March 2020 Reads (Part 2)

1. Book Review - I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel 

"For everyone who's ever finished a book under the covers with a flashlight when they were supposed to be sleeping" - a book with such a dedication can only be a charmer from start to end.

I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel is a very aesthetically crafted book that discusses the delights and dilemmas in a reader's life with bookish examples that make you smile, grin and nod your head in approval.

The author begins with asking us to confess our literary sins, accept the divide between what we think our reading life should be like and what it really is, this sounds hilarious.

There are totally heartwarming sections on how the right book finds you at just the right moment, how few pages with words have the power to instill an entire gamut of emotions, books that bind us in a spell, books we keep close to our heart in inner circles and those that give a preview of life experiences.

Libraries and bookstores are chief characters in this book, many books referenced to serve as examples quite easily make up a 'Good Reads' information portal.

The coming of age tale of a reader, the need to re-read a book to know the divide between what you were when you read a book earlier and what you are now, the need to read the acknowledgements and author's notes in books - pages ooze with love for reading which the author states though mostly viewed as a solitary act is very much a social activity for there is an urgency to discuss books with other reader friends.

A chapter on Book Bossy is the most hilarious section where the author details how 'should' be never used when suggesting a read. Unsolicited book recommendations are like unwarranted advice on one's private affairs. This she says is because reading is a very personal experience. A simple question like 'Suggest me a Great Book' requires not just knowledge of books but knowing the poser of the question really well.

A beautiful love letter to reading, this book is pleasant and wholesome much like the process of reading itself.

2. Book Review - White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht

White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht is a tale of an impossibly ideal sibling love, of 2 sisters torn apart by war - of Hana who makes a colossal sacrifice to keep up a promise and of Emi whose life bequeathed to her by Hana is only a burden without her.

Hana leads a simple life with her parents and sister Emi (younger by 7 yrs) on the island of Jeju, colonised by 

Japanese forces since 1910. Hana and her mother are haeneyo women, fiercely independent,  

strong sea divers who earn their living by catching & selling abalone and sea weed.

Life turns tumultuous for Hana one summer afternoon in 1943 when she surrenders herself to a Japanese soldier, 

Corporal Morimoto in an attempt to save her sister from his prying eyes. 

Pushed into sexual slavery by him, Hana leads an infernal life in a brothel in Manchuria as a 'comfort' woman 

servicing never ending lines of soldiers who rape her brutally, strip her of her life & dignity. 

A vague possibility of re uniting with her family some day and watching her sister become 

a haeneyo lets her endure her stay in the hellhole.

Will Hana's glimmer of hope thrive the endless ordeals that crush it down to the wick? 

Will the sisters ever reunite?

We get the answers as we alternate between Hana's accounts in 1943 and Emi's accounts in 2011. 

Emi has survived two wars, seen her family and home perish, borne two children out of a loveless marriage 

who now as grown ups lead a comfortable life in Seoul. She attends few Wednesday 

demonstrations where Koreans gather outside Japanese embassy 

demanding an apology for war atrocities hoping to meet Hana there.

The prose is highly mature and the author is wise alternating narratives between the sisters. 

In Hana's accounts, we feel trapped in the darkest depths of sea, an unbroken expanse of water weighing upon us, 

squeezing our lungs and choking us and in Emi's accounts comes the reprieve, we resurface to catch a breath. 

The author's note, notable dates in history and list of reference reads provided at the end indicate 

that the work of fiction is firmly grounded in facts.

Though grim and harrowing in parts, the book ends with humanity making a delicate win, an element that illuminates 

this earth despite all the murk. 

A heartbreaking, important work of historical fiction that clearly reveals war affects women like no other.

March 2020 Reads (Part 1)

Books read during the month of March 2020 shared below - 

1. Small Days and Nights by Tishani Doshi 

Grace Marisola arrives in Pondicherry from America to cremate her dead mother. Her mother has bequeathed her a huge land in Paramankeni, a big house on it very close to the sea, with a sprawling garden and an elder sister, Lucia with Downs syndrome, her existence unknown till then, all this even as Grace is grappling with her decade long unsuccessful marriage with Blake, her job and social life in America.

Born to an Italian father, Giacinto Marisola and an Indian mother, Meera, Grace finds her every childhood memory thwarted into a deception by the secrets her parents kept from her. She unravels the truth over time by interacting with her mom's friend Kavitha Raman, her mother's lawyer and Lucia's teacher at a centre for disabled children where Lucia has spent all her life, her father in Venice.

Grace is keen on bringing Lucia home; together the sisters stay with a few dogs, a litter of pups and Mallika, a caretaker woman. Valluvan, the village headman, their only acquaintance is a source of security with Grace feeling constant threat from every man's prying eyes.

When Kavitha auntie tells Grace that she wasn't expected by her mother to stay with Lucy, Grace only replies - it isn't difficult, it's just the repetitiveness. 

It is this mundaneness of routine, the mere predicability, inevitability of decay in a relationship over time, the ways one deploys to wriggle in and out of life that is dealt with in lush and evocative prose in Small Days and Nights by Tishani Doshi.

The author also lays bare how a dysfunctional family leaves cracks in children that can never be mended easily, the creaking noises their lives make cannot be drowned by all din in the world. The prose assumes the course of a meandering river, bright & free flowing in most places, prosaic and little stagnant like when stuck in whirls at times.

Torn between a parent who led a life of guilt, another who believed in complete renunciation, little like her mother, a little like her father, Grace settles over time into being just who she is, comfortable in her skin and with her soul.

Small Days and Nights with a ray of hope in its open end is a book that poignantly states no matter how much we try , many WHYs in life cannot be answered. Sharing a quote from the last chapter - "In the days to come there will be children engineered to resemble our ideas of children. They will be born in petri dishes and every chromosome, every strand of genetic evidence will be tampered into perfection. And still, we will fall short". This is the truth that man blatantly or half heartedly refuses to accept. 

There are books that quench our thirst as readers and then there are few books like this one that proceed a step further, prove the sheer beauty and power words have which will force us to pen down something beautiful on a piece of paper.

2. The Demon Hunter of Chottanikkara  by SV Sujatha 

Devi, a young girl but no ordinary mortal, and a lion Ugra, her mount, guard the village of Chottanikkara against evil spirits. The densely forested northern limits of the village, marubhoomi is home to demons with never ceasing blood lust like Jalapisacha (water demon that resides in old, decrepit wells), Kollivaipei (demons that breathed fire), Pretha (scavenger spirit that roamed the graveyards), Brahmrakshasa, Mohini Pisacha, Vetala. Devi could hunt them all down, reduce them to ashes or nail them to a neem tree (the metal iron was believed to maim these demons). .

.

But a crime scene like no other in a grove befuddles all. Leads from the scene, Devi's nightmares, a warning by a rakshasa she last slayed and lastly an eye witness's accounts ascertain the presence of a monstrous Yakshi who assumes a reptilian form with cerulean blue scales, sword like teeth; a flesh eating demon who cannot be thwarted by use of iron.

Parasurama who trained Devi in arts of combat provides answers to crucial questions, what is a yakshi & how can she be slayed? Rolling a set of cowrie shells, he prophesies this hunt will be the most daunting task for Devi that requires her to do the unprecedented.

Who is this Yakshi, why was she killing the men in her village? Will Devi succeed in killing this indomitable demon? 

The characters are few and well chalked out. The clean & fast paced narrative holds attention unto end though the end itself is clearly predictable.

SV Sujatha's story Gandaberunda (from anthology Magical Women) was a neatly crafted thriller and this book too pleasantly surprised me, have never devored a book so fast in recent times.

This book brought memories from my childhood visit to the Chottanikkara Bhagavathy temple, close to Kochi; many possessed by evil spirits were exorcised here. The trees with iron nails driven in, strands of human hair wound around them, the sight is clearly etched in my memory. Making a mention of guruthi puja and naming a character as Kannappan (Devi's foster father), the author has used practices and beliefs of/around the temple in weaving a decent supernatural thriller for the readers.

December 2019 Reads (Part 2)

Few more books read during the month of December 2019 are reviewed below - 

1. The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay 

"I am thirty years old and that is nothing", thus begins this book The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay, a trivial line that sets rolling a complex Bildungsroman of the protagonist, Shalini - spanning from her growing up years in Bangalore to her quest as a young adult in strife torn Kashmir following her mother's death. The search for Bashir Ahmed, her mother's friend, a Kashmiri salesman who with his enchanting stories and quick wit made an impact on the mother-daughter duo is accentuated with description of general political climate in Kashmir, the hardships of people there and Shalini's past with steady attention paid to her relation with her mother, father, with Bashir Ahmed, his son Riyaz and his family.

The prose is lush and supple. What transpired in a nondescript village in the mountains 6 yrs back is recounted by Shalini divided into 6 sections, each section ending with a revelation critical to the overall plot. None can capture the nuances of interpersonal relationships as Madhuri does, the attention to detail is impeccable. I loved how Zoya in Kishtwar bonded slowly and skeptically with Shalini just as much as the quickly struck comarederie between Shalini and Amina. 

Each character is shaped well in words. Shalini's mother with her razor sharp tongue, her unpredictable demeanor bowls you over most of the time; Shalini is no less either with her actions and decisions. The damage of being raised in a dysfunctional family is something that cannot be undone even in adulthood is the biggest take from this book.

Also, unique, relevant and important in equal measure is Madhuri's exploration of how a position of privilege due to one's socio economic status insulates one from real, on ground problems. While it is easier to be pragmatic when away from epicenter of a problem, one is torn inside out and on brink of insanity when deeply ingrained in the worst situations. The prose with all its tenderness leaves  a steady trickle of information while hiding some always and this quality in Madhuri's work stunned me.

The last 70 odd pages made me hit my head hard, Shalini did annoy me here thoroughly. But going back to the start, I understood that the author had prepared us for the destruction all along. Both Riyaz and Shalini suffer because of one of their parent's actions, they both are indecisive, vulnerable and full of inner turmoil. Riyaz invoked more sympathy cause I felt Shalini's was a quest where she constantly demanded answers even when her questions remained obscure. 

The book drew a strong mixed reaction in recent times like no other. If you cannot savor a story with a flawed, indecisive or cowardly protagonist do not go in for this book . But if you believe that flawed people with all their bundled up emotional insecurities and mistakes have a tale to tell and a confession to make, grab this book. am sure the brilliance of this stunning debut work will seep through.

2. Art Matters by Neil Gaiman 

Art Matters by Neil Gaiman has been a wonderful and immensely meaningful read. The choicest flamboyant words strung together cannot sum up its importance. It is a short book divided into 4 essays, my strong favorites being the first two - Credo and Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading and Day Dreaming.

Credo emphasises the need to think freely, the freedom to debate, explain and argue. The second essay explains the importance of reading and how essential it is to get our children rung by rung into literacy through reading. This essay is full of lovely lines - how libraries are safe havens, the obligation we have to preserve and nurture them, how he describes fiction as a lie that tells the truth and emphasises the need for sound imagination and vehement reading. 

The other two essays pack a great dose of motivation, not just to create art but towards life, handling many successes and failures and this he does convincingly by quoting his own life experiences. 

I know I will dip into this book time and again, savor its lines every now and then. I hope to get a physical copy soon to compliment Gaiman's lovely lines with brilliant illustrations by Chris Riddell.

Sharing few favorite lines from the book which I truly believe in - FICTION BUILDS EMPATHY. FICTION IS SOMETHING YOU BUILD UP FROM TWENTY-SIX LETTERS AND A HANDFUL OF PUNCTUATION MARKS, AND YOU, AND YOU ALONE, USING YOUR IMAGINATION, CREATE A WORLD, AND PEOPLE IT AND LOOK OUT THROUGH OTHER EYES.

3. What Lies between Us by Nayomi Munaweera 

Nayomi Munaweera's - What Lies Between Us that scathingly handles a primordial, yet complex emotion - motherhood is dark, depressing and devastating.

Our unnamed narrator is born into a dysfunctional family in Kandy, Sri Lanka to a depression riddled mother. Her father, an eminent professor dips into his books with same fervor as arrack. Yet living with them isn't​ remorseful as Sita, the cook, runs errands well and tends to her with motherly love and Sita's nephew - Samson, the gardener serves as a playful guardian until sexual abuse robs her of complacency and naive understanding of life. Few events before she turns 14 alter her and her mother's lives irrevocably. Her maternal aunt, uncle and cousin airlift their smashed souls to safety in America.

As an immigrant from a land with different values and practices, piecing up the American dream seems a Herculean task but our unrelenting narrator slowly fits snug into the big American bosom through quality education, a respectable job as a nurse and as an American's (Daniel) girlfriend.

Her life finds a firm footing as someone's wife and as a mother when wounds from her past open up. Coupled with postpartum psychosis, this wreaks havoc. Daniel chooses to keep himself and their daughter at a safe distance implying it as a temporary relief measure allowing the narrator some time to deal with her unspoken nightmares. 

However, a phone conversation with her mother opens a can of worms and steers calamitous events. A twist that pops up in the conversation doesn't sound plausible. An instance of memory, so powerful yet so flawed botches up the end.

The strength of the book lies in its highly evocative, rich prose which annoys us at times for being too ornate. Description of child sexual abuse sends a deep shudder, birth pangs and labor pain are made palpable. Overall, an impactful read that wrenches your heart and squeezes your lungs despite an obvious "off the tangent" point at the end.

December 2019 Reads (Part1)

Below are reviews of few books read during the month of Dec 2019

1. Tell Her Everything by Mirza Waheed : Book Review 

Can someone move from one salary slip to another, one work assignment to another, sailing along swelling bank balance, hitting a pause button on living for oneself and with dear ones, with the hope to resume it one day post retirement? Will the resumption ever be an easy/smooth one?

Tell Me Everything by Mirza Waheed details the journey of Dr. Kaiser Shah - from his humble origin in Saharanpur, India, his graduating in medicine and moving to London, then to an unnamed place, most likely in the Middle East where his potential and diligence are recognized and rewarded. At 61, in his posh flat in London, overlooking river Thames, he prepares meticulously to tell his story in complete detail and honesty to his daughter, Sara when she visits him.

He is keen on telling her about how he landed at Sir Farhad's hospital, how he moved from the Emergency dept to Corrections and became an eminent 'punishment surgeon' using most humane practices along with cutting edge technology.

From living in utter penury in India, to getting an income that exceeds expenditure, trying to 'fit in' London, serving merely as a conduit at Sir Farhad's hospital where more people were in need of amputation than paracetamol - the details are bristling through synapses in his head, characterized by steady repetition of facts, memories and a slight overdose of sentimentality that comes along with senility.

He wants to tell Sara how much he loves Atiya, his wife and how her sudden death still remains an open wound, how difficult it was to send Sara at a tender age of 7 away from him to a boarding school in the USA in best interests of her future. He wants to tell her what happened to his friend from India, Biju T Tharakan during their years together at Sir Farhad. He wants to tell it all !

Can a doctor who is meant to resuscitate life be at the helm of rendering it useless? Can one's ambition slowly eat away filial relations and leave him solitary? Can elaborate explanation of intentions behind actions help procure a ratification for all that is bygone? This book raises many important questions and lets the reader obtain the answers.

2. Origin of Others - Toni Morrison : Book Review 

Origin of Others by Toni Morrison is a book derived from a series of lectures she gave at Harvard in the spring of 2016. Through 6 essays, she explores why an act of 'Other'ing is so important for man, what is race and why does it matter so much? 

The book begins with a foreword from Ta Nehisi Coates who differentiates race from racism, the former term only a feature of the natural world and the latter, the predictable result of it. Profiling and segregation based on race comes from the need for power, superiority and necessity to control states Morrison, clearly elucidating it with crisp and befitting examples.

What she shares are brutal truths that are hard to stomach - Samuel Cartwright writes about a natural indolence that blacks have, coins a name for a condition they suffer from - dysaesthesia aethiopica and thus justifies the white authority over them who he asserts will make them civilized and moral.

An owner of slaves and sugar plantations in Jamaica, Thomas Thistlewood's diary entries in Latin provide a chilling account of his rapes on slaves which he records meticulously amongst other details like weather, prices, business losses, such blatant callousness.

Employing skin color to describe a character or drive a narrative, use of term nigger in literature are explained as inevitable fallout of romancing slavery. 

Excerpt from newspaper of a slave mother who killed her child (from 1856), of Issac Woodard's unfortunate fate, examples of lynching in 20th century make us shudder, all a grim reminder of how race has always been a constant arbiter of difference. The lynching examples reminded me of John Steinbeck's The Vigilante.

I haven't read any of Toni Morrison's works of fiction. Those who have can/will definitely appreciate this book more for she discusses her thought process while writing them. However, after reading this book, I have come to understand what Morrison singularly stands for and why she is much revered.

"Why should we want to know a stranger when it is easier to estrange another? Why should we want to close the distance when we can close the gate?" These questions speak a lot about the Origin of Others.

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
2. A Hindu Pilgrimage in Pakistan - https://roadsandkingdoms.com/2016/a-hindu-pilgrimage-in-pakistan/