Return of a King

Title: Return of a King – The Battle for Afghanistan 1839-1842

Author: William Dalrymple

Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2013 (First)

ISBN: 978-1-4088-1830-5

Pages: 502

Ever since I read The Last Mughal, Dalrymple has been one of my favourite authors. As the years passed, all of his other works came to me until I saw the announcement of his new volume, Return of a King somewhere around the beginning of the year. Eager anticipation ensued, finally reaching the crescendo of joy when I got hold of a copy in the library a week back. With this book, let me proudly say that I have read and reviewed ALL of Dalrymple’s titles! Alas, along with the joy comes the saddening realization that I will not be encountering one of his works for at least two years to come, as that much time is what he normally takes in researching and publishing a new work. When a new title appears at the end of a grueling wait, I am certain that the anticipation would not have been in vain.

Return of a King is an anecdote of Britain’s first Afghan War (1839-42) in an attempt to tame the wild and mountainous country and to re-establish Shah Shuja, the monarch who lived in exile in British India. Based on unsubstantiated conclusions taken from doubtful intelligence gathered from the field, Britain invaded the country to preempt the Russians from getting a hold with the ruler Dost Mohammad who was really an anglophile at heart. The Army of the Indus, as the British forces were called, managed to overrun the country after a long march through difficult mountain passes under the constant harassment from tribal snipers. Shah Shuja, who was weak and enjoying no support at home, was made the king again. The highhandedness and rush for political and economic reforms initiated by the invaders soon alienated them from the Afghan nobility which had had a strict code of honour. Shuja was soon lampooned as the stooge of infidels and the whole country rose against them. The weak British envoy and military commander in Kabul couldn’t offer a fitting response to the uprising in time and they suffered heavy casualties in the city, with the envoy and his deputy being brutally murdered by the insurgents. A ceasefire was soon agreed and the British were allowed to retreat back to their base in Peshawar at the height of winter in 1842. The retreating troops were followed by harsh nature and the determined Afghan soldiers bent on obliterating the invading force. In a matter of weeks, the entire army was wiped out by cold, diseases, hunger and the bullets and knives of the insurgents. Only one man limped back to the British base at Jalalabad to tell the story. Shuja himself was assassinated soon after though the losses were avenged to some extent by the Army of Retribution led by the British in 1842 which devastated most of the country they passed through and killing thousands. Dalrymple beautifully describes the epic fight and the circumstances which led to it.

Afghanistan always remained at the frontier of powerful neighbours and was never under a dominant central authority until it was established by Ahmed Shah Abdali who was in the service of Nadir Shah, but fled Persia soon after the Shah’s assassination, stealing the Koh-i-Noor, the world’s largest diamond. He established the Durrani dynasty which lasted only two generations. The Sadozai clan, of which the rulers belonged, came to blows against the Barakzai clan, who were the ministers. Shah Zaman, grand son of Abdali was captured and blinded in 1800 in factional struggle against his half-brother. Three years later, Shah Shuja ul-Mulk, the brother of the deposed king managed to stage a victorious battle to ascend the throne in Kabul. Shuja was reported to be a gentleman with refined tastes, but with a predilection to cut off the ears, noses and genitals of his trusted servants for even minor infractions. Shuja’s reign lasted only till 1809 when he was deposed by Barakzais at the Battle of Nimla. Shuja ran for his life and obtained asylum at Ludhiana, even though he had to part with the Koh-i-Noor to Raja Ranjit Singh in the meanwhile. He planned and organized several abortive military strikes against the Kabul regime under his rival, the Barakzai Dost Mohammad.

Meanwhile, another story was being enacted in Europe. Napoleon’s meteoric rise and fall pointed to the importance of Afghanistan to Britain. The French emperor wanted to prise India away from England, thus weakening it. To this end, he made alliances with Persia and Russia. But his fall put paid to French ambitions until Britain found another threat looming on its northern horizon in the 1830s – Russia. St. Petersburg opened negotiations with Persia and Dost Mohammad Khan. If the Russians could ensure their military presence in Afghanistan, they could invade India when they wished. But England was in alliance with the enemies of Dost Mohammad, namely Shah Shuja and Ranjit Singh, so it had to overrule the entreaties of its most capable agent, Alexander Burnes who was dispatched to Kabul and was clamouring for an arrangement with the Barakzai ruler as against the weak Sadozai king-in-exile living in Punjab. Diplomatic hassles prevented Burnes from exerting a direct influence on Lord Auckland, the Governor General. The Persian army began skirmishing around Herat around this time with Russian support and the country was expected to fall to them and the Barakzais.

The two pronged attack on Kabul was marked more by hardships the army encountered along the way rather than due to any resistance. Kandahar fell without firing a single shot and Ghazni fell like a plum after a brief fight. When the wind seemed to be on British favour, the treacherous chieftains rebelled against their master, Dost Mohammad who had to flee to Bukhara where he was imprisoned. Shah Shuja ascended the throne, but Macnaghten, the governor general’s secretary and envoy to Kabul, was the real power. This charade could not be continued further as the people saw how weak their sovereign was. Dost Mohammad escaped meanwhile from Bukhara and surrendered to the British who promptly parcelled him to exile in Ludhiana where Shuja lived earlier. The large number of British troops in the capital was creating more havoc in the social milieu as many noble Kabuli women turned to the flesh trade for easy money. Matters came to a head when Alexander Burnes seduced the mistress of an Afghan noble who was insulted and maltreated when he tried to retrieve her.

In November 1841, the British found to their dismay, the extent of the hatred they had amassed in people’s minds when the whole country erupted against them with cries of jihad (holy war). Poor planning in setting up cantonment, indecision regarding the timely deployment of troops to quell violence and general complacency ensured totality of British rout. Burnes and Macnaghten were killed, decapitated and the mutilated remains strewn over the streets. British men, women and Indian sepoys were captured and enslaved with many women ending up in local harems. At the turn of the new year, in January 1842, the British were finally allowed to withdraw from Kabul with whatever they had after paying a huge ransom to their assaulter. Little did they suspect that they were walking into a trap set by Akbar Khan who informed nearby tribal chiefs about the party’s arrival. The cold and snow of the winter of 1842 was especially harsh that compounded the miseries of the soldiers and their camp followers who had no woolens, not much food, arms and ammunition. The Afghan assailants treated them for weapon practice and mowed them down to a single man. An estimated 12,000 people perished in the mountain passes. The British mounted an Army of Retribution to avenge their miserable failure. This army more than extracted vengeance on the city of Kabul and wherever they went. The violence was nauseating, but suffice to say that whatever the Afghans gave to the British, they were paid back with compound interest. The English however found it prudent to leave the country to its fate and recalled Dost Mohammad to hand over reins to him.

The book neatly depicts the characters of tribal leaders of Afghanistan who are thoroughly independent in outlook so that the central leadership had to resort to monetary and other placatory tactics to enlist their support. Though very brave in battlefield, they are prepared to stoop to any depth of moral degeneration if it suited their purpose for the time being. All of them were treacherous – though the author paints them in a more chivalrous attire – as evidenced by tales of murder of their own mates in garden parties who were invited for the very purpose of eliminating them. Dalrymple has used many Afghan sources which have not seen the light of day in English in the research for this book that ensures a balanced view of the debate. As is characteristic of the author, he lives history through his characters who possess enough bone and marrow to bewitch the reader’s attention. His analysis is sharp, narration so mesmerising and selection of subjects so appealing and delightful. However, the description of the besieged British army in Kabul seemed to be so lengthy and full of details of military strategy as to be a bit disconcerting. The author’s insightful comparisons to the NATO occupation of modern Afghanistan is very striking and military strategists must pay some heed to them.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star

Istanbul

Title: Istanbul – Memories and the City

Author: Orhan Pamuk

Publisher: Faber & Faber 2006 (First published: 2005)

ISBN: 978-0-571-21833-2

Pages: 333

Turkey’s greatest living novelist and Nobel Laureate in Literature 2006, Orhan Pamuk reminisces about his life from childhood to the moment when he decided to become a writer. Pamuk always lived in Istanbul and the permanence blends effortlessly to the life of the city as well, from its beginnings around the fourth century CE. The destiny of the people and the city is portrayed so commingled that it imparts a sense of melancholy, called huzun in Turkish, in its residents. The narrative of the writer’s childhood and adolescence is set in a stage of urban decadence which permeates Istanbul’s streets. The city went through very difficult times immediately after the end of World War I when the Ottoman empire was overthrown by the republic which embarked on a westernization drive not seen anywhere else in the world. People’s attire, artistic tastes and even the script in which Turkish was written was latinized by Ataturk who put Turkey firmly on the road to modernity. He transferred the capital from Istanbul to Ankara and the old city struggled hard to recover from the double blow of the fall of its aristocracy and loss of power. In a desperate bid to vie for a place in modern Europe’s contours, we read about the struggle the metropolis witnessed among its inhabitants between the old and the new. We also learn about the Bosphorus Strait which girdles the city and provides a backdrop for the thoughts and musings of Istanbullus in their wakeful moments.

Pamuk was born, brought up and is still living in Istanbul. He describes the joys and hidden nuances of living in an extended family as a child which he shared with the others in a 5-storey apartment all for themselves. Coming across dilapidated palaces and burnt down relics of the Ottoman Empire at every corner and wondering at the ephemeralness of a great empire was a day to day experience for the author on the cobbled stone pathways of the historic city. But quite unlike what the proverb says, familiarity does not beget contempt in the author’s mind. He demonstrates a dignified aloofness with lot of respect for the city’s past, and vividly narrates in poetic detail the childhood memories he possess. We get a first hand glimpse of the impressionability of young minds while reading that Pamuk still possess traces of his aversion to objects which terrified him as a child.

Pamuk captures the spirit of huzun, which permeates the city as well as its people. However, the term is not used in a disparaging sense, but rather as a thing to be proud of. This aspect of the city was first identified by Romantic painters in mid-1800s. This emotion permeates social life, arts and even Turkish cinema which was at that time the world’s second largest film industry after India’s. Turkish writers, most notably Yahya Kemal and Tanpinar who are also the author’s idols carried forward the spirit of melancholy in their literary offerings. This obsession with melancholy permeates other great writers as well, as the author quotes Ahmet Rasim on the facia as “the beauty of a landscape resides in its melancholy”.

The book is adorned with a lot of photographs mostly taken by Ara Guler, which add a visual depth, or another dimension to the narrative. It portrays in a wistful canvas what the text attempts to do in description. The publishers should seriously consider including a pronunciation guide to Turkish names – of people and places. Ever since Ataturk changed the script, Turkey has developed a well thought out logic in representing the sounds with a tick above or a curve below, a letter. Without it, the readers feel like encountering the waiter in a French restaurant with the menu card. A glossary is also a good idea for a book of this sort. The author’s style is remarkable for its candidness which is of prime consideration in autobiographical sketches. Pamuk stops at his adolescence, with ample scope for another volume detailing his later life which was fruitful and reputable the world over.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Whose Bible Is It?

Title: Whose Bible Is It ? – A Short History of the Scriptures

Author: Jaroslav Pelikan

Publisher: Penguin, 2005 (First)

ISBN: 0-1430-3677-7

Pages: 251

No other book has exerted a greater influence on the actions of humanity over the ages than the Bible. Millions cherished it, followed it to the letter, practiced what it preached, died and killed for it. Though everyone would accept that it is the sacred book of Christians, we also find many portions of the collection of books which goes by the name of Bible are sacred to Judaism and Islam as well. It is this affiliation offered by these varied sects that have obtained the sobriquet, People of the Book, to them. This work is a fine effort to explain the origins of Bible, its growth, splits, compilations, the story of its spreading across the world and newer interpretations of it which continue to be of relevance to a great many people. Pelikan is amply fit for the task, as he is the Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University and is the author of many books, including the five-volume The Christian Tradition – A History of the Development of Doctrine. He has received many professional acclaims, counting also an honorary degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America to a total of more than forty honorary degrees. It is no wonder why such a book crossing the boundary of everyday religion should invariably come from a man who is a bridge between religions.

The book begins with an excellent review of how the books of the Bible came to be assembled as the canon or scripture. The history of the Scriptures is handled in fine, professional manner which is appealing to all classes of readers since it contains enough respect for the faithful and enough objectivity for the skeptic. The stories, or events, depending on which way you look at it, described in the Old Testament were handed down through generations by word of mouth. It came to be codified by the first or second centuries BCE. The Old Testament (also called Tanakh) is divided into three parts – the Torah which is the most sacred, consisting of the first five books and forms a canon within the canon, the Nevi’im, which is the deeds and teachings of the prophets of Israel, and the Kethuvim, the writings which were incorporated into the canon at a later date. Scholars differ on the date on which the book was assembled from its constituent parts, as the Greek word biblia means ‘little books’. Pelikan gives a surprisingly later date for the compilation of Old Testament as 90 or 100 CE, but with solid evidence to back the claim. This date is later than the making of some of the books of New Testament. But the author asserts that the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE and the rise of the Christian movement had goaded the Jewish rabbis to set their scriptures in a permanent way through a synagogue held at Jamnia.

Alexandria in Egypt was a great centre of cosmopolitan learning and commerce in the early centuries of common era. Lot of Jews lived there and thrived. Many of them lost contact with their mother tongue, Hebrew, in which the Old Testament is written. Partly to provide inspiration to this new generation and partly to spread the message among gentiles, the Bible was translated into Greek. Legends says that six scribes each from the twelve tribes of Israel were employed for the work, bringing the total to 72. Hence the Greek Bible came to be called Septuagint. In fact, the Christians made most use of this book, to carry on their own liturgical process at which the Jews were deliberately kept apart. The New Testament, written originally in Greek, was a logical sequence to the Septuagint.

A skeletal form of the New Testament was in use by 150 CE but there was no uniformity in the sequence or selection of books. It was written in Greek as Paul preached his ministry in Asia Minor, Greece and only later was attracted to Rome. Scholars like Athanasius of Caesaria and Jerome was successful in compiling the books of the New Testament in a canonical form by the end of the 4^th century. It may astonish us to learn that the books of the Old Testament was finalized and legitimized only a millennium later, at the Council of Trent in 1546. The rising power of Rome and its official language, Latin, was instrumental in bringing about a Latin translation of the Bible, known as vulgate, meaning vernacular. However, the Jews had seen the danger of translating their holy books by now, as the Septuagint, which was a Greek translation was expropriated by Christians. Therefore, the Jewish texts were not translated to Latin with ecclesiastical sanction.

The next big development came with the advent of printing. Gutenberg first published the Bible in 1454-55 in Latin. Revised editions soon appeared everywhere. Desiderius Erasmus’ work in 1505 came out with Greek and Latin authorized versions. The Protestant Reformation spearheaded by Martin Luther and Calvin sought to accord sanction only to the original text in Hebrew or Greek as they mounted a campaign of going back to the Originals. Primacy of place for reverence moved to the Book instead of idols as in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. A subtle shift in learning of Hebrew and Greek was seen in Reformation clergy. This importance granted to Bible text resulted in a number of interpretations to it and consequent schisms. Bible was translated to several vernaculars in Europe by 16^th century, with the German translation by Martin Luther himself. The authorized King James version in English appeared in 1611.

The last two centuries saw phenomenal growth both in the number of copies and number of translations of the Bible. There is virtually no language, nor library on earth in which a copy of the Tanakh or New Testament is not available. However, the last century also witnessed the Holocaust, where Jews who share the Scriptures with Christians were singled out and killed in large numbers for the religious belief they possessed. In the end, all comes to the interpretation and reinterpretations of the books of the Bible which are giving new meanings and aptness to our everyday lives, as the author sums it up.

The book could have done better with an index on account of the lots of esoteric terms and ideas discussed. In its present form, it is very difficult to look up a word later. The language is scholarly, which means there is ample scope for simplification. Long sentences, reaching up to half a page can be seen. This is definitely not a disadvantage, as fine diction is the aspiration of any writer.

The book makes itself endearing to the readers on account of the fine thread of humour intricately woven into the structure of the narrative. It is no mean feat to be humorous while dealing with such a sensitive issue as Scriptures.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

About Time

Title: About Time

Author: Adam Frank

Publisher: OneWorld, 2012 (First)

ISBN: 978-1-85168-909-5

Pages: 337

First of all I need to say that this book is a bit tough. Books in the popular science genre should not be so difficult to grasp, otherwise people may find it easier to go after Nature or Science, the reputed scientific journals. Frank talks about time and its meaning to the society and to cosmology, the study of the universe. The weight of learned opinion now tilts to the notion that time itself began with the big bang in which the universe originated. This preempts any attempt to ask questions like what went before the bang. What the author asserts is that cosmic time and society’s concept of time are glued together and modified according to improving standards of material engagement. For example, an individual who lived in pre-historic times may find it meaningless and confusing to learn that an event is scheduled to begin at 10.23 am. The methods of time reckoning familiar to his society was based on the movement of the sun and a resolution of a few hours was enough to run the society in good order, but not now. Modern society engages vastly superior elements in time reckoning that a resolution of even seconds may appear to be too long, in some circumstances. The book gives a history of the progress in the idea of time over the ages and also a good description of the theories governing the origin and development of the universe.

All human societies, irrespective of the state of cultural progress they were in, had means of time reckoning that was amply suitable for their purposes. Though it may seem crude to us today, the contemporaries of such primitive methods didn’t feel constrained by any inadequacy of the device. Hunter-gatherers had a measure of time that encompassed the day and the seasons. When neolithic farming and agrarian societies entered the picture, accurate reading of the season in which farming activities like seeding and manuring were performed became very important. Curious it may seem, but these people had an idea of how the universe began and allusions to such immense events are still represented by the myths that had been passed on to modern times. By the time of classical Greece, rationalism made its first halting step into learned discourse. Hellenistic thinkers repudiated the need to invoke divinity into everyday life. Development of calendars to reckon time had its beginning in Mesopotamia where accurate measurements of celestial trajectories of planets was woven into the practice of religion itself. The first systematic attempt to bring out a unified calendar took place in 46 BCE when Julius Caesar modified the existing mechanism to make Julian calendar which forms the basis of the calendar we still use.

Society’s needs for accurate time keeping depends on its material engagement. Frank lucidly explains the development of clocks around 1300s that divided the day into equal parts. The original inventor of mechanical clocks is unknown, but its spread like wildfire ever since its first appearance in 1307 at Orvieto, Italy. Clock work was perfected in a few centuries. Harrison’s naval chronometer set standards in fixing the longitude coordinates at sea. As clocks proliferated, the need to set standards of time between cities became a burning issue. It was pure chaos before 1883 when the railway mediated effort succeeded in proclaiming time zones whereby cities falling within a 15 degree stretch of longitude had a common time. Imagine the trouble when each city had a unique time while the railway had another!

The 20^th century saw the marriage of space and time into a single entity and physics finally began to move away from common sense. Einstein’s theory of general relativity established conclusively that space and time does not stand out independently as Newton had thought and that they are merged in an integrated artefact, called spacetime. Likened often to a stretched rubber sheet, the surface of spacetime gets curved due to the presence of matter or energy which causes gravitation. Thus, instead of recognizing gravity as a force, Einstein showed it as only a quirk emerging out of the curvature of spacetime. Development of electronics and computers made the dependence of society more abstract through the ubiquitous silicon devices. Even though the modern communication devices free us from the fetters of space, we are more and more tied up to electronic time set by the schedulers and calendars of the devices.

The book presents a comprehensive discussion on the theories that purported to describe the universe and its origins. From steady state theory in which it was believed that the universe existed at all times, the Big Bang theory gained prominence as it could successfully explain some of the observed facts like cosmic microwave background radiation which other theories couldn’t. Coupled with the developments in particle physics, cosmology entered a new phase in the 1990s. The observation that the universe is expanding more rapidly threw an unexpected road block on big bang theory’s path. Eternal inflation came up as a way of accounting for this effect, but it threw up several problems in its wake on the quantum level. Concept of multiple universes or multiverse which postulates the simultaneous existence of several universes in which ours is only one. Though it may appear far fetched, it helps to explain away the problem of the existence of about 20 constants in the standard model of particle physics which seem to be finetuned for the existence of life. If multiple universes exist, we can always claim that we happen to be in one which is optimized for us! However, these are only hypotheses and have no basis on observation. It is doubtful that such concepts could ever be verified by experiment or observation. We must note here that one of the basic requirements of a scientific theory is that it should be falsifiable by tests.

Frank is a professor of astrophysics and his arguments on history and culture are borrowed from other authors. Readers are forced to note the very small number of authors he has relied on. Such references are thematic and excessive reliance on other sources make the reading a bit tedious and purposeless. Readability of the book waxes and wanes over the chapters. I’m sure the somewhat dull stuff with which he begins the book must have caused a sizeable loss of readers. However, the diction improves by simplifying as one moves on and even becomes enjoyable at some points in the middle.

The discussion on cosmological models is very comprehensive, but not original – not in the sense that it is plagiarized. The theories could be gleaned from any popular science book which is far more readable than this one. Throughout the book, the author maintain that cosmic time and cultural time are somehow braided together, but not amount of nitpicking has been effective enough to establish it conclusively. Arguments are numerous, but not convincing enough!

The book is recommended only for serious readers.

Rating: 2 Star

In Xanadu

 Title: In Xanadu – A Quest

Author: William Dalrymple

Publisher: Penguin, 2004 (First published 1990)

ISBN: 978-0-143-03107-9

Pages: 302

Dalrymple is always welcome for an Indian reader. Most of his books are on Indian topics or very much related to its ethos in a subtle way. In fact, he enjoys a rather high level of tolerance from desi readers as against many western authors when they go on a critical assessment of the experiences they had had in this country. Dalrymple do present many of his experiences in a not too flattering light, but the recounting will be in such a caressing way that not even overly sensitive people get offended by it, as they can clearly see the love and affection the author possesses towards this ancient nation. However, the present book is the very first one from the author’s able hands and depicts his journey across the breadth of Asia, retracing the footsteps of the 13^th century Venetian merchant, Marco Polo from Syria on the west to Xanadu (Shang-tu) in the east of China. The journey covers 19000 km mostly across deserts and arid zones of Central Asia amidst a string of neighbouring countries hostile to each other or actually at war. Polo had undertaken the trip obliging a request from Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, who established Mongol rule over most of Asia. Kublai Khan requested religious philosophers from the Pope and in a bid to proselytize the emperor, Polo obtained a sample of oil from the lamps glowing in the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem so as to present it as a relic. Even this little detail was noted and copied by the author before beginning his own version of the epic travel.

Polo began the trip in 1271 with the oil sample and Dalrymple illuminatingly point out the profane activities and inter-church rivalries between various congregations which are allowed to offer services at the Holy Sepulchre. He notes with amusement at the irreverence of the young prefect entrusted with topping up of oil in the ever-glowing lamps from which he managed to obtain a small quantity. He declares that there is nothing magical in the oil, that it is ordinary sunflower oil and passes some lasciviously oblique comments about the author’s lady companion, even while inside one of the holiest shrines of Christianity. This is also one of the factors which led the author to claim that for 2000 years, Jerusalem has brought out the least attractive qualities in every race that has lived there. The holy city has had more atrocities committed in it than any other town in the world (p.18). These remarks apply equally well to any holy city of any religion.

Polo traveled from Jerusalem to Syria on his onward journey, but that is unthinkable in today’s Middle East. If Israeli visa is stamped on the passport, Syria and Iran will not let you through. So the author and his friend went back to Cyprus and boarded a ferry to Syria. He describes with a high sense of humour his travels along pot-holed roads of Turkey and marvels at the civilizational progress it had obtained in the middle ages. The Shifaiye Medresse was built in 1217 as a medical school and there was nothing remotely comparable in Europe at this time, even the outstanding Italian medical school at Salerno. European architecture, or many facets of it, like the pointed arch which is a key feature of Gothic style is derived from Islamic architecture.

Traveling in 1986, while the Iran – Iraq war was raging and amidst a xenophobic Persian mindset nourished by the revolutionary mullahs, journey through Iran proved irksome to the author. Professing strict adherence to medieval dogmas and codes of practice, both him and his girlfriend found Iran to be rigid, playing mullah’s speeches in public transport systems and irksome for women. It is however, to be noted that the people were as friendly as any other and helpful, though the author finds them to be possessing a tinge of effeminacy (p.162). Polo’s route turned to Afghanistan from there, but it was inaccessible to Western tourists because of the Soviet occupation of the country and the vast minefields they had set up on the border regions. Instead, they traveled through Pakistan towards north to catch up with the ancient caravan route.

The traveling party was put to great trouble by the intricate rules of Chinese bureaucracy. Most of the route through which they traveled was strictly off limits for foreigners in 1986. Local police harassed them and arrested them on more than one occasion. Dalrymple humorously narrates how they managed to hoodwink the not-so-alert policemen and continued their travel by hitch hiking, too afraid to use public transport. Such foolhardy acts of defiance was bound to end up in long prison sentences in undemocratic countries like China, but the author and his readers were fortunate enough to survive to tell and hear the story. China seems to be justified in taking such precautions as the route coincided with one of China’s nuclear testing sites and the author claims to have observed people suffering from harmful effects of radiation. The veracity of the claim could not be proved however. The team experienced their greatest despair when they were again arrested near Shang-tu (Xanadu, in Coleridge’s poem) – their final destination. Having come 19000 kilometers, only to be arrested and deported just 8 km from the ruins of Kublai Khan’s medieval palace was heartbreaking. The police took pity on them and transported them to the ruins in their own vehicle, but didn’t allow to photograph the place. Dalrymple managed to pour the oil he’d collected from Jerusalem over the ground where the Great Khan’s throne was supposed to stand.

The author gives a little too much attention to finer details of architecture whenever he is near a dilapidated structure, whether it is a disused mosque, damaged Medresse or a caravanserai. He is quite adept on the nuances of architecture and delights in presenting the similarities and contrasts between various schools of architecture, which is not so close to the hearts of readers.

Dalrymple is so adroit in delightful depictions of travel experiences, and his narration of travel in China in 1986, the year in which he actually traveled there, is quite revealing by comparison with today’s realities. Beijing was still a city of bicycles when they reached there and its transformation to a bustling metropolis is mind boggling. Perhaps if the author would care to retrace the entire journey and note the changes alone, that itself would prove to be another classic in travel writing. The book contain a set of monochrome plates of sights on the way and is graced with a good glossary.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star

The Weight of a Mustard Seed

Title: The Weight of a Mustard Seed

Author: Wendell Steavenson

Publisher: Atlantic Books, 2009 (First)

ISBN: 978-1-84354-305-3

Pages: 302          

A good work that narrates the ravages of Iraq first under the cruel tyrant Saddam Hussein and later serving as the battleground for rival militias to settle their internecine scores. Wendell Steavenson has worked for Time and written for a variety of publications. She lives in Paris and is the author of the acclaimed title, Stories I Stole. In an insightful illustration of Iraq’s disastrous slide towards autocracy and then anarchy, first under a tyrant who deserves no better epithet than a brutal tribal warlord and then under a foreign government which foolishly thought that their own brand of democracy could be implanted everywhere else with ease. The book recounts the life of Kamel Sachet, a General in Iraqi army, then the governor of one of its provinces, a deeply religious man who had built three mosques in Baghdad out of his own income and later a victim of Saddam’s mindless purge. The author has brilliantly caught and exhibited the spirit of an age in which Iraq declined on all parameters of civilized society.

Iraq is an unlucky nation, if I may pass a judgement. It is rich in history and heritage. The cradle of civilization was not confined to Egypt alone, it extended up to the shores of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Home to some of the world’s oldest civilizations, it led humanity on the path towards Rule of Law. Hammurabi’s Code was a pioneering effort to establish a set of rules on which a society could be governed. It offered a conceptually fresh alternative to despotism. Also, the country holds vast deposits of oil, enough to catapult the Arab nation to one of the richest ones in the world. But, just look at its present state! Contrary to its glowing heritage, it was always under oppressive dictators who ruled roughshod over the society. Having no need to keep up even a semblance of accountability to the silent public, those tyrants locked the country in ridiculous wars from which it suffered terribly. International sanctions and terrorist bombings had put a question mark on the marketability of its oil resources.

The Baath party assumed power in 1968 after several coups and struggles had thrown out its weak monarch in 1958. Saddam Hussein emerged as the strong man of Baath party and assumed presidency in 1979. In a very brief time, he cast his dark shadow of autocracy on every division of governance. Though written as a loose biography of Kamel Sachet, the book effectively portrays a cross-sectional view of Iraqi society in those troubled times. Eager for power and glory – the deadly combination which had hastened the end of many a monarch – Saddam attacked Iran, hoping to cash in on the state of confusion after the Shiite Islamic Revolution of Khomeini and the ill will it generated in the western world, owing to the infamous hostage crisis. Iraq could manage some wins in the initial stages, but a determined Iranian society fought back and inflicted heavy losses on the Iraqi side. A desperate Saddam sued for peace after eight years of futile war which went on in a bloody stalemate. The economic repercussions were immense. Saddam had prosecuted the war with handsome bailouts from Kuwait, which demanded the money back since the war was over. A slump in oil prices meant Iraq couldn’t repay. Blind with irritation at the haughtiness of a country which most Iraqis deemed to be one of their provinces, Saddam invaded in August 1990, which later proved to be his undoing. Coalition forces led by U.S. wiped them off from Kuwait and Iraq was put under crippling sanctions till 2003. Saddam’s Air force was not even allowed to fly over most of the country’s airspace. In 2003, U.S. provided the coup de grace in a ground attack which captured Baghdad. Saddam was caught hiding in an underground hole and hanged after due judicial process. Iraq slipped into civil war as warlords and militias, long held in the iron fist of Saddam stepped in to fill the vacuum.

Kamel Sachet, the General whose life story is drawn in the narrative, rose from humble backgrounds but went on to assume some of the highest positions in the Saddam regime. He was obedient to authority, loyal and deeply religious. He fought valiantly in all the Saddam wars and assumed governorship of Amara province after the Gulf War. But efficiency and loyalty were not enough to survive under Saddam Hussein. He demanded and usually obtained unflinching slavery from his followers. He would arrest some of them on quite flimsy charges, lock them up, torture them and subject them to prison sentences. At the end of the term for short sentences or in the middle of it if it was long, he would pardon them and reinstate or promote them to new positions. The officers then would remain steadfastly loyal to the dictator. Sachet also had to undergo such deprivations, but he assumed some kind of autonomy after the Kuwait debacle when Saddam’s authority was seriously challenged. Saddam had him shot at Abu Ghraib prison in 1998.

Steavenson portrays in realistic tones the state of fear and distrust which permeated Iraqi society under Saddam’s rule. Even their private talk was self-censored since the agents of the secret police were everywhere. The author has depicted a true portrait of Iraq during and after Saddam. We need not look any further to see why the toppling of Saddam failed to produce a durable government in Baghdad. The Iraqis are too divided on tribal and religious lines and propped up by a strict code of honour that demands revenge for even the slightest transgression – whether actual or perceived – that when the master who lorded over even their thoughts was gone, the numerous groups and warlords took the country in their own hands. The failure of Americans to fully grasp the basic nature of an Arab society had also helped create the mayhem.

The title of the book is truly an eye-catcher. It is inspired from a Koranic verse which describes the impartiality of verdict on the final day of judgement. Justice is said to be delivered without the bias of even the weight of a mustard seed. The author, banking on her wide ranging connections of friends and acquaintances has widely traveled in the region and conducted interviews with so many people that the book is really a true mirror of Iraq under Saddam and immediately after his end.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

The Last Secrets of the Silk Road

Title: The Last Secrets of the Silk Road

Author: Alexandra Tolstoy

Publisher: Profile Books, 2004 (First published 2003)

ISBN: 1-86197-379-9

Pages: 210

Alexandra Tolstoy is a relative of the world famous author Leo Tolstoy. She had studied Russian in England and spent a decade working, riding and traveling in Russia and Central Asia. She specializes in riding tours around Uzbekistan and the present book is her reminiscences of an epic journey with three of her friends. The all-girl team took to the ancient Silk Road running from Merv in Turkmenistan to Xian in China, over a distance of 8000 km and in eight months’ time. To relive old times, the team traveled the entire distance on foot, horse and camel copying the legendary travels of ancient times, like those of Marco Polo and Hsuen Tsang. The brave and sturdy group conquered three great deserts, the Kara Kum, Taklamakan and Gobi during their eight-month trip carried out in 1999. Though assisted by a backup crew following in trucks and well connected by a satellite telephone, the journey of epic proportions is indeed a truly remarkable act of courage, dedication and determination. The trek went through four countries, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China of which the last formed the bulk of travel owing to its sheer size.

The first leg of the journey through picturesque idylls in Central Asia through the three former Soviet republics was quite enjoyable for the team. Even though the journey was planned during the months of May – June, the weather was generally cold and appealing, even in deserts. Their guides and camp managers were cordial and cooperative, providing the team some respite from the very hard regime of living on the roads. The hilly terrain, interspersed with small rivers and trees present the picture of an earthly paradise compared to what was to befall on them in China, the largest stretch of the journey. Tolstoy notes with ardour the lonely wildernesses of Kyrgyzstan, whose natural beauty is not tarnished after the fallout with Soviets in 1991. Other Central Asian states like Uzbekistan embarked on a belligerent nationalistic campaign to support their claims. Kyrgyzs didn’t follow the line and still exhibits a benevolent face to Russians, their old masters. Attempts to whip up nationalism in a tribal society has not yet borne fruits. The team enjoyed the Central Asian stretch of the voyage more than the Chinese section, partly due to the fact that they could ride horses on this leg of the journey. Even though the physique and stamina of Central Asian horses are legendary, we are left wondering at the very poor quality of animals provided for the team.

The second leg of the journey in China was very tough on both the terrain and the poor performance of the crew in the backup team. Being a centrally planned economy, there was no aspect of the journey in which a government-owned company didn’t take part. This caused many hardships for the team whose basic amenities were sometimes not fulfilled because it happened to be a holiday for the company which was entrusted with it. The crew were discourteous at most times and pilfered the funds allocated for travel by forcing the team members to compromise on quality. The author notes with concern at the ease with which officials (including police) in China could be made to bend to one’s wishes with a small bribe. Crossing the Taklamakan desert was the toughest part of the expedition whose problems were complicated by the indifference of the crew. Tolstoy ruefully notes that when they reached the final destination, they were not sorry to bid farewell to the crew and the feeling was mutual.

The book lacks any merit for serious reading. Even though the title is greatly embellished with references to secrets of the Silk Road, the tour was poorly conceived and haphazardly executed to have any impact. There are absolutely no references to history of the road and the times, which tells on the author’s caliber and her lack of homework. The attempt to relive Marco Polo’s travel by riding on horses and camels seemed to be preposterous as there were no efforts to anchor the narrative firmly on the rocks of history. It felt as if the travelers went on a futile trip to the ends of the earth for no more valid reason than a fad. Tolstoy miserably failed to instil in the reader any sense of being part of a great adventure. Copying details of the traveling girls’ quarrels and diaries does not bid well for interesting reading.

The book contains a few colour plates of the journey. However, they don’t have sufficient clarity to offer a flattering illustration of the majesty of the countryside through which the expedition lumbered on. The book also don’t do justice to its grandiloquent title due to lack of serious research.

The book is not recommended.

Rating: 2 Star