Francis Ittykkora- T D Ramakrishnan

A meeting ofDavinci code and Umberto Eco in Malayalam is the first impression one is left with while reading this novel by T D Ramakrishnan. Using medieval history as the base for his theme, Ramakrishnan does a good job in keeping the central theme intact, while exploring the other aspects of modern life across continents and culture. The underground organisations, the prevalence of cannibalism, casual and free for all sex and the business around the same, alcoholism, cruelty, all that is needed to spice up the novel is added generously. However, that is not the point in the novel. These diversions and need to poke your tickle bone do not really do justice to the main aspect of the book.

Francis Itty cora a 15th century Trader from Kunnamkulam, in Kerala, and his expeditions and adventures are the main theme. The descendants of Cora, caled as the "18 family sect" is believed to be active even now, living in a secret life, controlling large number of business and and power. This closed knit group with their own set of customs and rituals supposedly following the gospel of Itty Cora ( which includes offering the 'grown up' girl to Cora on the Christmas Eve, donating 10% of all the profits etc), a rejection of which brings the curse of the spirit of Cora and the eventual doom for the family.

Three ladies, running a 'massage centre' ( called "The School") in Cochin attracting rich foreign clients offering 'all they need' receives a mail one day from Francis Itty Cora, wanting to rediscover his manhood, which he claims to have lost after raping an Iraqi girl while serving the US Army. Cora, claiming to be a descendant of the iconic Francis Itty Cora of the 15th century ( his mother tells him before she was killed ). He realise that the chain is too long and the family is spread all over the world. From the hills of Peru to Australia, from US to Italy apart from the origin in Kerala. Francis Itty Cora also known as a brilliant mathematician ( the banned on the Hypetian school of Mathematics), and often cited as the founder of 'Kerala School of Mathematics". The novel then set to explore the various sects and the life of Francis Itty Cora, through the journals, old manuscripts, the abandoned research papers of historians , mathematicians and through the words of some of the old living people in an around Kunnamkulam and blog entries of a mathematics researcher. As the team of ladies and their friends ( the writer included) goes through the life of the legend, there are forces working against their intention and trying to scuttle their efforts. They are attacked, they were threatened and was prevented access to many details. However, the urge to understand the person and the sect is so strong now, the team decided to do their clandestine mission.

The book is a result of a lot of research and hardwork and that is reflected. Ramakrishnan does a god job in mixing the myth, history, trade and mathematics to a good effect. The novel is a fast read and he is able to capture the attention of the reader till the very end. Few technical errors notwithstanding , the style and content is good and easy to read. However, the narration vary from being brilliant at the chapters on mathematics and history to being mediocre and pedestrian at many other places. Some of the pages around the school and its activities are of very poor writing. The book had received huge acclaim while it was published in the periodical and post releasing as a book. May be this is the first attempt in Malayalam to break free from the traditional format of the fiction writing. On that part, it is a welcome change and is commendable. However, it is still not "original" and one get reminded of Davinci Code, while he trying to be an Umberto Eco.

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Francis Ittykkora ( 2009 )

T D Ramakrishnan

D C Books

308 Pages

Rs 160
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Some reviews : Samakalika Malayalam , Mathrubhoomi , Varthamanam, Ratheesh

Red April - Santiago Roncagliolo

21st century Latin American literature will be known for the new genre of writers who excel in modern literary thrillers. Red April, in the news again for nominated to the 'best translated works' is one catching attention among the readers all over the world. Having read Soldan ( turing's delirium) recently, I guess the new age writers may be moving away in style and substance from the boom generation of yesteryear. The period is 2000,in the new century, past the peak of Maoist insurgency and the regime of Alberto Fujimori ( 80s and 90s killing nearly 70000 people in Peru) , Set in the provincial city of Ayachuco, this murder mystery, crime thriller from the young Peruvian writer is already a super hit in the international market.

Associate District Prosecutor Félix Chacaltana Saldívar , is transferred to Ayachuco, on his request to be in the place of his mother. He is recently separated with his wife and the only emotional support is from his dead mother, whose memory he keep alive, rebuilding the room as he remembered during his young days. Asked to investigate some unnatural murders in Ayachuco, he immediately realises that there aren't many who shares his interest in the same. Unable to get support from the police or from the surgeon , he decides to find his way to the story. He suspect and find hits about the involvement of 'shinig path' an outlawed terrorost organisation , dormant for almost 20 years, behind the new set of murders. The deeper he is into the investigation more isolated he become. However the authorities had another task for him, to go and monitor the on going election in one of the remote part of Peru. Now deeply into the case, he gets into unearthing the true story, without the support of the authorities. As he finds his way to more and more people to link and connect the issues, he gets into another issue. All those whom he interview or meet, ended up victims and ended up dead. as he himself puts it :

"All the people I talk to die, Father. I'm afraid. It's ... it's as if I were signing their death sentences when I leave them."

The week long festival is on and the town is full of visitors from various part of the world. The atmosphere is tense and imminent violence is in the air. Chacalnata, is in the thick of the things. More deaths and suspects . The novel takes the typical twist and turns of suspects and allegations. The literary element is slowly moved away with the frenzy of things and action.

Red April, started very well continued till the midway in line with the expectation I had. However, soon, this too took the typical crime thriller turn and ended up in the common genre. On his part the writer keeps manages to keep the suspense on until the end. It is an easy and fast read. As I said, initial parts I find very well written, vivid and unhurried. Characterisation of Chacalnata is done pretty well, from a simpleton, vulnerable and lost in his new assignment to one who is cunning and intelligent is very subtle and good. May be there is a symbolic use of the image of mother, which escapes me. As a socio-political crime thriller, the book is good. If there are any comparison to Mario Vargas Llosa's "Death in the Andes" ( almost on the similar theme), I would cast my vote for the Nobel Laureate.

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Red April ( 2006)

Santiago Roncagliolo ( translated from Spanish by Edith Grossman in 2009)

Atlantic Books

271 Pages

Rs 399
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Other Reviews : Guardian , Complete Review, Independent, Seattlepi



1857: The Real Story Of The Great Uprising - Vishnu Bhatt Godshe Versaikar

The Uprising in the year 1857 , triggered by the Indian soldiers under the British Army, later supported by few kingdoms in the mid-north of India is considered as the first 'organised' struggle for Independence against the British Rulers in India, by many historians. More widely known as "Sepoy Mutiny" in the school history books are known to every Indian student. The names Nana Sahib, his deputy Tantya Tope and the legendary Queen of Jhansi, Lakshmibai are few heroes in the freedom struggle in the 19th century.

While the history text book gives us the story of these leaders and the struggle in detail, they are all have been the result of various studies and set to appease the Indian masses. Here is more closure account ( though I refrain to say accurate) of the events as they are unfolded to the traveller in those part of India during the turbulent times.

Vishnu Bhatt, a poor Maharashtra Brahmin, undertake a journey to the North (Hindi speaking areas) with his uncle, to participate in few religious ceremony at the rich and rulers thus earn some money to help the staggering debts that the family endure at the point of time. Little did he know that nhe is going to witness one of the most significant milestones in the history of India. With a promise to his weeping wife and brother that he will return within an year, the eventful journey took him nearly three years to retun back home safely.While Vishnu Bhatt did not participate in the struggle directly, he was also been part of the receiving end more than a couple of times, by the victorious British soldiers, and been mugged on a few occasions by the thugs on his way.

What is important to us is that he documents ( from memory and after 24 years of the events) the journey and the actions as he is witnessed to the rest of the world. As it is already known, the revolt started after the roumer that the new ammunition and guns procured and distributed by the British Army to the soldiers ( of Indian Origin) are "greased with cow fat and lard from Pigs". This agitated both the Hindu and Muslim soldiers for respective reasons, and the thought that "this was a deliberate ploy by the cunning white rulers to first get them to disgrace and pollute themselves by breaking the religious taboos and after they had been debased and cast out of their religion, to try and convert them to Christianity". However, the Britishers did not understand the reason of resentiment by the soldiers and they were pressed and forced to take up these arms. Refusal was treated with harsh punishment. The collective sentiments against this caused the uprising, at various part of the country starting at Meerut, Kanpur and Calcutta.

Large number of soldiers left the barracks and were wandering in the vastness of the region, who was looking for a leader to guide them. Tantya Tope, the ruler of Bisthur, thought it is his obligation to protect the religion and the state and was ready to lead the assault. The team had a few success initially, managing to defeat the white army at a couple of battles. As we are now aware, the trend soon reversed and eventually most part of North India coming under the control and rule of British East India company.

Jhansi rani Lakshmibai had different reasons to join the fight. The royal family deprived of a legal heir was refused permission to adopt a boy and thus to continue the regime. The king married thrice ( Lakshmibai being the third) died at an early age, leaving the kingdom at the hand of the resident British ruler. Being restricted to the inner circles of the palace, and having to obey the Britishers triggered the rebellion in the Queen, who soon declared herself as the ruler and started gathering troops. Joining forces with Tantya Tope and Nana Sahib, she continued the fight against the white leading the battle from the front, until her sad death in the battle.

Now, the book is not written as a history text. This could be called a travelogue or a memoir. He is not a 'qualified writer' and that reflects in the text and narration. While he was travelling in these part of the country, not every event is from the eye witness. Many are based on the hearsay by fellow travellers or people whom he meet. There are also evident of exaggeration of few numbers and amounts ( at least that is what I felt) and glorification of feats. Barring that, this is a good read and gives us the glimpses of the events from closure quarters.

Vishnu Bhatt is a keen observer and a listener. He is able to recall the events after many years to the precise details. He do not hide his admiration to the rulers and his meetings with Jhansi Rani and the other rulers are that of a typical brahmin looking for monetary favours and stomach full of delicious food. He also wanted to demonstrate his skilled and knowledge in religious scriptures and test himself against the scholars. He is also intelligent and calculative. His learning from the events and his analysis are very insightful and not that of the typical of the poor brahmin looking for daily food ( though he claims to be a wandering sadhu at many places).

He also captures some of interesting facts about Jhansi Rani, which are not seen much earlier. Rani likes to dres in man's attire ,trousers and jackets ( this was her attire during most of her battles) and used this as disguise while travelling in the country side. On the other hand, her husband likes to cross dress in woman's dress and spends great amount of time in the women's quarters.

Mrinal Pande's translation is worth mentioning. She claims to have translated this from the original text in Marathi and used the occasional reference to the earlier Sanskrit translations. The book reads with out much hiccups or difficulties to a non-hindi / marathi speaker and not using many of the local idioms. The language and style was maintained closure to the orignial ( to the kind of language and narration you see in the books from 19th century).
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1857: The Real Story Of The Great Uprising ( 1907)

Vishnu Bhatt Godshe Versaikar ( translated from Marathi by Mrinal Pande in 2011)

Harper Perennia

229 Pages

Rs 250
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Other reviews : Mumbai Boss , Pioneer

The Woman Who Waited - Andrei Makine

What was the longest wait for the love in the literary world ? Marquez made his hero wait for "53 year, 7 months and 11 days" in Love in the Time of Cholera for his love.

Boris Koptev 19, left to the froniters during the last days of WW II. He was part of the troops that went for the final rituals of defeat of Berlin. However, he was reported missing in action from the frontiers, As a truthful fiancee, Vera 16 year old, is waiting for his return. The narration is in the mid 70s, and the wait is 30 years long. Living in Mirnoe, a hamlet of old widows ( mostly of the soldiers of WW II), Vera lives her life taking care of them and teaches few students left in the village at the nearby school. "That blessed Vera ! she is still waiting ! still waiting ! She will wait forever"

Our nameless narrator, an artist from Leningrad, to study and record the local customs and folklore ( and to gather material for anti-soviet satire as advised by his friend), comes to this place up-north in Russian wilderness near the white sea. 26 year old, counter revolutionary, active with the Leningrad clandestine group, in Breshnev's Russia known for their disdain for the leadership. His initial curiosity towards this mysterious lady ( now in her mid forties) moved way to awe and admiration for her selfless work in this village. The meeting and acquaintance and his attempt to learn more about this lady gets more intriguing and complicated. Drawn to her ways of life, and not able to get into her mind, frustrates and challenges the young man.

"She is a woman so intensely destined for happiness and yet she has chosen, almost casually, it seems, solitude, loyalty to an absent one, a refusal to love.." begins the novel, as noted by the narrator.

He was ready to leave and return to Leningrad, but some charm hold him back to the place. He build stories in his own mind, creates possible plots and try finding a reason by himself ( and for himself), but not able to break the code into her thinking. All he manages to get was few glimpses of her past life, only to reaffirm the ever growing stature of the lady. As Otar the driver puts it,"You know, may be she is right, after all, that Vera.. in any case it's not for me, or you for that matter, to judge her",

Andrei Makine writing has the wonderful feeling of being so close to real time experience, while keeping a safe distance from the plot. The descriptions are vivid and unhurried. The plots are not in big canvas , neither it is studded with characters. Even here, apart from the protagonist and the lady in discussion, there are only a couple of characters worth attention. like the other works of this writer, Very moving without being overtly sentimental or emotive , he bring about an extremely poignant story of love , loss and longing.

A rather simple story line is transformed into a rich, lyrical and beautiful work of art by this fantastic writer.

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The Woman Who Waited ( 2004)

Andrei Makine ( Translated from French by Geoffrey Strachan in 2006)

Arcade Publishing

182 Pages
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Other Review : Telegraph , Washington Post, Guardian

I Curse the River of Time - Per Petterson

“I am 37 years old. . . . The Wall has fallen. And here I sit.” For Avid Jansen, life has come to a breaking point. The confident youth of the 70s moved by the dreams of new world is now on cross roads, Year is 1989 and the the Berlin wall is collapsed and the hope of a large generation including himself is in shatters. His marriage of 15 years is in ruins and his wife is about to leave him. His mother is diagnosed with cancer and she is off to her 'home' in Denmark. In other words the world around him is collapsing.

Following his mother, with whom he was never very close, from Norway ( where they live) to Denmark ( their vacation home) , he tries to win one of his loosing battles ( being a responsible son , he wanted to make sure that she is alright). However, things aren't as easy as he wanted it to be. He wasn't welcomed with any enthusiasm. Even here, he was timid and vulnerable as he had been through out his life.

Taking the title from a poem of Chairman Mao, quoted below by Avid:

"Fragile images of departure, the village back then.

I curse the river of time, thirty-two years have passed."

Avid likes these words because, “…it showed the human Mao, someone I was drawn to, someone who had felt how time was battling his body, as I had felt it so often myself; how time without warning could catch up with me and run around beneath my skin like tiny electric shocks and I could not stop them, no matter how much I tried.”

As he recounts his life and childhood during his journey to Denmark. His troubled relationship with his parents and siblings. The early life infatuation towards communism, which made him abandon the education to work in factories, his girlfriends and the childhood days in their vacation home. He was always the one struggling to find his footing in life. “I was searching for something very important, a very special thing, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not find it"

Dark, gloomy novel about abandonment and isolation. His characters are cold, aloof and cant get out of the shell they create themselves, tending towards existentialistic. They can never get warm to others or to themselves. Emotions are kept close to themselves and to the reader taking us through their struggle making us a part of them. However, they are likeable and stays with you even after the book finishes. While there is an overshadow of negativism in writing, there is never a dull moment. Petterson's writing leaves more unsaid, to the reader. It is not loud, silently grows in you as you go through the pages, leaving you with a tender feeling. Very good.

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I Curse the River of Time ( 2008)

Per Petterson ( translated from Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund in 2010)

Harvill Secker

233 Pages

Rs 550/-
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Other Reviews : NY Times, Guardian, Complete Review , Norden

Nudge : Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness - Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein

The book build on a premise that we humans are poor at making decisions. Without proper guidance ( nudge) and direction, we often tend to make poor choices. Most our decisions are biased and based on the way it has been arranged. Using various example, the University of Chicago Professors, explains the vulnerability of human in front of options. They tend to follow the status quo, methods of approximation, the herd mentality or peer references. Human also have the strong loss aversion tendencies and are very conscious about the 'spotlight effect' ( thinking others are observing you). Classifying people into 'Econ's ( people with basic economic inclination and can be influenced by economic incentives ) and 'humans" who are usually not so educated and can be influenced by nudges and incentives. The decision from the Econs are based on 'reflective' behavior while that of 'humans' are more 'automatic'. ( There you go, another two terms after Econs and Humans are 'reflective and automated' systems of response)

After a brilliant part 1, where the principles and basics are explained, they authors explains its relevance and importance of "choice architecture" in the daily life , from financial planning , medical options and to social and environment issues. Taking his arguments further, he talks about the role f governments in helping the citizens in using the right choice in medical, financial and social area by choice architecture and appropriate nudge. "Nudge" in their parlance is "any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people's behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives". Free market,economy with its basic architecture of choice and campaigns can mislead the individual and this is where the state to take the necessary steps to help the individual.

Coining the word `libertarian paternalism' , Thaler and Sunstein takes the arguments of state monitored and articulated process of helping decision making. Policies like "Opt-out" instead of Opt-in" and making the default as the most appropriate and work the other choices around this, he says we can bring about significant changes in the way citizens make choices. The say, "We oppose bans; instead, we favor nudges."

The synopsis and the details are here in this wiki page. Beyond the first part of behavior economics, the books turns into some sort of political and social issues. Typical to these kind of books, it is abundant with examples and proofs, often beyond what is necessary.

I'm not sure how much of the later part of the book can be practised. However, this is a very good and engaging read ( especially the initial parts) with a whole lot of case studies and proof points.

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Nudge : Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness ( 2008)

Richard H Thaler & Cass R Sunstein

Penguin Books

304 Pages

Rs 350

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Business.com

Turing's Delirium - Edmundo Paz Soldán

New age literature is breaking free from the same old narrative style and the subjects. The technological advancement and the usage of these medium have started appearing in the mainstream literature in the new century. Blog entries, e-mails and web and internet have started appearing often, albeit in the younger lot of writers. Soldan's Turing's Delirium also employs these effectively. What he does well is mixing up the old age style to the newer methodology pretty well. There are technical errors at a few places but that can be overlooked. His the sci-fi, virtual world thriller set in Bolivia, is interesting for this reason apart from his brilliance as a writer.

Cryptography is the theme and its the tussle of the old age tradition carried from the dates of Egyptian rulers , through the modern world, looking for evidences in the writing of Victorian elitists, in Shakespeare, in Bacon following it through the period when the cryptanalysis have taken the main stream of military intelligence especially during the first two world wars. This later enhanced in scope and technology during the cold war era and was used by various rulers around the world for quelling rebellion against their own regime.

Miguel Saenz, nicknamed 'Turing' ( after the legendary code breaker) is the center of the action. An old established 'code-breaker' worked for the dictatorship of President Montenegro during his peak, in the secret establishment called "Black Chamber", established by a mysterious American Albert. Black Chamber as the name suggest is the center of all the dubious information. Now the dictatorship is overthrown, and after a couple of democratic experiments, President Montenegro is back in power as a democratically elected leader. The absence of work and the change of leadership ( Albert is decaying in his apartment , abandoned and hallucinating, awaiting death ), moved Miguel's position to a mere record keeper. The new leadership believe in the newer ways of breaking codes using sophisticated softwares and the fresher recruits with new engineering and software skills.

However, the new challenge that posed to the regime is the constant attack on its websites, and that of leading multinational firms, especially the company that distribute power to the neighborhood. The company ( an Italian-American joint venture) had increased the rate recently after the Electricity was privatised by the government, resulting in widespread protest and agitation. The opposition is now active and there are skirmishes and police action to curb the agitation. It is during this time, there is the new form of cyber attack on the government and the leading companies. The so called cyber terrorism is supposedly lead by the underground hacker community of adolescent students, and is lead by one Kadinsky. Its now the responsibility of the 'Black Chamber' to nab the terrorists and bring them to justice. As expected, the hackers are always a step ahead of the authorities and with their clandestine activities, not easy to track. The only way to get to the thick of the action is to have someone from their own community. It is the teenage daughter and 'nerd' Flavia, daughter of Miguel who was identified as a capable candidate to help them in this mission.

This is the story at the fore front. Soldan uses the multi narrative technique to tell a fast paced gripping story. The cyber world of "Play Ground" where most of the counter Government and the anti - transnational activities are groomed and coordinated by people ( called the Resistance) with secret identities and unknown background joining for the cause. On the real time world of Miguel is copin with his troubled family life, Flavia being a computer genius and a hacker seldom come out of her room, Ruth developing distaste on his activities and his direct/indirect involvement in the atrocities of the regime during dictatorship. His affair with the drug addicted prostitute, whom he is being the guardian and provide for. He is also fighting his own trauma resulted from the guilt of his actions as the truths are now uncovered of his earlier success. Albert on his death bed having visions of the time of World War II, and the stories of successful code-breaking effort, helping the allied forces giving an edge over the Germans.

There is much more serious affairs running at the back ground. It is the revenge of the atrocities of the earlier dictatorship. As in the case of every dictatorship, there are stories of torture and killing of innocents and those who stood for justice. Two individuals are in pursuit of bringing this out. Ruth, the history professor at the University, wife of Miguel, has her research concluded on the involvement of Black Chamber ( that includes her husband) in the killings during the regime. Justice. Cardona, a former minister in the Montenegro government is planning his revenge of the death of his first love Martha. There are murders , cyber crimes , games and twist and turns in the narrative to keep the interest of the readers with some decent finish.

The book is of multi narration. The story is told by various participants, giving us a peep view of their character and their thinking. Hence the language and style vary dramatically from one narration to the other. Rightly so, and voice appropriate to the character. This , on the other hand, suffers from being brilliant writing in one chapter to mediocre in the next. ( I shall give the benefit of doubt to the original, as this might have suffered during translation - so, I hear from my friends from that part of the world). The book, also takes critical look at the globalisation and privatisation of national resources in a very subtle way. Under the pretext of a cyber thriller, Soldan covers these two serious topics of dictatorship ( Montenegro is modelled around Hugo Banzer Suárez, dictator from 1971 to 1978 and an elected president from 1997) and the repercussions of the globalisations in Latin America very well.

A good , fast paced , new age cyber - political thriller with parts of brilliant writing.
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Turing's Delirium ( 2003)

Edmundo Paz Soldan ( translated from Spanish by Lisa Carter 2006 )

Mariner Books

291 Pages
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Other reviews : Complete Review , Mostly Fiction

Encounter : Essays - Milan Kundera

"the sense that we have come to the era of post-art, in a world where art is dying because the need for art, the sensitivity and the love for it, is dying."

My initial enthusiasm of this writer ( during the 80s and early nineties) after reading "Life is Elsewhere", "Unbearable lightness of being" , "The joke" etc were taken a beating towards the end of the century. I did not particularly like Slowness, Ignorance or Identity. It is during this time that his non-fiction books started attracting my attention. All of them from the Art of the Novel to the Curtain were brilliant, explaining the aesthetics of art he is an expert. His new release, "Encounter" also treads the same path of his earlier non-fiction works. A collection of essays written and published over a period of last 20 years.

It is interesting to learn about one writer's understanding and views about other novels of the same era and genre, and especially by some one like Kundera. In his earlier essays, he was looking at some of the classics, and trend setting novels prior to 20th century. In this, he had given us the glimpses of some of the major 20th century novels albeit in very short essays. Its one single theme, or an observation or a paragraph that he writes about. Like, " I was reading One hundred years of Solitude when a strange idea occurred to me; most protagonists of great novels do not have children" or the observation of sexualities in the work of Philip Roth and and the second half of 20th century in general, post D H Lawrence era. He also examines the works of Juan Goytisolo, Luis Ferdinant Celine and Dostoevsky.

The homage to Anatole France based on the "The Gods are Thirsty" is an outstanding piece. A writer whom "people managed to keep the name on the blacklist" has a new life here. Explaining why the Gods are Thirsty is understood outside France than within it, Kundera's hypothesis can be applied to any historical fiction in general.

This explains why historical novels have always been better understood outside its own country than within it. For such is the fate of any novel whose action is too tightly bound to a narrow historical period: fellow citizens automatically look for a document of what they themselves experienced or passionately debated; they look to see if the novel's image of history matches their own; they try to work out the author's political stances, impatient to judge them. The surest way to spoil a novel."

In a letter to Carlos Fuentes, he observed the constellation off great writers in the eastern Europe , who changed the landscape of novel during the early decades of 20th century. He cites the names of Kafka, Musil, Broch, Gombrowicz . Similarly, in the sixties and seventies another great constellation of writers from Latin America " continued transforming the aesthetic of the novel; Jaun Rulfo, Carpentier, Sabato, Marquez and others. The modern avant Garde writers, he says, "

proclaim their own modernism for the novel, they did it in a purely negative way; a novel with no characters, no plot, no story, if possible no punctuation: a novel that came to be called the anti-novel." But he prefer to call " not as an anti-novel but an arch-novel. The arch novel would, primo, focus on what only the novel can say; and secundo, would revive all the neglected and forgotten possibilities the art had accumulated over the four centuries of its history."

In another billiant homage to the Martiniquan poet Cesaire, he discusses the possibilities of using multi lingual or bilingual use of language. Mixing Creole with French, the way Brazilian writer's liberty with Portuguese or Spanish American writers with Spanish. Another essay looks at the now forgotten writer Curzio Malaparte, of Italy and his novel the "Skin". I haven't read any of these, hence can only judge from his take on these books.

Other important essays includes few on the music of Leo Janacek, Xenakis and Schoenberg. He also dedicate one chapter on the lives of exile in " Elsewhere", and started the book with an essay on Francis Bacon, with a discussion on his induced deformity on the paintings he created. Inspite of the weak initial pages, this book is another profound study from one of this brilliant writer and intellect of the current era. I said weak because the essays are short ( often 3 to 4 pages) and have the potential to develop into a full fledged essays on their own. Being a random collection of essays ( unlike 'the curtain' or 'art of the novel'), there is no continuity or progression from one chapter to other. But his intelligence, analysis and insights are a treasure to the reader.

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Encounter : Essays ( 2009)

Milan kundera ( translated by Linda Asher 2010)

Faber & Faber

178 Pages
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Other Reviews : NY Times, Guardian

Leela: A Patch Work Life - Leela Naidu

I am not familiar with the actress Leela Naidu. Do not remember seeing an of her movies. She is not from our era of actors that I am familiar with. However, the person who gave the book to me is from that time. It is only later did I learn about Leela Naidu, the erstwhile Miss India, the cover girl of Vogue as the one of the most beautiful woman in the world, wife of poet Dom Moraes.

This is not a typical biography. It is a collection of her random incidents, not arranged in any chronological order, nor in any level of importance. interestingly, it does not have much about her on personal life, her child hood, her education or any details of her initial failed marriage with to the Oberoi clan. She also manages to skip all those unpleasant memories of her life from being discussed. Leela Naidu, writes the book with a disclaimer "This is the Leela I know. She had an eventful life by her own understanding of it and she thinks you might like to hear about it"

She brings out names after names from every where. The book starts with an anecdote, of Price Yusupov, the alleged murderer of infamous Rasputin, appear naked at the door of her Grandma, escaped from asylum , where he was taken in and fed upon. She also writes about one 'Bennito Mussolini' who used to work for her grand father at his factory, to be expelled from job for thrashing a co-worker's hand with a red hot metal rod..

Leela Naidu, has very good style of writing, of course supported by Jerry Pinto. She has a keen observation, and an acute sense of humour and srong convictions. Though she write about the major incidents in her life, and do get the attention of the reader; the attention is to the character and is not necessarily associated with Leela. Her acting classes with Jean Renoir, the help and guidance from Ingmar Bergman for a complication post child birth, the meeting of Salvadore Dali, who wanted to use her as a model for Madonna, the accidental chance to pose for vogue , each are intriguing in its own way.

On her personal attribute, we could see a strong person in support of the weaker section of the society. Be it the villagers of UP in their fight against the land mafia, the right to use the road during the religious ceremony, the one man( woman) fight against the plight of extras in the film shooting sets, the support for better food for the animals ( elephants ) during the shooting of a film were enough proof for her conviction and willingness to go to any extend to get things done towards what she believe. In the earlier chapters, she tells us the racial slurs and difficulties she had to face during her student years, and she slams India as one of the most racist countries in the world, with our age old caste systems and the way the lower classes treated by the rich.

Born to a celebrated scientist, Ramaiah Naidu, who worked with Marie Curie, later head their research and a French woman,an Indologist, she had a very European upbringing with Indian roots. As she puts it elsewhere in the book, "Daddy is Cafe, Maman is milk and I'm 'cafe au lait''. Widely read, learned music and dance, multi lingual ,with sharp brains added with her beauty and was set to take her into greater heights.

Her career in movies did not go as well as expected. After rejecting an offer from Raj Kapoor to sign in for four movies, she did manage to get few roles in the Hindi movies, to be directed by none other than Hrishikesh Mukherjee about which she says, "I do not remember my first day of shooting perhaps because I did not suffer from stage fright. According to me, stage fright is about waffling. It happens when an actor will not stay in the moment".

Her professionalism, her demand for script before signing, the perceived intellectual air around her, possibly would have come in as hindrance to her career. Though, each of the eight movies that she acted, where noticed. First movie with Hrishkesh Mukherjee, followed with the first production of James - Ivory, "The house Holder" , Trikaal with Shyam Benegal were critically acclaimed. Comparing the style she says : "What Renoir gave me was a basic understanding of the way in which a text was only a frame work and how each interpretation brought something new to that framework. What working with James Ivory did was to throw me back to my own resources because he said almost nothing."

She is not regretting her lost opportunities. After refusing to sign for Raj Kapoor, she seems to have missed many more including that of the lead role in David Lean's Dr.Zhivago. "You saw me posting the that letter ? It was to Geraldine Chaplin. She was my second choice for the role". Her observation on Arundhati Roy, with whom she worked in one film ( Electric moon) is noteworthy. "I must say I admire the way Arundhati has turned her status as celebrity author into a catalyst for the causes she cares about, but there was very little of the caring Ms Roy on the set of Electric Moon."

Leela was married twice, both ended in separation. The first, in her teens, were to the Oberoi family, with whom she had twins even before turning twenty, The bitter law suit of separation and the lost battle for possession of the daughters must have devastated her, and it is until late she got into her second marriage with poet and childhood acquaint Dom Moraes. This marriage which lasted longer was also not discussed in the book. however the second part of the book was more on her life post her film career and her travel around the world working for Dom, in his various literary pursuit, often working as his translator cum secretary .

Jerry Pinto , in his foreword explains that 'everyone who met her has a Leela Naidu story. This is her version.' This is not a life story, it is a parts ( patchwork as she say) of her life, as chosen , rather carefully, and told. I believe, apart from some of the curious incidents, there is no significance of this book in any genre of writing. There are no personal life insight, there is no multicultural imbalance and truggle, there is no heart breaking experiences. She was clear that the "book would have nothing to do with my life... It's only about the funny anecdotes and the sad historic ones I came across". And, that's all is there to this book.

-------------------------------------------------
Leela - A Patchwork Life ( 2010)

Leela Naidu with Jerry Pinto

Penguin Viking

180 Pages

Rs 450
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Other reviews : Outlook , DNA India

Enmakaje - Ambikasuthan Mangad

For the last couple of decades, people of the northern district of Kerala are fighting the authorities(on one side) and the business magnates (the other), trying to protect the land and the their living, against a deadly chemical. Enmakaje, a small village in Kasargod, become a symbol of the resistance ( and being its all enduring sufferer) of the movement against Endo Sulphan. The reports from various NGOs and Global agencies, project the gruesome effects of this chemical causes to the environment and the living creatures. The insects, the cattle , the reptiles , the birds one after other, either disappear or migrate to cleaner areas. Those who continued to live in the area suffered the most. Kids born with deformities, people die of mysterious deceases, increase in the number of people with mental illness... the counts are numerous. But for the authorities, these aren't enough to act. They demand concrete evidences, facts and results of analysis. The sponsored 'fact finding missions' of Governmental agencies returns with reports showing lack of evidence. Most of these people never set foot in the troubled zone. It is this issue that forms the background to this good novel by Ambikasuthan Mangad.

Ambikasuthan's Enmakaje is a place of hills, not one or two but in thousands.  Enmakaje is also a place of languages, not one or two but near a dozen. Apart from 'Tulu', Malayalam, Kannada, Konkani, there are Marathi settlers ( Naiks) , Arab speaking people and Byari prominent in Enmakaje. However, this multi linguistic nature does not prevent people from communicating, as people can converse in at least 5 different tongues. Enmakaje is also a place of truth. There are numerous "steps of truth" around that place. Once you are on those steps, you have to tell the truth and only truth. The believe is that you will not be able come down from these steps if you are a liar. Enmakaje is ( or was) also a place of water , with its umpteen streams making it land fertile. There are no wells in the village as the water is abundant for every house in the village..

Now all these are history, as the government controlled and run "Plantation Corporation" has converted a substantial part of the natural flora into Cashew Plantation. The trouble started when the corporation started spraying the pesticide known as "Endo Sulfan" under various marketing names. According to multiple reports and studies, the ecological balance of the village is damaged for ever. As mentioned before, people started dying of mysterious deceases. Kids were born with damaged limbs or other physical ailments. The number of mental patients have up beyond the normal rates of other places. Number of suicides increased. This was not a story of Enmakaje alone, but that of the other areas where the use of Endo Sulfan is prevalent spread across 7-8 villages in Kerala and a few in Karnataka.

There are protests and agitations, and typical in such cases through out the history and across the globe, these were crushed by the use of power. There were multiple committees and study groups sponsored by the government ( and hence by the Pesticide Lobby) which always returned with report giving 'Endo Sulfan' a clean chit. Even recently, a Central Minister came to the support of the Pesticide company in Public. However, every independent study shows the use of Endo Sulfan as the reason for these unnatural phenomenon in these villages. The water bodies are contaminated, the levels of Endo Sulfan in the blood samples are alarmingly high among residence. Even 'breast milk' samples, which is considered to be the purest food, was found poisonous. The impacts are also huge on the flora of the area. There are no insects any more. Birds aren't seen. The common crow is a rarity. The hills once had a large number of animals are now vanished and bare. The resistive movements are active with many NGO organisations, but never been able to make any headway over the years. These workers are threatened by the mighty and was haunted by the authorities.

It is to this place is where Neelakantan and Devayani comes looking for peace escaping from every human contacts they ever had. After an eventful life at the Capital city of Kerala, disillusioned with life. His open house, with no door or windows, was a shelter for every one who is in need at Thiruvananthapuram. From lepers, to old people, injured to prostitutes .. every one found his house their home. Devayani, reached his place on one of such escapade  form the cruel animals of the society and stayed on. By destroying every evidence of their life, the two started of from South of Kerala to the northern part of the state. It is in one of the abandoned hill that they make their home. To the poor villagers, he is the silent saint, who never speak to anyone, not even to Devayani.  He seldom leave home. Devayani has an occasional travel outside, to the weekly market, buying essential. Their need is minimal. Eat the roots and fruits,or a rare rice soups.

Their encounter with the reality was accidental. The kid came into their life after Devayani found his parents hanging from the ceiling and the abandoned kids silent cry made her to bring him home. Neelakantan was angry, he did not want anyone else in their life, he reacted violently, ran out of home to the hill and jungle. The kid was silent, it made some sounds when in pain and hungry. The wounds on his body did not dry up. It is the tribal chief and doctor 'Panchi' who explained the cases to them. He is not a kid, but did not grow. There are many kids similar , some with missing limbs since birth, some with tongue hanging outside unable to put them in, some crippled and many with mental illness.

To them , it is the curse of the hill ( or nature in a broader sense). The 'jaDAdhAri hills' had a curse on the people and they are suffering this for their ancestors misdeeds. They have resigned to the fate and the occasional medical help they seek. A chance meeting with the Doctor, give him insights to the issues of Endo Sulfan. Hurt and sad, and his inability to cure and save the boy, drags him into the action scene from his self inflicted isolation from the society. Protesting in front of the Plantation corporation with the body of the dead child, and attacking and disrupting the helicopter which came in to spray the next round of pesticides, Neelakantan and the group started the resistance in a small way. Typical to such team, they too were soon branded as 'naxalites' and was arrested and tortured along with another activist.

There are characters typical to a cinema story. The minister, who has no time for the people, the local leader who has all the power and fan fare, the good fellow medical practitioner, the freelance press reporter, the group of silent victims ; each playing their parts in their own way.

Main stream literature that themed on environmental issues aren't many. Juan Rulfo's master piece Pedro Paramo is the work that came into my mind as I read this book. The village of Comala, with its wandering souls awaiting 'moksha'.  Unlike 'Comala', Enmakaje is real. Comala is haunted by its ghostly souls, but in Enmakaje, the souls are real, who suffers the fate resulted from human greed in front of us all. They also have no escape, until one day death release them from this. What is haunting us is these images, we have seen over the years, in news papers and other media.

Despite the propaganda nature of the novel, Ambikasuthan Mangad has done a good job with his narration. Except for the initial drag of getting into the groove and its documentary style of detailing , the language is in line with the tale. The beautiful mixture of myths , legends and folklore into the story did help to take this into a different level. He use the change of languages and tone effectively.  On the other side, none of the characters are deep or strong, and are very predictable. However, the book end fabulously.

We need more of such books, widely read and discussed.

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Enmakaje  ( 2009 )

Ambikasuthan Mangad

D C Books

200 Pages

Rs 120/-
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All Souls - Javier Marias

Javier Marias is one of those writers I have never managed to read, all these years, despite many recommendations. This book might not be the best place to start, but it is all that I could get my hands on. Marias have spent two years during the 80s teaching Spanish at Oxford as a visiting professor. This book is a result of his experience and life there. Oxford is a typical boring academic town with its pretentious life with eccentric, and lethargic, uninteresting people. Protagonist of this novel ( if one can call it so), is also a Spaniard teaching at Oxford on a two year assignment and the book is based on his interactions with some of the entertaining characters in the academic circle and around.

This is not a story per se. Its a loosely collated details about various interesting, colorful and being at a place like Oxford, slightly off beat individuals that the protagonist had acquainted. In that count, this is not a full length novel with a definite story line with any moments of twists or turns, nor does it have any subtle undercurrents of sustained emotions.

One of the ongoing thread of this book is an illicit affair the protagonist has with one of the academic of Oxford , whom he met during a "high table" dinner. Also, his wandering around the small time second hand book shops in search of the books of few obscure English writers. However the novel is more threads through a collection of individual portraits some of the characters. This include a couple of homo sexual professors, economist specialized in 18th century tax structure, professor of literature who writes horror novels, another academic and Russian expert who is suspected to be a spy, second hand book sellers, plump chicks of neighboring towns at the pub, members of some exotic writer society, among others.

The writing is brilliant ; crisp and satirical . Episodic progression through one character to the other with a detached clarity and observation keeping the interests of the reader alive through out the reading. Dry humor, touch of pathos ( there are no happy or positive lives around barring the narrator), and sensitive and touchy characters and encounters.

Unlike a regular novel, there are no build up or development of characters or theme. However, he handles the subject and the characters very delicately. I don't think there will be consensus among the reading community about this novel. But on the whole I liked the novel for the shear sensitivity of the writing.

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All Souls ( 1989 )

Javier Marias ( Translated by Margeret Jull Costs yr.1992)

Vintage

210 Pages
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llustrado - Miguel Syjuco

This book had a distinction of winning the man Asian Literary award , even before it was published. I understand the book was in its manuscript form when it was conferred the one of the biggest Asian Literary Awards for writing in English. That probably a reason for me to look for this book, adding to the motive of not having read anything of a Philippines based writer ( Miguel Syjuco, is based out of the Montreal, though).

Crispin Salvador, a leading literary figure of Philippines, was found dead floating in Hudson river in New York. Though the authorities dismissed this as another case of suicide, one of his protege , the narrator of this book, who is named after the author himself, did not believe so, for reasons justified enough. Salvador, is reportedly, writing a novel, which is expected to cause major disturbances to the literary , political and social life of Philippines on its publication. Salvador, son of a rich sugar plantation owner, had his education done at the best of European schools , later known for his hard hitting political reportage and his wayward way of living ( often with communist guerrillas, with various women). A writer of various genre of literary works, spanning children's books, political reportage, cheap romance novels, action packed thrillers , novels of high literary value which won him couple of awards, short stories and a 'tell all' memoir, which alienated him from his erstwhile family and said to be the reason of his living exile in US.

Miguel Syjuco's curiosity picked up after he learned about the missing manuscripts of his 'work in progress' novel , the Bridge Ablaze (TBA) which is expected to threaten the social fabric of Philippines. Unable to accept the suicide theory, he chooses to investigate the truth by himself, bringing him to the islands of Philippines. His intention of meeting Salvador's friends and family members, his comrades and critics, and most importantly, his daughter living aloof. The story thus takes us through the fragments of the life of the rich and the political and social history of Philippines spanning over a century. Ilustrados are the educated rich class of people during the colonial period under the Spaniards. The current lots are the descendants of the those rich during the colonial period, who continue to control the government and hold influential positions in the state.

Syjuco's expectation about the reaction of the death of the writer wasn't shared by anyone he met at Philippines. "...nobody's going to the States to murder someone nobody remembers, who's writing a book nobody has seen." was the typical reaction. There wasn't any enthusiasm in the social circle about the obscure writer whose yet to be published book. Even the dead writer himself isn't very open about his book.

I truly wish I could tell you more about TBA ( the bridge ablaze) . I can't. Not yet. I can tell you only this. It is a necessary work. Because it will implicate them all. All those people who said hope was hopeless, and so instead took to begging with their eyes a portion of the booty.... now I'm bargaining, begging, for just one last chance to bequeath a book about all the lessons I've learned painfully over the course of my life. .. I once thought The Bridge Ablaze would be that masterpiece. I'm not so sure it matters much anymore

.The book also is critical about the current state of writing in Philippines.

What is Filipino writing ? Living on the margins, a bygone era,loss, exile, poor me angst, post colonial identity theft. Tagalog words intermittently scattered around for local color, exotically italicised. Run on sentences and facsimiles of magical realism, hiding behind the disclaimer that we Pinoys were doing it years before the South Americans

Mixing up the historical period and the social structure , Miguel Syjuco writes the tale from the current , corrupt , greedy, scandalous politics of Philippines ( naming the rulers and leaders ), to the period of US occupation and the period of Spanish colonial period, giving us glimpses of the history of the family of Salvador, Miguel Syjuco ( the narrator) and the current state of affairs. Interestingly, the resemblance of Miguel's life with that of Salvador's is very evident ( with his relationship with the family, the mostly exiled life, unhappy love life) and the tale is often interlaced and mixed.

The book itself id written with the new medium of communicating and experimenting with various styles. Part of the book is the narration by the protagonist, part is the writings of Salvador from his various works, the interviews published at Paris Review, few diary entry by the protagonist, e-mails, blog entries and the follow on comments and a few third person commentary on Miguel Syjuco ( the protagonist).there are also a parallel thread of funny anecdotes about a character who has nothing to do with the main story whatsoever ( some of the jokes are good for cracking at a party gathering though). All these are interesting, but does not add anything to the theme by itself and often diluted the seriousness of the theme. He has a good style of writing and the book itself is an easy read. But it does not classify to be a masterpiece.

If I may borrow the exact words from this book, it is a work of a writer who,

...sit at home in your Greenwich Village Penthouse, living off the family inheritance, writing in English about the Philippines for the entertainment of foreigners..."

I have the similar opinion about most of the Indian Writing in English.

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Ilustrado ( 2010)

Miguel Syjuco

Picador

308 Pages
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Other Reviews : Guardian , Washington Post , Complete Review, NY Times

Super Crunchers - Ian Ayres

Data based decision making is not new.  It had been there for ages. Why has it come to prominence again under various names like Number crunching,  data crunching or as the title here says super crunching.  The only difference is now the ability to do this in a jiffy, in split seconds and perform action ( many automatically) based on the results. With the advancement of IT and super computing, it has become more widely used not only by researchers, but by business as well.  So much is the importance, that some of the largest IT Services companies offering services around the business of analytics.

However, this book revolve around what is known to us already. Looking at statistical regression and related examples from various field and some of the front runners, who relied on the data based decision making, in place of the common wisdom and intuition.  Typical to many of them,  Ian Ayres too, starts with the wine industry ( why is the wine industry so popular with number crunching ? The book titles Quants, was also begun on similar lines, if I remember correctly) and the typical exchange of words by the traditionalists and the 'super crunchers', He then goes through various segments of industry such as  medicine, legal ( predicting the judgement based on previous results and data), movies( the box office collection even before the first frame is shot) , and social ( government projects, dating and marriage services, the individuals characteristics and preferences), explaining the merits over and over again.

One of the key ingredient of regression analysis, is the data itself. However, we could use the same methodology in arriving at business decision by selective experiments and data collection using randomization trials and or with control group experiments.  With the advancement in technology and the availability of large data set, helps us run the experiments with multiple variables with various controls as is needed.

The book is an easy fiction like read, with innumerable case studies or examples, each driving us to the same conclusion that the data cant lie. Having said that, it traces the obvious and to me there are no new insights making it a pretty ordinary read.

He conclude the book with a line, which captures this book in a nutshell: Super Crunching is not substitute for intuition, but a compliment. Our intuition, our experiences, and,yes,statistics should work together to produce better choices.

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Super Crunchers : How anything can be predicted ( 2007)

Ian Ayres

John Murray ( Publishers)

260 Pages
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Further read: Emerging Trends

The Masque of Africa : Glimpses of African Belief - V S Naipaul

At the age of 76 ( he is now 78), Nobel Laureate V S Naipaul packs his bags again to Africa. A continent he visited 40 odd years ago, giving us a couple of thought provoking ( though controversial) books. This time, he says, his theme is around "African Belief", and will not be politics or religion.

My theme is belief, not political or economical life; and yet at the bottom of the continent the political realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account."

Starting his journey from Uganda moving on to Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast , Gabon before concluding at South Africa. At the outset, it looks and reads like a westerners prejudiced view of the continent and he hasn't been able to free himself from the it,. Most of his preparation was based on the 19th century European travellers and often he was trying to identify the present day Africa to that of 19th century descriptions.

Africa, to many outsiders are still a mystery. While the new world religions are prominent , the traditional religion or way of living is gaining huge momentum. This phenomenon is seen across sub Saharan Africa. Arabs came for trade and brought Islam to the land centuries ago. While they were less forceful, compared to Christianity, the Saharan and north eastern countries embraced it. However, Christianity came in with the European slave traders.

"The colonial masters came here for business. Slave trade was a business. May be bad, but it was purely business. They took, but they gave us the church. That was a death knell to traditional religion. In the traditional religion, every king had his chief priest and elders to consult. It was a democratic system. It promoted sanity. People did not cross boundaries. The church came and overturned this. They brought in Jesus." and "They took away our land, religion, customs and social structure. Our king, our everything"

To a culture, where spirits and ancestors hold the key, the new religions came in with a different opening.

"Both Christianity and Islam would have been attractive to Africans for a simple reason. They both offered an afterlife; gave people a vision of themselves living on after death. African religion on the other hand was more airy, offering only a world of spirits, and the ancestors.

During these time , end of 18th century and most part of the 19th century , saw the spread of these religion in Africa, at least to the outer world, while the practice of traditional religion and rituals continue to thrive under various clan leaders. 

We were brought up in the faith, and that dictates that African religion as paganism. We were trained to despise it.... Now that I have grown up and had exposure, I see it was a tool to control our African mind. It is how the imperialists worked.

Culture does not die - today it is called witch craft."

Not surprisingly, most of the research or fact finding in the journey revolved around these practitioners. Meeting various clan leaders or priests ( of African belief), Naipaul build his story around the practices of which craft, sorcerer, sooth sayers, healers and black magicians. Obviously, people who claims to have control or ability to initiate the spirits of ancestors hold the key in the life of common man. There is no difference between Country, City, small town, village or the forest in these believes.

Relying largely on the conversations with his guides, sponsors and few of the people of control, he bring about their thoughts and idea of the African belief; at times referring to his previous visits to the continent. And that , I believe, is one of the short fall of the book. There are no insights, often contradicting views with no clarification by the author makes it pretty ordinary read for most part. There is also kind of contempt in his language which does not go well with a sympathizer. At one place, he even experiment with one of these men asking him to find out about the marriage of his girl ( he does not have children). "Will my daughter get married ?"... "The girl is not going to get married. You have many enemies. To break their spells we will have to do many rituals. This will cost money, but the girl will get married.

Across the continent, there is a revival of traditional beliefs, while continue to practice the religion of their birth. This contradiction, which is seen in every aspect of African life, makes the story interesting. More and more writers rely on their own language, more and more governments encouraging the local culture and religion, people of high profile openly coming out in support of the believes and defending them in public. As an outsider the new century Africa will be an interesting place to watch and admire. 

"I want to tell you about language, how important it is. There is a spiritual quality to the language, to words. If you use language as tool to suppress people it will loose all its spirituality.... Our mother tongue historical elements, and words were important."

The blurb proclaim, "The best living writer of English Prose". This book was far from it. Most of the initial writings were very ordinary. It does not reflect the language and insights of a Nobel Laureate. The section about Gabon could be an exception, where I found the language and content beautifully woven. That one chapter made all the difference to reading this book. In general the language and style improved towards the end. Writing on Gabon and that of South Africa were beautifully written. However, I am not excited about this book.

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The Masque of Africa ( 2010)

V S Naipaul

Picador India

325 Pages

Rs 595
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More : Guardian , Telegraph

Mumbai Jaalakam - Jyothirmayi Sankaran

Kerala depends on its expats for most of the moral , financial and literary growth. The flow of people out of Kerala has started long ago, primarily for seeking jobs. Over the decades, the flavour of location kept changing from Mumbai, Delhi to Chennai , the Gulf countries and Bangalore ( of late the U.S) . In the early migration, Mumbai stood as one of the most preferred destination. Unlike Delhi, where most of the expats were on the PSU jobs or central govt service, Mumbai was common man's paradise. Ultil the early 70s Mumbai continued to attract many Keralites. It was the trouble that erupted with the rise of Shiv Sena, this flow of Keralites reduced to Mumbai. Chennai , was the preferred destination for many a lower section of the crowd, setting up tea and vegitable shops and around late 70s the desert dream and Gulf mania gripped Kerala. The Y2K lead opportunities and the need for Software engineers, made Bangalore the most preferred destination in the recent past.

It is thus, important to understand that every Keralites, carry a part of Kerala within him when he migrates, living off the nostalgic memories of the distant land. The last half of 20th century gave us enormous literary classics, in Malayalam, produced from these parts of the country. Some of the big names in Malayalam Literature ( there are quite a few names), have spent a large part of their life in Mumbai or Delhi. On the other side, every family in Kerala can boast of some one of their close relative, residing in most of these metros, hence making these names like Bandra, Andheri, Chembur, Goregaon , familiar to them as if they are some part of Trissur or Palakkad.

Smt Jyothirmayi Shankaran, brings out the daily snippets of the life in Mumbai, in this recently published book Mumbai Jaalakam. There are no dearth of books that cover the Mumbai story at varied topics and influence. Mumbai had been part of the literary read for most of the 'reading' Keralites through the works of Anand and others. There had been stories and legends passed over friends get together and other informal meetings. But seldom, had there been an attempt to get them told in a basic form of narration, meant for general read.

Jyothirmayi Shankaran, does not deploy the high brow language, and there is no pretensions of any intellectual debates. These are the observations and readings of the common man. This are the impressions of some one living this life, and not that of a traveller. Like every common man/woman, she takes up issues with the way authorities are handling various functions, the fear of safety, the tussle with the auto/taxi drivers, the rise and fall stock market, the Bollywood, the separate world of the sub-urban train, the effect of terrorism, the local importance places and their significance, the festivities and the Gods. These are not the notes on Mumbai alone, its the tale of every large metro in india. Mumbai had the advantage or disadvantage of going through them ahead of the rest, often leading them in many a progress.

These are written over the period of Dec 2007 to March 2010, and, I understand, was published in the online magazine Kanikkonna under the same name. It was now compiled into a book and was published, by the same group. Easy and quick read, and barring  few places, she shows a lot of command over the use of language and style.

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Mumbai Jaalakam ( 2010 )

Jyothirmayi Sankaran

Kanikkonna Publications

176 Pages

Rs 100/-
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Amulet - Roberto Bolaño

"This is going to be a horror story. A story of murder, detection and horror. But it won't appear to be, for the simple reason that I am the teller. Told by me, it won't seem like that. Although, in fact, it's the story of a terrible crime." starts the book. The book indeed is that of horror and murder. Based on the real incident of massacre of students and the curb of the demonstration by the Mexican authorities. Bolano, does not refer to the murder directly, but the theme hover around this, coming back to the fate again and again, through the experience of Auxilio Lacouture, a Uruguan expat in Mexico city, self proclaimed " mother of all Mexican poets".

During the eventful days of students uprising, locked herself , in the "cubicle of the ladies "lavatory on the fourth floor of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma in Mexico City (UNAM), where she has been trapped by an army occupation of the campus", thus demonstrating a solitary protest ( according to her),she become part of the resistance by her own way. It is this eventful 12-15 days( which she does not remember exactly), that takes her through the life, half in delirium due to the solitary confinement and the tiredness due to lack of food, get us through the fable of her time during those years and that of the socio-political life in Mexico City.

Auxilio, came to Mexico city, from Montevideo, few years before 1968. It could be 1967 or 65 or as early as 63, she does not remember. All she know was the poets Leon Felipe and Pedro Garfias were alive ( both of them died in 1968) and she was working at their home doing odd jobs and other errands for them. It is this acquaintance with the great poets made her stake the claim of mother of all Mexican Poets. She did not have a proper job. Apart from spending her time in the taverns and coffee bars with young and wanna be poets, she works at the university, at her own will on mostly free or for occassional wages given on temporary work at various functions at the University.

It is also important to know the events that happened in 1968 at Tlateloco in Mexico City. There were general unrest and agitation for larger freedom and democracy against the ruling PRI ( single party rule at that time in Mexico). On the Octover 2, 1968 students from the above mentioned university along with the rest of the liberal politicians and intellects gathered at Plaza de Tlateloco, Mexico City for a meeting. The Army surrounded the place and opened indiscriminatory fire against the agitators. More that 300 killed and many more seriously injured. There were many arrested, imprisoned and tortured , leaving behind one of the darkest days in 20th century Mexico's history. You can read more of that here.

Auxilio, on her note confirms that she was at the University and did not witness the murder.

I was at the university on the eighteenth of September when the army occupied the campus and went around arresting and killing indiscriminately. No. Not that many people were killed at the university. That was in Tlateloco. May that name live forever in our memory ! But I was at the university when the army and the riot police came in and rounded everyone up.

But on her part she still feels the pain of the sorrow, and her repeated recollections of her days at the lavatory , even after many years as late as 1974 in some of her stories. She continue to be tormented and continue to suffer from night dreams and hallucinatory visions. The last few pages, where the 'ghost-children' of Tlateloco, march in unison singing and falling off the abyss to the depth of history. She says, "And although the song that I heard was about war, about the heroic deeds of a whole generation of young Latin Americans led to sacrifice, I knew that above and beyond all, it was about courage and mirrors, desire and pleasure."

This is not an isolated Mexico story. Its the story of the Latin America in general, almost all of the countries going through troubled times in the 60s and early 70s. His alter ego, Aurtirito Belano, a young poet from Chile came to Mexico to live, During the times of Allende, he goes back to his native country, returning back to Mexico after he was de-throwned in a coup. Like many of his countrymen he too did not do anything apart from being a silent witness. Auxillio says "everyone was somehow expecting him to open his mouth and give us the latest news from the Horror Zone, but he said nothing, as if what other people expected had become incomprehensible to him or he simply didn't give a shit."

Bolano, also indicates that the only thing that survive beyond generations are the literary works. He predicts, the resurrection of various writers from the past having readers in the 21st and 22nd centuries while he himself was not sure of the outcome in the near future. Auxilio in her days of confinement says,

The vanity of writing, the vanity of destruction. I thought, Because I wrote, I endured. I thought, Because I destroyed what I had written, they will find me, they will hit me, they will rape me, they will kill me. I thought, The two things are connected, writing and destroying, hiding and being found.

There are many intellectuals and political figures appear in her narrative. Apart from many known Mexican Poets, she seems to have acquainted and the Italian and French artists and painters, Ernesto de Che Guevara also appears in Mexico.

Extremely powerful and haunting book. It is not an easy read and for majority of the pages it goes through the hallucinatory world of scattered events, people, time often jumbled and troubled as the narrator herself experience. Its very demanding read and Bolano does not explain the real motive or drive behind the fiction, making it more and more obscure. However, a strong narration and the absorbing language in line with the overall direction makes this a compelling and powerful book. Outstanding.

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Amulet ( 1999)

Roberto Bolaño ( translated by Chris Andrew 2006)

Picador

184 Pages
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