard the famous song by a group Scorpions - Here I am, Rock you like a Hurricane? This book renders that song loud and clear as you read it.

Volga reinvents Yashodhara for her Readers


"Why is a woman's intellectual prowess mistaken for madness?"

Volga does it again - raising important questions about our society, filling gaps in history in a seamless manner, her imagination full and fierce in this work that provides a minor enlightenment for the reader even within the precincts of a room.
About 175 pages long, with a slow start, the book introduces us to Siddhartha Gautama, son of Mahamaya Devi (who dies seven days after childbirth) and king Suddhodhana of Kapilavastu. Mahaprajapati Gotami brings up Siddhartha, the sensitive child right from his birth.

Siddhartha's extremely loving and compassionate nature, learning Kshtriya skills only for knowledge and never to wield superiority over foes, hatred for violence and bloodshed, inclination to question the real purpose of life and human relations leave his parents in utter doubt and despair.

Time binds Siddhartha in marriage with beautiful and industrious Yashodhara, daughter of a rich landlord Bimbanana from neighboring Koliya village. Both realise similar questions intrigue them, they denounce similar practices of the society and yearn to serve the humanity.

To start with, it appears Siddhartha under tutelage of Kalamuni and Sramanas, already on his path to attain true knowledge of the world shapes up attentive Yashodhara's way of thinking. The story changes course post 100 pages where with an incident, Yashodhara realises that she can't become a pathfinder herself and must pave the path for her husband instead. She vows to make it comfortable for him to break familial ties without guilt, urges him with an undying passion to lead the world out of darkness of dogma into the light of rational thought.

How Yashodhara manages to achieve this, what are the obstacles she faces from members of her family, what happens to her when Siddhartha leaves the palace and their few days old son in search of the ultimate truth form the rest of the story.

Behind every successful man is a woman - they say; this book is the story of a woman who with single minded devotion nurtured her husband's dream as her own and catalysed the transformation of Siddhartha to Gautama Buddha.

Allowing some room for further discussion, here I would like to state the importance of translation.
" To fight a war you just need to go with a weapon into the battlefield. There you fight on one side and win over the other. Preventing a war is different. It is fighting with both the sides and winning over both sides. That is very hard." - page 94, as spoken by Siddhartha Gautama to Yashodhara. (written in Telugu by Volga, translated by PSV Prasad). Some lines stay with you even days after you are done with the book. 

Within the confines permitted by a language, the translator replicates original ideas, emotions and events with best and sincere intentions to retain the sheen as in the native language. And to achieve this, one wields an superior command in both the languages in question. Despite that prowess, a translator barely lays claim to the success of having made the original work reach millions of more readers.

If not for translation, I couldn't have read Tagore's Choker Bali. I would have missed the brilliant pieces of literature from Vaikom and Thakazhi of earlier times and that of KR Meera and TD Ramakrishnan from present. I wouldn't have developed a soft corner for Bengali literature if I hadn't read Mahaswetha Devi and Buddhadeva Bose. I wouldn't have got back to reading so fervently after a break of few years had someone not translated the book 'A Man called Ove' from Swedish.

Going along a predefined and chartered path with limited freedom and creativity under tight control is undoubtedly a tough job. It for this reason that people like Arunava Sinha, Lakshmi Holmstrom and Rakshanda Jalil impress me and command greater respect. Their names drive me to pick books without a second thought.

Each language has a flow, a structure, elements of beauty and poignance that make it unique but as a simple mortal with a clear inability to master multiple languages, translated works are only a boon in my opinion. While we feel something is amiss and lost in the course of translation, it is only a question of viewing a cup as half full or half empty.

More Complications than Color in this Garden


Book Review

"I once read some where that the single minded pursuit of one course over a lifetime can only be justified if one engages in two enterprises - building a garden, or raising a child". Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar's My Father's Garden ends with the lines above, leaving a feeling of warmth and love for nature, a sense of sadness for the unfulfilled dreams and unspoken thoughts of its characters; something beyond comprehension - if the book worked in parts or as a whole.

It is a coming of age tale of a young Santhal man, studying in Jamshedpur medical college described in first person narrative, divided into three parts - short novellas knitted together to make up a memoir. A huge positive - lucid description of Jharkhand's  towns and villages, the festivals, food and customs, life of  Santhals, the demand of Adivasis for a separate homeland and the ensuing political movement enriches the reading experience only after half of the book is over.

The first part 'Lover' details the narrator discovering his sexuality, the freedom to ponder about love at college away from home and his affairs with three men, one serious enough to thoroughly devastate him. The details are extremely graphic and often leave a sense of revulsion.

The narrator is posted at Sadar hospital, Pakur, Jharkhand, a highly minimal government hospital in the second part 'Friend' where he allows a daily routine to swallow his life in entirety. He befriends a certain Bada Babu only to realise that there is more to this cherubic, good-willed man. Serious life-like things: government bureaucrats, red tapism, votebank politics and constant exploitation the poor face allow the narrator to mature and grow.

The last part 'Father' details out the narrator's family - his grandfather, his father, their undying passion to achieve tough goals for a better life. A 'big slice of life' in rural Jharkhand is painted in beautiful colors. The narrator's inner turmoil, his failure to become a perfect son his father wishes for indicate how the weight of expectations squeezes and pushes one in ways possible to fit into a void in the family's jigsaw puzzle.

The book is an amalgam of many emotions and as is with human emotions, they are never uncomplicated, so is the read that leaves a sense of void even when pages turn no more.

A Miscellany of Short Stories from Perumal Murugan



Perumal Murugan's The Goat Thief, a set of ten short stories handpicked by the author from his works, provides a reader quite an experience, a different one from his novels.

The opening story - The Well is a perfect example of remarkable story telling and my favorite. An inanimate object - a well, so commonplace in villages described initially as an embodiment of compassion offering relief with its cold waters turns slowly into a trove of hidden secrets and dark mysteries ready to cast it's spell on the swimmer. The well turns into a death den seeking a votive sacrifice towards the end of the story leaving a sense of dread in the reader.

While Murugan's novels definitely reveal his uncanny ability to portray human emotions with a rustic simplicity, his short stories reveal another side of him - his ability to instill a sense of fear in the reader and leave an uneasy calm. This quality reflects well in his stories - Musical Chairs, The night the owls stopped crying, The Goat Thief, Shit, The Man who could not sleep; each shining radiantly with a fresh perspective.

An Unexpected Visitor, Mirror of Innocence, Sanctuary, The Man who could not sleep are stories where the author highlights few areas where man's happiness exactly lies, quite diverse. He makes astute observations of the society and jots them down unabashedly. For instance, Shit is a story where the author stresses on how in name of civilized living, man does not take accountability for most of his actions and constantly depends on other fellow beings to often clear his mess.

It is rare to find a collection where all stories impress a reader alike - The Wailing of a Toilet bowl and Sanctuary fell flat for me.

The translation is good but we know none can really replicate the power of adages, choicest abuses hurled at a thief, taunts and jibes at ripe, old woman waiting for death from the original language to English.
Recommend this book to the reader as  many unknown dimensions of the author's story telling prowess come forth through this short volume.

Folklore from the Mighty Mountains


Book Review - Curious Tales from the Himalayas by Shaguna Gahilote and Prarthana Gahilote 

What is it that draws a reader to folk tales - they impart common sense and a general wisdom without being preachy, they are often told at nap time as we lie in the warmth of our mum's lap or wrapped in a thick blanket? Folk tales, quite steadily and remarkably impart a knowledge of people's way of life in a region, their culture, festivals and traditions; all this being so diverse in a nation like India, we definitely have more reasons than we can count on why we should read and soak up such charming tales.

Why do people of Kumaon garland their kids and offer sweets to the crows in the region on Makara sankranti day? What is the tale behind Ghode Jatra held in Tundikhel, Kathmandu? Who was Gurumapa, the ogre and why people leave a feast on the open grounds of Tundikhel? How did the river Teesta get its name? Why do newly married couples in Sikkim walk to the confluence of Rongnyu and Rongeet rivers to seek blessings? Do the skylarks singing a peculiar tune along the river Brahmaputra in Assam villages have a story to tell?

We get to know the answers for all these questions and witness much more - monkeys with abundant love for sweet potatoes, meditating frog monk, magical herb called Kala paaja and a Rumplestiltskin style folktale from Bhutan in this slim and beautiful book.

Giving room for some additional thought - how important in forming an opinion is a foreword, an introduction or an author's note in the book you read?

The Gahilote sisters, authors of this book,  very beautifully describe the relevance of folktales. Often bundled with a share of ups and downs, magic and realism,  these tales impart valuable lessons without being preachy;  the witches, evil spirits and demons in them only being manifestations of man's negative emotions.

They assert the importance of story telling, how stories need to be rendered as is, free of labels so that children have a free run of imagination and manage their own interpretations sans a compulsive intent of finding a moral towards the end.

When they say stories are constantly being lost to technology and cool gadgets, stories have a shelf life far longer than fads and trends, we vehemently agree.The author's introductory note ends with these beautiful lines -
"Stories last for generations, reviving  themselves around campfires, spitting up flames, hibernating during winter and blooming again with the spring's sun, spreading like the fragrance of the rhododendrons in the Himalayas for anyone who wishes to drink them in and share!"

An author's note speaks a great deal of the message he/she wishes to convey through a written work, which more than a culmination of efforts is actually a beginning of a long journey for the author, a journey where they willingly carry every reader along.

Few books in which I loved the author's note are listed below -

1. The deal of a lifetime - Fredrik Backman , the prologue made me buy it.
2. Remnants of a separation by Aanchal Malhotra
3. Poonachi - Perumal Murugan, when he says why he chose to write on animals, why goats, you know this man will never mince words, everything is raw and upfront.
4. Liberation of Sita  by Volga - author's note speaks of her pragmatic ideas to impart a strong message and fill voids in the epic.

Getting back to the review, this book is a short read that leaves really big smiles on your face and a child like happiness and satisfaction.
Recommend it wholeheartedly for those who hail from Himalayan hill towns, to those who want to soak up the beauty of these enchanting places but never visited them, to those who visited these places and want to relive few moments of that magic, to those who love happy and light reads and love to read tales aloud to their little ones - their own kids, nephews, nieces and all tiny tots.

Friday, May 31, 2019

A Good 'Olio'


Book Review

"The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear" - Mahatma Gandhi.

And with these lines, begins this book - In a Violent Land, a compilation of essays and stories written on violence that plagues every strata of Indian society. It begins with an excerpt from - The Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh. Reading it kindled strong, clear images of Mano Majra village during the summer of 1947 and memories of reading the book years back. It was good to revisit Anna Bhau Sathe's Gold from the Grave and Vijaydan Detha's Countless Hitlers, stories I read from an anthology on Indian writing - A Clutch of Indian Masterpieces.

Udayan Ghosh's Swapan is dead, long live Swapan, translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha churns you in trepidation. Shahnaz Bashir's The Gravestone shines in terse prose with irony.

Sanjoy Hazarika 's A Troubled Peace in Mizoram unravels highly important information about people's movement, governance issues in North East since Indian Independence. I have marked his other books for a read.

The winning piece for me in this collection is Mahasweta Devi's Seed. None can describe the problems faced by landless laborers, lower castes and untouchables in a hard hitting manner like her. And, love her for always making her female characters, even if brief an appearance,  unabashedly bold and gritty.
Region, religion, gender, caste, ethnicity, language and many factors, some that make our nation so diverse and beautiful have spawn seeds of violence that mar its growth.

Mistakes do happen, but they should not be repeated. Therefore, it would only be ideal that the first instance of violence, inside home or out on streets, also turned out to be the last one.

Alas, we are in times where multiple instances of violence are committed everyday, justified
through a retrogressive mindset - Is it happening for the first time, then why this over reaction? Back then it happened; none could stop, so why and how can one stop now? This callous indifference has pulled the land down along fault lines, into an abyss far away from the ideal.
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Verdict : Love Indian writing and translated literature; then definitely, a good pick.

A Family , Few secrets and a Murky tale



Book Review

Can someone be so racked by guilt that one renounces living altogether?

A five page letter with a postscript by an estranged mother to her dear son with clear instructions that it be read by him when alone and only after her death rocks the very foundation of an entire family.

Udayan Mukherjee's debut novel has a plot that is crisp, prose highly mature and compact, lines - not melodramatic but strongly melancholic that dissect emotions flawlessly. We travel the entire landscape of memories of Ronojoy and Sujoy - two brothers, their memories of their parents - Mala and Subir, Apu kaka, their Dida, their house in Delhi, a summer home in the hills in Mukteshwar; we join the dots as the story progresses between their life events that initially seem are in disarray.

A past caked with anguish, guilt, betrayal, remorse and longing for love punctures a vulnerable present leaving only uncertainty for future - a heavy read,  I still strongly recommend for reasons below -

1. The author unfailingly explains how falliable we humans are, how hugely important it is to forgive an erring act by a loved one. Forgiving does more good to oneself than one who errs.

2. It needed so little to make children happy just as it needed little to scar them for life. This statement by the author with ample backing drives home the point that childhood conditioning leaves an indelible mark for life.

3. The author explains how there is no one reality, no one reaction to the same set of events, some are hurtled towards an emotional abyss while they exhibit an outer calm, bottling up emotions while others openly vent the turmoil. Judging anyone was just futility.

The book has an open ending befitting the fact that many things that happen in one's life cannot/do not attain a closure.

Udayan Mukherjee's Dark Circles stresses on how important it is to broker peace with one's past to handle the present, and also forge the present constantly to brace for the future.

A Gynocentric Take on Ramayana


Book Review

"In Ayodhya, everyone swore by Rama's protection. Who knew that Sita was Sri Rama's protective charm?" 

The Liberation of Sita by Volga translated from Telugu by C Vijayasree and T Vijaya Kumar re tells old tales from Ramayana from a gynocentric perspective; the many battles within Sita, her inner turmoil when she is subjected to many tests and trials; the initial mayhem, anger and despair leading to an unending quest for answers, gradually giving way to an inner peace, a strong resolve to never give up one's sense of identity or bow down to external authority.

The answers that help Sita liberate herself from all familial ties and become one with her mother are not obtained alone but with support from other lesser known women in Ramayana - Urmila, Renuka, Ahalya and Shurpanaka. Women strengthening women, forming a supportive backbone in times of need makes this slender book a marvel, in my opinion.

Sita's interactions with the women in four stories - The Reunion, Music of the Earth (my favorite), The Sand Pot, The Liberated are all imagined extrapolations with a definitive purpose - Sita's liberation and her return to the Mother Earth, the actual conclusion in the epic as well, thereby making the stories extremely believable, conversations in them real and relatable.

The last story - The Shackled deals with how an exalted nobleness turns a handicap for Rama. The daunting task of preserving and protecting Arya Dharma corners him to loneliness and misery, an existence bereft of Sita whom he loves dearly. The author scores full points here cause while she exhibits Sita's perseverance in face of constant strife with fine lucidity, she reflects no acridity towards Rama for the decisions he takes. 
Rama's laments that with enormous political power, he has lost power on himself and is chained to his royal duties reflect clearly that 'feminism' in true sense is not extolling females and putting down males but seeing them as equals in a society that encompasses them.

Very strongly recommend this lovely, meaningful read!



A Peek into India we don't know




Book Review

Nidhi Dugar Kundalia's book The Lost Generation details out eleven dying professions in India, each chapter feels like an episode from OMG! Yeh Mera India show on History channel, revelatory and immensely interesting.

The author travels from narrow bylanes, labyrinthine alleys in bustling cities and towns to remote jungles in Jharkhand, a nowhere place in Thar desert, a village by the river Hooghly to record details of a few professions which if not for her efforts, we would not know with this clarity. "Do what you like" they say, when choosing a career, then there is inexhaustible passion and unconditional love for one's job which is evident in chapters on the Kabootarbaaz of old Delhi, the street dentists of Baroda, the Urdu scribes of Delhi, the boat makers of Balagarh, the story tellers of Andhra and the Ittar walahs of Hyderabad.

However, for many, having to like what they do is simply the way out because their job defines their identity, gives them a place in society; they feel they were born for it inheriting a set of chromosomes fused with essential skills, their job is all they knew/know of, like the Bhisti wallahs of Calcutta, the Godna artists of Jharkhand, the rudaalis of Rajasthan.

Change is the only constant; modern technology has made people dance to a myriad new tunes it plays every day, professions with a stronghold in history find no significance and eventually vanish. That last practitioners of these jobs want a better future for their offspring manouever the inevitable change themselves.

From this book, the practice of Urdu calligraphy, Jangam Katha art of Andhra and Letter writers in Mumbai are some professions I sincerely pray survive the erosion posed by changing times and mindset.

If there is a profession I wish ceased that to exist, it is of Dagori Rudaalis. To deprive women of a family, the happiness and security they get out of it only to ensure their hearts are always full of sorrow, so they readily lament the death of higher and richer classes for few old rotis with onion in exchange, 'deplorable' is an understatement for this.

Overall an insightful and informative read, highly recommend!

PS: In the pic, alongside The Lost Generation is my kid's book. In a chapter on The street dentists of Baroda, there is an impressive paragraph that connects good teeth with great smiles and these two with decent jobs with a handsome pay. That paragraph just remained with me and the click happened.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Untold Tales from an Epic


Book Review
After Kurukshetra by Mahasweta Devi, translated from Bengali to English by Anjum Katyal is a collection of three stories that draws information from the longest epic in the world - the Mahabharata, sets the war of Kurukshetra - hailed as Dharmayuddh as the central leitmotif. Then combining fragments of imagination, exploring the unsaid, Mahasweta Devi creates three tales that focus complete attention on women in the epic- Kunti, Gandhari, Uttara, Subhadra and Souvali.

A keen socio-political commentator that the author is, an activist of rights of the tribals, landless labourers and the marginalised sections of the society, it is obvious that each story highlights the differences in ways of life of the rajavritta (of royal folk) and janavritta (of common man). The simple lives of janavritta allow tenderness, care, compassion, love, anger, all natural emotions, a lot of free will for every being. The lives of those in rajavritta though rigorous, austere with strict control over emotions essentially abound in lust, greed, arrogance and hatred, such acerbity among brothers and ravenous hunger for power and ultimate authority that wipes every trace of humanity.

Panchakanya - The Five Women from a farmers community who lose their husbands in the war show Uttara, the young, widowed princess how and why life must go on.

Kunti and the Nishadin is a marvelous piece of writing which reveals how narcissism can blind one thoroughly and literally.

Souvali, the last tale in the collection, speaks of the mother of Yuyutsu, the Kaurava who was never accepted by his 100 brothers, her plain principles in life hold our attention.

I loved all the three tales, the simple and thought provoking writing makes the reader tread upon lesser known paths of the kingdom of Hastinapur. Definitely, recommend this book for a read.


Also, I found something relevant to this from another book I possess - The Blue Lotus - Myths and Folktales of India by Meena Arora Nayak.

I bought The Blue Lotus end of year 2018. And it is the excerpt shared below that I read from the book at a bookstore that made me buy it immediately.The book by Aleph Book Company is divided into three parts, and this excerpt below appears in part two.

How Kurukshetra became a battlefield?
When Pandavas and Kauravas could not resolve the issue of Hastinapur's legitimate kingship through negotiations, war became imminent. When the allied forces of both sides were counted , they amounted to at least eighteen akshauhinis - each akshauhini unit consisting of 21870 chariots, 21870 elephants, 65610 horses and an infantry of 109350 soldiers. Now a battlefield had to be found that was large enough to accommodate such massive armies. Dhritarashtra, the Kuru king of Hastinapur , then sent out his envoys in all directions, petitioning various kings to lend a suitable tract of land in their region. But none were willing to lend for the Kuru war because they could foresee the massacre.


When returning emptyhanded to Hastinapur, the envoys were crossing a large area of farmland in Kurukshetra, they saw a farmer tilling his field. As he irrigated it, a levee broke and despite all his efforts, he could not stop water from flooding the field. The farmer grabbed his young son, playing close by, cut off his head with his sickle and repaired the breach using his son's dead body. When the envoys witnessed this incident , they knew this was the perfect battlefield, because it's soil was able to bear the burden of blood turning against blood. This is a folk myth from Haryana.

A Beautiful Mosaic of Short Stories


BOOK REVIEW

The Thing Around your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a collection of a dozen short stories, each one a complete 'slice of life'. This is the first Adichie book I am reading, I prefer picking up a short stories collection when I am reading an author for the first time; and Adichie has convinced me to pick all her books with this one.

The writing is lucid, prose crisp and characters neatly etched in all twelve stories, my top favorites  being - The Headstrong Historian, The American Embassy, Tomorrow is too Far, Jumping Monkey Hill, The Thing Around your Neck, Ghosts, A Private Experience, The Arrangers of Marriage.
Adichie's writing broadly speaks of Nigerians, their lives in their strife torn land riddled with corruption and all societal ills and Nigerian immigrants in America, struggling to get to the mainstream.

Prima facie, one's head might process this book like Jhumpa Lahiri's The Interpreter of Maladies which talks of Indians, more precisely Bengalis, both in homeland and in a land away from it.

But as stories unfurl, we realise that Adichie's writing reveals essential, distinguishing socio-political information of Nigeria in the backdrop, about cult culture in the story Cell One, of ethnic and religious clashes between Igbo Christians and Hausa Muslims in A Private Experience, the Biafran war in Ghosts, about pro democracy war and general Abacha's regime in the American Embassy, about a fateful day when an airplane crash coincides with Nigeria's first lady's death in the Shivering. Also, Jumping Monkey Hill briefs about eminent writers in African writers circle. There is a decent plethora of information on culture, local beliefs, cuisine, what traditional names imply apart from mere detailing of subtle human emotions;  and this earns the book a BIG thumbs up.

For me, this book was a fulfilling read.As stated on the cover - Adichie makes story telling seem as easy as bird song, attractive tunes come from its pages, some melancholic, some little cheerful, all nevertheless with an upright dose of hope and optimism.

The Mini Joy of Reading - Review of Penguin Modern Minis -3


Book Review
Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.

Verdict : Buy, Read, Retain for Re read.

This penguin mini is a must read and a must have. The book about 50 pages long has in its first part a letter dated April 16, 1963, written by King jr. from an Alabama jail as a response to eight white Alabama clergymen who denounced the civil disobedience movement against racial discrimination and segregation terming it untimely, unwise and observed that the issue ought be taken up in courtroom and not on streets.

A little after beginning the letter, Martin Luther King Jr. claims injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. He goes  onto explain the four essential steps of a non violent campaign, how creation of a constructive non violent tension is essential to ensure the community takes note of an issue that for long has been sidelined. He states justice too long delayed is justice denied, also that one has legal and moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws, just like it has to obey just laws. He ends the letter with the hope that he stands one day with the white clergymen not as a civil rights leader but as a Christian brother in an atmosphere where there is peace and brotherhood.

If I were to write down powerful lines from this letter, I am afraid I might have to reproduce almost all of it here.

The second part of the book is King Jr. 's sermon titled The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life , first delivered at the new covenant Baptist Church in Chicago in 1967. This sermon details what makes up the length , breadth and height dimensions of one's life and is astoundingly relevant even in current times, may be starkly essential now.

Please buy, read and retain this little treasure. Buy, Read, Retain for a Re read, am being assertive about this without doubt.

The Mini Joy of Reading - Review of Penguin Modern Minis- 2


Book Review
An advertisement for toothpaste by Ryszard Kapuscinski

After hunting for an advertisement of toothpaste in a couple of newspapers (sadly, the newspapers only have property ads nowadays), I settled to click a pic of my book with a page from my kid's book - Mr.Fussy from the Mr.Men series that we read together yesterday night.

Another penguin mini done; four stories set in Poland, all in about 53 pages; each one, pretty decent. My favorite was 'The Taking of Elzbieta' for it covered quite a gamut of emotions and had lyrical prose. 'The Stiff' where a young miner's dead body is ferried to his hometown with six men keeping guard had some good lines which I am sharing here - "A man when he is finished, doesn't want to drop out of sight. It's people who hide him from their sight. To be left in peace, they hide him. He won't go on his own". Quick take on the book:- Passable collection of four stories, meant for a quick read.


PS: The Penguin Modern Minis are a great way of reading many authors (well known, lesser known or rather unknown), each book roughly 50 pages give a quick insight into the author's style of writing. 

The Mini Joy of Reading - Review of Penguin Modern Minis -1


Book Review

The Breakthrough by Daphne Du Maurier is a chilling, riveting account of a scientist's attempts to discover what happens after death, to harness the life-force (or Force Six as it is termed in the book) that leaves body/matter as death brings an end to it, and the consequences of the experiments.

Published in 1966, this book is way ahead of its time. The author has this book perfectly paced, unveils essential details just at the right time; in just 57 pages, she leaves you spell bound and at the edge of your seat all the time.

As Saunders leaves a happy position in his company Associated Electronics LTD only temporarily to join James MacLean's project at Saxmere, he does it as a  personal favor for his boss with utmost reluctance. The computers capable of voice, the electronic circuits in his new lab hold him captive despite his initial urge to return home, thus allowing him time to know his project mates better - Robbie, a doctor;  the jolly guy Ken, and the care taker Janus and his daughter Niki. Saunders slowly develops a liking for them and begins to share the same vision as them towards work.

High frequency waves, machines that hypnotise, rhythms recorded as life leaves an ailing man take you on a terrifying journey through the last few pages in the book. I cannot divulge more on what happens in the labs at Saxmere, what happens to Maclean, whether he, Saunders and Robbie manage to tap the life force after death, what their observations are.That is truly meant to be read and discovered.

There is no one who can hold a reader's attention the way Daphne du Maurier does. She is an unparalleled master in the craft of story telling. If I were allowed to travel back in time, I would take this book, meet her and get it signed by her. Get all the stars from the sky to rate this book, haunting it is!

Saturday, February 2, 2019

A Little Book Full of Heart

Book Review


The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery is a big chunk of heart in disguise. I finished my reading for the year 2018 with this little magical book.

The author meets a little boy in the Sahara where his plane crashes to a halt; the little boy/little prince laughs beautifully, is charming and is adept at asking questions, also in getting answers to them.
When he asks the author (who is an expert at geography but pathetic at drawing skills, thanks to his initial drawings as a 6 years old which failed to garner the right response from grown ups) tinkering with the engine of his plane to draw him a sheep, there begins tiny conversations between them;  all enchanting, slowly revealing finer details of our adorable little prince, the planet he is from, how he landed on the Earth, all that he saw and understood on the way.

I am stumped at how this book, broadly meant for kids or young readers holds great lessons/presents important revelations for us elders.

The bond between the author and the little prince blossoms with every page. There is love, loneliness, longing, hope and  nostalgia all packed in mini doses. The book tugs at your heart, makes it grow fonder, soothes it and awakens it to valuable realizations. I am actually bereft of words in writing a review for this little gem, this is meant to be read and savored thoroughly. 

"And now here is a secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye." , am closing my post with these beautiful lines from the book. 

A Melancholic Portrait

Book Review

Written in Tears written by Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated from Assamese by Ranjita Biswas. 




Eight stories like eight vivid pictures, all knotted together by invisible threads of loss, grief, pain, anger, desperation, pictures of common man entangled in a constant strife with an eternal longing for peace. The author, a Sahitya Akademi winner for the year 2014, retains a highly melancholic and wistful mood all through the book.

Arunima's motherland and the Half burnt bus at midnight are excellent stories and my favorites from this collection.

Not all fingers in a hand are the same, and the same holds for members in a family; one goes astray and becomes a militant and pushes his entire family into a deep vortex of complete devastation. Arunima, Abinash, Rupam, Baby - the characters in Arunima's motherland pull you into understanding the plight of errors they never committed themselves.

The half burnt bus at midnight is a metaphor for all things evil - hatred for immigrants, internecine killings, violence, bloodshed, misplaced ideals that wreak complete havoc, so what happens when one such bus arrives into an otherwise peaceful village?

The Cursed Fields of Golden Rice has lot of local folklore, local beliefs, Bodo hymns, a simple story woven around how some when displaced from their homeland can never actually fit anywhere else.

Face in the mirror just didn't work for me. The last four tales - Kunu's mother, The Girl with long hair, Surabhi Barua and the Rhythm of hooves, Ayengla of the blue hills have very powerful female protagonists who question and fight injustice in their own ways despite knowing they are most vulnerable. Their longing for freedom and peace hurts you so much that you wonder how different lives become by just being born into a certain home/family in a certain region, a thing on which we absolutely have no control.


The post script states how Arupa always remained a keen and sensitive observer of the ills that plague her beautiful land, for it is her up close encounters with problems that leave an emotional hangover in us after we finish the book. Pick this up for a read to step into shoes of those for whom ordinary existence seems extraordinarily difficult.

All that a Prayer Holds



A certain section of the book Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, (from pages 199 to 202) holds a strong place in my head, even weeks after finishing the book. The lines in these pages keep coming back to me, they speak about why one of the protagonists Saeed feels praying is so important, why he prays so often and so much; how it all started from his childhood days. The passages are beautiful and believable.

Yes, the book has many negative reviews to its credit, thanks to few irrelevant sections early on in it that test a readers' patience. But if one were to see a book like a real living being, with a fair share of imperfections, Exit West would definitely pass with flying colors.

Saeed prayed as a child out of curiosity, seeing his parents pray. Entering his teens, he joined communal prayer for the first time with his dad, with entry into University he prayed more because his parents got old and prayed more often, he valued the discipline of praying, it was a code, a promise he had made and that he stood by. And when he lost his parents, he prayed even more, as a gesture of love for what had gone and could be loved in no other way. When he prayed he touched his parents ..  beautiful lines and thoughts, right? Prayer as a lament, as a consolation, as hope; prayer in search of an invisible support system.

The importance I attach to praying also has increased over time, from being a pillar of support to being an answer to questions that seemingly have no answers at a certain point of time and certainly a way of feeling close to my maternal grandmother whom I love immensely, she passed away while I was in college.

Usually, I write a brief review of books I read and get done with it. But the interpretation of praying brought forward in this book touched me immensely that it deserved an entire post.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

The Doorways to Life



Book Review - Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

"That is the way of things, for when we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind." For the first sixty pages, one really doubts what's so special about this book that it features on Booker and DSC prizes shortlist. Anyone carrying a baggage of mixed reviews in head this book garnered, can easily put it aside. When you persist through the fourth chapter, there on the mastery and skill of the writer unfolds in distinct layers.

Fleeing war and persecution, leaving ones' homeland in hope of a better future in a distant, unfamiliar land where one's clearly unwelcome can be depicted with heart wrenching emotions or gut wrenching details of violence and gory bloodshed. But the picture of human displacement, its effects on interpersonal relationships and largely life itself, be dealt with as in this book is nothing ordinary. And that is where Exit West stands to earn all appreciation.

For a young couple - Nadia and Saeed, love begins to blossom in a city not yet openly at war, but situation worsens over time. Death of a loved one gets them closer, makes them take few very difficult decisions; death of another slowly grates their beings, changes them in ways that they fall apart. The change is slow, subtle and largely inevitable;  highly realistic too as the author chooses the right words to express it all, no empty theatrics or dramatic overtures in name of emotions.

It is through the couple's lenses that we see the world in violently changing times,  times of migrants versus natives, underprivileged vs affluent, man pitted against man, those guarding the doors to escape vs those passing through the same doors. The doors that appear quite routinely in the book are only metaphors for a journey embarked upon, a transient phase in life or gateways that one moves through during difficult times, swerving around blind and dangerous corners.

We believe we all are connected, across countries of the globe only to realize how fiercely we fight marking our territories, how this heart which loves to wander also yearns to stay rooted to where it beat first. Quirky, even weird at places, kindling imagination and introspection alike, Exit West is a good read and Mohsin Hamid is an author I look up to with admiration.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

This Book Teaches a Good Deal


Book Review: The Deal of a Lifetime - Fredrik Backman

Only Fredrik Backman has this impeccable quality of writing books that affect you in many ways, that touch your heart, overwhelm you, make you smile and teary eyed within a span of few pages.

Backman calls the preface to this book - A few words before the rest of the words, and I must say these few words are truly golden.These words made me buy the book with a sense of urgency.

Few of my favorite excerpts from the book are here -
"May be all people have that feeling deep down , that your home town is something you can never really escape, but can never really go home to, either. Because it's not home anymore. We are not trying to make peace with it. Not with the streets and bricks of it. Just with the person we were back then, and may be forgive ourselves for everything we thought we would become and didn't ".

"Every parent will take five minutes in the car outside the house from time to time, just sitting there, breathing and gathering the strength to head back inside to all of their responsibilities. The suffocating expectation of being good, coping." 


The deal of a lifetime is a difficult book to review because this short novella, just 65 pages, stumps you with simple and straightforward questions that are extremely difficult to answer.

In the preface, when the author states - 'this is a short story about what you would be prepared to sacrifice in order to save a life', you only get a minuscule of what is in store. Also he says, may be you will find this to be a strange story. Little true, for what triggers the sacrifice of ones' past, all of future, all footprints left until a defining moment; what causes that single act of complete abnegation is not easy to comprehend, it requires a lot of attention while reading, and leads to serious contemplation after the book is over.

Characters are very few - a 45+ yr old man, his young son, his wife, a 5 yr old girl who is fighting cancer, her mother and a woman in grey sweater and the town of Helsingborg in Sweden. Yes, the protagonist's hometown is quite a character for he fails to make peace with his home town, believes it knows all of his secrets and never forgives him.

For our rich and famous protagonist, who deserted his family in search of success and milestones to achieve, happiness is a thing for children and animals, 'good enough' is a term to hate. It takes him really long to understand the difference between contentment and complacency, the contrast between these two terms is beautifully projected through the father - son relationship.

"You humans always think you are ready to give your lives, but only until you understand what that really involves. You are obsessed with your legacy, aren't you ? You can't bear to die and be forgotten." These lines hit you directly.  It is Christmas Eve in the book and no better time for an act of redemption, but what is that act of redemption? Read this little masterpiece to get the answer.

Do you remember the tuning fork experiments we did in middle school? Backman strikes a tuning fork and it just matches the natural frequency within us and the loudest sounds of reality we face come out plain and unrestricted. Quite a deal packed in this book.


Saturday, January 26, 2019

The Pleasure of Reading and Gifting good reads





This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift, like so many gifts, was a book - and the book was given to me by a man called .... And that is how this mini booklet full of beautiful lines, facts and emotions begins. The Gifts of Reading by Robert Macfarlane is a work that one cannot review, it is meant to be understood, enjoyed and treasured.

Love for books, love for reading, love for poetry, love for walking, love and gratitude for all that nature abounds with is aplenty in this book.

Books as gifts, both when given and received, transform life (some books, not all clarifies the author), this is the subject in discussion in this essay that lasts about 35 pages. I took my own sweet time to finish this as I am exceptionally slow with non fiction.

Robert Macfarlane talks about how a paper back copy of A Time of Gifts written by Patrick Leigh Fermor gifted to him by a dear friend transformed his life. He also discusses excerpts from Lewis Hyde's classic The Gift - detailing differences between a commodity and a gift, quoting that a gift, when it comes speaks commandingly to the soul and irresistibly moves us.

While we all have a 'to be read' pile, the author asserts the requirement of having a 'to gift' pile, a set of personal favorite books that you would like others to read and would gift them with.

This booklet is WOW from start to end and I should say that apart from Fredrik Backman, I have discovered another favorite author recently - Robert Macfarlane it is. His writing feels like a fluff of cotton, a quill afloat in air, everything one can associate with poise and simple beauty. 

A Breezy Bunch of Tales

Book Review
Laburnum for my head - Stories by Temsula Ao

A small beautiful book, just over hundred pages, this comprises of eight simple tales, each one with a rustic charm. Temsula Ao, a Padma Shree awardee juggles between many subjects in this book, through stories set mostly in Nagaland.

The titular story features an Indian laburnum bush in full, yellow bloom in the month of May at the southernmost corner of an old cemetery. The story trace its origin to a lady's single most cherished desire to see these yellow flowers blossom before she dies. These feminine and humble flowers that hang their heads earth wards dictate all her actions till her wish is fulfilled. 

How different is it when a hunter decides the prey, when and where to hit it, to meet the meat quotient of a meal from a scenario where an official body assigns him the animal in question, with the choicest weapons and a timeline for the task? What happens when a sense of guilt overrides pride of victory, skills and bravery,  all this is dealt with in the story - death of a hunter.

The boy who sold an airfield , the next story, has a drizzle of wit and humor detailing how a young lad manages to sell an almost non functional airfield at Jorhat, Assam to naive, nearby villagers.

The plight of villagers caught between government officials, army officers on  one hand  and underground extortionists on the other is depicted in a poignant tale with an ironic twist in the story - the letter.

Three women, is written in a different format; Martha, Medemla and Lipoktula, their secrets, their eternal bond despite wounds from past is narrated well in this simple tale.

A simple question - "What do you want from us?" that a lady asks a police officer speaks volumes of the collective plight of her clan caught in daily crisis, between tax demanding underground rebels and ever doubting police officials who put her village's men behind bars on false charges of shielding anti nationals.

Sonny - is a tale of love, a reluctant but inevitable breakup between two youngsters, their aspirations and ambitions so clearly divergent. Years pass by but an invisible pull of trust brings them together with a pall of gloom descending in the background.

The Flight describes metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly , albeit, in a different setting. 

None of the tales in this bunch are breathtakingly extraordinary, none so drab. This book is a good, breezy read that one can use as a filler or to get over a reading lull.