The Lowland

Yet another intriguing novel from Jhumpa Lahiri.

The book recounts the lives of two brothers in Calcutta who were born during the time India had got independence. Subhash and Udhayan were born 15 months apart. They studied in the same class and shared the same room in their house. Udhayan was more brave but Subhash was more reserve.

During the middle of the 1960s, there was uprising among the peasants in the Naxalbari area against the owners of the land claiming for the percentage of crops they had produced. This Naxalbari incident triggered
more protests in the other parts of West Bengal also. Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal, prominent figures in the agitation against Capitalism formed a new party CPI(ML). They influenced the students in the West Bengal Universities and made them to join in their cause.

Udhayan was influenced to join this party. But Subhash was skeptical about the party's positive outcome. During this time, Subhash went to Unites States to pursue his doctorate. Things got worsened in the West Bengal where many students got involved in the agitation. The movement started too intense.

Udhayan got a job in lecturing. He fell in love with a bookish girl, Gauri. Both got married without their families' consents. Finally they moved to Udhayan's home after his parents halfheartedly accepted Gauri. Udhayan was living a dual life then. Although he was in the lecturing job he was also a active member in the Naxal agitation. He didnt let Subhash know about this secret.

Oneday, police came to Udhayan's home in search of him. But he went to the Lowland, where they usually cross to go to the fields for playing football during their childhood, and drowned inside the water to escape from the police. But the police took his family to that place and asked to show up otherwise they would start eliminate his family members one by one. He came up from the water and they took him inside the jeep. The police asked his family to go to the house. They took him to the place near the lowland and asked him to walk with the hands raised up. Then they shot him and took him  with them. All these happenings were watched by his father, mother and Gauri from the top terrace of their house. They didn't return Udhayan's body. He just vanished .

Subhash got a telegram from his parents about Udahyan's death and he left to Calcutta.  These incidents were narrated to him by Gauri. Gauri was pregnant at that time and Subhash wanted to marry Gauri and want to become the father of Udhayan's child.They got married against their families wishes. Finally, Subhash took Gauri to USA and started to live there.

Initially, Gauri was reluctant in sleeping with Subhash in the same bed. Subhash thought that it might be due to the pregnancy and she would be OK once she delivered the child. After Bela was born, they started to live like a husband and wife. But Gauri was always lost in something and she couldnot concentrate on Bela. But on the other hand, Subhash loved Bela more than Gauri and spent most of his time with her.

When Subhash and Bela went to Calcutta after his father's death, Gauri left  them and went to California without informing Subhash or Bela. They didn't try to find her. Bela became a introvert after her mother deserted her. When Bela completed her high school education, she wanted to go to a job where she would till the land and do the farming. She became interested in changing the lives of the poor. Subhash thought that this attribute must be inherited from Udhayan. She became a nomad and occasionally came to home to see his father. She got pregnant and wanted to raise the child without its father.

The final part of the story was nostalgic where Gauri was confronted by Bela when she came to their house and her repentance for being indirectly involved in the killing of a policeman for which her husband, Udhayan was executed. How an agitation or movement change the lives of people! How one incident change your attitude towards life and ultimately change the course of your life!  

Why this Kolaveri?

Killing. No matter who you are, no one can retrieve a life after it is gone or can create a new one.

Coming to one of the biggest problems in India, RAPE.  There could be numerous reasons we can ascribe for the exponential increase in the happenings of rapes in India. I don't want to argue or debate about the reasons for those happenings. I want to speak about the things that those culprits do after they have satiated their sensual needs. The MURDER.

Why the killing? What made them to kill? 'Two girls hanging in a Tree, Two policemen were arrested' reads a newspaper. People read that and feel pity for those victims for some time and start doing their daily chores. It's not about they should do something to prevent these happenings.

 We are talking about enlightenment and empowerment of women. But what are all these? The need of the hour is not about  upgrading the status or lifestyle of women. It is about the safeguard of women. The very basic Right of a human in this country is the 'Right to Life'. Ironically, that fundamental right is increasingly demolished in the largest democracy of the world. That too because one is a woman and that too, she is in her prime age.

India is a land of multitude diversities. But She embraces each and every difference. If you look at the history of Bharat,  many Roshis and Yogis whovattained the highest level of Spirituality were women. There were many women among the courtesans of many Indian Kings. They had very high intellectual knowledge. So, when did this disrespect and atrocities against women begin? I am not telling that everything was perfect in the past. But, I want to emphasis more on the collective attitude of society towards women.

What made them to rape a 14 and 15 year old and hang them alive? Still, I could not assimilate the enormity and magnitude of the crime they had committed. Is being a girl in prime age is a crime in India? Or being a woman itself is a crime? Ironically, We call our country as 'Bharat Matha'. I feel that I have failed as a citizen of this country in maintaining the honor and dignity of our motherland. It is not only the matter of those two 15 year old or their families or the culprits who had done this inhuman crime. We failed as a society and note my point, if these atrocities and crimes against women continues, then the society will crumble totally. I am having a feeling that we are again going back to the forest where the rule is 'Might is Right' and there would be lawlessness. Our civilization is just beginning to melt. Someone told that 'India is a well developed country and it had the highest Spiritual and intellectual knowledge. The saddest point here is that "It is in the advanced stages of decay"' I am afraid that it would become true.

What is our role in the society in curbing or at least attempting an effort to overcome these hurdles in our way? Sitting back and lamenting ourselves will not solve any problem. The thoughts should be converted into actions. As a layman, What could we do? A general question. I am having the strong opinion that 'Education' and sensitization would be the main weapon in neutralizing these untoward incidents.

'Giving education to the able and unaffordable young girls' will be very helpful in improving their knowledge at-least in a small margin. It is just a simple and rudimentary step. But, the seeds of our action will borne fruit someday. I wish that everyone should give back something to the society. May be a 1% of our monthly salary. I don't think it would make a big hole in our monthly budgets. May be a little, a small at-least for the sake that we are humans.

The curious case of Yuvraj Singh

  Humanity always wants the success. No matter what you have done in the past, when you are failed even after 100 successes, people would talk about that one failure only. Sachin was one of the best examples for it.
  6th April 2014. T20 World Cup Final. India Vs SriLanka. India batted first. After the wicket of Rohit, Yuvraj came in to the crease. People thought of the wonders he had done for his country. They expect that he would repeat the same that day. Even the opposition respect him. On this fateful day, he came to the crease at 11th over. He got his first run in his first ball faced. He has scored 6 runs in 11 balls. Everone thought that he was taking time to go for the big hits. After the end of 17th over, he was at 9 with 16 balls faced. People started frustrating about him for wasting too many balls in the short format. But many believed that he would very soon start hitting big shots.After the end of 18th over, still no big hits from him. He was at 11 from 20 balls. The problem with his batting was not that he could not hit big shots but with his inability to take a single and give strike to Kohli who was in a blistering form at the other end.

  Still two overs remaining. He was facing the 1st ball of the 19th over. He was gone. After making 11 runs from 21 balls, he was gone. The fate of him has been decided. He would become the scapegoat of the Indian fans if India lose the match. Exactly, the same thing has happened. India has lost.

I too felt sad for the loss. I red from the newspapers next morning that Yuvraj's house has been stone pelted for his poor performance in the match. That made me to write this blog. A basic question. How should we take the loss or win in a sport? For the people of India, cricket is not just a game. It is a religion. People will make you a demi god if you are constantly bringing glory to India. The moment when you lose, the same people will see you as a mad street dog.People doesn't just want to see India lose. In other words, they don't have the tolerance seeing India lose. They want to show their frustration in one way or the other. They don't endure when their religion(Cricket) is losing and their so called demi-gods are on the losing side. They don't understand that losing is just a part and parcel of the game. The result of a sport should not be taken personally. A sport is like any other job but it has a wide range of viewership where the work is encouraged and cheered. But, it should not go beyond a particular limit like harming and abusing the sportsperson personally.

Look at the case of Yuvraj singh. he is the only player in India who has won the U19 world cup, T20 world cup and 50 over world cup. He was the Player of the Tournament in the U19 world cup and the 50 over world cup when India wins. He was the major contributor to the  T20 world cup win. His six sixes in a over is unprecedented in International cricket. He brought many laurels to the country. His batting style and his timing is well known. His fielding is impeccable. He gave 200 percent to his game. He came back to the Indian cricket team after successfully won the Cancer which, for me, tells his greatest mental strength and will power. His love for the game and his love for the country is unquestionable. Yet he was the victim of so called fanatic following of sport when he was abused and his house was stone pelted. When will all  these shallow things going to change? When this fanaticism will end? See, Sport as a Sport!

The Mystic Masseur

 

V.S Naipaul's first novel. The novel is set in the forties and fifties of the 20th century. During then, Trinidad and most of the surrounding islands were occupied by the British. Ganesh, who had studied his school education at his home town, were being sent to a nearby city to pursue his higher studies. There he was not very comfortable with his living conditions but he managed to do well at his studies.
 
   He had some tryst with teaching profession but it was unsuccessful. When he returned to his home town for his father's funeral, he could see many unknown people at his father's deathbed. He didn't know how to react and he didn't have enough money to do the funeral. Some distant relatives had helped him  along with one of his father's friends. After that, he was idle for some months with out knowing what to do.He was just roaming around the town. The people in his place had good respect for him as he was educated and was a teacher also.
 
   His father's friend had a grocery shop and he had some plots and houses in some places also. He had a daughter at marriageable age. Ganesh started to spend more time in his shop as he had nothing to do. As his father's friend had great respect for his father and for him, he wanted him to marry his daughter. The author's description of the marriage ceremony was very funny and it clearly reflected the mindset of the people in those times. He got a house in a remote location as his dowry and some money too.
  
   After moving to the new house along with his wife, he was idle for some time. His wife were always reprimanding him for not doing anything. He wanted to try his hand in writing. He wrote a book but it didn't do well. Then he wanted to start practice as a masseur. But his well wishers advised him not to do that as he was educated and these kind of jobs were being done by quacks and illiterate people.As his house was located in a very remote place, no body came to him for some years. When some one came also, they were not impressed with him. But one day, his fortunes were going to be changed.  It came in the form of a young boy who had the illusion of seeing a dark cloud coming close to him day by day. Ganesh successfully uprooted the fear and illusion from the boy's heart. How Ganesh had done that was a very funny and witty part which was very well illustrated. The parents of the boy were so happy that they were heaping praise on Ganesh in their place and many people started flowing in to see him and get remedied from their disturbances.

   He became very popular and wrote his second book which did very well and gave him recognition. He then decided to try his hand at Politics where he was challenged by his old friend in school. What were the tricks and plans he had done to get in to the post were written with good humor. That is one of the best parts in this book.

   The mindset of the Trinidad people then in the fifties were well illustrated. The protagonist's war with his father-in-law and his methods of politics and his survival tactics were well written with wit and humor. A great book for a debutante! Worth a read!

Pride and Prejudice

     The story starts with the arrival of Bingleys to the Netherfield, a part of England. The Bennets were eager to marry off their five daughters. So, they saw a potential groom in the Bingley. Along with Bingley, Darcy, his close friend and confidante, also arrived at Netherfield. Darcy was very proud and his vanity was generally disliked by everyone. He was much abhorred by the Bennets. 

      After some meetings and dinner together, the eldest Miss Bennet, Jane was falling for Bingley and the emotion was mutual. After sometime in Netherfield, Bingleys and Darcy went back to their native suddenly without informing anyone. 

     Since Bennets didn't have any male heir, all their wealth would go to Mr. Collins, Mr. Bennet's cousin, after the death of Mr. Bennet. This made Mrs. Bennet envy Mr. Collins. When Mr. collins 
arrived at Longbourn, he was given fake cordiality by Mrs. Bennet. Mr. Collins asked for Elizabeth's hand which was duly rejected by Ms.Elizabeth. After that, Mr. Collins married one of the friends of Elizabeth. 
Since Mr. Bingley had not arrived at Netherfield for more than one year, Bennets confirmed that it must be the work of Darcy who didn't approve the relationship between Mr. Bingley and Jane. This made the Bennets and especially Ms. Elizabeth detest him more. 

      When Elizabeth went to spend some time with her friend (Mr. Collin's Wife), she got introduced to the well wisher and the care taker of Mr. Collins. She was a proud lady and Miss. Elizabeth was not at all pleased with her. She also happened to be a relative of Darcy. During the period she was in Mr. Collins home, Darcy came to meet his relative. They were having dinner or lunch together frequently. During one such occasions, when Darcy and Elizabeth happened to be alone in Mr. Collin's home, Darcy asked for Elizabeth's hand. She told Darcy that she hated him because he was the reason for Bingley not marrying Jane and she also gave lots of other reasons for not approving his proposal. But when she came to know that the same Bingley had helped in finding his ran away sister and her boyfriend and when Darcy himself sent her a letter in which he gave explanation to all her wrong impressions on him, she thought how she was overpowered by prejudices for this young man and she was sorry for that.

     Overall, this is a book where all the happenings of events in day to day life were well portrayed in detail. One should not go by prejudices and one should never be so proud of oneself.

Let the PEN rest at Peace!!!

20 th March, 2014, the day, you went away from all of us is not only a great loss for the literary world but also for the whole of India . How much joy you have given us from your ever flowing pen! You have made millions of people as your slave for your writing. The joy of reading your words is immeasurable. I think you had died with your pen in the hand. You may left us and went to the oblivion but your words will speak about you for the generations to come.
India has very few prolific literary writers. Among them, you are one of the best. Personally, your book 'A train to Pakistan' has made a great impact on me.Your books like 'Delhi- A Novel' are one of the greatest works ever written about Indian history. Long live your glory!!!

Moth Smoke

Deeply engrossing and unputdownable.

The story is written analogous to that of Aurangazeb and Dara of the Mughals.

The story starts with the trial of Dara Shikoh who was alleged to have killed a boy. 

Dara and Ozi (Aurangazeb) were close friends from their childhood. Their fathers' had served in the Pakistan army. Dara's father had died in the 1971 war. Dara's education was taken care by Ozi's father. After their school, Ozi was sent to states to pursue his higher education where he met Mumtaz and fell in love and married. They had a child named Muazzon. They returned back to Lahore where his father was living (with all his corrupt money). They were living in a big mansion and life was going smooth until Dara was invited to see his old best friend in his house.

Dara was good at studies during his school but he could not afford to study in US. So he pursued economics in a local college in Lahore. He got a job in a multi-national bank. Life was going smooth until he was invited by his friend, Ozi, to his house. 

When Dara went to see Ozi, Dara was attracted to Ozi's wife (Mumtaz). Because of his behavior with his client, Dara was fired from his job and he became jobless for quite some time. Those were the times where India had started testing their nukes and the tension between the two countries was mounting. The prices were going high in Pakistan (because of possible nuke war) and the foreign accounts were frozen. Dara could not meet ends and so he had started selling illegal drugs. meanwhile Mumtaz and Ozi's marriage started crumbling because she could not love her son and she was guilty about it. She had been writing to a newspaper (She was a journalist) in some pseudo name which her husband didn't know. Dara, Ozi and Mumtaz were going to many parties at that time and Dara and Mumtaz became close which Ozi didn't know. Dara and Mumtaz started having an affair. Dara asked her to divorce her husband but she could not as she was guilty about her son. This made Dara furious.

Dara had been influenced by his drug supplier to rob the high end luxury shops. Since Dara had no money and he was already broke (Electricity being disconnected and he could not tolerate the heat), he accepted that proposal. When they were robbing a boutique, he got annoyed by a child who looked like Mumtaz's son and he shot at him.

Ironically, the trial that he was undergoing was for the crime that was not committed by him but by his best friend Ozi. Ozi had killed a boy while he was driving in his Pajero. He had made the police, using his influence, to arrest Dara for that crime, to avenge Dara's affair with his wife. Mumtaz had left Ozi.

The author tried to illustrate how money, love, lust, greed, social status can become a factor to end a happy go childhood friendship and make them to go for each other's necks.

The Company Of Women

This book is the sexual fantasies of an octogenarian.

The book starts with the divorce of Mohan Kumar, a father of two,a millionaire in his early forties,with his wife. Since he was very active in his sex life, he could control his urge for the bodily needs. He advertised in the dailies for a suitable companion to live with him with no strings attached.

He started living with many women in his house, for short span of time, with each woman. He somewhat started to like each person who he had started to live with. But after some time they could not continue their life because of one or more reasons and the woman had to leave him. He lived with more than five or six women. All were from different backgrounds and no one is related to any other. At the end of each saga, he was very much involved with woman as he asked them to write him after their departure. But no one had written to him and he would start the next affair afterwards.

He lost his mother at his very early age and loved his,conservative Hindu, father very much.He had studied in Princeton, USA. There in Princeton, he had innumerable sexual affairs with all kinds of women. One of them was Yasmeen, a Muslim from Pakistan(Azad Kashmir). They would argue on religions and our general attitudes towards each other country's people. The author was very crisp in his telling of religious concepts and their implications. 

He returned to India hoping for a very good career ahead. His father married him off to a wealthy man's daughter in the Delhi Elite circle. He started his career in some export business and his business started flourishing within some months. He became one of the youngest millionaires in Delhi. But his family life started crumbling. His wife always loathing him and his father. This made his father to leave their house and went to Haridwar (near Ganges) where he lived his rest of the life. Mohan would see his father once in every month on a full moon day. They would go to the 'Har Ki Pari' ghat to see the small floating puja lights in the Ganges in the fading twilight. This would always give him some peace and solace.

People started to gossip about him as a womanizer.He doesn't care for people bitching about him behind his back. He was enjoying his life as he likes.

The same sexual affairs which gave him pleasure, gave him the incurable HIV virus. He was dejected once he knew about that. After fighting the disease for 2 years, he took the easiest route, suicide (may be the most philosophical route,as said by Camus) to his death.

The author was very clear in his writing as Mohan was very clear in his sexual needs.He didn't commit any rape or molest any woman. May be the society which he had lived would spoke him of as womanizer but he didn't care for those things. He lived his life as he likes. But at the end he had gone with no one at his death bed. Price of being a social outcast in the society.