The Cousins Book review

The Cousins
Prema Raghunath
Zubaan
2011, pp 209
325
This is the intensely moving story of Goutami or Goutu, for whom life in upper class Tamil brahmin society hides fangs of avarice, jealousy and petty vindictiveness under its facade of old world graciousness.

Barely a year old at the time of her mother’s death in 1921, Goutu learns early on to “fight, fight for everything, the hand-me-downs, the handouts, the charity.” She knows too well that her diamond-studded aunt and her cousins envy her inborn talents and want her out of their way, even dead. Cornered too often through her formative years, she cannot afford to indulge in feminine graces. The author succeeds in making us feel for Goutu.

Goutu’s life is inexorably entwined with her tormented older brother Achyut, her debonair cousin Krishna who beds all young cousins before their wedding night, and her dutiful, clever and coldly logical husband Seshadri. They are travelling companions through the journey of life, enriching each other’s perspectives over the course of time. Seshadri cannot tell a lie, not because it is a moral issue, but because “beautifying things or rendering them more palatable did not even occur to him.”

To Goutu, lying comes just as naturally. She embellishes bare facts to create an impression, escape from trouble, or not hurt another’s feelings. A solid yet unfulfilling married life leads Goutu to turn to Krishna, and fall for the dashing but unprincipled Subra.
The story takes us all over India, from a traditional Brahmin home near Madurai in the early twentieth century to Delhi, the seat of the British rulers in India. We follow Goutu on to England, where she venutres boldly to seek a cure for her physically challenged daughter, Meera. It is Meera, who with her deep insights guides Goutu in her twilight years to find inner peace.

The transitions from place to place and from points of views of the main characters, can be too rapid and abrupt at times. The sense of place could have stronger too.

The intensity of Goutu's emotions draws the reader to her and makes her life story a worthwhile and memorable  read.

My detailed review is published in Sunday Herald

The Intolerant Indian

Gautam Adhikari's new book, The Intolerant Indian (Harper Collins India) will whisk readers out of their complacent cocoons. With sharp, incisive prose, he shows us the sinister forces out to ruin the ideals of tolerance, of unity in diversity, upon which our unique democratic nation is founded.

The best thing about this book is that the author spares no one, whether it is the BJP, the Congress or religious fundamentalists. He exposes the double standards, the hypocrisies, the insiduous undermining of our nation by various forces.

While life is improving for India’s elite, a huge section of Indians are among the poorest in the world, lacking access to potable water, power, healthcare and housing. It is this elite that this book is aimed at. Adhikari turns to them, hoping they will step out of their comfort zones and strive toegther to uphold the ideals on which our nation was founded.

The book is lucidly written and can be read and easily understood by any educated reader who cares.
My detailed review is published in Sunday Herald

a 'comic' genius

                                                                 Once upon a time, Amar Chitra Katha Comics and Tinkle comics occupied every shelf and cranny in our home. My son and his little friends shared each copy, laughing, crying, fighting and making friends again over them until they fell apart in tatters. ACK comics were a magical part of growing up not just for their gang, but for millions of Indian Children.

We met Uncle Pai, the creator of ACK, in person at the grand finale of a quiz contest.My published account of that memorable day and a tribute to the departed 'comic' genius can be read in full in Sunday Herald

Violence as daily fare

The media swamps us with daily avalanches of mayhem and gore. Wars, riots, natural calamities, it's as though the TV channels and their sponsors just can't get enough. Newspapers, movies, video games, death and destruction is always a click of the mouse or flick of a page away.

Are we becoming insensitive to the travails of others? Are we losing our sense of humanity and becoming anal retentive thrill seekers?

Is the media to blame? A monster our to dehumanise us all? Or are we at the root of it all? The media is, after all, a human invention reflecting what we are.

Read my detailed take in
Deccan Herald

Snapshots from the tsunami coast, Kashmir and Jharia

I recently had the pleasure of viewing a collection of photographs by Srikanth Kolari. Srikanth launched our tete-a-tete by declaring that he was not a media-savvy man of words. He hoped his images would speak for themselves and impress viewers with their range of emotions and ideas.

His image of the hands of a coal mine worker (see left), like his other photographs, does just that. They show pain, struggle, fear and the grim determination to face another hard day.

Srikanth Kolari’s photographs of life in the burning coalfields of Jharia in Jharkhand, conflict-corners of Kashmir, and the tsunami-hit coast of Tamil Nadu urge viewers to seek out and interpret deeper stories behind each image. He portrays the many shades and shadows of grief, compelling us to confront deep-rooted scars and festering emotional wounds. A major underlying theme of all Srikanth’s projects is the problems faced by humanity. He strives to “focus the spotlight” on poor, marginalised people living on the edge.


Srikanth’s images from coastal Tamil Nadu show the many scars left by tsunami. The care-worn face of Amma Kannu shows stoic forbearance as she stands at the threshold of her dark, empty home. Her husband, a fisherman, was swept away by the sea. His body was never found. She herself was carried all the way to the mangroves and rescued by some villagers. She now lives all alone with her two goats and haunting memories. Today, fishermen continue to brave the waves in flimsy catamarans; tiny specks in the horizon vulnerable to choppy waters and angry grey skies. Even children take makeshift rafts into the mangroves and backwaters in search of fish. They have lost everything; their homes, loved ones, and their boats and fishing nets, the tools of their livelihood. Their memories haunt them and they fear the wrath of the sea. Yet, they have no choice for they must eke out a living. The progress of rehabilitation projects is pathetic. Ruins of slums along Marina beach await fresh construction. Some new houses provided by the local NGO in low lying areas of Kadalur district get flooded after just a few hours of rain. Yet, life goes on. It must. Fishermen and shoppers strike bargains in the daily fish market on Marina beach, Chennai. Dark clouds loom ominously overhead, while the furious sea roars in the backdrop. A crow flies off in a halo of light; a harbinger of hope or warning of disasters. Srikanth leaves it to viewers to make their own interpretations.

Read my complete account in Deccan Herald

flights of fantasy with Samit Basu

I first met bestselling and critically acclaimed author Samit Basu during Bookaroo 2010.  Participating in his session was an educational experience for a new author like me. Of course the 'education' came wrapped up in oodles of fun. Warm, unassuming, and inclusive, he welcomed ideas from his young (with a smattering of oldies) audience to come up with ideas for a wild and wacky new fantasy. So we had a whale of a time figuring out what a gang of rogue penguins, who were afraid of icy water BTW, would do in Antarctica. Fight flambouyant pirates, save the universe from sinking into a black hole, and outwit a martial arts ace fashionista woman warrior with a taste for chocolates and... we played and tossed about the most outlandish ideas and... voila! Did we see the core of a new story here? As everyone brainstormed, they agreed on one thing for sure. A hint of romance in our story? Yuck!

Samit Basu is a multi-faceted writer with a distinctive voice. Novels, short stories, comics and screenplays, he’s done it all with aplomb. He has created complex sometimes ominous, sometimes whimsical worlds featuring scantily clad centauresses, flying carpets, pink trolls, belly dancers and homicidal rabbits, all working toward or against destroyng a flawed, magical world and defeating the gods at their own game. His latest book, Turbulence, is more mainstream; with imaginative takeoffs from our real world. Aman Sen’s ragtag gang of rogue superheroes can together “stop global warming, turn the Sahara into a rice bowl, find alternatives to oil, stop the damned recession. The kind of things superheroes would do in comics, except the Rural Infrastructure Development League comics wouldn’t really sell well.”

Writing fascinating and imaginative entertainers isn't easy at all. It requires meticulous attention to serious craft.

Samit doesn’t believe writers are only 'agents of entertainment' . It's certainly not true that deep writing can’t be popular and accessible. "Most of the books that really stay with readers are both complex and popular", Samit says. "I don’t go around calling my own books deep, but they’re certainly not shallow, and they’re all fairly complicated, but they sell just fine. I don’t think anyone writes or reads for pure entertainment. I’m actually very serious about the writing. But I like writing about people and situations that are fairly eccentric, so it sort of flows from there. I think humour only works when it’s organic, when it flows from the characters or from the situations these characters are in. "

My interview with Samit Basu is published in Reading Hour

No more Fukushima

While all of urban India gears for a blockbuster World Cup Cricket final showdown, some of us continue to share the pain and show solidarity with the people of Japan. Messages are being exchanged among writers and intellectuals voicing concern for the plight of the people of Japan. May the world  never see another Fukushima or Chernobyl.



Renowned authors Mridula Garg from India and Yuko Tsushima from Japan have shared this deeply moving message

Dear Dear Mridula,

I want you the voice from India "No more Fukushima!".
I believe we have to now cooperate against Nuclear power plant
and also of course, nuclear weapons for our planet with deep,strong anger.

I know your own philosophy, and I learned from you the beautiful word "Dependence". All of us, all of lives are connecting, we are altogather in this world. Yes, it's true.I think now we should act as one of novelists for our planet and all of lives on this planet. At first we were shocked and then weeping for this disaster, but now we got angry with the voice "No more Fukushima!".

When we visited you in New Delhi, it was the time many Japanese papers said India and Paki will soon begin the nuclear war, and already American embassy or Japanese embassy returned to their countries.I am feeling now this case is very similar with our case.Every people on this Earth has so great fear about nuclear power always!
Please, tell your friends "No more Fukushima!" in India. Please, give your voice "No more Fukushima!" to me, I will send it my friends, the novelists, the poets and so on all over the world.
with deepest love,

Yuko Tsushima

***
Here's another message from Author and journalist Ammu Joseph:

May I take this opportunity to share a statement drafted by Romila Thapar and Praful Bidwai regarding the


grave nuclear crisis in Japan and its implications for India? The aim

is to enable citizens, and not just "experts," to engage in the debate.

The idea is to publish the statement in the press and on the internet to

build up public pressure for an honest and serious evaluation of the

situation, especially vis a vis India's nuclear programme. If you wish to endorse the statement, please e-mail Praful Bidwai asap. I'm sure the statement would be greatly strengthened if well-known creative writers like all of you (who can't be dismissed as part of the "anti-nuclear camp") sign on.

And do circulate widely
Ammu

Japan’s nuclear crisis is a wake-up call for India
We deeply regret the death and devastation caused by

the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and are gravely concerned at the disaster

at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station,

where reactors suffered serious accidents damaging their cores, and released

harmful radiation, resulting in radiation burns and other injuries.
Fukushima’s radiation releases have contaminated drinking water in Tokyo, 220 kilometres

away. According to preliminary estimates based on data from a United Nations

agency, Fukushima has already released about one-fifth as much iodine-131 as

the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe, and half as much caesium-137; both cause

cancer. The crisis shows that even in an industrially advanced country, nuclear reactors

are vulnerable to catastrophes irrespective of precautions and safety measures.

Small individual incidents in them can spiral into serious mishaps. The

earthquake cut off primary power supply to the reactors. The backup power

failed with the tsunami. Loss of cooling water precipitated the crisis. Two

weeks on, Fukushima remains a threat to the public.
The Japanese nuclear crisis is a wake-up call for India, which has launched a huge

nuclear expansion programme. Yet, instead of acknowledging the gravity of the

crisis, our Department of Atomic Energy has cavalierly minimised it, described

it a “purely chemical reaction”, and declared that Indian reactors cannot

undergo serious accidents.We strongly believe that India must radically review its

nuclear power policy for appropriateness, safety, costs, and public acceptance,

and undertake an independent, transparent safety audit of all its nuclear

facilities, which involves non-DAE experts and civil society organisations. Pending the review, there should be a moratorium on all further nuclear activity, and revocation of recent clearances for nuclear projects.

War and redemption

photos: left; Joshua inviting pople to hear his sermon. 

Joshua Milton Blahyi AKA General Butt Naked reacts with childlike joy at the end of an intense grilling session with Ryan and his colleagues.
Right: An Afghan farmer in his poppy field

 I recently viewed Ryan Lobo's latest collection of photographs and interacted with him. In the course of researching the heroin trade in Afghanistan and filming the award winning Redemption of General Butt Naked, Ryan travelled through war ravaged Afghanistan, Liberia and Iraq. Journeying through dangerous territory among desperate men, Ryan and his colleagues faced grave risk to their own lives. Travelling in armoured military vehicles accompanied by private security guards, they often had to seek safe spots on news of approaching Taliban forces. In the course of his travels, Ryan shot his own still photographs, which he feels can at times tell a deeper story relevant to all humanity.

During a bloody 14 year long civil war, Liberia was abandoned and forgotten by the rest of the world. In this chaos, the warlord Joshua Milton Blahyi emerged as one of the world's most brutal mass murderer. He is estimated to be responsible for the deaths of over 20,000 people either personally or through his army of child soldiers. Joshua and his followers went forth to fight and kill dressed only in boots and guns. Many believed that fighting naked made them invisible and invincible to enemy bullets. What sets Joshua apart is that at the height of his power, he abandoned the battlefield and had a wake up call. He turned to a pastor, Kun Kun, who urged him to confess his sins to those whom he had wronged, and seek their forgiveness.

Ryan and his colleagues followed the contrite Joshua as he approached his victims, offering food and money though he himself was nto a rich man. His camera records intense moments; a man beset with his own bloody history trying to hold on as he faces people who sometimes hear him and forgive him. Often, he faces hostility and msitrust. Images of these victims show various expressions of doubt, mistrust, hostility, anger, and peaceful resignation. "I cannot conclude what went on in their minds," Ryan says. He captured with his camera these intense and somewhat chaotic moments. The experiences of these individuals are part of the greater story of humanity, with its never ending cylces of war, peace, viollence, atonement and sufferings.

It is difficult to assess a man like Joshua, Ryan feels. His violent crimes and his repentance are both true, different facets of a complex individual. some images capture Joshua’s relief and even childlike glee at the end of grilling sessions. “Repentance, contrition and murder are equally real and true in Joshua’s case.” In this unfolding story of perpetrators and victims, how could a man like Joshua transcend his personal history? “Some questions are not meant to be directly raised or answered,” Ryan says. “These ideas came to me as we shot the film, and I tried to let the larger philosophical story of humanity speak through my photographs.”


My detailed account can be read in
Deccan Herald

The price of innocence: Jimmy the Terrorist

What makes an ordinary youngster from an average Indian town turn to violence? Each of us is born with innate talents and capabilities which only require the right environment to blossom. This is the story of Jamaal Ansari, an ordinary lad from a nondescript small town in UP, who breathes his last as Jimmy the terrorist. The novel examines with deep sensitivity the complex socio-economic and political factors that turn a young man "neither cursed nor blessed with extraordinariness" to become sensationalised by the media as some monster. Jamaal, like his father before him and like billions of youngsters all over the country, was merely hungry to be acknowledged, to claim the right to live with social acceptance and dignity. With well-crafted prose, the author succeeds in making us empathise with Jamaal; to want to know and understand the forces leading to his untimely and violent end. Ironically, death brings the alienated Jamaal posthumous fame and acknowledgement by Moazzamabad as one of its own, albeit as a terrorist.

This book explores situations, issues and characters with depth and sensitivity. The author's mastery over language and economy with words results in just the right number of pages of lovely prose, touching the reader's heartstrings or hitting where it hurts, but never meandering with seeming pointlessness and excessive verbosity.

One only wishes that the people outside Jamaal/Jimmy's mohalla, the people who make this world the harsh and unjust place it is, were portrayed with more detail and dimensions. The outsiders are mostly out and out baddies, who make brief appearances and wreak havoc in the lives of Jimmy and others like him. Fleshing them out a bit more would further strengthen Jimmy's poignant story.

My complete review is in Sunday Herald

Conversations with Usha K.R.

It's been pure pleasure to know author Usha K.R. Warm, welcoming, always ready to offer encouragement to floundering new writers, she is a gracious human being. And oh, she's a lovely hostess. We last met in her home in Bangalore. The scents of cinnamon and fresh baking, the aroma of steaming filter coffee, went well with writerly conversations. My complete interview with her is published in Reading Hour Jan 2011.

Here are some excerpts:

Critically acclaimed author Usha K. R. radiates inborn charm and grace. With soft-spoken serenity, she can make you feel an instant connection, while her twinkling eyes belie a keen intelligence. Her first novel, Sojourn, was followed by The Chosen.


Shortlisted for the for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize (2008) and winner of the Vodaphone Crossword Prize (2007), Usha K.R.’s third novel, A GIRL AND A RIVER, is exquisitely crafted. The author has brought to life the freedom movement and its effects upon the people of the former Mysore Princely State. Mylariah's rise and ultimate degeneration, Sethu's callousness rather than any active malice, which causes terrible tragedies; it is all brought out beautifully. Dr. King, Ella, Shyam, Shanta Kole, Kalyani, all the major and minor characters are well rounded and multifaceted. The protagonist Kaveri's tragedy is summed up beautifully when we finally find her in a 'home' for lost causes. There is a Kaveri in almost every family in the region, blooming with life and hope, and then burdened over the years with neglect and disappointment. Her story repeats itself in many silent tragedies.

The novel ends in a note of hope embodied by the offspring of Kaveri’s brother Sethu and Kaveri’s daughter, who is her niece and also her granddaughter.

Usha K. R.’s latest novel, Monkey-Man (2010), takes a fresh and insightful look at life in Bangalore, India’s fastest growing city. As a new millennium dawns, a strange creature attacks passers-by in the streets of Bangalore. Is it a malevolent avatar, or a sign of the displeasure of the gods? Is it the grotesque mascot of a city that is growing too fast, or merely a lost monkey? Shrinivas Moorty, a teacher in a city college, call center professional Pushpa Rani, Neela, secretary to an influential man, and Sukhiya Ram, her office boy, are the first to sight the strange creature. They are invited by popular RJ Bali Brums to discuss their experience on his popular radio show.

The lives of these characters become intertwined in unexpected ways. They also personify the multiple hues of tradition juxtaposed against and vying with modernity and westernization; a theme running through the heart of Bangalore and many Indian cities.

Neela, for example, continues secure yet stagnant in her sinecure job, spreading concentric circles of pettiness and inefficiency of the old order. Pushpa Rani successfully overcomes a deprived upbringing to take on the world from her desk at a call center. Rising from a city where glass and aluminum skyscrapers overlook shanty settlements, and where ancient temples stand proudly in the middle of busy streets, the story of Monkey-Man entices the reader into a deeper understanding of human nature.

 What were your influences in the early years? And later on as you matured as a writer and published author?

UKR: I can’t think of any conscious influences, but I admired Jane Austen for her polished irony, her restraint, her ability to do so much with so little. Reading Austen, Dickens and Henry James brought ideas and possibilities of exploring the dilemmas of one’s world and engaging with it intensely but quietly. At the same time, there was Indian mythology, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata with their direct story telling, their colour and their noise. Shashi Deshpande’s early work brought home the fact that English was an Indian language and could be the language of fiction, my fiction.

 How do you develop your characters? Were Kaveri in A Girl and a River, and Pushpa Rani in Monkey Man, for example, based on people you knew?


UKR: Here, I must quote Amitav Ghosh who when asked if he based his characters on real people, said: If the answer was ‘yes’, I’d say ‘no’. There may be a single trait or an impression you have of a person which seems to sum up his or her essence, or even a person or event you read about, and then you spin it out, depending on the requirements of the story and the circumstances you place the character in.

Many authors say that there is a little of themselves in their stories and characters. Do you feel this is true of your own writing? Do you rely heavily on personal experiences, write from what you know, or do you rely more heavily on research and external knowledge.


UKR: Initially you begin with personal experience and then realize that direct experience can only take you thus far, and you would have a very limited board of characters. It is a mix of personal experience, research and reading, animated by one’s intuitive knowledge of people and circumstances.

duh'oh!

An editor just mailed me saying she didn't "get' a story I'd sent her. Fair enough, but this leads to the question, what DO people 'get' when they read something you've written. An opinion piece of mine was published recently in Deccan Herald The widely appreciated essay was meant to be tongue-in cheek and sarcastic. It was certainly not 'preachy' but meant to make at least a few readers introspect before finding fault with the 'authorities' for causing everything that ails the world. Guess the irony/sarcasm/fun element must have gone over the heads of some readers, who not only could not 'get it', but are jumping to conclusions.

A Google search brought up the same article cited in full in a lawyers' forum. Being lawyers, the poster has cited my name and the original URL of the publisher before quoting it verbatim, so I guess this probably takes care of copyright issues. or does it?

The same posting has received the following comment on that site:

"A very nice illustration of what we are but we only clamour about and do nothing because Indians are the biggest hypochrites.In straight term these preachings are for others and others means others which means not for us and that is what we have been genetically made by our maker and we feel proud in it.The presenter of this article is Monideepa but she could not shed her another identity,i.e SAHU.She wanted to identify herself not as Monideepa but as belonging to a SAHU clan.Quoting text from other source is not for herself but for OTHERS as mentioned earlier. Come on folks dont just waste this column to PREACH others if you can not follow yourself.Thanx."

so this person is saying that I , as author of the original article, am "quoting text from other source is not for herself but for OTHERS"  Now it's my turn to not 'get' it.

In writers' groups, we discuss again again how we should not underestimate the readers' perceptiveness and bluntly and crudely point out the meaning of each and everything we write. But then one always wonders. Shoddily written and oversimplistic books seem to be doing excellently in the marketplace, while novels and stories involving more complex artistry gets fewer takers.

An open ended story can leave quite a few people flummoxed.

A writer friend recently lamented the apathy of the publishing franternity towards more complex and intelligent writing. Following the advice of his agents, he is painfully trying to "dumb down" his book according to perceived market demands.  "So," he tells me, "I have been (quite angrily) spending the last few days turning my literary social thriller into a marketable thriller (that's why I was not in a mood to reply to any mails, sorry for that). "

My question (I welcome insights from anyone happening to read this post ) : How much complexity in writing is actually accepted and understood by readers today?

Must we all succumb to market forces and make do with writing trite and oversimplified stuff?

How much must we conform, and if so, to what standards, to be understood and accepted?

we are like this only

Hoo boy, don''t we all love to crib and carp about the way things are being run in this country? We have all the time in the world to wax eloquent about all that ails us. But god forbid, if there's ever an issue needing our attention, we sink from the occasion and vanish from the scene of crime. We're the guys who clean our homes and toss our garbage at the neighbour's doorstep. Indian males of all ages, shapes, sizes, IQ levels and economic strata, habitually take a leak in public places while complaining loudly about how filthy our cities are compared to the best they see in phoren lands. Sheesh! why blame politicians alone? We are like this only, and politicos too are 'simbly' people like us.

My essay on what makes us the way we are published in Sunday Herald

Regained in translation : Banaphool's short stories

 Reading Arunava Sinha's recent translation of Banaphool's short stories was like revisiting a dear friend after years. I had first read Banaphool's writings in the original Bangla long ago during my school and college days. To re-read them in an accessible and smooth English translation was a great pleasure.

High quality English translations of many literary gems from our bhashas are now being published. It's a boon for book lovers, for we can now read masterpieces orignially written in a language not our own.
Banaphool's simple language and spare style belie great depth and rich nuances in his writing. The twists of plot reminiscent of O Henry; the fine touches of irony and humour; understated emotions of great depth and complexity; discovering poetry and beauty in everyday things; These stories are worth reading for all this and much, much more.

Read my complete review published in Deccan Herald

Bookaroo 2010

 (young Riddle of the Seventh Stone enthusiasts eager for autographs )

(friend Sonja Chandrachud's session with ghouls and goblins galore )

Participating in Bookaroo 2010, recently held in New Delhi, was an amazing experience. Personally, it was reliving my childhood when students of city schools sat around me enjoying a daramatized reading fom Riddle of the Seventh Stone. Anita Roy, my ever supportive editor from Young Zubaan was lively and exuberant as ever. The best part was when the youngsters caught up with me later and mobbed me for autographs and said the session was "awesome".

Obejctively sepaking, while the enthusiasm is contagious and the number of visitors are increasing exponentially at India's first and biggest children's literaure festival, there's a long road ahead. The vast majority of our millions of educated middle class parents and teachers are yet to be convinced of the importance of inculcating a love for reading among young people. Parents will readily spend hundreds of rupees on fast foods and junk foods, but books, no matter how well written and produced, are widely considered a waste of money.

Also, we are yet to overcome the colonial hangover. A large number of Indians still consider Indian books to be inferior in standards to foreign books.

There are plenty of people who do not want to read, who know all there is to know and don't care about anything else.

And, there are also events like Bookaroo. May there be many more! Here's my complete roundup published in Deccan Herald

happy new year

HAPPY 2011
We of the vermin underworld wave antennae, click pincers, flutter our wings and wave our tails to wish you all a fabulous 2011. We the heroes of Riddle of the Seventh Stone are waiting for you in every online bookstore (and regular ones too) Meet us, love us, take us home and introduce your friends to us. But please, say no to harmful chemical pesticides

the brave new world of books in 2011

What will the world of books and reading be like in the year to come? Crystal ball gazing with authors and publishers threw up a wealth of perspectives. The toughest part was to guide the experts with the right prompts and then assimilate the many wise and witty things they had to say on a subject close to their hearts. And then, I had to steel my own heart and organize and reduce everything into a concentrated and coherent (hopefully) whole. More fluffy fast reads and novels on the cell phone hijacking the publishingindustry? Here's our take published in Bangalore Mirror:

2011 will bring “at least a few new novels that will electrify, provoke, move, and entertain,” predicts Anosh Irani (Dahanu Road). Shreekumar Varma (Maria’s Room) foresees more “artistic— but not necessarily `literary’ people entering the world of books.” Anita Roy of Zubaan Books is “looking forward to the next in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies trilogy. We’ll see more high-quality, non-fiction such as Samanth Subramanian’s Following Fish, Ramchandra Guha’s Makers of Modern India and Mahmood Farooqui’s book Besieged on Delhi in 1857.”

Shreekumar Varma notes that “nonfiction rules now. Short stories, poetry and plays have to beg their way in; a worldwide trend not restricted to India.” Gita Aravamudan (Unbound: Indian Women @ Work) feels “the longevity, importance and popularity of a book depends not on the genre but on the quality of the work itself.”

Manjul Bajaj (Come, Before Evening Falls) welcomes the new spate of quality English translations of regional fiction with “mainstream publishing houses such as Penguin and Random House India throwing their hat into the ring.”

Read the full story in Bangalore Mirror

a cock-eyed look at the year gone by

With apologies to Dickens, 2010 was the best of times and the worst of times.

Scamsters ruled the roost, and their misdeeds grew more boldly outrageous, delighting crooks and disheartening the common Indian citizen. With TV, radio and cable channels a dime-a-dozen screaming for attention, the best way to grab wayward eyeballs (lacking grey matter to back them up?) was to highlight the heights of unscrupulousness. The Adarsh idealists, the conmen allegedly out to make fast mega crores from the CWG, every crook and their nearest and dearest grabbed centrestage until some media darlings stole the show by getting themselves entangled in dubious tapes. Days before the opening of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, the nation’s prestige tottered with the collapse of a vital footbridge. Accommodation for athletes from 71 countries was reportedly not ready, and UK inspectors turned up their noses saying the facilities were “unfit for human habitation”. The preparations for India's largest ever sporting event raised doubts of mismanagement of crores of rupees for years.

Cheering the hearts of every patriotic Indian, 2010 proved that the fine art and science of hera-pheri isn’t restricted to our countrymen. The world over, basic human nature oozed through superficial veneers of principles and honesty, and people everywhere cheated and lied just like us. In the world of sports, Tiger Woods’ alleged extra-marital shenanigans, cricket match fixing, use of banned performance-enhancing drugs and other unsporting concerns overshadowed the ideals of fair play and sportsmanship. The whistleblowing website WikiLeaks kicked up a ruckus by releasing a whopping avalanche of secret documents with details of incidents of corruption, friendly fire, civilian casualties and deaths relating to the war in Afghanistan. Among the biggest leaks in US military history, its aftershocks rocked even the White House.

Read my complete essay published in Sunday Herald

valuable compendium of Indian thought

I recently read Ramachandra Guha's Makers of Modern India. This book is especially helpful for many of us who are keen to know more about our great thinkers and leaders: their ideas and thoughts and writings. The rushed pace of modern life leaves few of us with enough time to delve through huge volumes of thought provoking writings of our great leaders and nation builders. Prof. Ramachandra Guha has selected and compiled excerpts along with lucid and learned introductory notes to help today's readers gain insights into this rich heritage.
My full review of the book appears in Sunday Herald.

Dahanu Road, by Anosh Irani; book review

Anosh Irani takes his readers on a soul-searching journey though the expansive story of three generations of the Irani clan and their relations with the oppressed Warli tribals, who were the original owners of the flourishing orchards in Dahanu on the outskirts of Bombay. Anna’s tea shack personifies the ethos of Dahanu, a place where “languages bashed into each other, on some days a train wreck, on other days a tasty mix bouncing into temple bells, sinking into yellow laddoos and other sweetmeats, the Jains trying not to let any of the languages defile them, the Marwaris welcoming the defiling and murder of words, the sulphur dioxide from the thermal power plant coating the languages, giving them an acidic smell.” The Zoroastrian Iranis with “the power of centuries” behind them have fled from oppression from the Arabs in Iran to come to India and rise once again as doctors, lawyers, artists, businessmen and the landlords of Dahanu.

This is one lovely read I enjoyed, the best among many good reads in recent times. Read my published review in Deccan Herald

Sponsor run to prevent child sexual abuse

Here's a message from Payal Dhar,author of the brilliant Shadow in Eternity Trilogy and a personal pal. Please support her noble cause.
Moni

I did the Great Delhi Run of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on 21 November 2010 to raise funds for the RAHI Foundation, an NGO that works towards ending child sexual abuse in India. Contributions are still welcome, so please continue your support and join my campaign against child sexual abuse.

Sponsors so far:
i.Swapna Kishore and Rajesh Naik
ii.Niklas Åkerlund
iii.Anita Roy
iv.Nandita Dhar
v.Monideepa Sahu
THANK YOU
About RAHI’s work
Did you know that more than 53% of children in India are sexually abused? Sadly, most of these children never speak of their trauma and suffer in silence due to the denial of such abuse in our country. Without understanding and help, it is practically impossible for a child to survive sexual abuse without being deeply scarred for life. This support is exactly what RAHI provides, along with other critical services promoting awareness and prevention of child abuse. RAHI’s activities are in the areas of Training, Education, Counselling, Research and Communication. You can visit their website to know more.

How will your contribution help?
i.Provide counseling to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.
ii.Train parents and teachers on how to protect children from sexual abuse.
iii.Educate 15,000+ young people on incest/child sexual abuse prevention through RAHI’s College Peer Education Programme.
How to contribute
There are many ways you can donate.

i.It would be best if you could send me a cheque (contact me via the comments form for address, if needed). The cheque must be in favour of Concern India Foundation and payable at Delhi. Please include your full name, address with PIN code, phone no. and e-mail ID.
ii.Online: Click here to donate online, and REMEMBER fill in the following details:
Donation type: SUPPORTING SOMEBODY’S RUN FOR ADHM2010
Runner category:I PLEDGER
Name of the person you are supporting:PAYAL DHAR
iii.Cash: We’ll find a way of getting it to me.
Concern India is the official charity partner for this event. Funds raised by NGOs will be routed through them for purposes of transparency and accountability. Names of donors will be listed on their website. They will provide you with an 80G Tax Exemption Certificate that will allow you a 50% tax exemption on your donation (only for Indian donors). This won’t be possible for bank transfers and PayPal payments, though.

Please support my cause. Donate generously and help protect children from sexual abuse. I will gladly accept whatever amount you can give.

~Payal Dhar