tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30500401964483721372024-03-26T12:32:38.899+05:30Sapientia SemitaThis is a blog of my book reviews. Expressed views and opinions are my own unless it is quoted verbatim. No copyrighted material is listed in this site. Comments are welcome. Popular Science, History, International politics and simple Finance are the main topics which are covered. Reviews may appear harsh sometimes, but they are the fearless expressions which come only from an amateur.Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.comBlogger710125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-66474327454384737962024-03-25T20:27:00.001+05:302024-03-26T12:31:40.359+05:30Developmental Modernity in Kerala<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiNSG5FRWJDFTI6Qj-sok7uCOAW0TGooMuvBr4bxC4Xz2lvtkeNdvjPUiLfxBg_Cqof6IRwx-Vr5dCQ6Uo8cb_LqbcRJJuVTDpXghlAhWBxfmChG0g0mUiMAAZcHwcAN9JDfVt5OiqoIlMxVCMWxARKFk544f8KnlxgjUEYwWbv4HBjQ_y5VFzSsDNetue/s240/rsz_70579520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="165" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiNSG5FRWJDFTI6Qj-sok7uCOAW0TGooMuvBr4bxC4Xz2lvtkeNdvjPUiLfxBg_Cqof6IRwx-Vr5dCQ6Uo8cb_LqbcRJJuVTDpXghlAhWBxfmChG0g0mUiMAAZcHwcAN9JDfVt5OiqoIlMxVCMWxARKFk544f8KnlxgjUEYwWbv4HBjQ_y5VFzSsDNetue/s1600/rsz_70579520.jpg" width="165" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Developmental Modernity in Kerala – Narayana Guru, SNDP Yogam and Social Reform</span></b><br />Author: P. Chandramohan<br />Publisher: Tulika Books, 2019 (First published 2016)<br />ISBN: 9788193926987<br />Pages: 260<br /><br />The state of social reforms and standard of living varied much among the British Indian provinces and native states neighbouring them in the colonial period. Even among the princely states, matters differed very much. Travancore was a model state among them having high literacy, emancipation of the backward castes and better healthcare systems as compared to other states. Social reforms implemented in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries in the little southwestern kingdom were the fountainhead for the onset of modernity in Travancore. The reforms in society and transformation of the economy went hand-in-hand to usher in development in all spheres of life. This book explains the development of modernity in Travancore and the social work of Sri Narayana Guru and SNDP Yogam which acted complementary to open up a modern state along the lines of a constitutional monarchy. It nicely describes how the reforms sought to create a social climate for modernization. P. Chandramohan retired as curator of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi after having served in various positions in that institution for over thirty years. He is a scholar politically oriented towards the Left and this book is an attempt to ‘prove’ that the reform movement in Kerala followed Marxist precepts on the origin and development of social classes and the struggle between them. The book is an academic product of JNU and is a revised version of the author’s M. Phil dissertation which was submitted at its Centre for Historical Studies in 1982. The narrative covers the time interval from around 1891 in which the Malayali Memorial was submitted and till 1936 when all government temples in Travancore were thrown open to all Hindus irrespective of caste differences.<br /><br />The subject matter of the book primarily deals with the Ezhava community, Sri Narayana Guru who rose up spiritually from its ranks and the community’s social organisation called Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (hereafter referred as SNDP Yogam). The Ezhavas constituted nearly a fifth of Travancore’s population and hierarchically enjoyed a good position among the untouchable castes. Their main occupations were cultivation, manufacture of coir, fiber and jiggery and the extraction of palm-tree products like toddy. Even though they nominally belonged to Hinduism, the Hindu community was stratified based on degrees of purity and pollution. Any kind of solidarity among Hindus in terms of religion was absent. In no other part of India was casteism more rigidly practiced than in Kerala that Swami Vivekananda likened it to a lunatic asylum. Narayana Guru and the SNDP Yogam found the most distressing social issue as the prevalence of the caste system which segregated people on a hierarchically ordained model on the basis of ritual status. The book explains the many situations like the consecration of a Siva temple at Aruvippuram when the Guru and the Yogam came to clash with entrenched dogma. Chandramohan claims that the reforms led to the formation of a new intelligentsia and a middle class whose objective was to determine the contours of a new inter-caste society. This tendency to map anything anywhere to comply with the Marxist principle of class struggle is a recurrent theme in the book.<br /><br />The book lists out the land reforms introduced in the kingdom of Travancore which transformed the agrarian society in which the king was the sole owner of all land in the state into a modern system in which proprietorship was transferred to his subjects in return for a nominal tax on land they possessed. Important legislations that introduced the concept of private property came into being. In 1865, the government enunciated the Paattam Proclamation which is considered to be the magna carta of Travancore agriculturists. It granted full ownership rights of about 200,000 acres of government-owned land to the holders/tenants. These could then be treated as private, heritable, saleable and otherwise transferable property. This put an end to state landlordism and created peasant proprietorship. The landed ‘assets’ of the state became the landed ‘property’ of the people. Eventually, this would lead to the partition and liquidation of the joint family system. This accounted for 80 per cent of the land. The remaining 20 per cent of jenmam lands was addressed by reforms just two years later in 1867. It redefined the power of jenmis (zamindars) making the eviction of a tenant much more difficult although they were required to continue giving rent to the jenmis. In 1896, the Jenmi-Kudiyaan act came into being. It ensured permanent occupancy rights and fixed rents for kaanam kudiyaans. An amendment was introduced to this regulation in 1932. It converted all tenants into proprietors who were to remit rent to the jenmi. Rent payment had to be made only in cash. Thus the kudiyaans acquired full ownership of the land including tis output. The author also narrates the development of cash economy in the nineteenth century with spread of plantation crops, growth of industries like coir, cashew nut and cotton spinning effected rapid economic change in that century’s last quarter. A middle class cutting across caste lines grew up as a result.<br /><br />The chapter on Narayana Guru neatly summarizes his contributions to social reform. He melded tradition and modernity and at the same time produced a result greater than the sum of its parts. Guru’s genius lay in completely eliminating some meaningless rituals like mock marriage of pre-pubescent girls (thalikettukalyanam) and those associated with attaining puberty (thirandukuli) while only modifying the practices in some other fields. Superstitious procedures and obscure social customs were summarily reformed. He deconsecrated Ezhavas’ till-then-favoured gods like Chathan, Marutha or Madan and introduced the mainstream Hindu deities minus the Brahmin priesthood. Chandramohan bestows the full credit in spreading universal education on the Christian missionaries. He even praises them for enabling the upward social mobility of the Ezhavas (p.40) because ‘the community used to have interactions with the missionaries’! This does not take into account the potential or limitations of missionaries in an objective way as done in the book, ‘Missionaries and a Hindu State: Travancore 1858-1936’ by Koji Kawashima reviewed earlier <a href="https://sapientiasemita.blogspot.com/2023/10/missionaries-and-hindu-state-travancore.html" target="_blank">here</a>. There is some confusion on the numerical strength of the schools run by them. On p.86-87, the missionaries were said to be running 416 out of 1901 schools (22 per cent), but on the next page, the ratio enlarges to 46 per cent. The mindset of the Travancore government and the people in making it the most literate state on Indian independence is glimpsed in the book. In 1897, 24 per cent of the students were the offspring of labourers/coolies who had recognized the utility of sending their children to schools rather than following the livelihood of their parents. The kingdom provided free education and encouraged new schools. In 1903, it spent 9.56 per cent of its total revenue on education.<br /><br />The author analyses the socio-economic background which helped caste organizations like the SNDP Yogam to grow up. Contrary to popular perception that the entire Ezhava community engaged in toddy tapping, distilling and distribution, by the end of the nineteenth century, only 3.8 per cent of them were employed in this profession. Others were occupied in lucrative employment and prosperous trade. The government stopped the practice of unpaid compulsory manual labour for public works and instead employed labourers with wages to construct roads. Coir export to the US increased and the price of toddy and arrack doubled. A middle class arose from these developments who found the time to be ripe for collective action for social mobility. In 1896, Dr. Palpu formed the Ezhava Mahasabha but found it difficult to make it popular. Swami Vivekananda advised Palpu to find a spiritual leader around whom a social organization could be built up. That’s how Guru and Palpu met and the SNDP Yogam was born.<br /><br />The nature and character of the Yogam is analysed in detail and Chandramohan claims that it was an elitist group at least for the first quarter century of its existence. According to the articles of association of the Yogam, it was largely commercial in nature. Membership fee was prohibitively high. Not more than a fourth collected in a year was to be used for that year’s expenses. The remaining was to be loaned out on interest in order to accumulate capital. Stringent restrictions were in place for members defaulting in payment of the fees. In 1916, the Yogam took court action against members who failed to pay subscription, sealed their houses and held up their property. The organization was said to be led by the educated middle class and the laboring class had no say in its functioning. The presidential address and most of the speeches at its annual meetings were in English. T K Madhavan was the leader who brought Yogam to the ground and made it accessible to all. He considerably reduced the fees in 1927 that helped ordinary men to afford membership. The number of members rose from 3818 to 63674 as a result in just two years. The book also includes a brief exposition on the lower castes gaining the right of temple entry and the agitation that went into it. Curiously, the lower castes were not very enthusiastic in entering government-owned temples. It was C. Raman Thampi and Janardhana Menon, two Nair leaders, who advocated for temple entry before any avarna voiced it. The author claims that Vaikom Satyagraha which demanded only the opening up of public roads around that temple to lower castes, was organized by the Congress, upper castes and T K Madhavan, while the Yogam kept aloof from it. The decade that followed it was a crucial one. Ezhavas allied with Christians and Muslims in the Abstention Movement and obtained reservation for the community in government jobs. An argument gained strength among Ezhavas to convert en masse to Christianity in order to break the shackles of caste oppression. The government was then quick to introduce the Temple Entry Proclamation which ensured the right of every Hindu to enter temples.<br /><br />Even though the book is in original a part of the academic repertoire – being the author’s M. Phil dissertation – it’s very much readable. The argument regarding the social indices of various communities is backed by many tables culled from census data. The book is very reverent to Narayana Guru and adulatory to his work but is against the SNDP Yogam because of its roots among the middle class and its nonchalant approach to class struggle. As noted before, this book is an attempt to evaluate how modernity developed in Kerala in accordance with Marxist theory. The abolition of meaningless rituals like talikettukalyanam, thirandukuli and pulikudi is said to be ‘a phase in the evolution of bourgeois capitalism’ (p.124). The actions of the Guru are claimed to be similar to the liberal tendencies of the modern bourgeoisie (p.134). In the first few chapters of the book, the author maintains self-control in using leftist jargon. So we read about ‘how the ideas of the Guru suited the aspirations of the Ezhava middle class’ and the Guru’s religious reforms in rituals having a ‘democratic element’ in them. The term ‘bourgeois’ appears for the first time on page 128 and is a constant presence thereafter. The funniest part is that the book contains references to EMS Namboodiripad’s works who was nothing more than a jack of all trades but a master of political sectarianism. His arguments and opinions prove nothing but this seems to be a feeble attempt on the part of the author to a logical fallacy called ‘appeal to authority’. To cap it tightly with political rhetoric, it includes a Foreword by the well-known Marxist historian K N Panikkar.<br /><br />The book is recommended.<br /><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-55319612433172760632024-03-22T06:23:00.002+05:302024-03-22T12:26:00.824+05:30Babur: The Chessboard King<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9q1pwCwJc92cQFCR2CkDhTScknOsRe9_S_4iy9oQJZZT11xK6BPeZdR8Taey_snoWPdFE3KGzorLRJoSqUDH25R7TNo71QcC07QbG0EN8HHqdjHU3mjYEjX1a98zOE_i9RaSwYG-9xGoCFPEvOsHgIBZtfqE7mO2clBCA40iyvi_NttAGfD4EOyINew0I/s335/rsz_babur-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9q1pwCwJc92cQFCR2CkDhTScknOsRe9_S_4iy9oQJZZT11xK6BPeZdR8Taey_snoWPdFE3KGzorLRJoSqUDH25R7TNo71QcC07QbG0EN8HHqdjHU3mjYEjX1a98zOE_i9RaSwYG-9xGoCFPEvOsHgIBZtfqE7mO2clBCA40iyvi_NttAGfD4EOyINew0I/s320/rsz_babur-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Babur: The Chessboard King</span></b><br />Author: Aabhas Maldahiyar<br />Publisher: Vintage, 2024 (First)<br />ISBN: 9780670099542<br />Pages: 403<br /><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Estimating the economic output of a nation in the form of GDP is extremely complicated as the period of study goes further and further back in time. However, some scholars have made intelligent guesses based on ancient commercial sources and the flow of history. In the year 1000 CE, the share of India’s GDP to that of the entire world was 28 per cent while China accounted for 22 per cent. In 1950, this had declined to a measly 4.2 per cent for India and 4.6 per cent for China, even though China kept up its momentum till 1820 in which year its share was an impressive 33 per cent. What caused this devastation of Indian economy in these 1000 years? What caused the decline of agriculture and industry and also the collapse of native social structures? The answer is not hard to find. 700 years of Islamic colonialism and 200 years of British colonialism had sapped India dry of her resources. Till the establishment of the Kimberly mines in South Africa in 1870, Golconda in India was the only major diamond mine in the world. However, each one of the huge number of stones extracted from Golconda was taken out of India by force or trickery. India’s gold and silver alleviated poverty and established infrastructure in the distant lands of Persia, Arabia, Khorasan and Great Britain in that millennium of colonialism and slavery. Mohammed of Ghor led the first wave of Islamic occupation while Babur led the second. This is in addition to the transitory yet thoroughly ruining plundering raids of Mahmud of Ghazni, Timur, Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Durrani. However, there is a stream of Indian academia which glorifies the invasion and occupation of Islamic powers as having provided something beneficial to India. This book is an attempt to recreate the history of Babur from primary sources of which the most prominent is his own diary, the Baburnama. Aabhas Maldahiyar is an architect and urban designer who has an intense love for history. A nationalist to the core, Maldahiyar is also a skilled reader of Persian manuscripts. The GDP data mentioned above is taken from the appendix of this book with original references from the book, ‘Contours of the World Economy, AD 1 – 2030’ by Angus Maddison.<br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Maldahiyar begins with an excellent introductory chapter that seethes with indignation at the slavish way history is taught in post-independence India through a curriculum cleverly crafted by Left historians. The author identifies three traits seen in all NCERT (the state agency which prepares school text books at the national level) text books as 1) all invaders except the British were not bad 2) no invaders including the British had any religious zeal, and 3) before the arrival of the great invaders, India was a place of the worst practices like Sati, untouchability etc. This scam has made not merely wee-sized harm but a catastrophe set to dismantle the pride and respect of our land and civilization. This is nothing short of intellectual dishonesty. The fact that this obfuscation is deliberate is proved by the observation that unlike the British, the earlier colonialists like the Sultanates and Mughals were very honest about their deeds and all the ‘namas’ contain descriptions of the worst kind of atrocities they inflicted upon our ancestors. In their eyes, the atrocities upon the Kafirs were virtuous; hence they saw no reason for hiding it. However, post-independence historians – Leftists on the one hand and Islamists posing as Left on the other – ignored this clear evidence and portrayed these brutal monsters as great kings. The book includes a prescient quote by Heinlein that ‘a generation which ignores history has no past and no future’. This book is claimed to be an attempt to set the record straight by delving deep into the primary sources.<br /><br />The author plans a grand scheme for the book which envisages the most important primary source – Babur’s journal titled ‘Baburnama’ – superimposed on the happenings around the world during that period. Since this approach does not seek to make any verdict or frame opinion on the subject matter, Maldahiyar proposes to provide a new perspective on Babur. He stresses again at another point that if you must trust something in history, it must be the primary source corroborated with other primary sources on the same subject. With this magnificent objective in place, the author embarks on his journey into the sixteenth century narrative written by Babur but flounders on the very first chapter itself. A lot of details from Babur’s memoir are simply reproduced with no correspondence or correlation. Readers are not able to follow the storyline even if they are well-versed in the biography of Babur. Making an excellent replica of what Babur had written, this book lists out about 20-30 different names of people or places on each page and readers are rendered utterly clueless about what’s happening. In the Sherlock Holmes’ story ‘The Adventure of the Red-Headed League’, the complainant is asked to simply copy the Encyclopedia Britannica on to plain paper with no questions asked. This book is somewhat similar with the difference that the Baburnama is the source of the copying. Incomprehensible sentences like ‘Baqi Chaghaniani, a younger brother of Khusrau Shah, who was more Chaghanian, Shahr-i-Safa, and Tirmiz, sent the khatib of Qarshi to Babur’ (p.168) are repeated without any clarification. This is just one among the numerous such instances. Even the names of the singers who performed in a binge party thrown by Babur are listed faithfully as if the data is crucial in re-evaluating a flawed narrative of Indian historiography. The author has not shown any trace of judgment in selecting the topics and instead portrays Babur as a hero for most of the book. About 20 pages are earmarked to reproduce verbatim Babur’s observations on Kabul city – its geography, climate, fruits, crops and other details – like a gazetteer. <br /><br />Babur meticulously recorded his impressions on other people – friend and foe alike. He observed places, societies, battles and politics to form his opinion and strategy about them. Babur ruled Kabul for around two decades before invading India and he used this time to effectively subjugate the whole of Afghanistan. Many Muslim tribes were at the receiving end of his battle fury and had to submit to humiliating treatment at the hands of this proud descendant of Timur. We read about some interesting anecdotes in this book on how they responded to defeat in battle. Assuming the disdainful pride of the conqueror of Afghan tribes, Babur writes, “we had been told that when Afghans are powerless to resist, they go before their foe with grass between their teeth as if to say ‘I am your cow’” (p.206). This was what exactly happened at the battle of Kohat. But Babur was not impressed with this spineless and opportunistic display of servility and ordered to behead the Afghans one by one. The book contains a detailed narrative on Babur’s campaigns in Afghanistan, especially his frequent attacks on the Turkmen Hazara tribes. Babur claims that he ‘drove them like deer by valley and ridge; we shot those wretches like deer; we made captive their people of sorts; we laid hands on their men of renown; their wives and their children we took’ (p.255).<br /><br />The book is extremely boring except for the Introduction and Epilogue which are finely structured and establishes the logic behind writing this book. In fact, these two chapters are the only part of the volume where the author handles his own creation. Regarding the hundreds of pages in which the reader finds no relevance or interest, we can only say that it was a great disappointment. The author appears thoroughly clueless in organizing the content of Babur’s journal in a meaningful way so as to tell a coherent story. Besides, the significance of the title ‘chessboard king’ is not elaborated in the text. Readers are left to form their own conjectures on this critical point. This book is said to be the first among many volumes of a similar nature covering the entire history of Mughals. Maldahiyar may save himself the trouble if the other volumes are also planned to repeat the spirit and style of this book. In fact, I would have given one more star in the rating had I not purchased the book thinking that it’d be a good one on the Mughals. Hence the proverb ‘never judge a book by its cover’ stays very relevant.<br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />The book is a waste of time and not recommended. <br /><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">1 Star</span><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-62846418021641403862024-03-18T06:24:00.001+05:302024-03-18T10:56:10.271+05:30Omens and Superstitions of Southern India<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ZD5W4mYqxaYMhfI7WPEOEGxhPAeHDdqTN2e_QNcGMkUpql1iW-PV1AzDUMiZksZ7ZdS6YpItj_eqd2TVeRzz1HCqH6yov3F88Duv3LaFdAHWiotOffS171d0yzUwvNgk-JvuE9vUX-imCpwt4cinARoGipdM5MoEICMeGiD8rMLYoHW3y7oBzHc0PeU2/s335/rsz_11833427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ZD5W4mYqxaYMhfI7WPEOEGxhPAeHDdqTN2e_QNcGMkUpql1iW-PV1AzDUMiZksZ7ZdS6YpItj_eqd2TVeRzz1HCqH6yov3F88Duv3LaFdAHWiotOffS171d0yzUwvNgk-JvuE9vUX-imCpwt4cinARoGipdM5MoEICMeGiD8rMLYoHW3y7oBzHc0PeU2/s320/rsz_11833427.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Omens and Superstitions of Southern India</span></b><br />Author: Edgar Thurston<br />Publisher: Shilpy Prakashan, Delhi 2019 (First published 1912)<br />ISBN: 9788187405016<br />Pages: 311<br /><br />Faith is an integral part of Indian life. Regardless of economic circumstances, social position or geographical diversity, most of us keep some fond beliefs which sometimes turn out to be, well, not very rational. This state of affairs existed for a long time and we see a British anthropologist taking a keen interest in them. Edgar Thurston studied medicine but worked in a variety of fields such as numismatics, ethnography, geology and anthropology. He served as the superintendent of the Madras Government Museum for 23 years. He has published books on all topics of his interest. This book is an attempt to categorize the various faces of superstitious belief prevalent in southern India around the beginning of the twentieth century. As it was included in the Madras presidency, a part of present-day Odisha is also included in the book. One important thing to keep in mind is that the effort to list out the superstitious traits in the country is neither purely academic nor entirely benign. This book is clearly another tool in the arsenal of British evangelists to paint the whole of South Indian society with the brush of backwardness and barbarity by elaborating on some of the obscure rituals rarely practiced by a few people, as representative of the entire genre of Hinduism. The book includes several notes from missionaries, priests and bishops detailing the gory aspects of some local custom which fall just short of advocacy to the people to convert to Christianity in order to get redeemed of the worship of the devil. With this caveat at the back of one’s mind, this book is an interesting read as it helps to assess the current society and marvel at the several habits they still possess which are narrated in the book. The book is divided into many chapters such as omens, animal superstitions, evil eye, snake worship, vows, votive and other offerings, charms, human sacrifice, magic and magicians, divination and fortune-telling, agricultural and rain-making ceremonies. The Onam and Vishu celebrations in Kerala are also clubbed with superstition in the true spirit of colonial haughtiness and evangelical disdain.<br /><br />The book includes detailed descriptions of the gory practice of animal sacrifice. Cutting the body open and observing the quivering or throbbing internal organs was the usual way. Sometimes, sanctified water is thrown over the animals brought to be sacrificed to see if they shiver in a specified manner which is taken as a good omen. Thurston seamlessly shift from the horrid description of animal sacrifices in one paragraph to an analysis of Kalidasa’s Shakuntala in the next where the throbbing of the right arm is given mystic interpretations. Readers are expected to grasp the unspoken clue that all (emphasis added) of India is riddled with superstition and heresy. Many observations recorded in the book regarding brutal rituals are always made by Christian missionaries who operated in these regions in search of converts. Bishop Whitehead tells a tale in which the situation is made most disgusting by adding nauseating bits of truth or falsehood. He says of an incident where the blood of a sacrificial pig is fed to itself while still alive along with rice. If it eats the material, that is taken as a good omen. Whitehead adds that the pujari finally cuts the throat of the animal. These stories are cleverly woven to cause maximum revulsion and encourage educated natives to convert to Christianity. While discussing the magical practice of bottling evil spirits and casting the bottles away, Thurston tactfully inserts the legend of the goddess Bhagavati of Kodungallur being rescued by a fisherman when he found her shut up in a jar at sea (p.247). This clearly exposes the colonial narrative of equating Hindu gods with evil spirits.<br /><br />In the many chapters comprising the book, one encounters numerous practices which are grotesque, brutal, harmless or even outright funny. In Telugu, the number ‘seven’ is unlucky because the word ‘yedu’ is the same as that for weeping. Even a treasury officer, who was a university graduate, is reported as pronouncing ‘six and one’ when he was required to say ‘seven’. Omens were observed not only before starting auspicious ventures. The robber castes indulged in watching omens before a thieving expedition which occasionally included animal sacrifices. A gang of Donga Dasaris proceed to a Hanuman temple and garland the deity with a wreath of flowers. The garland hangs on both sides of the neck. If any of the flowers on the right side drop down first, it is regarded as the permission granted by the god to start on their plundering trip. If a tree snake bites a person, things are a bit humorous. The snake is believed to ascend the nearest palm tree and waits until it sees the smoke ascending from the funeral pyre of the victim. The only chance of saving his life is to have a mock funeral where a straw effigy is burnt. Seeing the smoke, the deluded snake comes down from the tree and the bitten person recovers. The gullible natives sometimes adored even foreigners as gods. A horse-riding Bengali babu was worshipped as a deity for giving protection to fishermen in a coastal hamlet of Odisha. It is noted that in the Ayudha Puja at the Madras School of Arts, the puja was done to a bust of the late Bishop Gell upon an improvised altar with a cast of Saraswati above and various members of the Hindu pantheon around.<br /><br />Altogether, some of the practices followed by the people blended them easily into nature and their habitat even though they were not exactly rational. Sparrows were credited with bringing good luck to the house in which they build their nests. For this purpose, when a house is under construction, holes are left in the walls or ceiling, or certain earthen pots are hung on the wall by means of nails, as an attractive site for roosting. Wild elephants were held in veneration by the jungle tribe of Kadirs, whereas tame ones are believed to have lost the divine element. People of other religions also practiced irrational beliefs. A Mappila thangal (Mohammedan priest) once cursed the crows for dropping their excrement on his person, and that’s why it is believed that the crow does not exist in the Lakshadweep Islands. Muslims killed geckos unlike other social groups. The reason for this is shrouded in misty religious history. When some fugitive Muslims were hiding from their enemies in a well, one gecko came and nodded its head in their direction till their enemies saw them. In another interesting anecdote, a Lambadi was seen repeating mantrams over his patients and touched their heads with a book which was a small edition of the Telugu translation of St. John’s Gospel! Neither the physician nor the patient could read and had no idea of the contents of the book. Still, the disease was cured occasionally. All Hindu castes, irrespective of the hierarchy in ranking made vows and offerings to gods worshipped by them or other castes with the object of securing their good will or appeasing their anger. The lower castes sought to propitiate minor deities while the higher castes usually performed vows to the deities of Tirupati, Palani, Tiruvallur or Melkote. But they also sought the good offices of the minor deities when afflicted with serious illness or reversal of fortunes (p.133).<br /><br />An amusing thing to note is that some of the harmless practices are still followed in South India. The propensity to avoid the '‘evil eye’ is widely persisting. We come across hideous effigies erected at construction sites and painting of large black dots on children’s faces to avert the evil eye. There is a good illustration of snake worship in Kerala and the rituals of Mannarasala are given prominence. On the other hand, the author never for an instant forgets that he belongs to a colonial master race tasked by destiny to rule over black ignoramuses steeped in superstition. So he is sensitive to even inoffensive local beliefs and disrespectful to what the natives consider as sacred. Overarching colonial contempt makes him offer a few coins to a native woman in return for her tali which is tied around her neck by the groom at the time of marriage. In England, this would have been tantamount to offering a price to a lady’s wedding ring. But the Indian woman set the record straight by giving a stream of abuse in return for this indecent proposal. In another instance, Thurston describes a head mason who always carried a copper coin which was six centuries old and was reluctant to part with. His attachment to this antique object is made fun of (p.191). In some cases the author does not comprehend what is going on around him but still ventures to pass judgment. Ceremonies related to Vaastu which sometimes involve drawing a human figure on the ground where a house is to be constructed is confused as pertaining to human sacrifice (p.212). Amid the rule of the British, the author mentions some events which indicate that there was a strong undercurrent of resentment among the people against foreign rule. In the chapter on rain-prophesies, the author remarks that in the year before the Mutiny, the prophecy was ‘they have risen against the white ants’.<br /><br />The book is recommended.<br /><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-51705969632425546442024-03-07T06:18:00.001+05:302024-03-07T11:22:36.908+05:30The Ring of Truth<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghv-Dr_ofQ-430ROyqEVrt16mxSQl9cSfYHNWwpVi9nDbzullreZ6f2U57s6RkzalmHAWXMCa4t9vKtAMSQ2whazVQeL53Ns-iMe5BZ_Nr2YcAI1_ZNEwtq-_9suNiyXep_iqOn1_g4B9SvcqsdHMX-QALmXmv0E-7GkOVANQTB1EWL7XEW-e4K3JFuo4X/s335/rsz_68934118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghv-Dr_ofQ-430ROyqEVrt16mxSQl9cSfYHNWwpVi9nDbzullreZ6f2U57s6RkzalmHAWXMCa4t9vKtAMSQ2whazVQeL53Ns-iMe5BZ_Nr2YcAI1_ZNEwtq-_9suNiyXep_iqOn1_g4B9SvcqsdHMX-QALmXmv0E-7GkOVANQTB1EWL7XEW-e4K3JFuo4X/s320/rsz_68934118.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">The Ring of Truth – Myths of Sex and Jewelry</span></b><br />Author: Wendy Doniger<br />Publisher: Speaking Tiger, 2019 (First published 2017)<br />ISBN: 9789389231755<br />Pages: 397<br /><br />Many legends and stories from all parts of the civilized world are in fact recognition stories in which a long-lost husband, wife or offspring is reunited with his or her relatives when they come across a piece of jewelry, most typically a ring, in the custody of the unknown person. Kalidasa’s Shakuntala is the most well-known tale in India in which the royal lover forgot about his sweetheart in a hermitage and refused to recognize her when she presented herself at his court with unmistakable signs of pregnancy. Unfortunately, the girl had also lost the ring gifted by the king. By a strange coincidence of events, the ring which was lost in a river was swallowed by a fish which ends up in the royal kitchen. The king quickly remembered the ring’s past and is reunited with his wife and son. This book narrates similar stories from other cultures as well, such as ancient Greece, medieval Europe and Arabia. The pattern of such stories strikingly resembles each other across cultures. The stories given here are about circular jewelry, particularly rings even though bracelets and necklaces also make in their appearance quite regularly. The shape mimes the circle of eternity in the face of ephemeral human lives. We also find that sex and jewelry are often connected. Stories of rings frequently get into marriage and adultery, love and betrayal, loss and recovery and identity and masquerade. Wendy Doniger is a controversial professor of Sanskrit and Indian Studies. Her book ‘The Hindus – An Alternative History’ is banned in India because of the contemptible way in which it handled the sacred lore of Hinduism. You can, however, find it reviewed <a href="https://sapientiasemita.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-hindus-alternative-history.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />Readers are treated with a fine variety of legendary stories from various parts of the world. A curious exemption is China from where nothing is heard though this may be attributed to the author’s poor research on the Far East. Apart from the genre of innocent wives who are reunited with their husbands upon presenting the ring which was gifted by him earlier in the story, there is another category called clever wives whose stratagems outsmart the restrictions set by a heartless husband who declines to consummate the marriage and set restrictions upon the wife which could be mitigated only by the son borne to her of him who leaves her. Such clever wives escape their detention, goes in disguise to follow the husband and trap him in the guise of a dancing girl or courtesan. The union eventually results in the birth of a male child thus setting into play one of the conditions of mitigation. The first seven chapters deal with stories of rings throughout history. The next two chapters veer towards necklaces in particular cultures and particular historical periods. The final two chapters return to rings and to the invention of the mythology of diamond engagement rings and a concluding consideration on the cash value of rings and the clash between reason and convention throughout the world. It may come as a surprise to many that the practice of presenting a diamond ring to the would-be bride at the time of betrothal was the result of a change in social mores brought about by persistent advertising campaign initiated by the De Beers company which produced diamonds around the end of World War II.<br /><br />The author’s exposure to Indian mythology helps to construct parallels between it and European concepts which are very similar. A great deal of Orientalist study has gone into this subject so as to puff up the current comparative literature to such levels of advancement. The ancient myth of the submarine mare is a case in point. According to this legend, a mare triggers the final fire and the final flood. Hindu mythology tells of a fire that threatened to destroy the universe until it was placed in the mouth of a mare that roams at the bottom of the ocean. The flames that shoot out of her mouth are simultaneously bridled by and bridling the waters of the ocean. This delicate balance and the hair-trigger suspension will finally be disturbed at the moment of doomsday. Doniger mentions Scandinavian and Norse myths comparable to this Indian tale. Richard Wagener’s nineteenth century operas featuring the adventure of Siegfried and Brunnhilde also display cross-cultural affinity.<br /><br />The book includes different variants of the Shakuntala story and we wonder at the freedom taken by Kalidasa as poetic license in embellishing and transforming a minor story in the Mahabharata into a world classic. Doniger quotes the comments of other scholars on these and unfortunately, she has chosen only Left-Islamists like Romila Thapar and Akhtar Hussain Raipuri who handles the subject matter under the lens of their religio-political prejudices. Raipuri had translated Kalidasa’s works into Urdu. He finds fault with Kalidasa and argues that he was a man identified with ‘Brahminical high culture’ and changed the original story. It is only in India that we find the opinions of Islamists posing as liberals getting a treatment at par with established wisdom. Hussain Raipuri is, in spirit, almost on the same page as those Muslim scholars in the Mughal court who were tasked with translation of Hindu texts to Persian. Even though they did the job well, they bitterly complained about ‘the unsavoury task of handling a religious text of the unbelievers’. Mulla Shiri, who translated the Mahabharata, termed the epic as containing ‘rambling, extravagant stories that are like the dreams of a feverish, hallucinating man’. Centuries have gone by, but this genre of bigoted scholars remains the same. For further details on the translation of Hindu texts in the Mughal era, please read my review of Audrey Truschke’s ‘Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court’ <a href="https://sapientiasemita.blogspot.com/2021/10/culture-of-encounters.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Doniger has learned Sanskrit well and her treatment of the nuances in literary texts point to the fact that she has mastered the language. However, this mastery is not translated into respect to the ancient texts. Her irreverent, mocking style sets her up as an insensitive braggart. Once she remarks that ‘Had Dushyanta, Yven, Tristan and Siegfried lived to our time, they might have attributed their memory lapses to another sort of a drug and cited a study reported in an article in Nature Genetics (p.135). In another instance, the author describes the legends linked to Durga Puja in Bengal and claims that Parvati berates Shiva for his ‘refusal to beget a son, his addiction to marijuana, his poverty, his infidelity and his refusal to get a job’ (p.150). Such is her disgusting style.<br /><br />A good point of the author’s effort in writing this book is the consolidation of narratives similar in action and morals neatly laid out across cultures and millennia. A really creative attempt is to link the tales to the present-day world where myths are still widely prevalent but which are spawned and spread by commercial organisations for facilitating increased sales of their product – such as diamonds by De Beers. The significance of the genuineness of jewelry also seems to have made a diametrical shift. Whereas in old tales it was the genuineness of the ornaments that ensured that everything went well, in the modern stories the recurring theme is that faithful women cannot afford to possess expensive, real gems like genuine diamonds or pearls. We read of some stories in which a supposedly loyal wife silently implores an appraiser to pronounce a pearl necklace in her possession as fake when in fact it was gifted to her by another man. Morals change over time and so does morality – that’s what the author stresses. The book also provides an accidental glimpse of the loot of India in the colonial period, and the author is an unwitting party to it. Doniger proudly claims that she wears a bracelet of ancient Indian gold coins from the fifth century Gupta period. John Marshall, who excavated them, stole this treasure and gifted it to his mistress in the 1930s. She eventually married another man but kept the coins for herself. It was later bequeathed to the author. The book is not difficult to read but feminism ooze out of every pore in the narrative. Without implying any kind of disrespect to the author and solely copying an old Sanskrit idiom, let me conclude that the literary content of this book is like a garland in the hands of a monkey!<br /><br />The book is recommended.<br /><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">2 Star</span></b></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-78520012884285289612024-02-16T19:26:00.001+05:302024-03-05T12:28:51.097+05:30My Life as a Comrade<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-UJARUUoJhAndpxRJSS0ZoWGNZQ1S5ielAu5rPrTUXL5lCPUB9DQvnRqey4tngRMg4O_newHT9_JYIVU7IVKWSrDkh9hefgxgYUFXqBVHY9KtAg0hBWN7G4g9ttvuOr60EbmDxWYM4ErVrsG-lEEziuBFnw3gFSk-lrLo4ifeujuLeoVOSkTCCMNLY-8/s335/rsz_157514741.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-UJARUUoJhAndpxRJSS0ZoWGNZQ1S5ielAu5rPrTUXL5lCPUB9DQvnRqey4tngRMg4O_newHT9_JYIVU7IVKWSrDkh9hefgxgYUFXqBVHY9KtAg0hBWN7G4g9ttvuOr60EbmDxWYM4ErVrsG-lEEziuBFnw3gFSk-lrLo4ifeujuLeoVOSkTCCMNLY-8/s320/rsz_157514741.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">My Life as a Comrade</span></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Author: K K Shailaja with Manju Sara Rajan</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Publisher: Juggernaut, 2023 (First)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">ISBN: 9789393986597</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Pages: 306</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">K K Shailaja, affectionately called Shailaja teacher, was the most popular and efficient minister in the cabinet led by Pinarayi Vijayan during 2016-2021 in Kerala. As the minister in charge of public health, she steered Kerala’s fabled healthcare system to handle major crises like the outbreak of Nipah and flood in 2018 and the pandemic Covid-19 in 2020. This is a memoir as well as biography of her life as a little girl growing up in a remote village in Kannur and moving into political work. She was elected many times as the representative of that area in the state assembly and was inducted as minister in 2016. Her brilliant track record as minister overshadowed all others including the chief minister. Consequently, she was left out of the next cabinet when her party again formed the ministry in 2021 even though her winning margin of 61,000 votes against her rival was the largest in the state. This book is co-authored with Manju Sara Rajan who is a writer, editor and arts manager. She is the former CEO of the Kochi Biennale Foundation where she oversaw the management of the Kochi Muziris Biennale in 2016.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Communists in Kerala are a confused lot. When the communist regimes in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe collapsed like a pack of cards, Kerala’s communists transformed their political affiliation into a kind of religious belief that Marx’s ideas were gospel truth and applicable for all time but what was found wanting was their physical implementation in those countries where it was enforced till the 1990s. This self-delusion propels Shailaja to assert that what it means for a communist is engaging in the class struggle to eradicate existing ‘feudal-capitalistic structures’ that support class inequalities (p.2). She starts the book with the intension to tell her ‘personal story as well as the story of Malabar and the growth of communism in Kerala’. Of course, by communism she means only the political party with a red flag having the hammer and sickle emblazoned on it and nothing to do with armed revolution. However, she rightfully points out that communism’s influence has seeped into the psyche of most Malayalis, whether they identify with the Left politically or not. Every Malayali is a socialist in some way (p.43). It is jokingly said that ‘if you are not a communist at age 20, you have no heart; but if at age 30 you are still a communist, then you have no brains’. Kerala refuses to grow up in this juvenile respect. The author professes to be a committed socialist and praises the Cuban healthcare system whenever a slender opportunity presents itself. Not only that, she ascribes the success of Kerala’s health sector during the several crises between 2016 and 2021 (during her tenure as minister) as a vindication of the communist dream (p.243). Social revolution that occurred in Kerala is claimed to be facilitated by communists. The author also adds that in fact, many communist politicians gave up their caste-based symbols to shed the allegiance and entitlement attached to them (p.244). This is also a pious wish and piece of propaganda as not only most, but almost all of the Communist stalwarts in the state carried the caste tail in their names till the end.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A persistent false claim made by the Communists in Kerala is that the province’s pole position in education, healthcare and social reforms owes its origin to the work and policies of the communist party in Kerala. In fact, this claim is not even false: it’s absurd. Shailaja argues that the first EMS government’s education bill which guaranteed free education to all, eventually paved the way for Kerala’s much-touted status as India’s most literate state (p.44). To punch holes in this claim, you need only to look up the census figures of 1951. The regions that became Kerala six years later (except Malabar) were the most literate in India even in 1951. The author also proudly talks about ‘party families’ in Kannur in which every member belongs to the communist party and they shun association with other party members. Marital alliances are based on political affiliations of the families. Loyalty to the party is stronger than sanguinary bonds for these people. The loyalty comes in strange and ridiculous varieties. The author had erected the red party flag in front of her house at Pazhassi as a mark of affiliation. Moreover, her husband demanded their son not to enroll for ‘bourgeois streams like medicine or engineering’. Ironically, many of the top brass of communist leaders in Kerala educate their wards overseas who then find lucrative employment in multinationals which their parents and party cadres resist by tooth and nail back home. We also read about occasions when the leaders receive illegitimate personal help across party lines while the ranks battled it out on the streets. In 2004, the party asked the author to do full time political work by resigning her job as a school teacher. She had 18 years of teaching experience and the previous five years as a member of the legislative assembly couldn’t be counted as part of her teaching career. She wanted to have full pension while taking voluntary retirement at that point which required a minimum of 20 years of service. The rival UDF government was in power then, but they obliged her request and issued a special order taking her tenure of 5 years as an MLA countable for pension as a school teacher! Of course, the author could have chosen not to include this incident in the book and no would have been the wiser. But since it is there, it still rankles on the political sensibility and rectitude of the common man. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The book’s title would have served better justice to its content had it been changed to ‘My Life as a Minister’ as most of the informative and refreshing tract deals with her stint as a minister of Kerala in charge of the health portfolio. A good description of the development work undertaken in hospitals and clinics to give them a facelift is provided. Upgradation of facilities and manpower also were undertaken with the public participating in providing the financial resources. Shailaja observes tactfully that money is not the only problem in government, but the will and motivation to do something is even more rare than money (p.171). She also laments that while it may take up to three years even to develop a concept, five years is not enough to ensure its success. The book also includes an eventful narrative on how Nipah and Covid-19 outbreaks were successfully handled in Kerala. Irrespective of political fault lines, it ensured her public image as an efficient and dedicated political worker. During these testing times, officials of the health department worked not as a team, but as a family. They disagreed and argued but there was an intimacy and understanding in the team.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Quite naturally, Shailaja devotes a considerable space to showcase her winning performance in combating the pandemic. ‘The Guardian’ published a profile of her with the headline ‘The Corona Virus Slayer! How Kerala’s rock star health minister helped save it from Covid-19’. The UN invited her to speak on Public Servants’ day in the General Assembly. The Covid mortality rate in Kerala is claimed to be 0.5 per cent while the national average was 1.2 per cent. However, independent online sources indicate that Kerala’s rate was 1.03 per cent which is not that different from the national rate. The book also includes an analysis of excess deaths above the normal in a year. In 2020, there were 29,000 fewer deaths than in 2019. This may be because the Covid curbs led to fewer fatal traffic accidents. Even if traffic deaths were omitted, there were still 24,000 fewer deaths. With this stellar performance behind her, we would have expected her to receive a second term in office as minister. Strangely, she was sidelined and a novice took her place which can only be attributed as a case of king’s envy. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The book includes a timeline of Kerala history which quite incomprehensibly begins with the invasion of Haidar Ali of Mysore in 1766-92 as if Kerala had no history worth its name before the Muslim conquest. This illogical slip is all the more galling as Malabar was the port at which Vasco da Gama made landfall on his epic transoceanic voyage in 1498. The narrative in the book is nothing but a very long political speech with little regard to facts. The author deliberately and fastidiously weaves in a fabricated story of caste oppression. She freely borrows from her grandmother’s experiences in moulding a presentable story of how she was discriminated based on caste. Even then, we often see the landlord, who was an upper caste man, intervening of behalf of the author’s family than against it. It is said that sins of fathers visit the sons, but oppression: would it visit the granddaughter? In one page, she grieves that the landlord sucked the tenants dry with nothing left over after extracting his rent. However, she concedes in another page that her ‘mother and aunt could use the money received as agricultural labourers to buy some cows’ (p.51). There is lavish praise heaped on the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan which looks a bit like apple polishing. The book also includes a lecture on why the ‘Kerala Model of Development’ is the way to emulate for other states in India. It is amusing to note that Shailaja in fact believes in her senseless political rhetoric. After reading the book, people are a bit confused as to why it is written in English as the author had to seek the help of a ghost-writer. If she had used Malayalam, which was also her mother tongue, she could have reached the hearts of her readers effortlessly. But then, we should also keep in mind the target audience. Buoyed by the recognition in international fora, Shailaja seems to have been carried away by the adulation and wanted to expand her wings far wider than the narrow borders of Kerala. Unfortunately, the fate of Icarus was what awaited her. With this imagined stature, she wanted to have a more prominent role for herself in Kerala where people even envisaged her in the role of the state’s first woman chief minister. Politics is a mystery right till it unfolds and there’s no other way to know her fate than wait and watch.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The book is recommended.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span><br /></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-22634509686834167022024-01-30T06:15:00.001+05:302024-01-30T11:17:39.473+05:30India’s Secret War<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_rshPSuDQarbZoiQlG0PmQedkxrkHh6IARpZuz_0er6FR-_beNZ4IooR-wle-4gn4UWdn6x-tGticGzsU624XmL2WyFYT_9D2Vi_2rFxpWBARi8N1KLnzOVY4y_k2VY2Fus9mhzjXWqVUGfZhjF2CtiNlCfqgPtudIev1H9MABpzTcaSHUfgk2ovlciyO/s335/rsz_178810792.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_rshPSuDQarbZoiQlG0PmQedkxrkHh6IARpZuz_0er6FR-_beNZ4IooR-wle-4gn4UWdn6x-tGticGzsU624XmL2WyFYT_9D2Vi_2rFxpWBARi8N1KLnzOVY4y_k2VY2Fus9mhzjXWqVUGfZhjF2CtiNlCfqgPtudIev1H9MABpzTcaSHUfgk2ovlciyO/s320/rsz_178810792.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">India’s Secret War – BSF and Nine Months to the Birth of Bangladesh</span></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Author: Ushinor Majumdar</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Publisher: Penguin Veer, 2023 (First)</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">ISBN: 9780143460268</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Pages: 289</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1971 was a watershed moment in the Indian subcontinent’s history. It negated the raison d’etre of one of the nations in it. Pakistan was formed in 1947 by dividing India on the basis of religion. The Muslim League claimed Muslims of India to be a separate nation and demanded a separate homeland for them. The fallacy of this logic was pointed out then itself by astute observers but Jinnah and his ilk were adamant in realizing their dream. However, problems arose the moment Pakistan was formed. It constituted two disjoined parts separated by 1000 km of Indian territory in between. 55 per cent of the new nation spoke Bengali as their mother tongue but they practically had no representation in the higher cadres of government and military. Urdu was forcefully imposed on the East, by replacing Bengali. People of East Pakistan resented the dominance of the Western territory which itself was dominated by Punjab. 23 years after independence, Pakistan cobbled together a constitution and elections were held to the National Assembly. Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, a rising Bengali leader, swept East Pakistan and obtained majority in the federal assembly. West Pakistanis faced the unpalatable situation of swearing in Mujib as the prime minister. Subterfuges operated at all levels and Mujib found himself arrested and lodged in a Pakistani jail rather than administering the country. Bengalis erupted in rebellion and the province wanted to secede. Repressive measures were undertaken by the Pakistan army. Hundreds of thousands of men were tortured and killed while an equal number of women were raped or taken as sex slaves. Ten million people crossed over to India as refugees. India helped them fight against their oppressors by providing men and material for battles against the Pak army. It did this by cleverly employing the services of its young Border Security Force (BSF) which was constituted only in 1965. It also helped India disclaim any official army involvement. In December 1971, India and Pakistan went in for a war in which Pakistan was humiliated by the surrender of 91,000 of its elite troops and secession of the eastern appanage as Bangladesh. This book tells the story of the operations in 1971 orchestrated by BSF. Ushinor Majumdar is an investigative journalist with Outlook magazine since 2015. This is his second book.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The book also includes a brief narrative of the worsening of the relationship between the eastern and western parts of Pakistan. It appears as if the Muslim League had roped in Bengali Muslims only as a ballast to lend credence to their demand for a nation for all Muslims of India. Apart from religion, there was nothing to unite these Muslim provinces together. Linguistic and cultural differences rattled from the very word go. Jinnah visited East Pakistan only once and disdainfully rejected the proposal to make Bengali one of the national languages of Pakistan. This was awkward when the new nation was taken as a whole as 55 per cent of the population spoke Bengali while only 7 per cent spoke Urdu. Pakistan banned the broadcast of Rabindra Sangeet on radio as it was claimed to violate Pakistan’s cultural values. The Bengali Muslims hated Urdu to the core. When hostilities actually began in 1971, the Bengali resistance movement was initially called the Mukti Fauj (means liberation army in Urdu) but its name was soon changed to Mukti Bahini which meant the same but was Bengali in timbre. In 1962, Mujib secretly reached out to Jawaharlal Nehru with a plan to secede from Pakistan. Astonishingly, Nehru declined to back the initiative as he probably did not have the stomach to antagonize Pakistan. Perhaps this was as well in hindsight, because if a war had broken out then, it was likely that Nehru’s leadership would have ensured defeat of the Indian troops like he did against China! On a more serious note, it might have saved the lives and honour of thousands if he had taken the challenge up.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bengalis constituted only a very minor share of Pakistan’s military which was totally dominated by Punjabis and Pathans. The army was mockingly called ‘Khan Sena’ in East Pakistan hinting at the typical surname of those soldiers. There was an ill-equipped East Pakistan regiment of the army and a border force called East Bengal Rifles which was fully Bengali in makeup. The liberation movement was formed around the nucleus of the defected military personnel of Bengali origin who joined Mujib. Pakistan used local allies called Razakars and mixed them with regular troops to carry out atrocities in Bangladesh and inside India’s borders. These people were Bengalis but their Islamist doctrinaire bound them to the yoke that enslaved their countrymen. The BSF was the nodal agency in coordinating with the rebels and refugees. They provided shelter to politicians and freedom fighters. Top leaders were flown in to meet Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The name of the new nation and a draft constitution was formed in meetings of rebels conducted inside India. A provisional government was set up in land liberated by the combined efforts of the BSF and Mukti Bahini. Full logistics of moving the people and the press across the border was undertaken by BSF. India’s actions were timely and apt for the dismemberment of her arch enemy. Pakistan was training and arming the separatist Mizo National Front of Mizoram in 1971. In fact, they fought on many occasions alongside the Pakistan army against the BSF and Mukti Bahini troops.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Majumdar is successful in presenting the details of the numerous skirmishes between the opponents in a manner interesting to general readers. It’s a bane of war histories written by veteran soldiers to stick to military lingo and infinite detail while explaining the happenings on the battlefield. This sometimes sounds like what is taught in soldier-training sessions. Majumdar is a journalist and it shows in his choice of narratives and simple language. Bengali rebels arranged sabotage of road and rail bridges after crossing the border, sometimes with BSF men supporting them in combat. The book is written from a BSF perspective and the main contributors of data are retired BSF officers and troops who had long retired from service but were eager to share their experiences with the author. The author also makes effective efforts to bring out the atrocities carried out by the Pakistan army on Bangladeshi civilians. On several occasions, he mention finding the gory bodily remains of women inside surrendered of evacuated military camps who were kidnapped from the surrounding areas and then raped inside the Pakistan military camps. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Even though India won the war in the end, the result was not a foregone conclusion. Indian military sorely lacked resources and modernization of weaponry. The Nehruvian socialist system had already taken its toll on Indian economy. The country languished in extreme poverty with practically no foreign currency reserves. When the BSF was formed in 1965, its director general asked for foreign exchange to procure wireless sets and weapons from abroad. This was denied. He then decided to build the radio sets internally and set up a technical wing. They were fruitful in their efforts but the situation was ironic. Here was a border police force assembling and testing radio sets instead of concentrating their attention on guarding the frontier! The 3-inch mortar used by the BSF was obsolete by 1971. The sad fact was that they were using it against a regular army having sophisticated American and European weapons. Pakistan’s advanced arsenal could not be effectively used on the battlefield because of its incompetent ground troops lacking the expertise to do so. Indian victory depended on soldiers’ valour in the face of poor resources. However, better investment on modernization of forces would have averted many unnecessary casualties and many Indian women could have been saved from the unenviable fate of widowhood.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The book is easy to read and effortlessly takes the readers along with the narrative. It essentially covers the eight-month period from end-March 1971 when Mujib was arrested and the pogrom started to early-December 1971 when full-scale war began. A chapter is earmarked for activity on the western front in the war even though that is not directly relevant to the efforts on the eastern front. On the other hand, the actual war for the liberation of Bangladesh and capture of Dacca is condensed to an unsatisfactory few pages. This may be because the whole of the action was taken up by the Indian army and the BSF had had only a minor role to play. The book also provides some glimpses on the religiosity of Indian soldiers and how soldiers of all religions took part in the festivities of the others as a team.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The book is highly recommended.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-73051781136392639782024-01-23T21:45:00.001+05:302024-01-24T09:49:15.739+05:30The Upright Thinkers<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuD56PbpztYJNUxPq3kllnUkhSa7avrQkf-T03eiMmXUOE-_RSJLR2sgnHM7YZK5K8s1QNXZ6qnYWHV0yWC0IMu_oG5L_esJz5LOzrOEIWWzyZFA-XqYL0IIB8OLFOBhTfhFzoFKb4UMTdXvILKXDryphEuhucUHQ8aEOQM_nxkPZQOILVqFFcC69Aj39I/s335/rsz_29744375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuD56PbpztYJNUxPq3kllnUkhSa7avrQkf-T03eiMmXUOE-_RSJLR2sgnHM7YZK5K8s1QNXZ6qnYWHV0yWC0IMu_oG5L_esJz5LOzrOEIWWzyZFA-XqYL0IIB8OLFOBhTfhFzoFKb4UMTdXvILKXDryphEuhucUHQ8aEOQM_nxkPZQOILVqFFcC69Aj39I/s320/rsz_29744375.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">The Upright Thinkers – The human journey from living in trees to understanding the cosmos</span></b><br />Author: Leonard Mlodinow<br />Publisher: Penguin, 2016 (First published 2015)<br />ISBN: 9780141981017<br />Pages: 340<br /><br />“The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is so comprehensible”, said Stephen Hawking. There are two points here. One is that the profundity of the universe can be understood by the tiny electrical pathways in the brain of a developed ape species that is man. The second point is more inscrutable. Why, among the millions of living or dead species, Homo sapiens is the only genre which can think about its origins and its place in the world? This book is the story of the development of thought and how it went about redefining man’s position in the race for survival. The search for knowledge is the most human of all our desires. Man is a born thinker. The first two parts of the book summarizes the history of human intellect and the growth of science – with special reference to physics. It expounds how knowledge of the things which we can actually observe developed, following Newton’s methods. The final part deals with concepts that can’t be seen, felt or even where its reality is suspect – such as quantum objects. Leonard Mlodinow is an American theoretical physicist and mathematician, screen writer and author. In physics, he is known for his work on approximating the spectrum of atoms and the quantum theory of light.<br /><br />The early part of the book explains the evolution of humans and what led to the growth of their thinking ability. Nature invested its resources in developing the human brain. Chimps and bonobos are very muscular and have the ability to pull with a force exceeding 550 kg. They also have sharp and rugged teeth to tear with ease through hard nutshells. Man is not endowed with any of these extraordinary facilities, but his brain is exceptionally gifted. The human brain, which accounts for only 2 per cent of the body weight, consumes nearly 20 per cent of the energy a body absorbs. This investment on brain helped us make thinkers who ask questions. Only humans exhibit the quest to understand its own existence. Late Paleolithic and early Neolithic people turned their focus away from mere survival and toward non-essential truths about themselves and their surroundings. This was one of the most meaningful steps in the history of human intellect. Instead of simply believing that somebody or something is at the root of happenings in this world, the early intellectuals stumbled upon the theory that natural forces are behind them. Understanding nature in terms of laws was a new mode of thinking that revolutionized the life of societies. To look at the workings of nature and infer the underlying abstract principle was an enormous advance in human development.<br /><br />Mlodinow talks about the development of rational thinking in ancient Greece that was channeled to late-medieval Europe through translations made by Arabic scholars. In sixth century BCE, a group of Greek revolutionary thinkers came up with a rational approach to nature, which was claimed to be an ordered entity, and not at chaos. Knowledge was imparted from a master to his disciples directly. The term ‘academy’ owes its origin to the institution run by Plato. The middle ages saw the rise of religion and the eclipse of institutions of high learning. Europe started its dreary stroll through the dark ages. Learning was rekindled among the enfolding darkness by universities that sprang up here and there under the watch of a benign monarch. Scholars needed to be saved from the demands of daily toil to feed their families and to provide them with a pecuniary resource in return for the ‘thoughts’ they expended to push the envelope of useful knowledge at the societal level. Early universities were far different from what they are today. A statute in thirteenth century Germany forbade senior students from drenching freshmen with urine. Professors were paid directly by students, who could also hire and fire them. Students fined their professors for unexcused absence or tardiness, or for not answering difficult questions. If a lecture was not interesting or proceeded too slowly or quickly, they’d jeer and become rowdy. Leipzig town passed a rule against throwing stones at professors!<br /><br />Human awareness reached its pinnacle in its quest for knowledge with the development of scientific thought after Renaissance. Falsifiability being one of the critical norms of scientific genuineness, many scientists’ work must inevitably end in failures or dead ends. Still, they are exhorted not to fear taking risks or to explore fields not frequented by others. The author advises the scientists to shed the anxiety of being wrong. Any innovator goes down more dead ends than glorious boulevards. To be afraid to take a wrong turn is to guarantee not going anywhere interesting. The book describes about the little known aspect of Newton’s experimentation with alchemy. Even though it ultimately ended in failure, the knowledge collected and documented by Newton helped to advance the experimental methods of various chemicals. There are many crazy schemes, even in modern science, that were proved wrong. The wrong ones are quickly forgotten and the time put into them having ultimately been wasted. Often we call the proponents of these schemes failures or crackpots. But heroism is about taking risks. Mlodinow highlights the factor that helped foster the scientific quest. Science had to overcome the natural human tendencies to feel that we are special and that deities or magic govern the world. That meant overcoming the God-centric doctrine of the church and the human-centric theories of Aristotle. The book illustrates several instances where the theories of Aristotle proved to be the bigger hurdles to innovation than religion. In the end, the author summarizes that it is a fine line that separates an outlandish, crackpot project and an innovative idea that changes everything.<br /><br />The book then examines the development of the modern disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology based on the lives of the pioneering spirits of each stream. Galileo set the ball rolling in the sixteenth century, followed by glorious stars in the constellation such as Newton, Dalton, Mendeleev, Darwin and Einstein. The biographic sketches are refreshingly updated but the content is essentially the same as one could obtain from any book on popular science. What Mlodinow emphasizes is that these men were not superhuman, but possessed normal human fallibilities. Their life is portrayed as something that is fit for emulation rather than restricted to adoration or even worship in extreme cases.<br /><br />This text nicely explains the limitations of Newton’s theory of classical mechanics and concludes that it is plain wrong when the domain is as small as the inside of an atom or as big as the gravitational neighbourhood of a star. In the first case, quantum theory has replaced Newtonian mechanics while in the latter, Einstein’s general relativity is the only theory to reach the truth. The inadequacy of Newton’s theory became apparent in failing to explain the phenomenon of black-body radiation which is narrated in detail. The book maintains a personal touch by elegantly roping in the comments made by the author’s late father whose remarks which appeared naïve at first sight exhibited a facet of truth and insight. The senior Mlodinow was tortured in the concentration camps on account of being Jewish and narrowly escaped death when his native country of Poland was run over by the Nazis. He didn't have much education, yet had the wisdom to accept facts foreign to him but process them in the right way. Even if you forgot all the arguments of the author on science, chances are that you are likely to remember some of the expressions or at least the attitude, of his father to science.<br /><br />The book is highly recommended.<br /><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">4 Star</span></b></span></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-13623274323765983782023-12-21T05:45:00.003+05:302023-12-21T11:48:19.446+05:30We Also Make Policy<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcgpm_6Nn9o93b7LHzn1xWLItUOGmL4C9-Ov23qIbDjL0IxIwDILKhyphenhyphensXdGgLnI2MWuvghls3zCwA2SbIIVAJulJdykuosqIG9REGCXvYqDtyJTRZol1hCQe-M9hhTt6mpu2bV2-OBU_OrIYuHMpdFRPbEY2CeWup1oSVYyk433a8kYSNCP03Le1hyw9Vy/s335/rsz_81st7cxr-yl_ac_uf10001000_ql80_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcgpm_6Nn9o93b7LHzn1xWLItUOGmL4C9-Ov23qIbDjL0IxIwDILKhyphenhyphensXdGgLnI2MWuvghls3zCwA2SbIIVAJulJdykuosqIG9REGCXvYqDtyJTRZol1hCQe-M9hhTt6mpu2bV2-OBU_OrIYuHMpdFRPbEY2CeWup1oSVYyk433a8kYSNCP03Le1hyw9Vy/s320/rsz_81st7cxr-yl_ac_uf10001000_ql80_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">We Also Make Policy – An Insider’s Account of How the Finance Ministry Functions</span></b><br />Author: Subhash Chandra Garg<br />Publisher: HarperCollins India, 2023 (First)<br />ISBN: 9789356994713<br />Pages: 494<br /><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">This book is the memoirs of Subhash Chandra Garg who was the Finance secretary of the government of India in charge of the crucial Economic Affairs department from 2017 to 2019. He was a 1983 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre. With a long stint in the finance portfolio, he had also worked as the director of World Bank in the US. He had a cordial relationship with Arun Jaitley who was the finance minister who selected him. As Jaitley fell ill, he was substituted by Piyush Goyal. Garg had a strained relationship with him. After the 2019 elections, Nirmala Sitharaman assumed charge as the minister and there was open fight between her and Garg. From the hints in the book, it is safe to assume that the author exhibited a clear streak of independence in work bordering on insubordination. We see him locking horns with other ministers too. After only 55 days of working together, Sitharaman transferred him out of finance to the less glamorous ministry of Power. This shift to a junior position upset him and he took voluntary retirement from service within three months even though Garg protests that the transfer was not the reason for his quitting. This book encapsulates the major issues handled during his tenure and the story of how the policy is formulated in the highest echelons of government. The book has definitely proved its worth in providing ‘an insider’s view of how the Finance ministry functions’ even though the emerging picture is not so reassuring because of the fuzziness of thoughts, clash of opposing visions and the slow pace of decision-making in the government.<br /><br />It is well known that the postings in the highest circles of bureaucracy are controlled by the wishes of the political masters. Whether it was the result of coincidence or an engineered confluence of circumstances or a pure merit-based selection, Garg was selected as the Director of World Bank while serving in Rajasthan as the state’s finance secretary. It was equally out of the normal that he was recalled before the end of tenure and placed as the secretary in charge of economic affairs in the central finance ministry which oversees the most critical units that set policy such as budget preparation, liaison with RBI and SEBI, setting the government’s monetary policy, inflation targets and printing of currency. No wonder the author was stung when he was shifted out of the ministry.<br /><br />Recently, the finance ministers of the four south Indian states vehemently complained about the unfair allocation of more financial resources to north Indian states on the basis of the 2011, rather than the 1971 census figures. The southern states performed better in birth control and as a result their population share to the total declined. This in turn reduced their share of resources. This was claimed to be based on the report of the 15th Finance Commission. Garg was instrumental in setting the agenda and guiding the Commission and this book informs that the population aspect was thought of in the initial stages itself and a compensating factor beneficial to the southern states introduced in the final report. He claims that the insistence on using 1971 figures is fiscally counterproductive. The whole objective of the Finance Commission is to determine the right amount of central taxes to be devolved to the states to meet the gap in their fiscal needs to provide a minimum and common standard of services all over the country. This required the Finance Commission to direct resources toward poorer and more populous states. Hence the better performers were given an incentive in a new way which he deliberates in full.<br /><br />Garg also comments on some policy decisions which were taken in a good spirit but which did not bring in the desired results. He designates the 2016 demonetisation as ‘a misadventure’ and ‘not a clear success’. With this understatement, he examines another policy front opened by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) without any political backing. The central bank under Urjit Patel as governor actively pushed for localization of financial and payment data. IT law did not mandate it but Patel ‘somehow got convinced that data localization was in the national interest’. There was no demand from the players, public or the government and it was very difficult for multinationals to redesign the data storage networks. The author accuses that it was entirely one individual’s preference. We see bureaucrat babus in various departments quickly ganging up for data privacy. This looked eerily similar to the license-quota-permit raj the nation dismantled in the early-1990s liberalization drive. The spectre of the license raj still haunts the corridors of power ready to pounce back at the slightest notice. This book provides many examples in which officers still think in the same way an official in the same capacity thought forty or fifty years ago. It is often the political nudge that sets the trajectory right. This book should be a warning to political visionaries who plan to reform the administration. They would do well to permanently exorcise this ghost of the socialist era, once and for all.<br /><br />The current Narendra Modi regime provided a tremendous boost to the economy, catapulting the GDP from the tenth position in 2014 to the fifth slot at present. This book claims that even in the face of this huge progress, there is still scope for improvement. It still suffers due to policy paralysis in certain sectors such as the issue of sovereign bonds in foreign currency and privatization of more airports after divesting the six in 2020. Increased lethargy, lack of direction and blurred focus affect the privatization of CPSEs and asset monetization policies. Garg also summarizes the way in which the government should behave on this front. There is no reason for the government to continue in business. Its responsibility is to deliver public goods, formulate policies for businesses and redistribute income from the rich to the poor. Operating businesses is none of its business. It’s a waste of fiscal resources and governance. Privatization is the most appropriate model and the need of the hour is for the government to get out of most CPSEs producing goods and services. It need not be defensive about privatization.<br /><br />Garg’s writing style is matter of fact, to the point and informational. However, it is not a pleasant read for ordinary readers. Bureaucrats may enjoy the not-clearly expressed nuances and appreciate them with their familiarity to the concerned backstage politics. This makes the narrative rather stiff for others. Besides, this book does not pack enough gossip to make it delectable for the general public. Another notable aspect is the freedom the bureaucrats possess in sticking to their stubborn positions even against the wishes of their politician bosses. Our author was on good terms with Arun Jaitley when he was the minister. After his exit on medical grounds, Piyush Goyal assumed charge. Nirmala Sitharaman took over the portfolio after the 2019 elections. Garg was at loggerheads with both of them. Sitharaman resented his continuing in the ministry and he was shunted to the ministry of power which felt like a demotion to him and he opted to take voluntary retirement with one year to spare in his normal service. In the power ministry too, he had serious differences of opinion with its minister who was himself an ex-IAS officer. Even with all these fights behind him, the author could escape almost unhurt with nothing more serious than transfers to less prestigious offices. This shows that these positions of power and good pay are also conferred with security of tenure. The author summarizes his career with a one-liner that is the pinnacle of understatement - “Life is never dull in the Ministry of Finance”. The book is not exciting, but a good read.<br /><br />The book is recommended.<br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span></span><br /><br /></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-52165441180770028562023-11-27T06:12:00.001+05:302023-11-27T15:14:10.916+05:30Goa, 1961<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQVZqeyTUemIUR8jakUcXuF1Er61OKojHOHg8Fw_apj0HI0B5r7k3PNT4h-lF5E0z9kOqQHqKoVWdX_YgToNXVEINjuwHJsJ9sJiwR7GUKtCr0Kpf3g59SVEOLtA7vdt-ASvMrYJn7viHmOy6GHleJRqH4z1IAIjlk7WfNurKYbvqNVJY-ko0bNgiGfoeU/s335/rsz_178810916.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQVZqeyTUemIUR8jakUcXuF1Er61OKojHOHg8Fw_apj0HI0B5r7k3PNT4h-lF5E0z9kOqQHqKoVWdX_YgToNXVEINjuwHJsJ9sJiwR7GUKtCr0Kpf3g59SVEOLtA7vdt-ASvMrYJn7viHmOy6GHleJRqH4z1IAIjlk7WfNurKYbvqNVJY-ko0bNgiGfoeU/s320/rsz_178810916.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Goa, 1961 – The Complete Story of Nationalism and Integration</span></b><br />Author: Valmiki Faleiro<br />Publisher: Vintage Penguin, 2023 (First)<br />ISBN: 9780670097920<br />Pages: 391<br /><br />Great Britain was not the only colonial power that had possessions in India. Even after 1947, the French and the Portuguese continued to hold on to their colonies of Pondicherry and Goa respectively, along with its hinterlands. However, with the achievement of India’s freedom and strengthening of popular freedom movements in these provinces, the writing on the wall was very clear and distinct – colonialism has to go. France addressed this issue and gracefully left India with a treaty in 1956 and India looked eagerly to Portugal to follow suit. However, being less well developed on international etiquette and civilizational maturity, Portugal held on to its Goan estate with a fierceness that originated from stubbornness and autocracy at home. The Portuguese dictator Salazar reiterated his intention to keep Goa under Portuguese rule. Peaceful agitations continued but its prospects of success dwindled each day as Salazar ratcheted up the oppression machinery. Finally, on Dec 18, 1961, Indian armed forces rushed into Goa in a ‘police action’ and subjugated it within 36 hours. The demoralized and ill-equipped Portuguese forces didn’t even put up a decent fight before surrendering. The outcome was rather low key with 22 dead on the Indian side, 17 on the Portuguese side and over 3000 Portuguese prisoners of war. This book is a review of the situation in 1961, with events leading up to it and the consequences of India deliberately veering off its much professed ideal of peace and nonviolence. Valmiki Faleiro is a journalist and prolific writer. He was once the Mayor of Margao city.<br /><br />The first part of the book describes how Portugal alienated ordinary Goans with its highhanded policies. The locally anointed Catholic priests were against the white clergy from the very beginning. To add to the discrimination, Goa was downgraded from a province of Portugal in 1930 to a mere colony. From the status of citizens of Portugal, Goans were overnight reduced into its ‘subjects’. Civil servants in Goa were replaced with whites to ‘renationalize Goa’. With Salazar’s dictatorial rule of 36 years in Portugal starting from 1932, all political parties in Goa were banned and public get-togethers of any sort discouraged. Even wedding invitations were mandated to carry the seal of the censor. Goans had to suffer racial slurs pronounced by white Portuguese administrators and politicians, such as the remark by one of them that ‘the Goans are for our race what the woodworm is to the wood’. Twentieth century Goa was of no economic or strategic significance to Portugal. Salazar declared in 1954 that maintaining Goa required an annual burden of 7 million escudos. But still, Goa was an emotion, a remnant of Portugal’s glorious nautical history. Portugal also entertained the Hyderabad Nizam’s interests to merge with Pakistan. He had requested one year’s time for accession to India after independence. In the meantime, he offered to buy Goa and thus have a seaport accessible to his landlocked state. His plan was to become a part of Pakistan as its third wing! Nizam’s hopes were dashed in 1948 in another police action staged by Sardar Patel and Hyderabad was annexed to India. This strengthened the apprehensions of Delhi that allowing the Portuguese to stay on in Goa would be a thorn in the nation’s flesh.<br /><br />The book summarizes the confused and ambivalent attitude of the Congress party towards Goa. While the party was spearheading the freedom struggle against the British, the Goa National Congress (GNC) was doing the same against Portugal in Goa. There were numerous such organisations practicing both violent and nonviolent means. But in 1934, the Congress dissociated its links to GNC citing Goa as an alien land! The GNC then shifted its office from Goa to Mumbai, but the Congress was unimpressed. After independence too, the Nehru government was always reluctant to take the plunge in evicting the Portuguese. In 1954, freedom fighters liberated the Portuguese territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. This intensified the Goan agitation but Nehru still demurred to intervene because ‘it will be construed as India’s interference in the internal affairs of Portugal’ (p.40). Nehru was forever conscious of his personal reputation even at the cost of national interest. He extended the principle of nonviolence, which can at best be regarded as only an aspiration in foreign policy, to absurd limits. The repressive Goan police shot at unarmed satyagrahis on Aug 15, 1955, in which 22 were killed. Nehru came under immense pressure to intervene militarily, but he reiterated in various fora that India will not send in troops. The book indicates that the decision to send troops was also influenced by pressure from external agents. In the Non-Aligned Movement summit held in Sep 1961, Nehru was criticized by the newly created African states to act strong. Several delegates told to his face ‘to act and not just talk’. Besides, things were not going well in the internal politics and economic spheres and a general election was scheduled for Feb 1962. Nehru finally decided to attack and annex Goa in Dec 1961.<br /><br />Faleiro discusses about how oppressive was the Portuguese regime, particularly after assumption of the prime minister’s office by Salazar. Goa was historically, geographically, ethnically, culturally, linguistically and legally one with India. During British rule, it was commercially integrated to India. Goans were granted free entry to India while Indians were restricted to enter Goa. Tens of thousands of Goans were employed and permanently domiciled in different parts of India. Numerous Goans worked in India’s military and some of them had reached its top positions too. The living standards of colonial Goa were dismal with no opportunities for higher education and decent employment locally. This lack of facilities prompted upwardly mobile Goans to emigrate out of it. As a result, the proportion of Christians in the total population plummeted. They were 64 per cent in 1850. This came down to 38 per cent in 1961 and further slid to 25 per cent in 2011.<br /><br />As mentioned earlier, Nehru was dilly-dallying on the use of military to liberate Goa. This book explains the alternate actions which he took to bring Portugal to accept his claim of Goa. But as was his industrial, economic and military policies back home, this too was a disaster. India declared an economic blockade of Goa in 1953, preventing all material export from India. But Goa imported all commodities from overseas, including vegetables and cotton yarn from Pakistan. To meet the extra monetary demand due to increased freight, mining and export of the plentiful iron and manganese ores were boosted many fold. Nehru’s administration faced this unexpected challenge with dismay and indecision. Instead of crippling the Goan economy, the blockade resulted in an economic boom. Consumer goods were heavily controlled in Nehruvian socialist economy and as a result, large scale smuggling of these articles occurred across the porous borders of Goa. The ineffective blockade was finally lifted in April 1961, but smuggling continued unabated. India’s decision to take the so-called ‘police action’ was also affected by Portuguese weakness which was established by events in Africa. The French gave freedom to Dahomey (Benin) in 1960. There was a 4-acre micro-territory of Portugal called Sao Joao Batista de Ajuda inside this country which they refused to relinquish to Benin. Having run out of patience, Benin’s forces occupied the territory in July 1961 and served as a model for Nehru to imitate.<br /><br />The book dedicates a considerable space for elaborating the military activities of Dec 18-19, 1961 in which the Portuguese forces sued for peace and surrendered within 36 hours after the first shot was fired. They were ill-equipped and demoralized. The Portuguese had estimated that even if they deployed its entire military, it would not have held on for more than five days! However, India’s intelligence units failed to make a realistic estimate of Portugal’s defence capability in Goa and as a result erred on the side of caution. The result was like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly. Portugal was hugely outmatched in infantry, artillery and navy. There were 17 Indian warships against Portugal’s single ship and they had no air power to defend Goa. One good thing was that the Portuguese surrendered without shedding much blood on both sides even though Salazar had ordered them to fight to the last man and destroy the magnificent buildings of Old Goa. The PoWs were court-martialed in Portugal after their release from India and awarded prison sentences. Some elements had portrayed the Goan Catholic community as pro-Portuguese, un-Indian and antinational. The author takes great pains to debunk this falsehood citing the active participation of the community in the struggle against Portugal. The elite of both Hindus and Christians and the business class supported the Portuguese rule but that was not extended to the ordinary people. The book also includes a note on the crimes committed by a few Indian soldiers on the civilians of Goa as if they were a conquered people. These were extremely isolated events which were quickly acted upon. In fact, the attack included the participation of several Goan officers to convince the locals that the invaders are actually one with them.<br /><br />The book narrates several goof ups of Nehru but claims that India rose to become ‘a world leader against colonialism after 1947’. It also gives credit to defence minister V K Krishna Menon in planning the Goan offensive, sometimes compelling a reluctant Nehru to fall in line. It also hints that the Chinese attack on Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh hardly a year later was an indirect consequence to India’s 1961 operation in Goa. What is noteworthy in the book is its repeated emphasis on the participation of Goan Christians in the liberation effort. Describing several incidents of protests involving and avoiding violence, the author establishes the truth that Goa’s liberation involved people of both Christian and Hindu faiths in substantial measure. The book also includes a list of 209 Catholic freedom fighters as an annexure. This book provides a good reading experience of a chapter in Indian history which is usually rolled up in one sentence or as a footnote in mainstream rendering of history as it is thought to be an aberration on India’s policy of peace, non-intervention and nonviolence. But Goa is the one episode in which India behaved – as John F Kennedy quipped – ‘like what a normal state would do, instead of sermonizing to the world lofty and impractical homilies’. The author is a Goan and he has included some anecdotes gleaned from local circles.<br /><br />The book is highly recommended.<br /><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-40896322518132408552023-11-15T20:17:00.001+05:302023-11-16T12:19:42.886+05:30Remnants of a Separation<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq5iQ9ze5JGq3rdaoMS75GNpFu8yWHDsmojdDuXtA7qFIJRA_XRR9iTRcmQdxzEpBCtDMh9x4ndnNkSqeovUDuNc3pOKAGffyMUhCj349acIxpocuTDlOuWPwIG8e17pOfg1-3jzo1GNxDD_gWhLSeLls430TYAudVhPOYExEExCkkNWd5Hk8sBuMJyQUb/s335/rsz_36142911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq5iQ9ze5JGq3rdaoMS75GNpFu8yWHDsmojdDuXtA7qFIJRA_XRR9iTRcmQdxzEpBCtDMh9x4ndnNkSqeovUDuNc3pOKAGffyMUhCj349acIxpocuTDlOuWPwIG8e17pOfg1-3jzo1GNxDD_gWhLSeLls430TYAudVhPOYExEExCkkNWd5Hk8sBuMJyQUb/s320/rsz_36142911.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Remnants of a Separation – A History of the Partition through Material History</span></b><br />Author: Aanchal Malhotra<br />Publisher: HarperCollins, 2017 (First)<br />ISBN: 9789352770120<br />Pages: 385<br /><br />Before I begin: This is my 700th book review here. The journey which started about sixteen years ago still runs smoothly and happily.<br /><br />The partition of India into two independent countries in 1947 was sordid to begin with but it turned into a disastrous nightmare with each passing week. An estimated one million people were killed, numerous women were raped or abducted and many tens of thousands were forcibly converted to Islam. Several millions had no choice but to migrate to the other side of the border with whatever little they could carry, mostly in their hands. In several instances, they had only a few minutes to prepare for cutting all roots from their native land. This book is about the reminiscences of those people who migrated in 1947. They were lucky to have escaped with their life, but not so fortunate as to be free of first-hand experiences of the carnage that was played out, especially in Punjab. This book does not simply compile the recollections of these octogenarians but makes them relive their past life based on the few material things they could bring along and has assumed a large sentimental value such as a piece of cloth, a utensil, an ornament or a souvenir connected to a prized association. The book carries the memories from a generation receding into the past to a generation advancing into the future, both with great speed. Aanchal Malhotra is an artist and oral historian working with memory and material culture. She is the co-founder of the ‘Museum of Material Memory’, a digital repository of material culture from the Indian subcontinent, tracing family histories and social ethnography through heirlooms, collectibles and objects of antiquity. The author is a descendant of migrants on both sides of the family. This is her dissertation thesis for the degree of MFA (Master of Fine Arts).<br /><br />This book is organized as a collection of conversations with individuals who witnessed and experienced the unforgettable moments in the subcontinent’s history and its partition. Author’s engagement with the most senior members of a family (the partition is already 76 years old), persuade their great-grandchildren to view them in a new light and as a source of inspiration and encouragement. After all, not everyone goes through the tough times as brought down by cataclysmic events related to the partition of a country that was an organic whole for most of recorded history. The importance of material memory is focused on in this book. Not content with learning the individual experiences, Malhotra prompts her subjects to show her any item of interest that they had brought along in the exodus and still holds dear. These small articles of personal attachment suddenly get transformed into a tangible link to the painful past. We also see that younger family members, who had viewed these items with nothing better than indifference, if at all, quickly find them cherishable and priceless. In a sense, it brings out the links to the past as well as strengthens the ties to the future. The author’s remark on memory loss caused by aging is arresting: “memory begins to fade little by little. First the edges soften, eroding away the most recent years and then slowly age gnaws its way till it reaches even the seemingly impenetrable, the nucleus of our lives – our oldest and dearest memories”.<br /><br /> One similarity that runs through all the people’s experiences in the early stages is the disbelief and skepticism on the viability of partition itself. The sheer fact that a nation can be divided and its people separated did not cross the minds of common people who went about their normal lives while Muslim politicians openly demanded partition. There were indeed a few ‘nationalist’ Muslim leaders high up in the Congress hierarchy who opposed it but their ratio could be expressed in ppm (parts per million) rather than percentages. The author here gives some leeway to the guilty party and gives the nuance that both political sides wanted partition. She had to travel to Pakistan and interview the people who left India that probably made her adopt this ambivalent argument that is designed not to irritate anybody, but at the cost of truth. Lack of clarity on borders made the situation troublesome as Hindu pockets in Pakistan and Muslim pockets in India near the prospective border did not know to which country they would be annexed to by Cyril Radcliffe, the arbiter of the fate of millions. This book suggests that Radcliffe faltered in some cases and succumbed to favours by conceding to the needs of the elite few over the needs of many, much against the mapmaker’s better judgement.<br /><br />The author claims that one cannot attribute the events that unraveled in 1947 to a single cause or community and hence the notion of singular responsibility is thereby absent (p.33). This is plain wrong and the result of unwillingness to see the elephant in the room. It was the Muslim side which demanded partition right from the partition of Bengal in 1905, also largely on religious lines. The Bengal division was later reversed, but as the Muslim League grew stronger and stronger with each passing year on the base of concessions by the Congress, it could finally run its writ in 1947. The demand for Pakistan was ignored at first and later resisted, but the League then intensified their claim and resorted to horrible violence such as the Direct Action Day of Calcutta in 1946. Pakistan was born with both pre-natal and post-natal bloodshed. Even then, 35 million Muslims chose to stay back in India. The author’s quest to balance the narrative is obviously woven to please their descendants. Malhotra then notes that ‘it is not religion; it is human nature and quest for power that drives madness of violence’. This is so absurd that it is not even wrong. It is what you can call a secularization of bigotry. The violence was aided and abetted by the tenets of a particular religion. When it flared beyond control, others also imitated their methods to pay them back in the same coin. This reluctance to face the intense religious zeal of interlocutors that went in in the creation of Pakistan is exemplified by an incident narrated in the book. Azra, a 90-year old matriarch in Lahore, had migrated from Jalandhar in Indian Punjab. She recalls that she had actively participated in public processions in Jalandhar shouting Hamara dil mein Quran hai (we hold the Quran in our hearts) and Hamein Pakistan chahiye (we want our Pakistan). At this point, our author incredulously ejaculates ‘but did you actually believe them?’ (p.65). She evidently did, but our author was not willing to accept that the old woman sitting in front of her was a fanatic of the first order! This is a classic instance of the typical liberal hare standing stunned motionless against the headlights of fanaticism. We also read about people who so loved the land to which they belonged that they were ready to convert for the simple privilege of being allowed to stay there. Bhoptiyan village in Lahore district was a Sikh majority one. All the Sikhs converted to Islam to remain there. The author also suggests a division of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 as a workable solution to the Kashmir problem which is embarrassingly naïve.<br /><br />Even though the author has interviewed 19 people from both sides of the border and presented their cases with a heart-warming clarity, she has clearly missed the communal wood for the individual trees. We see that the people who had gone over to Pakistan do not flinch when asked whether they wanted to undo partition. They don’t. One of them says that there is indeed ‘a difference’ between Hindus and Muslims. The author is unnerved by this candid assertion and mumbles farak kya hai (what’s the difference) to which the kind Pakistani replies that ‘even though we considered ourselves equal to the Hindus in every way, there was no denying the inherent differences’ (p.180). Another boasts that ‘it was not money or material prosperity that brought me here to Pakistan but inspiration. I was inspired by the idea of this land and aspired to become something for it’. On the other hand, this book narrates an incident in which a person who had gone to Pakistan coming back a few years later and establishing a Muslim shrine in Samana, Punjab at which place people of all religions pray. Another lady claims to have come from a generation who professes to be secular and open to pluralism and multiculturalism. These facets are seen in action in India alone, while in Pakistan the minorities are either killed off or converted. One only needs to look at the percentages of minority population in both countries in 1947 and compare it to the numbers at present. The author also claims that when she read Jinnah’s Pakistan Address of March 1940, she ‘could not understand the vehemence, perhaps due to my own naivety’ (p.181). Bigotry is incomprehensible to the liberal mind. The unfortunate part is that since she does not understand it she assumes it to be absent.<br /><br />Aged people are the subject matter of the book, but it is touching and the way the young generation treats the old is just lovely. The insight that has gone into the author’s occasional philosophical remarks such as ‘life is not easy, but it is never supposed to be’ is truly great. Even people who are not in any way connected to the partition would find this book appealing as it provides a pathway to the hearts and minds of their grandparents and to reevaluate them on the face of challenges they had encountered and overcome. A particular thing to note is that the book is biased towards stories of the rich, influential people like zamindars with large havelis, topmost bureaucrats or people who could afford a year-long world tour in 1947. Anyway, the book presents a rich and fulfilling reading experience.<br /><br />The book is highly recommended.<br /><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">4 Star</span></b></span></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-69070655762907642322023-10-26T05:46:00.000+05:302023-10-26T11:39:03.185+05:30Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpr3dX6mauJj8XYIEUXWLOFacclCW06uaJxeZRT8QQhSPdLxAuqUg755HHEHPmnLSdomXso5f6DndhtmQsAT1CCA04Tj0KnUewqhOyZp6d_21A2bqW3YZetSgSsh54ERGtq6FjXMIRdfa43ZJG4Ee30CpC5QsNz8rMGKy1i6XmVz1xqG3ArPdaY14bHJ6y/s335/rsz_9788120612990-us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpr3dX6mauJj8XYIEUXWLOFacclCW06uaJxeZRT8QQhSPdLxAuqUg755HHEHPmnLSdomXso5f6DndhtmQsAT1CCA04Tj0KnUewqhOyZp6d_21A2bqW3YZetSgSsh54ERGtq6FjXMIRdfa43ZJG4Ee30CpC5QsNz8rMGKy1i6XmVz1xqG3ArPdaY14bHJ6y/s320/rsz_9788120612990-us.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan – And the Struggle with the Musalman Powers of the South</span></b><br />Author: Lewin B. Bowring<br />Publisher: Asian Educational Services, 2003 (First published 1899)<br />ISBN: Nil<br />Pages: 233<br /><br />Lewin B. Bowring was a British civil servant who served as the Chief Commissioner of Mysore from 1862 to 1870. This was the time when the maharajah was all but deposed in name and the kingdom was being directly administered by British officers. Bowring was a man of letters who used the sources that came into his notice in his official capacity and created a concise narrative of the reign of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan. He is much more objective than contemporary British authors but harbours an affiliation to the official perspective. The rule of the father and son duo lasted only 38 years, which might seem at first sight a glitch in the centuries-old rule of the Hindu Wodeyar dynasty of Mysore. But the upheaval the state witnessed in this interval – innumerable wars, sieges, victories, defeats, pillage, booty, plunder, torture of innocent people and forced conversions – mark it as the lowest period in Mysore’s history. Nor was it redeemed to any extent by any gracious policy of these two tyrants. Even today, the name of Tipu Sultan evokes strong responses from the descendants of his victims and serves only to divide the society. In the case of impact on the country, Tipu’s rule may be compared to that of Saddam Hussein and the hard times Iraq had to go through during his devastating stint in power. <br /><br />In the book’s first part, Bowring depicts Haidar Ali’s ascendancy to power noting that he was treacherous but extremely fortunate. He was a faujdar or military commander of the Wodeyar kings. He was an able soldier who chased the powerful Marathas out of the country. Raised to the title of Fateh Haidar Bahadur, he was the person the king sought help from when the incompetent king found himself in thrall by minister Nanjraj. Haider ousted Nanjraj but himself kept the king a prisoner. At this stage, Khande Rao, another minister, sought help from the Marathas. Haidar was defeated at first but the Marathas had to hastily return due to their defeat to Abdali at Panipat in 1761. Haidar then gained absolute control of Mysore and imprisoned his enemies. He mockingly promised to cherish Khande Rao like a parrot. True to his word, Rao was put in an iron cage and fed uncooked rice and milk till the end of his life. Haidar never refrained from any act, however dastardly, if that could gain something for him. The chief of Chitradurg, Madakei Nayak, stoutly resisted him. However, Haidar saw that the enemy had 3000 Muslim soldiers in his troops, induced a Muslim holy man to corrupt them and betray their master. Nayak was defeated and 20,000 young boys were forcibly taken away to Seringapatam to be converted to Islam.<br /><br />Bowring also makes an effort to estimate the personality and character of both the protagonists. Haidar was a bold, original and enterprising commander who was skillful in tactics, fertile in resources, full of energy and never desponding in defeat. Unfortunately, he was also a man of the loosest morals and never spared any woman who had the misfortune to attract his attention (p.77-8). He habitually circumcised the prisoners of war for conversion. Still, the author claims that he was free from bigotry when compared to his son Tipu. Just imagine how fiendish Tipu might have seemed to his contemporaries! Haidar was permissive in employing people of other religions as his officials so long as they obeyed his orders.<br /><br />This book introduces Tipu as a conceited zealot and bloodthirsty tyrant who always violated treaties and ceasefire obligations. Many a times, he promised personal safety to the besieged but as soon as they surrendered, imprisoned them. Tipu was a bitter foe of the British but that does not make him a freedom fighter. He was an ally of the French who were also looking to establish colonies in India. Tipu in fact drove the kings of Cochin, Travancore and Coorg to the bosom of the British to obtain help in defending against Tipu’s invasions. But Tipu’s star set in 1792 when the allied forces of the British, Nizam and the Marathas besieged Seringapatam and a humiliating treaty of capitulation was imposed on him. He had to cede half of his territories, pay three million rupees, release all prisoners and give two of his sons as hostages. Bowring deduces that Tipu was urged on by religious bigotry, innate cruelty and despotism. He thought little of sacrificing thousands of lives to his ardent zeal and revengeful feelings. These darker shades in his disposition are not relieved by any evidence of princely generosity, such as Haidar Ali occasionally showed (p.220). He sent ambassadors to Mauritius, which was the nearest French military base urging its governor to invade India as Tipu’s ally. Napoleon’s victory in Egypt in 1798 and other international interests finally convinced Britain to unseat this thorn in their flesh. Tipu fell in battle and died befitting a brave warrior. That seems the only saving grace for him.<br /><br />The book includes a whole chapter on Tipu’s fanaticism and cruelty as if it had anticipated the glorifying false narrative a section of the people would attribute to him in future. During the siege of Mangalore, 30,000 Christians were taken to Seringapatam and forcibly converted. Similar was the fate of the people of Coorg who revolted. He destroyed numerous temples in Malabar and forcibly converted its inhabitants. In Kuttippuram, 2000 Nairs were converted and forced to eat beef as proof of their conversion. He frequently mentioned in his dispatches that ‘Hindustan is overrun with infidels and polytheists’ (p.187). He changed place names to denote their submission to Islam. Devanahalli, where he was born, was renamed Yusafabad, Chitradurga to Farukh-yab Hisar, Mangalore to Jamalabad, Sadashivgarh to Majidabad, Madikeri to Zafirabad and many more. Tipu filled his subordinate cadre with officials who shared his ruthless spirit. There was a commander named Mohammed Raza in his army. He was popularly called Benki Nawab which means Lord of the Fire. It is said that on one occasion, he shut certain Nairs up with their wives and children in a house and burnt them alive (p.191).<br /><br />The book affords much historical vigour in presenting the narrative. Whenever a king or dynasty is mentioned, their pedigree and succession charts for a few generations before and after are given. Bowring assumes the shades of a disdainful Orientalist at times. It is almost a creed for him that the natives are not trustworthy. He comments that European diplomats are no match for the duplicity and craft of Orientals. By the time this book was written in 1899, the French had been totally eclipsed and marginalized to a few toeholds on the subcontinent’s coast. This encourages him to do a What-If analysis related to the mid-eighteenth century wars. The author points out that the French reserved all its strength for operations against the British in North America and seemed indifferent to recovering the prestige it had lost in India. Had it dispatched a sufficient army to the Coromandel Coast when Haidar was operating against the Madras forces, Fort St. George would have fallen and British authority would have been supplanted by the French. In the end, De Bussy arrived too late. With Haidar’s death and the success of Hastings’ diplomacy, French influence terminally declined. The Chapter 15 titled ‘Haider declares War Against the English’ was missing in the copy I handled, but the pages were numbered sequentially without any error.<br /><br />The book is highly recommended.<br /><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-79863708635827781432023-10-24T14:21:00.003+05:302023-10-24T14:21:53.862+05:30Missionaries and a Hindu State: Travancore<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_67kdNiyAVvvYuQou22Lj_emEXiQShVc1V2M2_BdZcvy1fkSBM8G3zR-zYje8nBRbDW_caSrbgsoKQsGpqaaI3hqb7PJ62k7Tfgu0ed_dbikjUymZTvjmnPQavLq4srSfu0SVe_KS_2DafRTG9zMPJX7vZBsFWEI3H6tS2JjjOjO96PtIcllIQlsaAo9V/s240/rsz_91avdr5vzwl_ac_uf10001000_ql80_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="165" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_67kdNiyAVvvYuQou22Lj_emEXiQShVc1V2M2_BdZcvy1fkSBM8G3zR-zYje8nBRbDW_caSrbgsoKQsGpqaaI3hqb7PJ62k7Tfgu0ed_dbikjUymZTvjmnPQavLq4srSfu0SVe_KS_2DafRTG9zMPJX7vZBsFWEI3H6tS2JjjOjO96PtIcllIQlsaAo9V/s1600/rsz_91avdr5vzwl_ac_uf10001000_ql80_.jpg" width="165" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Missionaries and a Hindu State: Travancore 1858-1936</span></b><br />Author: Koji Kawashima<br />Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000 (First published 1998)<br />ISBN: 9780195655346<br />Pages: 252<br /><br />The reformation of Kerala society, sometimes denoted by the more grandiose term of ‘renaissance’, was as thorough as well as far reaching. Human development parameters of present-day Kerala are more in the company of those of the developed western nations than other states of India where pace has picked up only recently. This social progress of Kerala is directly related to the renaissance, but what caused it in the first place? Of the three geographical entities of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar that comprise the Kerala state, Travancore excels the other two, but closely followed by Cochin. This book shows how Travancore changed itself into a modern state, how they used Christian missionaries during the process of state building and how the British authorities were concerned in this process. It also explains how the state encountered, assimilated, utilized and resisted westernization and imperialism in the period 1858-1936. Koji Kawashima teaches political science and economics at Kokushikan University in Tokyo, Japan. He is not well known in Kerala for his scholarship on its society and I guess this book is the thesis of his research work. There is precious little about the author in the book.<br /><br />Travancore was a Hindu state right from the beginning but it still permitted the missionaries to work and propagate their religion. They did not put any obstacles in the missionaries’ way in converting Hindus to Christianity. No other country in the world other than native Indian states was this liberal and tolerant in the nineteenth century. Travancore never came under Muslim rule in its history and therefore retained its ancient Hindu type and character. This was further reinforced by King Marthandavarma by surrendering the state to Lord Padmanabha, an aspect of Vishnu. The state made huge expenditures from the treasury for temples and maintaining feeding houses for Brahmins. The relationship between the missionaries, Travancore state and the British government which was the paramount power, changed greatly over time from the late-nineteenth century onwards as a result of the growing influence of Indian nationalism, Hindu revivalism and the growing awareness of self-identity among the depressed castes and communities.<br /><br />Kawashima brilliantly captures the spirit of missionary work in Kerala and how its effectiveness and aggressive nature changed over the decades. The Protestant missions of London Mission Society (LMS) and Church Mission Society (CMS) were the most prominent and more powerful than Catholic missions. The East India Company officially prohibited missionary activity through its charter, but was ‘curiously inconsistent and self-contradictory in practice’. The company forbade missionary activity in Bengal where a large Muslim population held sway and were opposed to it. On the other hand, they encouraged the missionaries in South India where the Hindus were in a majority who would tolerate anything. The first British Residents of Travancore, C Macaulay and John Munro were zealous evangelists. State funds were granted to missionaries to carry out their conversion work. It was Munro who took over the administration of Hindu temples and thereby obtained the right to control its wealth. The missionaries resented any hurdles in their work. In 1857, Rev. John Cox warned the Maharajah that the only way of avoiding annexation of the kingdom to British provinces was to remove the current Resident and Dewan who were not supportive to the missionaries. Their insolence must have been maddening to native officials! After the Revolt of 1857, the British changed their policy of ‘civilizing’ India and decided to honour the social customs and rights of the native rulers. But these right envisaged in Victoria’s Proclamation of 1858 took effect very gradually in Travancore, by the 1890s. The rise of patriotism and nationalist feeling in India also prompted the British to display religious neutrality. By the 1930s, the missionaries’ position had become very weak indeed.<br /><br />The book narrates several instances when the funds of the Hindu state were diverted to missionary work of converting Hindus to Christianity. Munro even appointed Charles Mead, a missionary, as the civil judge in Nagercoil. This was the first time an evangelist was given such high powers in a native state. But Resident W. Cullen was hostile to them and resented the unconstitutional authority of the missionaries. The Maharajahs were also generous to the missionaries and liberally allotted funds for what was in effect cutting the branch they were sitting on. The LMS was given a bungalow in Nagercoil and rupees five thousand for purchase of paddy fields. CMS was gifted the land for Kottayam college worth rupees twenty thousand besides thousand rupees as grant. They were also granted a tract of land near Kollam ‘at least seven miles in circumference’! The raja of Cochin presented five thousand rupees to LMS for building the Nagercoil church.<br /><br />The author also finds the answer to the question of why the Hindu state permitted the missionaries to carry on general education of the public along with religious study. The state compromised with the missionaries for the purpose of ‘modernization’ by utilizing their educational and medical activities. Bible was taught in several government schools too. The educational institutions run by the government had only a tenth of the students’ strength of the missionary schools. Religious education was forcefully imposed on Hindu students. A missionary recorded that ‘the heathen children at first stoutly refused to learn any Scripture lessons like Christian children. They were however obliged to do so by the rules of the school’ (p.87). When missionaries targeted higher castes for conversion, they had no hesitation in opening schools exclusively for them to avoid pollution by mixing with the lower castes. Several Nair schools sprang up. A M Blandford of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society started schools for Nair, Kshatriya and Brahmin girls. A school opened inside the sacred enclosure of the Padmanabha Swamy Temple. Bible was taught in this school and students had to mandatorily attend Christian prayers at the close of the morning and afternoon classes. This supreme manifestation of tolerance and accommodation was repaid by the missionaries with contempt and derision. J. Knowles, a prominent LMS missionary, noted that ‘medical work will enable the mission to touch the hearts of classes who otherwise are likely to remain shut up in their heathenism. It is also a great help with Christian adherents in the struggle against demonism and superstition’ (p.138). But gradually, the state realized the true colours of the missionaries. In 1902, it prohibited religious education during school hours.<br /><br />Around the middle of the nineteenth century, missionaries were instrumental in facilitating many social reforms of which the Breast Cloth Disturbance is one. The women of lower castes were to keep their breasts bare in public which was resented by them. A few of the converted women started to dress like upper castes which led to the disturbance. Intervention by the missionaries enabled their flock to dress up in public. However, caste discrimination among the converted Christians existed in as severe a measure as in the Hindu fold. It was the inability of the missionaries to control this menace in their church that finally closed the tap of conversion. The book describes several such instances. The growth of communal identities among the Syrian Christians and the lower castes was a decisive factor that made the state reform its administration and adopt democratic measures, however limited it might have been. Definite change came with Hindu revivalism and the rise of national feeling. The British were also compelled not to intervene too forcefully. In 1901, the British decided not to intervene in the missionaries’ demand for the division of the Hindu Undivided Family (tharavad) and provide inheritance share for the converted. It is to be noted that after the 1880s, the missionaries did not influence any social reform. The Education Code of 1909 threw open government schools to all castes. The process was culminated in 1936 by the Temple Entry Proclamation.<br /><br />There are people who credit the missionaries for Kerala’s top spot in literacy and education. The truth is that they had a part in it but not as big as is usually made out. Moreover, they were not much interested in medical care as compared to education. Kawashima finds a credible reason for this lack of enthusiasm. This was because medical missionaries were operating in other parts of India, especially NWFP. This was largely because ‘the other methods of diffusing Christianity were inefficient or impossible due to the fierce fanaticism of the Muslims living there’ (p.138). Whether education or medicine, what mattered most to them was how to spread their religion. On the other hand, the support and initiative of enlightened maharajahs and dewans in the medical field helped the state prosper in every parameter of personal health. The rajahs encouraged the introduction of western medicine and provided it freely to the people. This was in sharp contrast to British Indian provinces where medical priority was given to the army and jails only. The hospitals were much more egalitarian also. The lower castes were treated in government hospitals much before they were admitted to schools.<br /><br />Even though the book has relied upon several impeccable reference sources, the author does not seem to be well conversant with the social conditions in Kerala apart from his academic exposure to it. He has heavily leaned on Left scholars who never miss a chance to peddle their partisan agenda. Unfortunately, the author has become an unwitting accomplice in their maneuvering. In the 1920s, the American Rockefeller Foundation extended help in improving the sanitation of Kerala. After noting down its contribution in enhancing public health, Kawashima unnecessarily and irrelevantly guesses the cause of the Foundation’s philanthropy and regurgitates the Marxist line thus: “improving the public health of people in developing countries was considered important for neocolonialism or the informal empire which supplied raw materials to the developed world and also provided consumers for western commodities” (p.123). Each chapter in the book has an introduction and conclusion which are essentially a summary of the contents of the chapter in repetition. A great advantage of the book is the chapter on Cochin which surveys the conditions in Travancore’s neighbour state and brings out the similarities and differences.<br /><br />The book is highly recommended.<br /><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-20842716683434090962023-10-10T06:14:00.001+05:302023-10-10T14:33:37.847+05:30Bose – The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQi7BSnZ0iZ7T3gyu53dYqFNSZQyAu3XI3xVMKbBKKZOfAfAS_XjoVDd_uAOuZsBv_Ke8LurULV2voBkgrcA2F_Q1U6zX0L8iKQBOVpRTEdQwD8f0bPVNTfz4k5Mqx4-rEAlBi8qjmXg_OYxjF4O0qqorE0z3KOCMhysrtPWLrJ6RJkK14ANcpnOgcYDkF/s335/rsz_59799838.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQi7BSnZ0iZ7T3gyu53dYqFNSZQyAu3XI3xVMKbBKKZOfAfAS_XjoVDd_uAOuZsBv_Ke8LurULV2voBkgrcA2F_Q1U6zX0L8iKQBOVpRTEdQwD8f0bPVNTfz4k5Mqx4-rEAlBi8qjmXg_OYxjF4O0qqorE0z3KOCMhysrtPWLrJ6RJkK14ANcpnOgcYDkF/s320/rsz_59799838.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Bose – The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist</span></b><br />Author: Chandrachur Ghose<br />Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2022 (First)<br />ISBN: 9780670096008<br />Pages: 714<br /><br />Just as various rivers flow into the bosom of the sea, various political strategies and movements vied with each other for driving the British out and achieve independence for India. Violence was the earliest thread in liberation’s fabric that germinated straight from defensive measures against the establishment of the British empire, continued through the 1857 revolt and then channeled into political assassinations. After the amalgamation of India to the Queen’s domain in 1858, constitutionalism was the second channel of national aspiration. Then came Gandhi with the third alternative of nonviolent mass uprising. When India became free at last, it was due to the combined effort of all the three forms, but the British transferred power to the Gandhian faction who had public support and at the same time was readily amenable to British persuasions. When they sat down after 1947 to write the story of how India became free, all those outside the pale of Congress were left out or marginalized. The contributions of Subhas Chandra Bose to the freedom struggle are often condensed into a few lines whereas entire books can be made to bring out his single-minded efforts. This book is a good chronicle of the Bengali leader who was disillusioned with Congress and left the country to fight for her freedom seeking help from the oppressor’s enemies. Chandrachur Ghose is an author, researcher and commentator on history. He is one of the founders of the pressure group ‘Mission Netaji’ that has been the moving force behind the declassification of secret documents related to Netaji. His activism led to the declassification of over 10,000 pages in 2010.<br /><br />A good snapshot of Netaji’s pre-political years is presented in the book. He did not join the coveted Indian Civil Service (ICS) even though he came on top in the examination and instead plunged into political work under Chittaranjan Das. He was elected the CEO of Calcutta Corporation but was arrested and incarcerated in Mandalay jail for three years suspected for having links to violent elements. He was practically exiled to Europe for several years in the 1930s. On return, he was selected as the president of the Indian National Congress. When his re-election bid was opposed by Gandhi, a poll was conducted and Bose defeated Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Gandhi’s nominee, by 1580 votes against 1377 in 1939. As the Gandhian lobby made his life impossible as the party president, Bose resigned. He was soon arrested again and confined to house arrest. In a daring escape, he fled to Germany which was at war with Britain. Disappointed at not getting much support from Hitler and Mussolini, Bose moved to Southeast Asia which was conquered by Japan. He constituted a national army using Indian prisoners of war and fought to liberate India. This was at the fag end of World War II but the axis powers soon fell in battle. It is believed that Bose died in a plane crash on his way seeking to open a new front with a possible alliance with Russia.<br /><br />The book conspicuously highlights Bose’s falling out with Gandhi and his methods. Bose quickly realized the ineffectiveness of boycotting legislatures as part of the Gandhian civil disobedience program. Gandhi’s action plan for constructive work involved Charkha, the manual spinning wheel, which Bose found to be impractical and obsolete. C R Das and Bose stood for the party entering legislative councils. When Gandhi obstinately blocked the move, they formed a new front within the Congress called the Swarajya party. When Bose was arrested, Gandhi attributed it to his political work condoning violence and did not even pass a resolution seeking his release. He was let free after three years in a Burmese jail on health grounds. When his brother Sarat Bose asked for guidance on how he could be freed, Gandhi recommended the spinning wheel as the ‘sovereign remedy’. Gandhi often suspended at his will the civil disobedience campaigns which were running at full steam. At this point, Bose remarked that Gandhi was ‘an old useless piece of furniture who had done good service in his time, but was an obstacle then’ (p.207). Bose opposed sending Gandhi alone to the Round Table Conference as the sole representative of the Congress. Sending more people with him would not have been of any help either as his blind followers would not question him and he would not heed the advice of those who were not his orthodox followers. Watching Gandhi obstruct his work as party president, Bose accused him of having grown into the role of a permanent super-president. <br /><br />After examining Bose’s interactions with Gandhi, the author proceeds to analyse how Nehru fared with him. Jawaharlal Nehru always remained close to the power centre that was Gandhi in contrast to Bose who worked his way up. Both were rising youth icons and represented the left-wing element in the country. On many occasions Nehru’s initial reaction was in support of Bose, but after Gandhi clarified his stand, Nehru did not hesitate to make a volte-face. In fact, he openly confessed in his letters that he could not oppose Gandhi beyond a certain point. When faced with a difficult choice, Nehru would be non-aligned. This so irritated Bose that he confided to socialist leader Minoo Masani that Nehru was an opportunist who thought about his own position first and only then about anything else. However, he maintained a good personal relationship with Bose. Both leaders extended and received the hospitality of the other during visits to Allahabad and Calcutta. Nehru’s ideas on foreign relations never rose above the wishful thinking of an idealist teenager. Bose then advised Nehru that foreign policy is a realistic affair to be determined largely from the point of view of a nation’s self-interest. He even admonished that ‘frothy sentiment and pious platitudes’ do not make foreign policy (p.296). Congress politics was riddled with factional feuds even then. Bose wrote that ‘Congress politics has become so unreal that no sincere person can be satisfied with it’ (p.81).<br /><br />It is seen that even though Congress was occupied in organizing campaigns against the British, it did not have any clear idea about what to fight for and its leaders were clueless about the arrival of complete independence. In the 1920s, they demanded dominion status within the empire. After a decade, the British were almost willing to grant it, but then Congress jumped a step further and wanted complete independence (purna Swaraj). There was no timeframe in their mind on when to achieve this. Satyamurti, a prominent Congress leader from the South, came out in 1938 with a demand to fully Indianize the army in the next 25 years – that is, by 1963! In his 1938 Haripura address, Bose enunciated the principle behind the rise and fall of empires. He surmised that empires collapse after reaching the zenith of prosperity and warned that the fate of the British empire would be no different. This claim anticipated several decades at the minimum, but with hindsight we see that this observation was made just nine years before independence. So it is likely that an economically devastated Britain had had no choice other than to offer independence after the War and it was the Congress leaders who were surprised the most at the decision.<br /><br />The book also includes a clear depiction of some personal traits of Bose that dent his stature as a great leader. Though he professed to be on the side of the political left, he was often accused of pandering to the interests of the upper middle class to which he belonged. There was also a touch of megalomania in him. Everywhere he went, large crowds were arranged to greet him at the railway station and to line up on both sides of the road showering flower petals. He wanted to be treated like a commander. Bose often found himself in the middle of factional politics and the way he dealt with his opponents usually turned to highhanded and undemocratic. Bose’s workers disrupted meetings of rivals and physically assaulted their leaders. This included Gandhi too. On one occasion, a shoe was hurled at Gandhi which narrowly missed him and hit his secretary Mahadev Desai who was standing nearby. Bose also indulged in opportunistic politics. Even though he opposed Gandhi’s constitutionalism, he took up positions of power in Calcutta Corporation. He tried alliances with the Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League when it suited him. Allegations of financial impropriety were also levelled against him by opponents. Bose presented a will made by Vithalbhai Patel (Sardar Patel’s brother) after he died in Europe under the care of Bose. The will bequeathed a large sum of money to Bose and his association for political work. Vallabhbhai Patel challenged the propriety of the will in a court of law and had it quashed.<br /><br />Bose’s claim to everlasting fame as a freedom fighter hinges on his daring escape from captivity and military fight against the British with the help of Axis powers. Bose first approached Hitler, but his disdainful approach to India made him dither in declaring open support. The racist in Hitler was more comfortable with India under the yoke of a white nation. Hitler was also keen not to antagonize Britain by helping Bose as he hoped to mend fences with them after successfully concluding Germany’s conquest of Russia. Japan’s storming success in Southeast Asia provided Bose with an opportunity to attack British India from Burma. Earlier, he was planning to attack from Afghanistan with German help. He arrived in Singapore in a submarine and assumed leadership of the newly constituted Indian National Army (INA). But it was the moment when Japanese fortunes were turning for the worse. Moreover, Bose wanted to direct military operations by himself even though he was not trained for it. He overruled veteran Japanese commanders. He refused to split the ill-equipped INA troops into small groups and embed them with larger Japanese units. He further insisted that they will fight only as a group under the command of Indian officers. There were ego clashes with the Japanese too. Disputes on minor questions like who would salute first when an INA and Japanese officer of equal rank met each other frequently arose. After discussions at highest levels, it was decided to salute simultaneously. Bose also vetoed the Japanese plan to bomb Calcutta. In the end, the INA and Japanese troops were thoroughly trounced. But the INA captured the imagination of the Indian youth in displaying a valiant alternative in fighting the British as compared to the effeminate and ineffective Gandhian satyagraha.<br /><br />The book is rather subdued on the last days of Bose. He did not want to surrender at any cost. His final plan was to go to Manchuria which was under Russian occupation and seek help from them. The outcome was highly doubtful but he wanted to try. The author is silent on whether Bose boarded the plane or what happened to it. The mystery is still unresolved. The suspense is aggravated by another incident in 1942 when a plane carrying four INA men crashed, driving Gandhi to write to Bose’s family condoling his ‘death’! However, his absence in India after the War was undoubtedly a relief not only to the British but to many national leaders as well. INA trials and the Naval Mutiny aggravated this irritation. The violence in the mutiny was unprecedented with 228 killed in police and military firings and 1046 injured. This made it plain to the British that they could no longer trust the loyalty of Indian troops in any clash involving nationalist sentiments. This finally turned the tables and forced Attlee to offer complete independence.<br /><br />As a part of maintaining the political balance, the book includes several cartoons published in the Jugantar daily, all of which are highly critical of Bose. It also hints at the ideological tussle between the national poet Tagore and politico-cultural nationalists represented by C R Das and Bose. Tagore was accused of harbouring shallow internationalism in life and literature which was not sincere and did not reflect the fundamental truth in nationalism. The book also contains a chapter on Bose’s doubtful marriage to Emilie Schenkl, his Austrian secretary. It is likely that Bose secretly married her and had a daughter, but his family cold-shouldered the women’s move to get recognized as such. The book is somewhat large at 714 pages. Its essence can be deemed to be the negation of what Pandit Nehru asserted from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 16, 1947 when he said that ‘India achieved freedom under the brilliant leadership and guidance of Mahatma Gandhi’. This book’s spirit declares that this claim is in fact a myth.<br /><br />The book is recommended.<br /><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-54397031052202106312023-10-07T05:45:00.002+05:302023-10-07T14:47:45.769+05:30Gajapati Kapilendra Deva<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf6ZkWMQJoKCOD9iUtmF8UVwW4hym3kvNppNKHshGrhv5RonkZnt-iUgasy3R3bMqJMhfZi4sFNE4dxPZDddF98GB412qMEhH2lU8DLi9LqOYRsTzW6u1lSYgIwoEo3AoLCAsTuKo3Sn7LXYYvw2lG5om9wZpaErrA_zU9SAyIBZiUSaSfJLl_b40KyGlR/s335/rsz_199136692.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf6ZkWMQJoKCOD9iUtmF8UVwW4hym3kvNppNKHshGrhv5RonkZnt-iUgasy3R3bMqJMhfZi4sFNE4dxPZDddF98GB412qMEhH2lU8DLi9LqOYRsTzW6u1lSYgIwoEo3AoLCAsTuKo3Sn7LXYYvw2lG5om9wZpaErrA_zU9SAyIBZiUSaSfJLl_b40KyGlR/s320/rsz_199136692.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Gajapati Kapilendra Deva – The History of the Greatest Hindu Conqueror of 15th Century India</span></b><br />Author: Nihar Ranjan Nanda<br />Publisher: Subbu, 2023 (First)<br />ISBN: Nil<br />Pages: 244<br /><br />Odisha is a land gifted with vast natural resources and scenic beauty of varying nature such as the sea, lakes, forests and hills. Its fame in history is sealed by one of the oldest battles in India fought by Ashoka against Kalingas. However, after this episode, Odisha undergoes a long eclipse in history which lasts for several centuries. This is caused in a large measure by the cabal of liberal historians who believe that medieval India rose with the Delhi sultanate and ended with the Mughals with nothing in between. Numerous Indian monarchs ruled many parts of India, often humbling the sultans, but they are much too frequently relegated to the footnotes and appendices of mainstream history. A sustained effort to cast light on these dark pages of Indian history is the need of the hour and it is heartening to take note of this contribution of a young author to this great cause. This book brings to life Gajapati Kapilendra Deva who ruled Odisha in the fifteenth century and conquered a large territory by incessant wars which helped to check the relentless onslaught of Islamic imperialism. The idea behind the book is to depict Kapilendra Deva in a dispassionate way and make an unflustered assessment of the man which is accessible to ordinary readers. Nihar Ranjan Nanda is a software engineer by profession and is working in an MNC. He is a history enthusiast and writes on it regularly on various platforms. That he is an avid reader is proved by the extensive list of references used in preparing this book.<br /><br />Kapilendra Deva did not belong to the royal lineage. He rose to become the minister of Ganga king Bhanudeva IV and usurped power with the help of nobles utilizing the discontent of the people on the king’s weak response to external aggression. Kapilendra faced unrest from vassals in the initial stages. He quickly overrode them and sent his sword of conquest in all directions. As per the book, his empire extended from Jharkhand in the north to Andhra in the south with a clear incursion into Tamil Nadu up to Rameswaram. The Suryavamsi Gajapati dynasty founded by him lasted for a century and ruled from Kataka (modern Cuttack). On military strength and extent of territory, Gajapati empire is on a par with Vijayanagar and Bahmanis. There are literary references of his conquest of Hampi and Bidar, their capital cities respectively. Nanda claims that the geographical area ruled by Kapilendra was the largest under a Hindu king. Only the Marathas would excel him on this count a few centuries later.<br /><br />The author depends on many sources for this pioneering effort of historiography such as records of donatives, literary texts in various languages, epigraphic records and travelogues of Portuguese and Muslim travelers and tradesmen. Exaggerations found in these sources are denoted as such which leads to a balanced presentation. To provide context to the narrative, the author begins with an introduction of the neighbouring kingdoms and the reign of the last three rulers of the Ganga dynasty of Odisha. Nanda is a proud Odia, but in variance with the practice of local historians who always try to paint a glorious picture of their protagonists, takes a very professional approach in pruning out the impossible and maintaining the remaining as plausible. A clear advantage of the book is that it has examined many sources which were contemporary or immediately after the reign of Kapilendra Deva.<br /><br />The book exposes a trait of Odia kings to use religion as a device of statecraft to gain legitimacy to their rule. Cleverness has always been an inalienable part of a politician’s survival toolkit. The Ganga ruler Anangabhima Deva III (1211-36 CE) made Puri Jagannatha the overlord of his kingdom and named it Purushottama Samrajya. He styled himself as the deputy (rauta) of the Lord. Later kings of other regions have also continued this custom. This bears a striking resemblance to Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma of Travancore, Kerala who ruled in the eighteenth century. He usurped his uncle’s throne and had to face stiff opposition from his cousins and the nobility. After assuming power, he surrendered the kingdom to the tutelary deity Sri Padmanabha, a manifestation of Lord Vishnu. He and his successors thereafter used the title of Sri Padmanabha Dasa (servants of Lord Padmanabha) to denote themselves. Kapilendra Deva also had to meet revolts from vassals. In fact, he was crowned at Bhubaneshwar as Cuttack was not deemed safe. He then declared that he became king at the Adesa (advice) of the Mahaprabhu Jagannath of Puri.<br /><br />This book also analyses the role played by the Suryavamsi dynasty established by Kapilendra Deva in providing a bulwark against Islamic aggression from all sides and hence preventing the Odia culture from collapse. Even today, the Odia language has very little Persian or Arabic influence because of its lesser exposure to the conquerors’ tongues. However, some inscriptions in Tamil Nadu show that festivals in some temples could not be held during the Odia invasion. This has led some historians to surmise that they were also iconoclasts of the same genre as Muslim sultans. Nanda refutes this argument with convincing proof from other inscriptions. The temple festivals could not be held probably due to the unsettled condition of the local polity while a battle was in full swing in the neighbourhood to determine the destiny of the land. Even then, there is nothing to substantiate that worship was interrupted in these temples. On the other hand, several inscriptions from other temples in Tamil Nadu itself speak about the donation of cows, village grants and new offerings made to these temples by Odia king’s local governors. The author then considers the question of why Hindu kings did not ally with each other to fight Islamic invaders. The reason may be that the sense of brotherhood and oneness was not deep in Indian rulers at that time. Even Muslim sultans fought with each other even though the call of religion was much more powerful among them. The author suggests that even if the Hindu kings had cobbled up an alliance, the Muslims would have made a grander alliance to protect their religion. We have heard about the Shah of Persia offering help to Aurangzeb to track and hunt down Shivaji even though the Persians and Mughals were locked in combat over the province of Kandahar<br /><br />The book claims that Kapilendra had campaigned against the very powerful kingdoms of Vijayanagar and Bahmani and conquered their capitals of Hampi and Bidar. A detailed justification for reaching this conclusion is cited from the sources. But still it sounds doubtful. At the same time, campaigns against the sultans of Malwa and Delhi are pure conjecture. In the case of Bengal, there is proof of construction of a temple signifying Kapilendra’s victory there. The book also includes an anecdote about the Bengal sultans and the reasons for their bitter resentment against Hindu kings. Raja Ganesh had ruled over Bengal in the fifteenth century. As he was very able and powerful, the Muslim nobles invited the sultan of neighboring Jaunpur to invade Bengal and get them rid of Ganesh. The raja was defeated in the battle which ensued. The victors allowed Ganesh to remain in his religion but insisted the crown prince Jadu to convert to Islam as a condition for ceasefire. After the Muslims left, Ganesh reconverted his son back to Hinduism with many rituals and paying huge sums to Brahmins. However, the Hindu nobles did not accept Jadu as one of their own. He became furious at this humiliation, became Muslim again and named himself Jalaluddin. He was the cruelest persecutor of Hindus. The lack of accommodating spirit and inclusiveness among Hindus also contributed to their downfall in the medieval period.<br /><br />The author is not professionally trained in history, but this book is a great effort at creating history to fill up the missing links left behind by agenda-driven historians. The methods used by the author in narrating history are sturdy and scientific though the conclusions drawn may be open to question in some parts. Conjectures are also used to supply some deficiencies, but he explicitly mentions it as such. The author hopes that readers will learn something new about Kapilendra Deva in this book. This humble objective is more than achieved by this little piece of history which can be read easily. On the negative side, it must be indicated that it focuses only on political and military conquests in lieu of social, cultural or economic aspects. Scarcity of sources might be the reason behind this omission. The author consistently use the outdated acronym ‘AD’ to denote years instead of the more professional and secular usage of ‘CE’. The cover could have been a little more imaginative. It contains a graphic image of a king on top of a caparisoned elephant which makes the book look like an episode of ‘Amar Chitra Katha’. This is somewhat compensated by the silhouetted spire of the majestic Puri Jagannath temple and the stone sculpture of Kapilendra Deva.<br /><br />The book is recommended.<br /><br />Rating: <span style="color: red;"><b>4 Star</b></span></span></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-45096084072697753662023-09-28T06:01:00.002+05:302023-09-28T15:04:39.658+05:30Waqai-i-Manazil-i-Rum<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmrkTL1vX7mo06GOIPxKZwOl9W6Y8ZAFJSheMgypgndDGXZKT9GMzXIl5KYTBEIz-tDNM2rsEQOVOrLpYt5r68Uj0e6T1a2a01jRGzzLnZN4ud3o0Mw2yDlV5rXrFFYa9RqBWMwucdQtgH_lHKDp5HG4KOee__G1mewOH1YGh2DQOAHEShxDGtiw8HViRr/s238/40144560.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="160" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmrkTL1vX7mo06GOIPxKZwOl9W6Y8ZAFJSheMgypgndDGXZKT9GMzXIl5KYTBEIz-tDNM2rsEQOVOrLpYt5r68Uj0e6T1a2a01jRGzzLnZN4ud3o0Mw2yDlV5rXrFFYa9RqBWMwucdQtgH_lHKDp5HG4KOee__G1mewOH1YGh2DQOAHEShxDGtiw8HViRr/s1600/40144560.jpg" width="160" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: blue;">Waqai-i-Manazil-i-Rum
– Tipu Sultan’s Mission to Constantinople</span></b></span></span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Author: Khwaja Abdul Qadir</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Editor: Mohibbul Hasan</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Publisher: Aakar Books, 2005 (First
published 1968)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISBN: 9788187879565</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pages: 100 (English), 170 (Persian)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">South
India in the eighteenth century was the battleground of the British and the
French for ascendancy in the subcontinent. The contest was all-out and even
wars in distant Europe were reenacted in India between the rivals. Both
colonial aspirants intervened in local politics and contests for power within
the royal houses. Eventually, all local rulers joined one side or the other.
The Nizam of Hyderabad and the Nawab of Arcot joined the English while Tipu was
a staunch ally of the French. As a precursor to French military routs in all
major wars after Napoleon to the present day, France stood no chance against
the British. Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali chose the wrong horse and had
had to cede territories to the British after military defeats of their own.
Tipu wanted to salvage the situation by making an alliance with the Ottoman
sultan and also to try his luck in France and England by sending a diplomatic
mission to these countries. He assembled an embassy with 900 members travelling
in four ships and carrying lavish gifts such as elephants for the European
sovereigns. He also wanted to establish warehouses and trading concessions for
Mysore’s products in Arabia, Turkey and Iraq. The mission set out in 1785 and
returned in 1789. This book is the diary of the embassy from Mysore till Basra
where it abruptly cuts off. This was authored by Khwaja Abdul Qadir, the munshi
(secretary) of the mission. It sheds light on Tipu’s commercial ambitions in
the Persian Gulf and on certain aspects of his administration. The title
literally means the ‘<i>true facts about the
House of Rome</i>’ (Constantinople). This is translated from Persian and edited
by Mohibbul Hasan who was a professor of history in the department of Islamic
History at the University of Calcutta and the Aligarh Muslim University.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
mission was instructed by Tipu himself to visit Turkey, France and England in
that order, seeking military and commercial alliances bypassing the local
governor in the case of England. This fact runs counter to recently fabricated
claims that Tipu Sultan was a freedom fighter who fought wars against the
British. In fact, the mission was empowered to offer Trichinopoly to the
British in exchange for an alliance. An elephant each was to be gifted to the
monarchs of all the three kingdoms. However, the elephants – including a fourth
reserve animal – died on the sea voyage. The mission was stalled at Istanbul as
the French were not too eager to entertain a second embassy so close on the
heels of a previous one. The team was given three objectives – a) establish
factories in Turkish dominions for selling the produce of Mysore, b) secure
confirmation of Tipu’s title to the throne of Mysore from the caliph as he had
failed to secure an investiture from the Mughal emperor and was regarded as a
usurper and c) obtain military assistance from the Ottomans against the
English.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
diary provides a review of the political formations, the state of commerce and
other facts about trade in the Arabia sea rim. It also consists of the
commercial transactions undertaken by the mission and the rates obtainable for
various commodities at each port of call. The threat of piracy was ever
present, with bold pirates operating near every port and sea lane. The shipping
was very much subservient to the weather. We read about many ships floundering
in bad weather. Another notable feature is the immense influence of wealthy
merchants who even controlled and guided the diplomatic relations of kingdoms
and emirates which were much dependent on sea trade for survival. A Hindu
trader named Maoji Seth was resident in Muscat, but had powerful agents at all
ports. He loaned money to the mission at Basra. But we were taught by
conventional historians that Hindus considered overseas travel as taboo which
would cause them to be excommunicated. As more books on Indian traders in
medieval times are published, one more falsehood at the heart of Indian
historiography is being exposed. These merchants also developed practices that
were later adopted by banking houses. A rich Jewish merchant named Abdullah had
his agents everywhere that he issued a bill of exchange at Basra which was
payable at Baghdad. When highway robbery was rampant, this was very convenient
to travelers. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Even
though the diarist is quite specific about the religious nature of the mission,
both the editor Mohibbul Hasan and Irfan Habib who penned the foreword take
great pains to present the effort as in fact ‘secular’. A pir (Muslim saint)
always accompanied the mission. They were instructed to visit Islamic holy
places in Najd and Iraq. On their return journey, Tipu insisted that they pay a
visit of Mecca and Medina. A clear picture of slavery which was widely
practiced by Tipu Sultan and his nobles is seen in the narrative. When one of
the four ships of the embassy caught fire and sank, Jafar Khan – one of the
four leaders of the mission – rescued a male and female slave from the sinking
ship with much difficulty and then kept them for his own use. When their
original owner knew of this and demanded them back, Khan returned only the male
slave. When the owner complained to higher authorities, Khan had no option but
to return the girl too. He then restored the slave to her owner along with five
rupees!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Mohibbul
Hasan’s commentary also remarks on the lack of any tangible results of the
expedition. The cost in men and material incurred by Mysore was immense. Three
out of the four ships that sailed out to Turkey were wrecked at sea. A huge sum
of money was spent in arranging merchandise for trade and as offerings to
dignitaries. Many of the retinue died of dysentery, fever, cold and plague. Out
of the 900 men who embarked on the perilous journey, only a handful returned
after three years. Despite enormous expenses and loss of life, the mission was
only able to obtain the caliph’s permission for Tipu to assume the title of an
independent king, the right to strike coins and to have the Friday prayers
recited in his name. The embassy could not obtain any commercial privileges.
The Ottoman sultan was already in alliance with the British in response to the
political manipulations in Eastern Europe which directly affected Turkey’s
interests as Austria and Russia were teaming up for emancipation of the
European provinces that were under Turkish occupation.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book includes a summary of the expedition’s diary reduced to nearly a third of
the original size which we read in English. The main text is edited by Mohibbul
Hasan, but remains untranslated in Persian. This is a serious drawback of the
work. A full translation of the content is required to serve the purpose of
presenting an important historical document to modern readers. The narration is
in a stiff, academic style which deters readers.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book is recommended only to serious readers of history.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Rating:
<b><span style="color: red;">2 Star</span></b></span></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-1460273801451388362023-09-26T05:56:00.001+05:302023-09-26T10:59:49.788+05:30The Colonial Subjugation of India<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOyWZ2eUQ_5wqul5Z6Z5V7y98VzXpc7OZiKtltLWxTtUhPIP5ABSet3vC6inQ0v9JZK5gk8spdQpiidcdF4q91mNA4idjz0lHksc4kyAaDo33iHubjLrymeLnZynwGSkDnZh280_Hucsmsq8uy0drcniAeQE-2TZhCfQw5w9H01aVS1TqEz7c-04QgCDV/s335/rsz_145491112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOyWZ2eUQ_5wqul5Z6Z5V7y98VzXpc7OZiKtltLWxTtUhPIP5ABSet3vC6inQ0v9JZK5gk8spdQpiidcdF4q91mNA4idjz0lHksc4kyAaDo33iHubjLrymeLnZynwGSkDnZh280_Hucsmsq8uy0drcniAeQE-2TZhCfQw5w9H01aVS1TqEz7c-04QgCDV/s320/rsz_145491112.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: blue;">The
Colonial Subjugation of India</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Author: Amar Farooqui<br />Publisher: Aleph, 2022 (First)<br />ISBN: 9789391047344<br />Pages: 298<br /><br />When the Union Jack was lowered for the last time on Aug 15, 1947 in Delhi, it was marking the end of an eventful double century in which the yoke of colonialism was firmly affixed on India and a great plunder – the likes of which the world had not seen yet – had taken place. Since modern India still maintains many of the institutions introduced by the British, there is a distinct perception among anglophile Indians that the Empire was benign towards India. This is far from the truth. A careful analysis would show that the part of British legacy which independent India chose to sustain was only those related to political and administrative functions for running a large country. Otherwise, India did not change its cultural attributes like literature, fine arts, dance forms or visual arts. It did not change its religion or language. On the political front, India did not have a viable alternative as when the British came, she was reeling under eight centuries of Islamic invasions and forced occupation which unsettled the political stability of the country. It was the political-administrative system of the sultans which was found wanting to manage a modern state and as a consequence, was dismantled by the British – or at least a large part of it. What is to be stressed here is that the British Empire was anything but benign. This book tells the story of the establishment of a colonial empire that subjugated the native people by wars, conquests, unequal treaties and plain intimidation. The scope of the book starts with the arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1498 and ends with Indian independence in 1947, but the main focus of the narrative is from the Battle of Plassey in 1757 to the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms in 1919. Amar Farooqui was a professor of history at the University of Delhi and was a fellow of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.<br /><br />After introducing the pre-British colonial incursions on India, Farooqui also discusses the modalities of movement of trading commodities to various destinations through the sea routes. It seems that the East did not buy anything from Europe, but instead exported spices, textiles, silk and porcelain to it. This forced the West to spend silver and gold coins to purchase the merchandise. Naturally, this unequal balance of payments caused a huge drain of bullion on their economies. Consequently, they entered into intra-Asian trade also. They bought textiles from India, sold it in the emporiums of Southeast Asia and China and bought spices and silk for taking it to Europe. Trading with many partners brought in many uncertainties which they answered with invasion and piracy. It is a tempting conjecture that if there was balance in trade between the East and the West, probably the impetus to establish colonies and control the markets would have been weak or non-existent. More research is needed on this line of thought. The author however does not mention this and goes on to examine the spread of British power for a century starting from 1730. The Mughal power had faded by then and it is clearly seen that the British wrestled the bulk of northern India from the Marathas.<br /><br />The book includes a good coverage of the Revolt of 1857 which marked a turning point in the colonial administration. Expelling the English East India Company from the rule of India, Queen Victoria took over the country as a subject part of her empire. The revolt was bitterly fought but there is a perception that the Punjab and southern provinces did not participate in it. Farooqui claims that contrary to colonial historiography, sepoys in Punjab also mutinied. Dispelling the notion of the ‘loyal Sikh’, he cites examples of leaders belonging to that community getting executed for rioting. Sporadic incidents of violence in the Madras army are also listed. Over a thousand sepoys were court-martialed. What is noteworthy is that the flame kindled at Meerut in 1857 elicited a response thousands of miles away in the south of the country when communication facilities were poor. But substantial sections of princely rulers, feudal elites and landed aristocracy sided with the British along with commercial classes that had benefitted from colonial rule. Contrary to popular perception that there was no military intervention or annexation over native states after 1857, Farooqui points out that such cases did occur, though rarely. The armed intervention in Manipur and cession of Berar from Hyderabad are two such examples.<br /><br />A very good initiative shown by the author is to describe the constitutional, administrative and military developments taking place in the colonial state. A string of constitutional reforms and military restructuring took place after the revolt of 1857. The Bengal army was practically disbanded and the concept of martial races was introduced. The Sikhs, Pathans, Dogras, Rajputs and Gorkhas were the martial races. The irony that all these martial races were defeated on the battlefield by the supposedly non-martial Bengal army, mainly constituted by sepoys from present-day Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar went unnoticed. Military recruitment became concentrated in Punjab. Bombay and Madras armies, which had sizeable lower caste soldiers, were also scaled down. This move coincided with the advent of ideas of racial superiority and eugenics in Europe.<br /><br />The local population in India was subjected to 200 years of British rule which followed another 800 years of Islamic occupation of the subcontinent. However, the author uses selective emphasis of events to glorify the reign of Mughals and other Muslim dynasties in India as the last bastion of India’s fight against colonialism. This is not true. Qualitatively, the fight between the British and the Mughals was no different from the Indian point of view than that between the British and the French in India for retaining their own colonies. In this vein, the author almost sheds tears on Siraj ud-Daula’s defeat at Plassey and accuses it on the nexus between the East India Company, rebel nobles and Hindu businessmen of Murshidabad, Siraj’s capital city. Similarly, Tipu Sultan of Mysore is elevated to the status of a saint. This bloodthirsty tyrant who massacred and forcibly converted his opponents to his religion is portrayed to have possessed a great vision on international polity and to have modernized the Mysore state. Tipu’s overtures to the Ottomans and France for an alliance against the British was nothing more than a coming together of colonial forces against another colonial power. Tipu was as much a pawn of French colonialism as his successor Wodeyar was of the British. Farooqui laments at the plunder of Seringapatam in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in which Tipu fell in battle. The pillage is artfully described to cause outrage in the minds of readers. However, this was nothing compared to the plunder of Delhi made by Nadir Shah Afzar half a century earlier. That pillage was perhaps the greatest of its kind which emptied the Mughal treasury and was one of the reasons for the collapse of the Mughals. The author is silent on this episode. This book also employs a sanitized reference to Mughal sultans in the eighteenth century to project them as respectable sovereigns. Muhammad Shah is depicted as solemn, without disclosing his disparaging sobriquet of ‘Rangeela’ that reveals the delinquency of the man.<br /><br />Farooqui tries to pass on a clever argument regarding the accession of Kashmir to the Hindu Dogra dynasty as a ‘devious’ one. It is not clear what he intends to achieve by flagging an event which was quite normal in history as an act amounting to injustice. The First Punjab War between the British and post-Ranjit Singh Sikh kingdom ended with the Treaty of Lahore (1846). The British were to be indemnified with 1.5 crore rupees for the expenses of the war. The Lahore durbar was not in a position to pay such a huge sum. The author claims that a ‘devious’ stipulation was made in the treaty for ceding all hill countries between Beas and Indus including Kashmir and Hazara. Thus these territories came under British possession. What is devious in this transaction? Several examples of ceding provinces against arrears in tribute could be pointed out. The real target of Farooqui lies elsewhere. If Kashmir had stayed with Punjab or kept intact by the British, it would have automatically gone over to Pakistan as a Muslim-majority province. But it was not to be. The British themselves were in urgent need of money. They entered into a separate treaty with Gulab Singh, the leader of the Dogras, by which Kashmir was given to him in return for rupees 75 lakhs. Farooqui again accuses the article in the treaty which recognized Gulab Singh as the sovereign of Kashmir as ‘devious’. This also was fairly common in history. Gulab Singh was rewarded for the services rendered by him for ‘restoring the relations of amity between Lahore and British governments’ (p.123). One of the successors of Gulab Singh then chose in 1947 to accede to India and Kashmir became an integral part of India. By alleging these articles and actions as ‘devious’, Farooqui is, knowingly or unknowingly, buttressing the Pakistani claim on Kashmir.<br /><br />The book includes a short history of the development of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and the efforts to appoint Indians to this elite cadre. At first, the exams were conducted only in England which severely curtailed the chances of Indian aspirants. In 1892, the House of Commons passed a resolution in support of simultaneous exams for the ICS in India too. This took thirty years to implement as the colonial officialdom was strongly opposed to it. Besides, sections of Indian society also opposed this on the grounds that candidates from Bengal, especially those belonging to upper castes, would be the major beneficiaries of the simultaneous exams. The British exploited and deepened every fault line in Indian society to divide the people. They then played upon the fears of one section, projecting themselves as guardians of these interests.<br /><br />Another aspect of the narrative is that the author tries to wear his leftist credentials on the sleeve. There are several references to Marx’s writings which are either irrelevant or at most marginally related to the topic under discussion. The higher echelons of Indian academia are still colonized by the Leftists who openly flaunt their political orientation by such tricks. It is obvious to a student of history that the 1919 Mont-Ford reforms was a logical corollary to the 1909 Morley-Minto reforms. But Farooqui claims that the latter package was prompted by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. He arduously finds a left connection for the 1935 reforms as well. The brotherhood of the leftists extends across national borders and even chronological separation. He claims that Stafford Cripps was the only British politician who was sincere and sympathetic to India. And what was the reason for this sympathy? He belonged to the left-wing of the Labour party! The Quit India movement of 1942 was the final popular uprising against the British. After the War, the destiny of India was decided across the negotiating tables of Delhi and Shimla. But the author credits the subversive movements of Tebhaga in Bengal, Telangana and Punnapra-Vayalar in Travancore as popular movements for independence that forced the British hand. This is also in line with the policy of Indian communists. Their significance to Indian freedom is so vanishingly negligible that even this author also contents with just one sentence about these movements which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of volunteers.<br /><br />The first part of the book resembles a high school history text book and deals with the political history of the subcontinent. It shows how the stage was being set by interconnected events that eventually led to the colonial takeover of a vast country by a foreign commercial trading house. This part is rather drab as the author uses his sources uncritically and nothing new is seen. But the latter half examining the nature and development of the imperial state after the 1857 revolt is noteworthy and neatly written in which various aspects such as constitutional reforms and indigenization of bureaucracy are discussed. Farooqui makes a short survey of the books and other writings about the Revolt of 1857 including both colonial and Indian accounts of the upheaval. He acknowledges Savarkar’s contribution to this literature and remarks that it provided a fresh interpretation of the uprising but warns that he presented no new evidence and had wanted only to put forward a political manifesto to the nation.<br /><br />The book is recommended.<br /><br />Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">2 Star</span><span style="color: blue;"></span><span style="color: blue;"> <br /></span></b></span></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-49744097881047593822023-09-08T06:13:00.001+05:302023-09-08T14:25:56.850+05:30The Case that Shook the Empire<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKd06kb4aHeVYKdNW_sSsDDKjfjh4Jrm0nCz7BEJXedVa2tPkTCFYLcCSC-C_erV2ByZSKkolG0hXPwPcdV4gMqq-8JkkN9NNFcqAukAiNyYvULhy3jw_B8InlcS6eSynVbrfxXnNKx1ZISxwKoDknayPfzWT_cW8uTlvtn53yerIA28GvNLfJEVWabm77/s384/rsz_52862643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="384" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKd06kb4aHeVYKdNW_sSsDDKjfjh4Jrm0nCz7BEJXedVa2tPkTCFYLcCSC-C_erV2ByZSKkolG0hXPwPcdV4gMqq-8JkkN9NNFcqAukAiNyYvULhy3jw_B8InlcS6eSynVbrfxXnNKx1ZISxwKoDknayPfzWT_cW8uTlvtn53yerIA28GvNLfJEVWabm77/s320/rsz_52862643.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: blue;">The
Case that Shook the Empire – One Man’s Fight for the Truth About the
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre</span></b></span></span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Author: Raghu Palat, Pushpa Palat</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2019 (First)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISBN: 9789389000276</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pages: 187</span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></p>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Jallianwala Bagh massacre was a turning point in Indian colonial history. Till
that time, Britain ruled without much hindrance over the Indian people with
largescale local support or indifference. The entire government machinery –
except at the higher levels – was manned by Indians. The police was almost
entirely Indian. To add legitimacy to their rule, the British had genuine
admirers in India who credited them with having united India politically,
introducing a common administrative language and generally believed to rule in
a benign way. It was this favourable perception that prompted tens of thousands
of Indians to enlist in the army and fight for Britain in the World War I. This
was the reason why even Gandhi came out to support the war effort and
campaigned from village to village imploring people to join the British Indian
army. However, when the war ended, the people who anticipated concessions from
a grateful empire found themselves saddled with draconian measures such as the
Rowlatt Act which curtailed the meagre civic freedoms they were enjoying. This
is a poorly explained chapter in the freedom struggle. Why the British
government, which was buoyed up by wholehearted public support for the war
effort turned hostile and employed repressive measures against its Indian
subjects? What had changed in the latter half of the war to bring about this
transformation? It’s a task for historians to bring out definitive answers to
these two questions. Suppression of dissent, especially in Punjab, escalated
daily and culminated in Jallianwala Bagh when a British contingent led by
Brigadier General Reginald Dyer sprayed bullets on an unarmed crowd of people gathered
to protest against the government in a peaceful manner. The death toll is still
not definitively concluded. Hundreds were killed and a huge public outcry ensued.
Sir C. Sankaran Nair, who was an eminent jurist and a member of the Viceroy’s
Executive Council resigned in protest. Michael O’Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor
of Punjab sued against Nair in England for libel on a remark made by him in a
book on the aftereffects of the Punjab unrest. Nair valiantly fought even
though the judge and jury were arrayed against him. He eventually lost, but the
incident attracted much public attention and the atrocities in Punjab got wide
publicity. This book is the story of the case written by Nair’s great-grandson
Raghu Palat and his wife Pushpa Palat.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
official Indian reckoning of the freedom struggle was for a long time confined
only to the actions of the Indian National Congress. Brave countrymen who sacrificed
their lives and families for the nation were edged out to make way for timid
leaders who happened to be in the right party at the right time. Sir Chettur
Sankaran Nair’s contributions to the national movement is overshadowed and
sidelined by animosity against his criticism of Gandhi’s civil disobedience
movement. Sankaran Nair was one of the greatest Indians of the modern era. He
was a lawyer, member of the legislative council of Madras, president of the
Indian National Congress, advocate general of Madras, judge of the High Court
of Madras and a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. This position was
second only to that of the Viceroy in colonial hierarchy. He was part of the
ruling establishment but was bold enough to talk straight to the face of top
British officials which sometimes appeared rude. At a dinner meeting held by
O’Dwyer, his dog approached Nair docilely for a little petting but he drove the
animal away. Seeing this, Lady O’Dwyer remarked that even though Indians
professed kindness to all animals, they didn’t love the dogs half as much as
the English did. Nair angrily retorted that it was because the English were
nearer to the dogs in their evolution, while Indians moved further away in
their 5000-year old history. Imagine this dialogue taking place between the
guest and his hostess! In his personal life too, Nair was a stern man. He loved
children dearly but did not interact with them. He was always aloof, reserved
and unemotional. His relationship with his only son was also distant.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book scenically portrays the carnage occurred at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13,
1919 and the events which preceded and followed this horrible crime. The army
platoon led by Dyer discharged 1650 rounds of bullets on unarmed people out of
sheer colonial fury to avenge the physical assault on Europeans in the city a
few days ago. Dyer casually estimated the death toll at 200-300, but the actual
tally was many times higher. There was no warning to disperse and the troops
were ordered to shoot into the crowd. Dyer checked his fire and directed it
upon places where the crowd was the thickest. He later admitted that he had
made up his mind to punish the Indians for disobedience at having assembled
there. When a few soldiers initially shot in the air, an annoyed Dyer yelled at
them to fire low to ensure maximum casualties. Those who tried to scale the
perimeter wall to escape the carnage were methodically shot down. Three months
later, 120 bodies were taken out of a well in the compound. After the firing,
he left the place leaving the wounded to die of the sustained injuries and unattended
by anybody. Dyer also tried inhuman and deeply humiliating punishments on the
local population. Marcella Sherwood, a Christian missionary, was assaulted at
Kucha Kurrichchan earlier, and Dyer ordered that every Indian man using the
street must crawl across its length on his hands and knees. This order was
enforced for seven days. He even justified the order in a discourse filled with
unbridled contempt for Indians thus: “<i>Some
Indians crawl face downwards in front of their gods. I wanted them to know that
a British woman is as sacred as a Hindu goddess and therefore they have to
crawl in front of her too</i>”.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Nair
resigned in protest against the massacre from the executive council of Viceroy Lord
Chelmsford. Relations with this haughty official were never relaxed anyway. The
viceroy formally asked Nair whether he had any suggestions as to his
replacement. Nair stunned him by suggesting the name of the viceroy’s liveried
chamber attendant who was standing nearby as that man would truthfully carry
out his orders to the letter. In London, Nair was coopted to the Secretary of State’s
Council for India. It was in this period that he wrote ‘Gandhi and Anarchy’,
setting out the physical state of India. He criticized Punjab’s Lt. Governor Michael
O’Dwyer for inept handling of the volatile situation. He had access to several
government documents which depicted the true actions of O’Dwyer, who took
offense at this perceived slight and sued Nair for libel. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Nair
didn’t believe in Gandhi’s extraordinary policies in fomenting public unrest as
a form of political struggle. This book gives a brief glance of the points of dispute.
As part of the 1919 constitutional reforms, the possibility of a round-table
conference in 1921 arose. Gandhi nipped this opening in the bud by raising impossible
preconditions. His first priority was the reinstatement of the Ottoman caliph
as he was the spiritual leader of Muslims all over the world. He also demanded
that the French should leave Syria and wanted the British to vacate Egypt. Nair
thought Gandhi to be impractical. Being a man of law, he did not agree with
civil disobedience movement. He believed that it would lead to disorder, chaos,
riots and bloodshed. Nair was eventually proved right many times on each of the
points.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As
is expected, several chapters in the book are reserved for the legal fight
between O’Dwyer and Nair. In his book, Nair accused the former of complicity in
the highhanded action. O’Dwyer sued for libel in the Court of the King’s Bench
in London knowing that an English court would side with him. A large section of
the English public still believed that Dyer’s inhuman action had saved the
empire from collapse. Zamindars of Punjab appeared in the court on the side of O’Dwyer
irrespective of religious lines. Nair’s witnesses were mostly Indian and they
had their sworn testimonies recorded on paper and sent to England. These were
then read in open court. Obviously, this arrangement was sure to benefit O’Dwyer.
In addition to all this, judge McCardie openly sided with the plaintiff
throughout the trial. Instead of finding whether Nair’s words were libelous to O’Dwyer,
the judge wanted to establish whether Dyer was justified under the
circumstances he found himself in on that fateful day. This was designed to elicit
concurrence from an all-white jury. Summing up the arguments, the judge
suggested the lines in which the jury should arrive at a consensus. Surprisingly,
they returned with a hung verdict. At this point, the proceedings should’ve
been declared a mis-trial and repeated. But McCardie opted for a majority
decision which went in favour of O’Dwyer 11-1. Even though Nair lost the case
and had to pay compensation, all information regarding the atrocities had come
out in the press during the trial and O’Dwyer was completely dishonoured. Nair
lost all confidence in British justice and declined to appeal. However, this
episode boosted the morale of the national movement by uniting and firmly
linking the intelligentsia with it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book is pleasant to read but much depth should not be expected. Even though Raghu
Palat is the great-grandson of Sankaran Nair, there is practically no personal
touch to the narrative. This is in sharp contrast to one of the other books by
the same authors titled ‘Destiny’s Child’ reviewed earlier here. The authors
shed some light on Nair’s opposition to Gandhi’s disobedience movement which is
normally not mentioned in mainstream books on the subject. This was because he
was a man of law and didn’t want to see anarchy encouraged as an ideal. But the
reason given for his animosity to non-violence is quite strange by enlightened
standards. Palat states that, ‘<i>being a Nair,
he could not accept a fight through non-violence</i>’ (p.107). This refers to
the Nair caste’s traditional occupation as soldiers – mostly mercenary in
nature. But in the early twentieth century, Nair soldiery was a thing of the
past often remembered as a nostalgic thought than any serious avenue for
employment. Besides, many of the leaders who organized the movement in Kerala
belonged to the Nair caste.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book is highly recommended.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><br />
Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-43550021379331514462023-09-07T06:25:00.002+05:302023-09-07T14:29:55.720+05:30Destiny’s Child<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjcEsxWg02_vfJPM8k2fN99W2-4zclnkOOocHo2Yex_CkWEjayAoBhBrS7TwZjha-eLy3WIH-zsXWCS3UTq8CIhLTdTJPpacyTbp2XhYy9Ux7AqegpFV0dXYJycNSV0LM1OQ45BN-_y8NHjvTTmKELXZpq_ub2kQiI5iqu52SVSTTM-QK6sEDheXJ_MzlF/s379/rsz_60399595.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="379" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjcEsxWg02_vfJPM8k2fN99W2-4zclnkOOocHo2Yex_CkWEjayAoBhBrS7TwZjha-eLy3WIH-zsXWCS3UTq8CIhLTdTJPpacyTbp2XhYy9Ux7AqegpFV0dXYJycNSV0LM1OQ45BN-_y8NHjvTTmKELXZpq_ub2kQiI5iqu52SVSTTM-QK6sEDheXJ_MzlF/s320/rsz_60399595.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: blue;">Destiny’s
Child – The Undefeatable Reign of Cochin’s Parukutty Neithyaramma</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Author: Raghu Palat, Pushpa Palat</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2022
(First)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISBN: 9780670096305</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pages: 269</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This
is the story of a diminutive yet regal woman, hardly 4 feet 9 inches tall and
slightly plump who was a stern and ruthless individual whom her attendants
found generally not approachable. She had vested state powers in her own hands
and the British gave her the entitlement of a 17-gun salute – the first Indian
lady to be thus honoured. She was Parukutty Neithyaramma, the consort of
Maharaja Rama Varma XVI of Cochin State. She belonged to the Nair caste which
was traditionally lower than the Kshatriya rajas but managed to enter into a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sambandham</i> (a loose conjugal
relationship once practiced in Kerala which was entered into between a Nair
woman and an upper caste man and in which the male partner had no
responsibility for the offspring of the union). Against all odds of
discrimination by princesses of the royal family, she steadfastly adhered to
her husband. He was sixth in line in seniority to the throne, but due to deaths
in the line and abdication of the reigning raja, Kunji Kidavu – Parukutty’s
husband – was fortunate to ascend the throne and rule for eighteen years till
his death. Parukutty wielded immense power both directly and indirectly by
strictly controlling access to the ruler and regulating appointments to key
positions including that of the Diwan – the chief minister of the kingdom. Many
allegations were levelled against her on corruption and nepotism. She cleverly
met her opponents employing deft strategies such as lining up on the side of
nationalism which was growing in stature at that time. After her husband’s
death, she quietly entered a calm, private life. Raghu Palat is a banker,
consultant, writer and teacher. He is also the great-grandson of the
protagonist of this story, Parukutty Neithyaramma and has included personal
reminiscences to add a touch of liveliness to the narrative. The co-author
Pushpa Palat is his wife.</span></p>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Many
a Nair woman’s ticket to riches hinged on the sweet chance of finding the right
paramour to enter into a sambandham. Parukutty’s Brahmin father was well
connected with the Cochin royal family and requested the prince who was sixth
in line to the Crown and was 17 years her senior having his hair prematurely
greyed for an alliance with his daughter. Interesting facts about the union
show how outrageously one-sided the selection was. Her father took her to the
palace in Thrissur to introduce her to the prince who was staying there. They
met him sitting at the far end of a verandah. After a few words, the prince
asked her to walk to the other end and come back, just to observe her gait.
This may set present-day feminists’ blood on the boil but the lady took this in
her stride – literally. Even after this interview, there was no intimation of
acquiescence from the groom. So the father went to Thripunithura where the
royal family was permanently residing and obtained his consent for sambandham.
But he would not come to her house nor will any ceremonies be held. Finally,
her father took her to Thripunithura and presented her before the prince. She
then stayed with him flouting centuries-old traditions that forbade Nair
spouses from cohabiting with their Kshatriya partners in the palace. This
caused the nobility to turn against her. But Parukutty was a strong woman who
won’t bow down even to her husband on issues which she deemed to be for the
benefit of the family. Unlike the other princes, her husband used to spend his
allowances frugally and used his savings to lend to farmers at interest with
their title deeds as collateral security. If they couldn’t pay back the debt,
their lands would belong to the prince. With tactful management of his finances
ably supported by Parukutty, the royal couple was able to amass a huge wealth
even before he became the ruling king of Cochin.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
authors recount the family strife Parukutty was forced to endure from the
prince’s family members on account of the supposed low birth of the consort. In
fact, that was not the real bone of contention. Many other princes, including
the reigning Rama Varma XV, had had entered into sambandhams with Nair women. But
this prince let her stay with him in the palace allotted to him thereby
bringing in a semblance of equality to the woman who was his partner. The
palace women employed taunts and barbs at every available opportunity that she
stopped visiting the Purnathrayeesa temple altogether, which was frequented by
the royals. As a woman of character and diehard will, she made it a practice to
visit the Chottanikkara temple every day in a bullock cart. A lifelong devotion
thus sprang between the wronged woman and the goddess who was known for curing
mental sickness. The prince however knew the real worth of his wife and allowed
her to be present and participate in his meetings. This was a partnership many
couldn’t quite understand and most envied.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
authors have taken some liberty to creatively portray some events that add
colour and life to the narrative. The exquisite description of the coronation
of Rama Varma XVI at the Dutch Palace in Mattanchery is one such incident. His
journey from the Hill Palace in a car, the boat ride from Ernakulam and the
rituals are rendered in so lifelike a manner as to be like watching in a movie.
The British did not recognize sambandham as a lawful marriage and treated it
more as a morganatic engagement. Consequently, the lady was never invited to
official meetings nor met senior British officials. Rama Varma XVI made a clean
break from the past on this point too. Within a short time of taking over the
reins of the state, he performed a solemn ceremony at the palace in which he
was crowned and bestowed the title of ‘Neithyar’ on his wife. With this, she
was elevated to the rank of royal consort. The authors do not explain the
meaning or etymology of the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Neithyar.</i>
True to the weight of her title, he sometimes openly solicited his consort’s
advice in open court. Parukutty readily offered her opinion in a stern voice
accompanied by a disclaimer that it was her own opinion and it was for His
Highness to take the final decision. Within a short time, the courtiers found
that the ruler’s opinion was always in sync with that of his dear consort.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">From
what is presented in the book, it is fairly obvious to everyone that
Parukutty’s administration of the kingdom was riddled with large scale
corruption. She made screening interviews on the appointment of diwans and
senior officials who were expected to obey her bidding. As retaliation for the
trouble she suffered at the hands of high-born princesses, she took control
over the Amma Raja Estate, which was a fund constituted for the welfare of
thampurattis (princesses) and their children. It is likely that public funds
were siphoned off under various guises. This book does not mention any such
case, but an incident narrated by Robert Bristow in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cochin Saga</i> may have a direct bearing on
this. Bristow found that the country boats carrying material for the
construction of the harbour at Kochi were found to be stopped in Cochin State’s
territory and an unauthorized toll of around 13 per cent of the value of the
material was levied by a few people. Bristow personally intervened to stop this
extortion and raised the issue with the Diwan who expressed happiness that the
issue was resolved but expressed his own helplessness saying that “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">there are some things that even a Diwan is
wise to put up with”</i>. Possibly, the rani’s agents might have been behind
this illegal collection of money. You can find this incident mentioned in
Chapter 10 – Currents and Undercurrents in Bristow’s book. Nepotism was another
curse of the rani’s administration. She made her son Aravindaksha Menon the
chief engineer of the state even though he was very young and had little
experience in the field. She also made a nephew the civil surgeon of Thrissur.
She even tried to appoint her son-in-law Ramunni Menon Palat the Diwan in 1930,
but the British firmly declined the suggestion.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book describes the frequent interventions of the abdicated ruler Rama Varma XV
in the administration of his successor which provides an interesting side
story. Even though he is hailed as Rajarshi (royal sage) for relinquishing the
throne, it is hinted in this book that he did not expect the British to accept
his offer of abdication. His resentment led to continuous interference in the
policies of Rama Varma XVI. While on the throne, he had purchased shares of the
Moopley Valley Rubber Company in the name of the raja of Cochin. After
demitting office, he wanted its dividends to be paid to his personal account
which the reigning raja declined. The abdicated raja then filed a suit in a Travancore
court where the company was headquartered and lost. This caused much bad press
for the royal family. This book also depicts the end of Parukutty’s influence
as the prince suffered a stroke and was partially paralyzed. Doubts were raised
against his sanity by his own family members who clamoured for an investigation
by a British mental expert. A capable practitioner was engaged from Mumbai, but
the raja quietly passed away a few days before the examination was to take
place thereby avoiding a huge embarrassment for the state. The authors also
bring out the protagonist’s plans for retirement as she had anticipated the
event much earlier. She had planned to settle in her home town of Thrissur and
made a lot of improvements to the town. She is the architect of modern Thrissur.
She built the ring road at the heart of the city and was instrumental in the
development of Ramavarmapuram nearby which she planned to develop like a
university town in the model of Oxford. She had planned to transfer the Maharaja’s
College functioning at Ernakulam to Ramavarmapuram and also transferred the
museum and zoo at Ernakulam to Thrissur.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book is pleasant to read which opens up a mirror to Kerala society as it
existed a century ago. It is also the saga of a woman who enforced her will in a
male-dominated world hard bound by customs which never made her life easier. That
she was unscrupulous in her mission to gain financial self-sufficiency for herself
and future generations is fairly obvious even though the authors have given
only indirect hints here and there of the rampant corruption prevalent in her
administration. Since the co-author is her own great-grandson, this is
excusable. It also gives a clear picture of the political drama and
string-pulling that was normal practice in a princely state under British
control. Readers also get a few glimpses of the old Ernakulam town and how it
had staged some of the political events narrated in this book.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book is highly recommended.</span></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><br />
Rating: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">4 Star</span></b></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-47025901858117945852023-08-27T08:39:00.001+05:302023-08-27T08:39:18.510+05:30The Price of Time<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-lIjCJOCwc16LhGFAzABF1MMQjfkPBygC0IstcYEuBH4Fei8GErwI-80nNSMcFKANqv2LgrGTRsS4YfDVbTr7FigooCkIb8_qTjvMQh7oizZwODa7KJsIs9v3Kt3PiKixHm3cdVeTuml258gKvLLEDz_pLncsbBpY4HSmFCJqKtadjL5TJvuFsxu5Tbu/s335/rsz_59056157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-lIjCJOCwc16LhGFAzABF1MMQjfkPBygC0IstcYEuBH4Fei8GErwI-80nNSMcFKANqv2LgrGTRsS4YfDVbTr7FigooCkIb8_qTjvMQh7oizZwODa7KJsIs9v3Kt3PiKixHm3cdVeTuml258gKvLLEDz_pLncsbBpY4HSmFCJqKtadjL5TJvuFsxu5Tbu/s320/rsz_59056157.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: blue;">The
Price of Time – The Real Story of Interest</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Author: Edward Chancellor</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Publisher: Allen Lane, 2022 (First)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">ISBN: 9780241569160</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pages: 398</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0mm; margin-top: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There
are many customs which were widely followed in ancient societies but have
turned morally abhorrent in modern ones. Slavery is one such thing. On the other
hand, lending money at interest was repugnant to the ethics of ancient
societies but has found acceptance in modern societies. What we have done is to
bring in a demarcation between lending at exorbitant rates as usury and normal
financial transactions at a fair rate of interest. In fact, interest is a
justifiable reward for a mutual exchange of services. The lender provides the
use of his capital for a period of time, and time has value. A trader borrowing
money for commerce is morally bound to share a part of the profit he had earned
from the use of capital provided by someone else. Even if the enterprise ended
in a loss, it is of no fault of the lender and he has to be still compensated.
This is in a nutshell the logic for continuing with the practice of charging
interest for the use of others’ money. The word ‘interest’ derives from Latin
‘interesso’, which is a legal term for compensation paid by a defaulting
debtor. As world economies grew to ever larger proportions, the rate of
interest turned into a crucial parameter that has the potential to affect the
health of the economy. Central banks were then instituted to continuously
monitor the market movements and to tweak the interest rates to steer them in
specified directions. Just as a high rate of interest is detrimental to the
growth of the economy, too low an interest rate also have grave consequences
attached to it which are explained in great detail in this book. ‘The pitfalls
of a low interest rate’ should at least have been a subtitle of this book.
Edward Chancellor is a graduate in history who had made his career in financial
investment and asset allocation. In 2008, he received the George Polk Award for
financial reporting and he is the author of ‘Devil Take the Hindmost: A History
of Financial Speculation’ which was an NYT Notable Book of the Year.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
institution of taking a portion of money or commodities as fee for lending
resources has an unbelievably early origin. The Mesopotamians charged interest
on loans before they discovered how to put wheels on carts. The practice is
much older than coined money which only originated in the eighth century BCE.
Pre-historic people charged interest on loans of corn and livestock. However,
popular ethics shunned interest. Religion followed suit and the church’s
injunctions against usury and lending of interest were stringent. However,
medieval bankers and merchants found countless ways to evade these – the original
amount of loan may be overstated; loans in clipped coins had to be repaid in
unclipped coins or loans stipulated for impossibly short periods and interest concealed
in heavy penalties. Anyhow, with the growth of trade and commerce in the
early-Renaissance period, the church’s attitude softened. The canonists then
referred to borrowed money as borrowing something tangible such as a plough
which has to be paid for. England put into effect a legislation in 1571 which
made the taking of interest legal.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The
author makes a prescient analysis of how early societies were ranged against
taking interest and why modern societies take a much more tolerant attitude.
Ancient cultures were agrarian in nature and villages were self-sufficient to a
great extent. In such a system, a person approaches a lender for the sole
purpose of financing something related to consumption such as on food or other family
needs. The debtor was within the lender’s power to extract his money and tribal
elders stepped in to prevent exorbitant rates of interest. This was thoroughly
changed when trade and industry became widespread. The lender usually consisted
of people who invested their savings in a bank and the debtor may be a business
tycoon. The situation was reversed as the debtor became more prominent in
stature than the creditor. In such a scenario, interest represented the
lender’s stake in the success and profit of the borrower while usury was associated
with the extortion of the needy. The rate of interest declined over time. This
spawned extreme financial jugglery. Outbreaks of financial recklessness did not
occur at random. They tended to appear at times when money was easy and
interest low. The book explains the speculative bubbles in England and France
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as examples. Low interest rates
fuel speculative manias, drive savers to make risky investments, encourage bad
lending and weaken the financial system. Almost three-fourths of the book is
dedicated to warn readers about the dangers of a very low interest rate
approaching zero which was seen in many developed countries recently.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Chancellor
cites the tragic instances of the 1929 and 2008 crises to drive home his
argument on the disasters which follow a very low rate of interest. There is no
detailed analysis of the crises which the author assumes the readers are
familiar with. In the lead up to 1929, bank credit in the US more than doubled.
Growth in industry could not match the growth of credit. So the rates came down
and it changed track to finance stock loans, real estate mortgages and the
purchase of foreign securities. Such a hefty arrival of cash lifted the share
market to stratospheric levels from which there was only one way to go – towards
the bottom. The shares tumbled very quickly and the Great Depression came into
being. In a similar vein, in the years before 2008, ultra-low interest rates
led to a housing bubble and the subsequent sub-prime mortgage crisis. However,
the Federal Reserve kept the interest rates at rock bottom levels claiming that
the meltdown was not a failure of economic science but of economic management
in the form of regulations. The author fumes that instead of hounding them out
of office, the Fed’s stand was credited with saving the world from another
Great Depression.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The mechanism of how low interest rates vitiate
national economic decisions is examined in detail. Central banks are tasked
with ensuring price stability for which they target inflation to be within
limits. When economy is healthy, inflation and interest rates will be lower.
However, allocation targets of credit may change subtly and this may lead to
bubbles. Lower interest rates lead to credit growth and larger accumulated debt
on the economy. When the crash eventually comes, central banks intervene and
usually lower the interest rates further. This starts a vicious cycle. However,
this assertion is doubtful as mad speculation during the point of recovery from
a crash does not seem plausible. Interest rate thus regulates the economy and
weeds out inefficient entrepreneurs. At zero interest rate, heavily loss-making
companies can still be in business</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> on life support from bailout packages. The
entire economy then progresses at the solemn pace of a funeral march. Over-investment
in fancy profit schemes of unicorns is another feature of low interest rates.
Monetary authorities often hope that companies would use their access to cheap
debt to boost investment. Instead, they choose to buy back their shares with
such leverage. Buying back own shares was illegal till 1982 as a form of stock
manipulation, but was legalized to allow a company to employ easy credit. The financial
sector hugely benefits from such an atmosphere at the detriment of core industrial
output. Here, the author points out a major difference from the post-World War
II era. Then also, the interest was kept low, but economy had had real growth
because after 1945, Americans had robust savings, few debts, no financial
bubbles and little financial engineering.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The book warns us about not getting too euphoric
about the rate of recovery from a crash or during low interest rates and
cautions against attributing them to the central banks’ policy of further cut
in rates. When the cost of borrowing is low enough, even the most absurd
investments can appear viable. The local government in the city of Shiyan in
China ordered that local mountains be flattened to make space for new
manufacturing plants nearby. This was at a time when China was going through
low rates. Savings are needed for the accumulation of capital. Societies that
don’t invest enough witness financial experts make money through debt
manipulations which will tend to stagnation in the economy. A good deal of
economic and jobs growth post-2008 crisis is false growth with little chance of
sustainability. It is based on fake money conjured up by Fed to buy assets at
fake prices.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The book talks about the clout exerted by the so
called financial wizards which is disproportionate to the accuracy of their
predictions. Chancellor narrates several instances when the opinions of even
the greatest of experts – including John Maynard Keynes – going miserably awry.
At any given time, it looks as if half of the experts will be predicting good
times and the other half forecasting doom. So when a crash finally happens,
half would claim victory and the other half would simply look the other way. The
book concentrates only on the US and EU and a little bit on China. Most of the
matter is relatable only to the US which severely restricts its appeal. As a
developing economy which is soon poised to be No. 3 in the world, the author
should have spared at least a few pages for India too. Rather than describing the
custom of interest, the book attempts to showcase the ill effects of having a
very low interest rate in the economy. As it is a book on interest, readers
would expect a chapter on Islamic banking which is said to be conducting
business in other ways as that religion still forbids taking or giving
interest. Here also, the readers would get disappointed. The book is somewhat
big for the content and readers would get a bit tired towards the end.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The book is recommended.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%;">
Rating: <b><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;"> </span></b></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-71195474947268030532023-08-23T05:45:00.001+05:302023-08-23T15:17:48.177+05:30Hindus in Hindu Rashtra
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRhwTbgN_OystVBNElvD1wlkd0_h-OqvPD6K6PsUk5ZpHkaAARso6Tn6_ev4Oi_c45UjIU4dBTlrPDq6qnYWvTRwuE5RugMomkkQHbsyg69SCvvrxfByFy91mAp2IlINuWi2CarpO0Gcn8kBOmVdwmnkl70rpZFA-qiWr40L_VYMgklRG9rlZyZr0f5i4-/s335/rsz_181591258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRhwTbgN_OystVBNElvD1wlkd0_h-OqvPD6K6PsUk5ZpHkaAARso6Tn6_ev4Oi_c45UjIU4dBTlrPDq6qnYWvTRwuE5RugMomkkQHbsyg69SCvvrxfByFy91mAp2IlINuWi2CarpO0Gcn8kBOmVdwmnkl70rpZFA-qiWr40L_VYMgklRG9rlZyZr0f5i4-/s320/rsz_181591258.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: blue;">Hindus
in Hindu Rashtra – Eighth Class Citizens and Victims of State-sanctioned
Apartheid</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Author: Anand Ranganathan</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Publisher: BluOne Ink, 2023 (First)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISBN: 9789392209475</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pages: 135</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Left-Islamist cabal in India is nowadays adamant on creating a narrative of the
nation turning into a Hindu Rashtra where the religious minorities face
extinction and democracy in danger. They ignore the inconsistency and
illogicality between trumpeting in mass-media that democracy is in danger and
the government doing nothing to stifle such content. No authoritarian state
would permit such wild allegations to be made in public, but our propagandists
hope that the public won’t notice the discrepancy. Putting that aside for a
moment, if we examine whether India had really transformed into a Hindu Rashtra
only because a Hindu-nationalist party was in power for a decade, what do we
find? Have the Hindus mobbed all avenues of power and marginalized the minorities?
Are the minorities trembling in fear of being forcibly converted to Hinduism?
But wait a moment. Aren’t these the same people who opposed a bill in the
previous Karnataka legislature that sought to ban religious conversions by
surreptitious means? Why the minorities oppose a legislation that bans
conversions if they really feel threatened? If you get confused at these
contradictions and suspect that there is more to it than meets the eye, this
book is right for you. On the other hand, if you are comfortable with the
fiction that secularism was diligently practiced without discrimination in
post-independent India till 2014, you better avoid this book. This book
analyzes the position of Hindus in today’s India and how the cards are decked
against them under the guise of secularism. Anand Ranganathan is a scientist
and author. He is very active on social media and this is his first non-fiction
book. Ranganthan discusses eight specific topics which are claimed to form a
state-sanctioned apartheid against the majority community which in effect
transformed them towards the lowest levels of reckoning – eighth class, as the
author pityingly attests. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ranganathan
identifies that the stage had been set for discrimination against Hindus much
before independence and pinpoints it to Gandhi’s taking control over the
nation’s pulse in the 1910s. Minority appeasement then began on an
unprecedented scale. Many of his appeals lacked any sense of reality and
approached the level of being plain silly. He advocated the Hindus not to
harbour anger against Muslims even if the latter wanted to destroy them and
should ‘face death bravely’. On the Jewish question in Germany, he suggested
the same idea to the victims of Nazi holocaust. But unfortunately, every single
time the minorities were appeased, it had only emboldened their leaders and
political fronts for further extortion and blackmail. Thus, the trait of
discrimination was in the nation’s DNA when free India took birth in 1947. It
is the discrimination or apartheid in our constitution, policies, legal
framework, society and psyche that makes Hindus not only second class, but
eighth class citizens. The author presents his evidence in the chapters
following this assertion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ranganathan
cites government control of Hindu temples as the first and foremost mark of
discrimination. This seems to be absolutely true. Why should a country which
takes pride in being secular keep on controlling the religious institutions of
only one religion? Natural justice demands that either it should control all or
none at all. The state control of temples invariably leads to political
intervention. In Kerala, communist leaders who proudly proclaim themselves as
atheists have no qualms in sitting in the administrative councils of temples
just because they were born to Hindu parents. The resulting inefficiency leads
to dismal realization of revenue from temple property. Hence the money which
should have been spent on opening Veda pathsalas, schools, colleges,
scholarships, orphanages and cultural centres go wasted whereas the other
religions are free to use their own money in the way they choose. The author
criticizes the government headed by Narendra Modi too in doing little to
correct this injustice. He suggests that instead of spending Rs. 339 crores on
grand corridor projects like Kashi, it should take steps to free temples. Ranganathan
then suggests public listing of the temples as a company as an alternative to
state control. This would be a company whose product has not changed in a
millennium and never will. People should be able to buy shares in it and public
trading is also advocated. He has no objection to the government taxing its
wealth. But readers would find this proposal not a bright one. Apart from the
moral dilemma of designating a spiritual abode as a commercial entity, the
problem of how less profitable temples can survive is not addressed. Also, if
the temple’s shares are traded in public, how can you prevent them going into
the hands of hostile interests?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some
of the harsh remarks in the book are reserved for the Hindu genocide and ethnic
cleansing in Kashmir in the 1990s. In a matter of a few months, the entire
Kashmir Valley was swept clean of Kashmiri Pandits through arson, murder and
rape. The sad fact is that this gruesome tale of bigotry and violence is not
widely reported in the media and not discussed in society. 700,000 people were
displaced from Kashmir of which only 500 were repatriated after taking away
Kashmir’s special status in 2019. Of these five hundred, 25 have been killed
already in targeted assassinations. Tourists are safe in Kashmir as the local
people don’t want to scuttle their livelihood and economy. In this way, tourism
is alleged to be paying for jihad. The author laments that Kashmiri Hindus are
the Jews, but unfortunately, India is not Israel. The judiciary is also
shirking from its duty to render justice to the victims citing the long time
that has elapsed since. The author also accuses the judiciary of selective
intervention in bringing about religious reforms. It is hell-bent on focusing
on Hindu customs as it is the path of least resistance. A secular state which
removes discriminatory practices from one religion turns a blind eye to
egregious customs such as polygamy, dissolution of marriages at the whim of the
husband and discrimination against women in parental property in another. The
book concludes that such a nation is not a secular state, but rather a scared
state (p.72).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This
book’s discussion on the huge amounts of land designated as Waqf (Islamic
religious property) and the overarching powers granted to its administrative
body called the Waqf Board are both illuminating and horrifying. Once a
property is marked as Waqf, it remains so ever after and the Board has powers
to evict the actual inhabitants of that land even after the expiry of any
amount of time. Waqf is the third largest landowner in India after Defence and Railways.
77% of Delhi is Waqf land as effected by the give-and-take between the British
and Muslims. In March 2014, just two months before his demitting office, the
then prime minister Manmohan Singh withdrew the government’s claim on 123 prime
Central Delhi properties which in effect gifted them to the Waqf. If the Waqf Board
claims a property as its own, the cost of surveying it must be borne by the
state and its higher officials are given the power of a civil court by the Waqf
Act of 1995. Moreover, the Supreme Court in 2019 ruled that a civil court has
no jurisdiction in the matter of a dispute pertaining to Waqf property. Only a Waqf
tribunal is entitled to examine the case. Section 28 of the act makes it
mandatory for district magistrates to carry out the orders of Waqf Board. In
short, if this Act is not amended considerably or revoked outright, it sets the
stage for the eventual and complete takeover of the country once the percentage
of Muslim population crosses a critical threshold. If this argument is factual,
it forecasts a scary predicament for non-Muslims in this country.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In
this vein, the author discusses eight issues on which the Hindus are discriminated
against. Many of the subjects were earlier shared in Ranganathan’s social media
forums where he argues his points with conviction and verve in a booming voice.
He ridicules the Indian custom of honouring the invaders who killed and raped
their ancestors. Bakhtiyarpur in Nalanda is named after the warrior who
destroyed that ancient university. Many roads and places are named after Aurangzeb
who is reported to have killed 4.6 million infidels. Similar is the case of Tipu
Sultan in the south. Ranganathan then mockingly asks whether there will ever be
a Hitler Road in Tel Aviv in Israel. The book is very informative and a
must-read for all Indians. The text is sandwiched between an excellent foreword
by J. Sai Deepak and a worthy afterword by Vikram Sampath. The author’s writing
style is very evocative and in a manner which feels like the author is directly
talking to the reader. The language is powerful throughout the narrative and appears
more like that of a propaganda leaflet. The book also assigns on readers the moral
responsibility of verifying the veracity of Ranganathan’s claims for
themselves. If they find them to be true, they must ask themselves why nobody
had told these hard truths before and why.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book is highly recommended.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">4 Star</span></b></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-44439826347301252812023-08-15T20:53:00.001+05:302023-08-15T20:53:17.318+05:30Beasts Before Us<div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxytAALPbqh9S1HhmYUOSkNxEOrkabqUW607IVXzx3yYcw1PsaTSkDDqdIAXca1UZMS4BOEXx4eC-UggISd2qB0dsBSvdhZHaopJjQerz0ukP0DrVLLvLqlv_KW4XghCl2cJh0NYzvQb6fSvIAFHtBP33VlnvHdqEsJlqV7cgU4HjfcsQMHD_eSAToTHrn/s335/rsz_62039093.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxytAALPbqh9S1HhmYUOSkNxEOrkabqUW607IVXzx3yYcw1PsaTSkDDqdIAXca1UZMS4BOEXx4eC-UggISd2qB0dsBSvdhZHaopJjQerz0ukP0DrVLLvLqlv_KW4XghCl2cJh0NYzvQb6fSvIAFHtBP33VlnvHdqEsJlqV7cgU4HjfcsQMHD_eSAToTHrn/s320/rsz_62039093.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: blue;">Beasts
Before Us – The Untold Story of Mammal Origins and Evolution</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Author: Elsa Panciroli</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Publisher: Bloomsbury Sigma, 2023
(First)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISBN: 9781472983985</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pages: 320</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0mm; margin-top: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We
are really awed by our planet’s collision with an asteroid at the end of
Cretaceous period 65 million years ago when dinosaurs became extinct. The
demise of this predator group prepared the ground for mammals to explore and
conquer all possible niches on earth. As a result, mammals grew in size, became
more and more diurnal and won the competition for scarce resources. Eventually,
a bipedal ape which developed a large brain size took over the world and
assumed nature’s role in making several species go extinct. This has been the
accepted lore regarding the development of mammals – and by corollary, of
humans too. This book presents a different view, one in which it is
conclusively shown that mammals existed and to a certain extent were spread
over the face of the earth much earlier than thought. What it paints is the
picture of a see-saw. Mammals proliferated in the Permian but were seriously
put back by the mass extinction at the end of the era. Reptiles, which include
dinosaurs, took prominence in the Triassic period which followed it. Then came
the asteroid at the end of Cretaceous and mammals again held sway which still
continues. This interesting story is told by Elsa Panciroli, who is a Scottish
paleontologist who studies the evolution and ecology of extinct animals. She is
an experienced science communicator and has written for mass-media houses.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
author discusses on the so called ‘success’ of a species in biological
parlance. In fact, this is not to be confused with the dominance of a species
on others. The term ‘success’ generally means only that it could propagate
itself over time in an uninterrupted lineage. In that sense, all species living
today are successful up to now. Moreover, while there are only 5,500 species of
mammals, there are 18,000 species of bird and 35,000 of fish. That’s just
vertebrates. There are over one and a half million species of beetles. So, who
is the most successful? This should be kept in mind while making tall claims
such as this was the ‘age of mammals’. The only thing is that mammals include
the largest vertebrates and we are disproportionately focused on size. However,
they originated much earlier than the current consensus. Paleontology suggests
that they arose 350 million years ago in the supercontinent of Pangaea. Around
300 million years ago, mammals parted ways with reptiles. Mammals did not
evolve from reptiles; they only shared a common ancestor. The belief that
mammals followed reptiles in dominance of the world became prevalent as most of
the early fossil evidence found in Europe came from secondary rocks and
belonged to reptiles. After a catastrophe, they were wiped out and mammals
appeared in the tertiary age. The first fossil of a mammal ever found was the
jaw of an opossum-like animal discovered in 1820 in secondary rocks. With more
evidence coming from all over the world, the scientific world has now conceded
that mammals existed and flourished much earlier than the age of reptiles.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
author narrates personal experiences of prospecting for fossils in her native
Scotland, Russia and South Africa. Mongolian expeditions of the pioneer
paleontologist Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska are given in some detail as she had
obtained the largest collection of Cretaceous mammals. The fossils demonstrated
that the age spanning 250 million years before the collapse of dinosaurs which
was the first age of mammals was ignored by scholars for a long time. Early
mammals like pelycosaurs looked like reptiles. We continue to see descriptions
like mammal-like reptiles to describe them. From among the ranks of the
pelycosaurs, a new group emerged which developed the key traits we associate
with modern mammals including warmer blood and higher energy lifestyles. They
also established – for the first time – an ecosystem which we still recognize
today as based on large numbers of herbivores fed upon by a smaller cohort of
carnivores. These cyanodonts are the ancestors of mammals which looked more
like compact dogs with increasingly enlarged and complex jaw muscles. This
change is linked to chewing with more complex teeth. At the same time in the
Late Permian, 252 million years ago, reptiles and other tetrapods were also
proliferating. Some of them had also evolved into giants. They would get their
lebensraum when mammals were most hardly hit by the end-Permian extinction
event.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Permian extinction was a great cataclysm in the life of biota on our planet.
Around 250 million years ago, volcanic activity peaked in the region which is
now in Russia which threw up volcanic ash and greenhouse gases in huge quantities
as to alter the global climate for millions of years. Three quarters of life
were wiped out and the next age – the Triassic – began with a slate wiped
clean. Reptiles and dinosaurs gained prominence and grew to large body sizes.
But the mammals were not always at the receiving end however. We have found
evidence of carnivorous mammals of this era that ate baby dinosaurs for food. In
late-Triassic, little mammals the size of a mouse spread across the globe.
These little creatures are thought to be the ancestors of us all.
Warm-bloodedness helped early mammals to become nocturnal and escape the
unwelcome attention of larger predators. The coldness of night is no barrier to
an animal carrying its own heating system. Most of the mammals (except humans,
of course) have only mediocre ability to distinguish vivid colours and their
eyes are more attuned to see shapes in the dark. It is surmised that humans and
primates re-acquired the ability to see colours through a mutation in the
genes, but their ability is still a far cry from the glorious visual world of
birds. Because they adapted as nocturnal animals, the sense of smell and sound
greatly developed in mammals.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Whether
intended or not, this book not only fails to discredit Lamarck’s use and disuse
theory as the reason for causing genetic changes in organisms, but on at least
two occasions, it lends a gentle support to it. In a footnote on page 31, the
author claims that ‘the characteristics that were used would be passed on, and
those that weren’t would atrophy which isn’t all that far off the mark’. This
is indeed far off the mark. Lamarck’s theory stayed afloat in the pre-genetics
era when the mechanism of inheriting a parent’s characteristic by the offspring
was unknown. I’m sure the author is well aware of this and obliquely suggests
natural selection as the mechanism that helped propagate features advantageous
to survive in a particular habitat, but some readers may get confused here and
think that Lamarck’s idea must have something in it. Another argument on the
same line is the adaptation of herbivores to digest plant matter by
incorporating helper bacteria colonies in their guts. Panciroli argues that
microorganisms may have initially been ingested by early tetrapods when they
ate some decomposing plant matter. Eventually, some of the plant-processing
bacteria survived in the gut and a symbiotic relationship developed. This too
is a broad statement enough to perplex a reader on how this new feature persisted
in a new generation of the animal. This book introduces flowering of plants as
a novel mechanism of species propagation developed around 120 million years ago
that helped in mammal evolution. Earlier, pollination was limited through wind
and water. <a name="_GoBack"></a>Another interesting feature is the remark on
ancient human bones. Analysis of the bones between the Neolithic and bronze
ages (which is just yesterday by paleontological timescales covered elsewhere
in the book) shows that the intense manual labour of early farming lifestyles
made the average woman develop upper body strength comparable to a renowned
modern athlete. Life was really hard back then..!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It
is asserted that we are seeing a radical transformation in the study of
paleontology and that is part of the reason for writing this book. Use of
statistical methods to analyse big data and the routine CT scanning of fossils
have opened up entirely new fields of research. In fact, Panciroli is very
forceful – even to the brink of obsession – in boasting about the use of modern
technology and mathematical tools used by her and her colleagues around the
globe. This may be an attempt to enhance the stature of paleontology in the
minds of young readers and to attract them to its study. It’d be a good
exercise for the readers to look up the mentioned animals on Google as the
included photographs and illustrations are totally unappealing. A real turnoff
is the author’s punctilious political correctness that often leaps off the
pages to sting you in the eye. She frequently flays white European bias towards
discrimination of local knowledge regarding finding fossils. She credits
nameless native inhabitants, than the person who described it to the world.
This is mere showiness. She accuses the big names in her specialty of research of
having harboured racist views on ethnicity and a misogynist perspective of history.
As a successful woman typically considers herself a feminist by right, the author
stresses on the contribution of earlier women in elevating paleontology to a widely
respectable avenue of study. She accuses male bias in history and science and goes
as far as claiming the same bias in museum specimens since we often see the peculiar
features of the male displayed in such institutions! At the same time, she points
out amusingly that the term ‘mammals’ applied to a wide group of animals, is not
gender-neutral.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The book
is recommended.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0mm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Rating:
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-32436879415396007292023-07-24T06:02:00.002+05:302023-07-24T12:04:04.379+05:30The Song of the Cell<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimTqmTTgk1aQU1-4lcy-QozEsv4oUWXmwN8uivXjBAIdfkQGbhPa50CeKS8ccg-359Qn5f8rWKjCV0Bng1g1iOHm8S9z1jkOy5lg5dFuQVooixzEnWw41qlmjBUI98m8PRVDjsarp0KSwPpK_UjJWq_w_IVYaUP24mnQ9DydNpesnav4fhwptsoGA9bUih/s335/rsz_63275593.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimTqmTTgk1aQU1-4lcy-QozEsv4oUWXmwN8uivXjBAIdfkQGbhPa50CeKS8ccg-359Qn5f8rWKjCV0Bng1g1iOHm8S9z1jkOy5lg5dFuQVooixzEnWw41qlmjBUI98m8PRVDjsarp0KSwPpK_UjJWq_w_IVYaUP24mnQ9DydNpesnav4fhwptsoGA9bUih/s320/rsz_63275593.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: blue;">The
Song of the Cell – An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human</span></b>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Author: Siddhartha Mukherjee</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Publisher: Penguin Random House, 2022
(First)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISBN: 9780670092727</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pages: 473</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Efforts
to understand the fundamental building blocks that make up the complex whole of
living organisms was an exercise eagerly taken up by intellectuals in all
civilizations of the world. Many intelligent guesses were put forward which
could not be evaluated until the physical infrastructure for observing what is
happening at the smallest levels could be developed. The invention of telescopes
revolutionized astronomy and its counterpart – microscopes – opened up an
unknown world before the incredulous researchers. For the first time, they
began to discern an underlying uniformity in the composition of various organs
within an organism and even across organisms. Following many leads found by
experimenters, it was established that cells form the building blocks of life.
This book is a chronicle of the discovery that all organisms, including humans,
are composed of the basic units called cells and how these cooperative and
organized accumulations enable aggregate traits like immunity, sentience,
reproduction and cognition. It is also the story of what happens due to
dysfunction leading to death and the transformative medicines that are being
developed. Siddhartha Mukherjee's other books – the masterpiece ‘The Emperor of
All Maladies’ and ‘The Gene’ – were reviewed earlier here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Mukherjee
begins by a brief survey of the ancient theories that tried to explain how life
functioned. One such was vitalism which postulated a vital force that was
present in all living beings as essential for birth of life. Another related
idea was preformation. This speculated that microscopic shapes of adult animals
reside in sperms. After fertilization with an egg, this is then expanded in
size like a balloon surface does. However, cell theory demolished both these by
the 1850s. Mankind woke up to a new idea which proved that cells are the basic
building blocks of life. All our organs are made of cells that share many
similarities like a membrane wall, metabolism, waste processing, nucleus and portals
for entry and exit of chemicals. The instructions for creating new cells and
for synthesizing proteins are contained in the DNA stored inside the nucleus.
Even though the same genome is encoded in each cell, only parts of it are
enabled in each organ. The physiology of an organism is the result of chemical
reactions happening inside the cells. Likewise, the pathology of an organism is
the outcome of another set of reactions which do not contribute to the
well-being of the cell and the organism. This cellular targeting is the cause
of why medicines succeed in curing the individual. Every potent antibiotic
recognizes some molecular component of human cells that is different from a
bacterial cell. Penicillin killed the bacterial enzymes that synthesized its
cell wall, resulting in bacteria with ‘bullet holes’ in their cell membranes.
This helped only because the human cell wall was different from a bacteria’s.
But cancer cells share most of the features of normal cells and that’s why
destroying them is so difficult and normal tissue is also affected as
collateral damage in chemotherapy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Technology
has been able to probe deep into outer space and watch the formation and death
of star systems in distant galaxies where light itself takes several years to
reach. Considering the depth of information – at least, many viable hypotheses
– on astronomy, it is astonishing as well as slightly embarrassing that we know
very little about cells, on which our body and very life is totally dependent.
The author gives a summary of how they originated. The origin of eukaryotic
cells – those with a nucleus, like all animal cells – took place around two
billion years ago. This is said to be ‘a strange, inexplicable turn for
evolution’ (p.71) and also ‘an evolutionary mystery’. It has left only the
scarcest of fingerprints of its ancestry or lineage. This is thought to be a
black hole at the heart of biology. The growth of cells, by a process called
cell division, is also a complex and mysterious operation. It includes a least
understood phase called G2, where the division temporarily halts and checks for
major errors in DNA duplication that may lead to catastrophic mutations. In
such a case, it aborts the process but allows small mutations; otherwise there
won’t be any mechanism available for evolution to operate. ‘Black hole’,
‘mysterious’, ‘least understood’, ‘inexplicable’ are all terms that make the
opponents of evolution exuberant with joy. But wait, the working of the cell is
so complex that they are not even wrong! A serious and fruitful study on cells
developed only by mid-twentieth century and the field is still open for
revolutionary discoveries.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As
we read more and more of this book’s contents, we get more and more astonished
at the ingenious inner working of the cell. Such is the organization and
direction going on at the microscopic level! Frankly speaking, if somebody is
led to think that this entire set up must be the creation of a superior
intelligence of creator, they can’t be blamed outright. But as you delve
deeper, chinks begin to appear and what is most evident is behind the veil is imperfection
at every stage of the cellular process. Otherwise, we won’t die, won’t age or
even get sick. Perhaps, we may not even be born! The process of blood clotting
after a wound illustrates this in detail. Clotting is orchestrated by a special
protein called von Willebrand factor (vWf) which circulates in blood as well as
located under the cells that line blood vessels. Injury to the vessel caused by
the wound exposes the vWf protein. This prompts the other vWf to gather around
the injury. A cascade of changes is then launched which leads to the synthesis
of another protein called fibrin. This forms a mesh on which the platelets are
trapped which forms the clot and stops blood flowing out. So much is perfect
design, but the incompetence manifests itself later. As a person ages,
cholesterol-rich plaques are formed inside the blood vessels which hang on to
the walls of arteries and stick to heart’s valves. When such a plaque
accidentally ruptures or breaks, it is unfortunately sensed as a wound. The
cascade to heal wounds is then activated. Platelets rush to the site to heal
the wound and results in blockade and heart attack. This leads to the
conclusion that if life is thought to be the handiwork of a creator, he is
certainly intelligent, but not perfect. And this violates the first principle
of religion about omnipotence.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This
book examines each functional subunit of the human body and explains how it
functions at the cellular level. The heart, brain, kidney, liver, blood,
spleen, pancreas and neurons are handled in sufficient detail. I’m afraid some
of it may be a little too thick for readers uninitiated into serious biology
like me. However, these chapters are treasure chests of a lot of information
and learning. Most developments in cell biology are surprisingly modern. The
physiology of T-cells, an essential part of immunity, was identified only half
a century ago. The thymus gland which produced it was till then thought to be a
vestigial detritus of evolution with no useful function. How the immune system
distinguishes between the body’s own cells and foreign invaders is a miraculous
process. Mukherjee emphasizes this as it is highly relevant in cancer treatment
which is his specialization. The present state of cancer therapy is handicapped
by the immune system’s inability to distinguish cancer cells as something
hostile to the body’s well-being.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
subtitle of the book mentions ‘new human’ whose potentialities are at once
exciting and a bit terrifying. This involves genetic manipulation to alter the
destiny of humans before birth or when afflicted with disease. Early
experiments are now on to search for specific disease-causing genes at the
embryo stage and alter them to benign versions before implanting the embryo
into the uterus. Needless to say, this is still in its infancy and there’s lot
of scope for regulatory supervision. In some cases of cancer in grown up
persons, modifying the genome of specific immune cells or therapeutic agents to
zero in on the cancer cells and sparing healthy cells is technically feasible.
Another aspect of the new-human paradigm is the full scale development of stem cells
which is a special kind of cell which can be used to create any type of cell.
Normally, a skin cell produces another skin cell and a muscle cell creates a
muscle cell. However, a stem cell can be programmed to create any of these. The
book records a recent experiment in which a normal cell could be converted to a
stem cell. This will greatly assist in developing organs outside the body that
can then be used to replace defective ones inside. Mukherjee also stresses on
the dynamic equilibrium which pervades at the level of cells which is called
homeostasis. Cells die continuously and new ones take their place. Death is a
relative balance between forces of decay and rejuvenation. If you tip the
balance in one direction, you fall off the edge. Or in other words, the moment
you stop growing, you start dying.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book is divided into many parts dealing with fundamental aspects of cells like
origin, reproduction, anatomy and metabolism and then goes on to explain each
in some detail. Lot of footnotes is included which the author urges us to read
carefully. Mukherjee, himself of Indian ethnicity, freely uses Indian
philosophical, metaphysical and even mythological symbols to illustrate
abstract concepts happening at the level of cells. This is a welcome innovation
in books of this genre. This book introduces many advanced ideas which must be
well understood by the readers in order to follow the argument intelligently. It
must be confessed that this is a bit tedious and there are some pages on which
it feels like a text book than a volume of popular science. Still, it must not
be missed in one’s reading career. It is also suffused throughout with sublime
wonder at the intrinsic functioning of the cell which the readers readily
share. However, the illustrations are not at all attractive as many of them are
reproduced from the original papers which were intended for a scholarly
audience. This should be simplified and made arresting with good graphics in
future editions. The author and publisher must seriously consider this suggestion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book is highly recommended.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Rating:
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">4 Star</span></b></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-45007173963335430982023-07-15T19:17:00.001+05:302023-07-15T19:17:00.134+05:30Maulana Azad – A Life<p style="text-align: left;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwqZ2f8SNuRJFNsDGbDrFKO7pthtKgluMP9ZZtOgh06ixuBqeyy_TuKADT7r6S6l88UcGIMIqizkvNrCwogKHnm_QUjPr2XCkKkBoZuRVcw0E70PxNg9Zl3HIrUeG0oCiICfEE7-910sPfjiNvHc34NdeqdjPWojUFiy3HEuGfx6G12nSrdhwmrzN8gJu/s335/rsz_122871867.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwqZ2f8SNuRJFNsDGbDrFKO7pthtKgluMP9ZZtOgh06ixuBqeyy_TuKADT7r6S6l88UcGIMIqizkvNrCwogKHnm_QUjPr2XCkKkBoZuRVcw0E70PxNg9Zl3HIrUeG0oCiICfEE7-910sPfjiNvHc34NdeqdjPWojUFiy3HEuGfx6G12nSrdhwmrzN8gJu/s320/rsz_122871867.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: blue;">Maulana
Azad – A Life</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Author: S. Irfan Habib</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Publisher: Aleph Book Co, 2023
(First)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISBN: 9789393852182</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pages: 305</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">India
was partitioned in 1947 on the demand of the Muslim League to create a separate
homeland for the Muslims. Even though the League claimed sole representative
status of Muslims to itself, a section of the traditional and conservative
Muslims opposed the party and stood alongside the Congress and its leaders.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was the most prominent among them. He was a show boy of
the Congress and was made union minister for education and culture in the Nehru
cabinet. This was a little odd as Azad didn’t have any formal education and was
a self-taught scholar. He was an expert in Islamic thought with minute
knowledge of the Quran and other religious books of the Muslims. There are
several biographies on Azad and the idea of this book is to understand both
Azad’s Islam and his concept of India. It locates him in terms of the
theological, political and philosophical ideas put forward by him. All the more
importantly, it also tries to place the Maulana in the present context of Islam
as well as nationalism. This book’s author, S. Irfan Habib, is not to be
confused with the well-known Marxist historian of the same name belonging to
Aligarh Muslim University, even though I had taken this book under this
misunderstanding. This author is a historian of science and modern political
history. He was the Maulana Azad Chair at the National University of
Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Habib
briefly illustrates Maulana’s early life. In fact, this is the only part of the
book where reliance on the subject’s own words is minimal. In other areas, the
author recedes to the background and lets Azad speak for himself. Azad’s
ancestors came to India from central Asia in the Sultanate period as courtiers.
His father was ‘a learned man whose life was governed by Islam and its moral
code’ (p.4). He migrated to Arabia with family a few years before the 1857
rebellion. This was not unusual. Many Muslim families did the same anticipating
the end of Mughal rule and the subsequent decline in patronage. Azad was born
in Mecca to an Arab mother. The family returned to India and settled in Kolkata
when he was seven years old. Ultra-orthodoxy ran in the family for a very long
time. Sheikh Jamaluddin was his ancestor contemporary to Emperor Akbar. He
refused outright to declare Akbar the Imam i-Adl (the Just Leader) in 1579 due
to the emperor’s eclectic religious policy. He too migrated to Mecca claiming
the government of the day was with infidels.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Azad’s
father taught him by selecting teachers who followed his own strict version of
religious upbringing. Azad himself remarked that his father was so rigid and
that even the slightest departure was infidelity or hypocrisy in his view. This
led to the young boy rebelling against his father psychologically, if not
physically or by words. The author claims that Azad turned to rationalism,
inspired by the writings of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. This is rather odd. Sir Syed
Ahmed was an Islamist radical and his alleged connection to rationalism is a
little too farfetched. Later in life, Azad dissociated from this school. Habib
hints that Azad indulged in every malice when an opportunity presented itself
during his foreign trip to West Asia and Europe when he was only 20 years old.
The habits earned in this period include sexual, smoking and alcohol use. Azad
has remarked that Europe ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">squeezed out
all that could be got without leaving a drop of juice behind</i>’. While
leading a married life, he got into an affair with another lady in Mumbai.
After this short phase of licentiousness, he embarked on serious journalism and
edited the newspapers Al Hilal and Al Balagh. The authorities are reported to
have stifled them and put Azad under house arrest for objectionable content. The
author does not explain what the point of contention was. This is suspicious.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Habib makes a survey of Azad’s religious
belief which is full of contradictions and leaves much to be desired. The
reader may also suspect that the ambiguity was let in by design in order to
fabricate a façade presentable to the modern, secular world. Maulana Azad was
an Islamic scholar with an uncompromising faith in the Quran. He preferred
solitude and contemplation, but religion interspersed through all aspects of
his life. He abjured the influence of the ulema and relied more on the Quran
and Traditions. The author then remarks that his faith in them was close to the
Wahhabi/Salafi understanding of Islam. There is a brief primer on Wahhabism
here, but elsewhere he claims that Azad opposed it. Moreover, the author
accuses Wahhabism of having deformed Islam, but finds justification for
equating it to the Catholic Inquisition and witch hunts. Azad’s quest was to
promote an Islam which has space for critical thinking and is not committed to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">taqlid </i>(tradition). Here, he follows
Jamaluddin Afghani as an intellectual disciple. But Afghani was convinced that
Islam was the religion closest to science and knowledge among all religions.
Hence there is no need to reinterpret it to make it compatible with modern
science. This leads to the concept that critical thinking and rationality are
central to Islam! This is the second contradiction in the author’s argument.
Azad also believed that the evolution theory of Darwin agrees with the spirit
of the Quran (p.82). The author does not elaborate how. But over the centuries,
it lost this spirit and maulvis dominated with their utter ignorance. This book
masquerades pan-Islamism as anti-imperialism forgetting that Ottoman
imperialism was as evil as its European counterpart to its unfortunate victims.
Azad was also influenced by Mohammed Abduh of Egypt who called for a
progressive Islam, but considered the first community of Muslims – the prophet
and his followers (salaf) – as the role model.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We
see contradictions in the author’s narrative in almost all he did. Azad’s
translation of the Quran simultaneously invoked esoteric Sufi traditions as
well as the literalist and canonical textuality of the fiqh tradition. He is
categorical in placing the blame for the diversity of interpretations of the
Quran on the diverse believers who he said introduced fanciful standards of
their own making. Azad believed that the period of enquiry and research in
Islamic learning came to an end after four centuries of Hijra – tenth or
eleventh centuries CE. Thereafter, interpreters blindly followed the commentary
of a learned scholar. Habib remarks that Azad’s antipathy towards British
colonial occupation was ‘not confined to the fate of India alone’. This glib
comment really means that he was more concerned with the countries in which the
British had subdued Muslims rather than what happened to India. This was the
spirit behind the Khilafat agitation which had nothing to do with India. And we
can safely interpolate that the modern Indian Islamists’ obsession with the
freedom of Palestine is a kind of reincarnation of the Khilafat idea. Maulana
Azad wanted secularism in India where Muslims were in a minority but demanded
Islamic law wherever they are in a majority. His double standard was clearly
exposed in his claim that ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hindus can
revive their self-awareness by national consciousness on the basis of secular
nationalism, but it is not possible for Muslims who can seek inspiration for
self-awareness only from God and Islam</i>’ (p.123-4). But my greatest shock
was reserved for his contempt of idol worship which he thought evil and was ‘a
powerful obstacle in the way of a free search for God’ (p.110). With such a
blatant disregard for the fundamental feature of Hinduism, how could he expect
to coexist with them in a multicultural, secular society? And this man was the
central minister for education and culture in free India.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The question about Azad that naturally comes
to mind is not that why he had joined the Congress party, but rather why he did
not join the Muslim League. The book offers only a partial answer which also
comes from Islamic history. The League was formed by educated Muslims who
wanted a separate state as a temporary abode like Medina was for the prophet
who had to flee Mecca and wanted a foothold in preparing for the re-conquest of
his home town in a few years. Likewise, leaders like Jinnah and Iqbal wanted to
have Pakistan at first and later to conquer India as a whole. However, radical
and uneducated leaders were more concerned about the fate of Muslims who would
be left behind in Hindu India after Pakistan is separated. Their idea was to
remain in India and latch on to the demographic factor. Muslims had already
reached a quarter of the population and in a democratic set up with
indiscriminate universal franchise, a lobby of this size voting en masse is
quite capable of controlling or even usurping power, particularly if the other
side is divided. Leaders like Azad followed this line. Habib does not openly
say so, but this is plain reading between the lines. The Maulana saw himself as
a national leader from the 1920s and not just as a leader of Muslims only.
Though he had absolutely no popular following, he utilized his close proximity
to Gandhi and Nehru to reach the highest positions in the party and government.
Azad proposed composite nationalism as the ideal for India where Hindus and
Muslims should work in unity to fight the British. Early Islam was again
projected as the role model. The prophet allied with the Jewish tribes of Medina
and united them as one nation against the Quraysh of Mecca. Azad suggested a
similar arrangement for India. The author also stops here, lauding the idea.
This is nothing but heinous treachery, exploiting the Hindu masses’ ignorance
of Islamic history. You can make an Internet search and see for yourself what
was the fate of those three Jewish tribes who allied with the early Muslims
after the Prophet’s conquest of Mecca. The Banu Qaynuqa and Banu Nadir were
expelled from Medina and the Banu Quraysa was slaughtered in cold blood! Azad
was a great religious scholar who clearly knew what happened to the Jewish
allies but still had the brazenness to suggest it as a model for India.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Azad even opposed the Shuddhi movement of
Arya Samaj which was initiated to take back the forcibly converted people in
communal riots back to Hinduism. He thought it was ‘not in the national
interest’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book also makes a dedicated effort to paint Azad’s tenure in the Nehru cabinet
in a very positive light. Habib claims that the core of Azad’s education policy
mirrored the Quranic concept of striking a balance (p.213). He ‘democratized’
the education system with Quranic concepts. However, he did not have much to
tinker with in the education policy as Nehru continued to play a key role in
most of the policy formulations in educational and scientific matters. He
strove for emphasis on primary universal education, but Nehru focused on
covering lost ground and catch up with the world in industrial and scientific
development by concentrating on higher education. The book includes Azad’s
speeches made in meetings as a minister and marvels at the depth of his vision.
But these were definitely prepared by secretaries in line with the current
government policy. Azad also wanted to impart religious education in schools at
public expense.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This
book is an abject failure as a biography. Practically no personal information
is provided. We come to know that Azad was a married man when the author
informs us of his emotional distress on his wife’s death while he was lodged in
the Ahmed Nagar Fort prison during Quit India Movement. Did he have any
children? Again, the readers are in the dark. The author frequently shuttles
between the Nehru era and the present to lament at the perceived damages to
India caused by the Modi government. It even includes a criticism of the
Central Vista Project! But it fails to address a common criticism often
levelled against Azad by nationalists – that he invited the king of Afghanistan
to invade India and liberate her. Habib does not mention anything about this
point and looks very subdued while handling the Khilafat issue, leading one to
doubt on the sincerity of the narrative. The Ghubar i-Khatir is the only source
used by the author that directly comes from Azad. It was written around 1942
while in prison and includes a collection of letters and miscellaneous topics
except politics.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book is recommended.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br />
Rating: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">2 Star</span></b></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></p>
<p></p>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-59491000390636417252023-06-30T06:15:00.001+05:302023-06-30T09:16:44.755+05:30Heavy Metal<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaAh-zmmNcAZmVT4gvSdBr-3YDLUJcCgqZpPam75eQvffINR9FFOqNQuHM0Wh5I1Y7hNstFms8d45nN7pagYxygoNqRMbEfiZr90lnh1csxqeyQOPIZQ0E3WBRABidPK_F7Wpsh4QeyzX8IYaSVXnnsY3zUL4YRt5Z27KXNdbVbf9xUthYjXfpKaXn2t_Z/s335/rsz_178550073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaAh-zmmNcAZmVT4gvSdBr-3YDLUJcCgqZpPam75eQvffINR9FFOqNQuHM0Wh5I1Y7hNstFms8d45nN7pagYxygoNqRMbEfiZr90lnh1csxqeyQOPIZQ0E3WBRABidPK_F7Wpsh4QeyzX8IYaSVXnnsY3zUL4YRt5Z27KXNdbVbf9xUthYjXfpKaXn2t_Z/s320/rsz_178550073.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: blue;">Heavy
Metal – How A Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Author: Ameer Shahul</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Publisher: MacMillan, 2023 (First)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISBN: 9789390742660</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pages: 396</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Those
who have visited the small hill station of Kodaikanal would not fail to
appreciate its pristine beauty and the calm, misty mornings. This jewel of a
town is the favourite destination of thousands of tourists and a number of
older people wishing to stay there for an extended period of time to rest or
recuperate. The peace of this idyllic spot was shattered in 2001 when it was
revealed that a clinical thermometer manufacturing facility owned by the
multinational company Unilever was dumping glass waste containing traces of the
deadly metal mercury in the ground without any treatment and disposing it to
scrap dealers who reused it for various purposes, putting the town’s ecology
and the health of its inhabitants in jeopardy. A loud public outcry ensued and
the factory was immediately closed down. Demands to remedy the occurred damage
through painstaking soil correction procedures and provide compensation to the
workers and society in the vicinity of the factory dented the public image of
Unilever which was riding on the marketing pitch of an environmentally responsible
company. Militant environmental groups such as Greenpeace and local activists
fought against the company both in India and abroad, till finally Unilever
caved in and accepted every demand. This book is written by one such activist
who was in the forefront of the agitation against the company. Ameer Shahul is
a journalist-cum-activist focusing on green policies and intellectual property
rights.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One
important characteristic of the factory was that it was not a brand new one.
The cosmetics major Chesebrough–Pond’s had set up a thermometer plant in the US
and was operating it profitably till the late 1970s. Following the tightening
of environmental regulations in the US and the formation of the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), the corporation found it unable to provide for the
increased surveillance and control measures newly incorporated in the rule books.
It was also exactly the time India was reeling with the failure of its much
vaunted socialist model of industrial development and literally scouring the
West with the begging bowl of foreign investment. Tamil Nadu provided a very
suitable land at Kodaikanal for the thermometer factory. This was very
essential as mercury can vapourize at typical room temperatures in India and it
was desirable to find a location which is cooler than the plains. The factory
was set up and became operational in 1983 directly employing about 200 people.
There were ample safety measures in place at first, but they were slowly
relaxed one after the other in a matter of months. Even inexpensive protocols
like mandatory bath for workers handling mercury before they went home were
also abandoned. As part of corporate rearrangement, Unilever took over the
plant in 1988.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Shahul
claims that a veteran environmental activist named Navroz Mody, who had taken
up residence at Kodaikanal, accidentally stumbled upon glass waste at a scrap
dealer’s shop in 2001. Mody observed traces of a black liquid in them which he
deduced to be mercury. Environmental groups stung into action and about 5.3
tons of glass waste was found in the custody of the trader. A public protest
soon took place that accused the company of irresponsibly disposing
mercury-laden waste to traders and dumping it in remote areas. The very next
day, Unilever suspended operations at the factory, admitting the existence of ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a remote possibility that contaminated waste
may have left the factory due to a small human error</i>’. Statutory agencies
ordered closure of the works and the company had no stomach to fight as the
factory was not much profitable any way. Streamlining business and setting
focus only on the FMCG sector, Unilever withdrew from ancillary sectors like
agricultural feeds, specialty chemicals, nickel catalyst and also from
manufacturing thermometers in the mid-2010s. The factory never reopened.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Every
line in this book is specially tuned for propaganda against Unilever and
exaggerating the implications of mercury poisoning. Several anecdotes are given
in which many good knights in shining armour ‘accidentally’ arrive on the scene
and get shocked at the contamination caused by mercury. One such story is the
‘Pathar ke Phool’ ingredient in biryani which was studied by two scientists at
the National Centre for Compositional Characterization of Materials (NCCCM) at
Hyderabad. Out of ‘curiosity’, they subjected the material to tests on the
ultra-sophisticated cold-vapour atomic absorption spectrometer and got alarmed
at the high concentration of mercury in it. Pathar ke phool is lichen which
absorbs metals and minerals from its surroundings and deposits them in its
cells. It is a bio-monitor for measuring air quality. They then traced the
origin of the material to Kodaikanal and visited the site to access other
contaminated material. It is alleged that air samples taken from the factory
premises showed mercury levels 2640 times higher than normal.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
author observes that effectiveness of campaigns depends on the amount of media
coverage and the public interest it generates. True to this dictum, the
environmentalists tried every trick up their sleeve. Hindustan Unilever’s
annual general body meetings were routinely interrupted by activists posing
questions and sloganeering. The fight extended to all fronts – statutory
agencies, social pressure, judicial, legal and even political as the last
resort. Jairam Ramesh, who was a union minister at that time and was called
‘India’s Big Green Wrecking Machine’ by the Wall Street Journal for his
excessive activism, many a time intervened at the crucial moment in favour of
the activists turning government machinery against the company. They set up an
Indian People’s Tribunal (IPT) as a pseudo-judicial forum in 1993 to address
the issues of environment and human rights. Retired judges took part in it and
they ‘summoned’ company executives to depose before them which they refused to
do. However, the Pollution Control Board of Tamil Nadu actually attended this
stage-managed program. Activists also forced the company to send 290 tons of
mercury waste back to the US in 2003 for recycling. Finally, Unilever agreed to
pay compensation to workers even though the ill effects of mercury poisoning
could not be convincingly proved. However, the constant fight of company
officials with environmentalists took their toll in other ways as well.
Manvinder Singh Bagga, the CEO of Hindustan Unilever in 2000, suffered the
double fiasco of Kodaikanal and the failure to turn around another subsidiary.
This cost him the top job of Unilever at the international level in 2010.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Studies
suggest that mercury, even in low concentrations, can cause a spree of serious
medical disorders including cardiovascular, reproductive and developmental
problems. The US stopped the production of mercury in 1992. After that year,
the metal is only recovered from various end-use products and processes there.
However, mercury was, and is continued to be, used as a medicine in traditional
practices such as Ayurveda. Potions containing mercury were believed to heal a
host of ailments and its use was ubiquitous as a household cure. It remained
the drug of choice to treat sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis. ‘A
night with Venus leads to a life with Mercury’ was the moral one-liner elders
once gave to young men. It was used as ointment, in vapour baths and taken
orally. When the presence of mercury at even trace levels of a few ppm (parts
per million) is dangerous, what would be the repercussions of ingesting some of
the traditional medicines in which mercury is deliberately added as an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ingredient</i>? Even though the author
discusses about Tibetan medicine, he remains tightlipped on Ayurveda’s
connection to mercury.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book points to the serious health issues of ex-workers of the factory and the
illnesses among them and the local people were studied in detail. But these
were unable to draw conclusions to link the workers’ diseases to mercury
exposure. This difficulty is bypassed by dubbing the studies ‘poorly designed
and unsophisticated’. It also gives a glimpse of the militant and intimidating
tactics of environmental activist groups such as Greenpeace. We read about the
pollution control authorities of Tamil Nadu requesting Greenpeace to recommend
a consultant to advise it on the health impact of mercury pollution (p.268). The
result of such a study is not hard to guess. The author also maligns all
experts who differed in their opinion with the activists. The activists’
demands also appear to be endless. After the requirements of recycling the
waste and remediation of soil, the next demand was on assessing the risk to
ecosystem integrity and not limiting it to risk to human health.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Corporations
that pollute their surroundings must be taken to task. There is absolutely no going
back on this crucial requirement. Sometimes they spend some money on local
community development and through their CSR initiatives. The idea is to spend a
small sum on enhancing livelihoods, water conservation, waste management and on
health and well-being of communities around the factories and gain some peace
in return. Also, corporations usually fail to acknowledge their mistakes and
negligence when confronted with an ethical dilemma regarding human lives. These
are all valid concerns which any company should address and be accountable for.
However, they are the lifeline of the country’s economy and should not be
needlessly pestered with. The open attack by intransigent environmental
activists mostly funded by foreign NGOs must be reined in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This
book is a fine example of excellent diction and the entire topic is well
structured and planned sequentially in such a way that even peripheral
occurrences happen to fall line at the appropriate time. Scientific terms are
lucidly explained. The way this book is planned is a model for aspiring
authors. The mercury issue of Kodaikanal alone would not have justified the
size of the book and hence a lot of side issues are also included. One full
part of seven chapters is devoted to the origin and growth of Unilever and its Indian
operations. The history of Greenpeace is interspersed with the biography of all
leading characters. If you always keep in mind that this book is an expertly
crafted piece of propaganda, reading this would be enjoyable while keeping you
balanced in your outlook.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book is recommended.</span></div>
<p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">
Rating: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span></div>Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050040196448372137.post-39262328466697529932023-06-26T18:51:00.001+05:302023-06-26T18:51:00.150+05:30Cochin Saga<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG0aE00-EX-o6FAcYjAk8uNylNF9zV96Nx73TpDUaCDf0DYRYEpehkt7L2tZq9STFc-NXNF--Zfnz4DkQ1sMtB9MrXYxoa3yxXYe6Huw3TpCpc8d-uXs0b9G0WKdtpid3MzdTkLtv_yiUmyos_Ef5yuhAHfsPDaGUG0XzgfNpQylfajy7OETbbB8GAapPE/s335/rsz_123007500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="335" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG0aE00-EX-o6FAcYjAk8uNylNF9zV96Nx73TpDUaCDf0DYRYEpehkt7L2tZq9STFc-NXNF--Zfnz4DkQ1sMtB9MrXYxoa3yxXYe6Huw3TpCpc8d-uXs0b9G0WKdtpid3MzdTkLtv_yiUmyos_Ef5yuhAHfsPDaGUG0XzgfNpQylfajy7OETbbB8GAapPE/s320/rsz_123007500.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Title: <b><span style="color: blue;">Cochin
Saga</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Author: Robert Bristow</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Publisher: Bristow Memorial Society,
2015 (First published 1959)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ISBN: Nil</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pages: 292</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Kochi harbour and deep water port is the product of one man’s dream and
dedication. At a time when the development of the small natural harbour into a
modern port was discussed and put in jeopardy by vested interests and
competition from other plausible locations, Robert Bristow put his feet firmly
down and convinced the British authorities to approve and invest in his plans
for dredging the port to a depth which can receive vessels passing through the
Suez Canal that was thrown open to traffic just a half century before. This
book is his memoir that is divided into four parts – the history of Cochin till
the modern times, his personal efforts in developing the port, his domestic
life and miscellaneous writings which also include a crude review of Sri Aurobindo’s
philosophic treatise, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Life Divine</i>’.
The book’s opening line ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the history of a
civilization is written largely in the history of its ports’ </i>excellently
sums up the crucial role ports play in the growth of a society. As a harbour
engineer, Bristow had worked in the Admiralty in London. He spent the remainder
of his career in Kochi that spanned 21 years till 1941. The book also provides
a taste of the white bureaucrats’ outlook of Indian society and how they lived
their lives in the company of numerous native servants attending to the
minutest needs of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sahib</i>. This
book was long out of print and was republished in 2015 by the Bristow Memorial
Society in 2015.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Kochi
was a prominent natural harbour on the western coast of India right from the
arrival of the Portuguese. An underwater sandbar blocked the entry of large
vessels into the harbour and wharves were situated in the Fort Kochi –
Mattanchery area that was known as British Cochin in the nineteenth century.
Cargo was carried in small vessels from the shore to larger vessels waiting and
anchored in the outer sea. The idea to develop the place into a modern harbour
germinated with the arrival of Captain Castor for regulating shipping and boats
by the middle of the nineteenth century. The years 1859 and 1860 witnessed very
heavy monsoon rains that brought severe storms putting the shipping lines in
danger. One day, a report came that a certain vessel has anchored in calm water
while a furious storm was raging all around it. This was identified as due to
the existence of the Njarakkal mud bank and proved the concept that Kochi could
be transformed into a sheltered port. British entrepreneurs like J H Aspinwall
of the British Cochin Chamber of Commerce actively campaigned for it. Opening
of the Suez Canal in 1869 had the potential to place Kochi on the maritime map
as a coaling station for the Far East route.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In
the first part, referring to himself in the third person as a good historian
should, Bristow notes that ‘Early in 1920, an Admiralty harbour engineer, a Mr.
Robert Bristow, was transferred to Madras for harbour duties’ and goes on to
describe his activities. A rock-like sandbar guarded the entrance of the
harbour restricting vessels within a draft of only 8-9 feet. The author remembers
that dredging technology had not matured in the 1870s to cater to large steam
vessels. Any attempt to do the work before the year 1920 would have been
financially impracticable and disastrous. Bristow specifically commissioned a
dredger for this work and accumulated the sludge adjacent to the Vathuruthy
Island and reclaimed a large area from the waters for later use. The present
port installations are built on this reclaimed land. The dredging was an
engineering marvel too. The dredger was attached to a discharge pipeline of one
meter diameter, 1.2 km long and joined at 20 m intervals with universal ball
joints flexible in all directions, each length supported by two heavy
cylindrical pontoons connected with the next unit by heavy chains. The mud
slurry was moved through this pipe by powerful pumps and deposited in the
region identified for reclamation. The author also remarks amusingly that the
crew dredged up old cannon balls of Portuguese era and rice bags long buried
under the sea. Old coins from sea bottom were also deposited among the silt
that formed Willingdon Island. With the fall of Singapore in World War II,
Cochin became the stronghold of the Allies and resulted in the consequent
naval, military and air force developments.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Having
worked on the island which Bristow had somewhat magically raised from below the
waves, I have heard a lot of legends about him. A popular one states that after
constructing the bridge connecting the island to Ernakulam, a herd of elephants
was marched across the bridge to test its strength while Bristow and his wife
waited in a boat right under the bridge! Such heroics are, however, not
mentioned in the book. The author’s comments on the state of Kerala’s society
and its economy as he saw it attracts our attention. His narration of the
chores of a local Christian family on a Sunday morning paints the picture of a
sound economy and a pristine, homely culture which matched perfectly well with
the ecology of natural resources and climatic conditions. Transport crafts
called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vallums</i> were extremely well
adapted to low draft. It could be sailed or poled or rowed or even pushed in
shallow waters. Around 5 tons of cargo could be transported in it and was the
cheapest local transport from pre-historic times.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When
Bristow first arrived in Madras, the British were pursuing the possibilities of
building a port at Kochi, Tuticorin or a channel port at Rameswaram cutting
across the so called Ram Setu. After studying the water and shore data, Bristow
ruled out Rameswaram, but identified feasibility at the other two locations. Of
these, Bristow favoured Kochi, which was in the princely state of Cochin while
Tuticorin was under direct British rule. Strong pressure was exerted for that
eastern port on this count which was overcome by the endorsement of Lord Willingdon,
who was the governor of Madras, in Kochi’s favour. That’s why the reclaimed
island was named after him in gratitude. This book contains references to the
colossal red tape attached to the British administration which they normalized
with the self-righteous assertion that ‘you can’t rush the East’. Blatant
colonialism is evident in several of Bristow’s passages. To justify
colonialism, he states that ‘the moving force from first to last came from the
West; the little-changing peoples of the East allowed the West to find them
out’ (p.31). Directly attributing India’s progress to British rule, it is
argued that ‘every phase of invasion [of India] brought something useful for
the development of India. British occupation introduced a standard of probity
and justice never before known in India’ (p.62). But this advocacy of the
advantages of invasion and surrender runs contrary to what Winston Churchill
hammered into the heads of Britons in these words during World War II: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We shall fight on the beaches, we shall
fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender</i>”! Bristow’s concern
about the slow decision-making at the highest levels and the involvement of
non-technical bureaucrats is grave as his lament indicates: “once the hand of
the accountant is allowed to fetter local initiative and constructive
imagination, the end is only a matter of time”. In fact, he remarks this about
the collapse of the Dutch empire in India, but it is equally applicable to
similar organizations. It is also curious to read about British bureaucrats
getting upset about the Montagu reforms that granted more power to elected
bodies and Indians. One district collector worried that ‘those damned politicians’
would ruin them!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This
book is a chronological indicator of the growth of Cochin port from a meagre
roadstead on the spice trade in a small native Indian state. It also provides
glimpses of the interactions between native states and the commanding stake
enjoyed by their neighbouring British provinces. Bristow provides a
first-person narrative of the challenges paused by nature, society and power
centres in the making of the port. It also includes some old photos of the
development work. A drawback is that this book was written in 1959, after a
long eighteen years into retirement, and the author had to rely more on diaries
than fresh memories. This has evidently denied the readers some informative
anecdotes to enliven the reading experience. The portrayal of his domestic life
includes the handling of native servants in a very authoritarian manner. He
inflicted corporal punishment on them for misdemeanors and the Hindu servants had
to submit to preaching sermons by pastors looking for converts to Christianity.
The re-publishing of the book seems to have been in a hurry as there are lots
of errors including serious ones in printing. Proof reading from the old
document has not been fool proof. This book may be considered as a prequel to
‘Ormakalile Bristow’ (Bristow Remembered), a Malayalam book reviewed earlier
here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
book is highly recommended.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Rating:
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">3 Star</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div>
Sajithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07315714105670182041noreply@blogger.com0