The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh

The novel is spread over more than a hundred years, in sub-continental settings ranging from Burma, to coastal India (Eastern and Western) and Malaya. Ghosh uses extensively researched facts to create a wonderful, arresting setting for the story. He opens the book with the fall of Burma to the British with this fabulous opening sentence:

There was only one person in the food-stall who knew exactly what that sound was that was rolling in across the plain, along the silver curve of the Irawaddy, to the western wall of Mandalay's fort. His name was Rajkumar and he was an Indian, a boy of eleven - not an authority to be relied upon.

Starting with the subsequent exile of the Burmese royal family to Ratnagiri, Ghosh runs through a century of events and many generations of characters in a book that alternates between the closely pictured personal lives of its characters and wide ranging social and political issues engulfing the sub-continent. He does a great job using such wonderful material to weave a captivating story. The writing is somewhat varying in quality, ranging from mostly sublime to somewhat trite in a few places.

Covering such a large period of time necessarily means that Ghosh picks and chooses the places and periods where his narrative goes into extensive detail. In such places, the book is languorous, describing the setting and emotions in fabulous detail. The visual imagery is striking. The royal palace in Mandalay, and the royal family’s forced removal are captured in such words that one can almost see the events unfold in front of one’s eyes. The teak trade, the dizzying geometry of rubber plantations, and the myriad working class occupations of colonial times are brought forth.

The characters in the first generation, Rajkumar, Dolly, Saya John, Uma and others are fascinating personalities. Born in uncertain times, many to unknown parents, these people without moorings of family find themselves taking whichever opportunities come their way. Yet, rather than be drawn along the stream, each of them stands strong. From Dolly’s dedication to the royal family, to Uma’s independent thinking, and Rajkumar’s entrepreneurship, the reader sees real people whose lives are constructed and change before their eyes. The next generation however, is rendered more as stereotypes – the artistic, liberal minded Dinu, the obedient handsome son Neel, and the innocent soldier Arjun. They appear to be in the novel to represent certain viewpoints or ideas, not as full of surprises as the earlier generation.

Ghosh uses this backdrop and cast of characters to narrate a tale of multiple countries under British colonial rule. The novel expresses the opinions of the rulers and the ruled, conflicting yet each very believable. The role of the British Indian army in the maintenance and expansion of the British empire is well captured, as is the revolt by its soldiers in the WW-II era. Throughout, Ghosh's characters are true to life, and yet represent the larger reality of the world.

A fabulous read.

संतोष प्रोव्हिजन स्टोअर्स

वस्तूंची उपलब्धता जाहीर करणाऱ्या (एकाच दगडी पाटीवरील) दोन सूचना:

येथे सुगंधी मोदक पीठ मिळेल.
येथे रिकाम्या सीडी मिळतील.

Omkara

Saw this film yesterday: very well written and very well made.

Two of the best and well thought out reviews/comments on the movie are on blogs, rather than a conventional medium. Both are wonderfully written, worth a read. Read this for a mostly positive review focused on the movie itself. Read this for a more negative review, focused on the movie's departure from Othello.

My two cents:

- Multiple references to Ramayana, in a Shakespeare adaptation. More than the UP gangland setting, these make the story strongly Indian. Of course, desi gaalis and mannerisms play a part too.
- The "sarat ghodon pe lagaayi jaati hai, sheron pe nahi" (Bets are placed on horses, not lions) has to be one of the most well written lines projecting bravado.
- The film is an exciting fusion of genres, stories, dialog and all other elements, drawn variously from folk culture, great cinema, and bollywood kitsch. The item numbers Beedi and Namak are good examples. Some of the background music doesn't work that well.

Much more could be written, and deserves to be written about one of the best Indian movies of the year. For now, I am content to have watched the film and read the above two reviews.

The Indian Dentist and the Holocaust Survivor: Vikram Seth's "Two Lives"

Amardeep Singh has posted a detailed comment on Vikram Seth's new book. It is now on my list of books to buy.

The changing face of India...

India is changing, removing layer upon layer of accumulated dust, to reveal a "shining" economy.

Two television advertisements symbolize this change:

1. Lifebuoy for women (from the makers of "tandurustee ki rakshaa karta hai Lifebuoy")
2. Fair and handsome (from the makers of "Fair and Lovely" fairness cream)

---

Another quote symbolizing the new India:
"India: From self-reliance to Reliance"

Thane Mayor's Half Marathon (Varsha Marathon)

Today, I walked the half-marathon organized by the Thane city mayor. It was supposed to be flagged off from the Thane Municipal Corp. headquarters at 8.30 am. I reached there on time, but the race start was delayed for multiple reasons. I also had not entered officially for the race. Thus, I started off along the race route on my own at about 8.45. I had already decided that I would walk the whole distance, may be run a little bit for fun.

The route was - TMC - Highway service road to Teen Haath Naka - LBS Marg to Mulund checknaka - Wagle Estate - Kores Colony - Vartak Nagar - Pokhran #2 Circle - Vasant Vihar - Ghodbunder Road - highway service road to Teen Haath Naka - Hari Niwas - Back to TMC. A big chunk of the route was new concrete streets, other parts were half done tar roads or roads full of potholes (or pot-wells or pot-lakes!). Along the route, there was the new Thane to see - the tall apartment buildings, with commercial security and the new stores that had replaced the old factories, mixed with older, smaller, dilapidated-looking buildings yet to be replaced, and some jhopdis. The route went all the way to the foothills of Yeoor and cut through a fair chunk of the new Thane across the highway.

Some sundry notes, in no particular order:

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the initial stretch of the marathon was set up. Road blocks had been erected, there were signs at every kilometer, and there was police presence at every major intersection, stopping vehicles from entering the route. There were also a lot of Palika Safai workers, who apparently had just finished cleaning roads along the route. Only some traces of the garbage that usually lines some of the streets could be seen. There were also several waiting spectators.

I walked the first 4-5 kilometers by myself, before the real participants in the race passed me, near the Yeoor foothills. The lead runner, and several others chasing him at that point were barefoot. There were quite a few women also running (I counted a total of about 25-30 that passed me).

The barefeet runners were easily identified by the slapping sounds their feet made against the roads. The runners with sneakers by contrast, made a much softer sound.

The course had way too many potholes, little stones, and other hazards along the road to be running barefeet. The hard surface of the tar and concrete couldn't have made it any easier. Kudos to all those barefeet runners!

I am quite sure thousands of rupees were spent on the huge banners all around the city, with huge images of Uddhav and Bal Thackeray, Anand Dighe, Mayor Rajan Vichare, all and sundry local sena leaders, and even, Matoshri Thackeray, and Matoshri Dighe. There were also two large shamianas at the starting point, a huge sound system to drum up enthusiasm, and so on. Why didn't some of this money go to support the lead runners who were running without shoes on? The stated aim of the marathon was to prepare state runners for national and international events. Couldn't proper gear be provided, at least to the lead runners? (It appears that the only group of elite runners that had some shoes on were from the Army). The money spent on erecting huge banners of people who in their entire lives have probably never participated in any significant athletic activity, let alone a marathon, could've been better spent that way. Shiv Sena, and Shiv Sainiks, are you listening?

Apparently, more than 50,000 participants had registered for the marathon. No more than 500 must've passed me by the time I finished the race. Where did all these people go? (Well, there are some answers: There were not 50,000 participants for the full distance - the women's race ended at the 15 km mark, the children's race was even shorter, the senior citizen's race was a couple hundred meters at best, and most vitally, the participation numbers were inflated by the compulsory registration of schoolchildren from the municipal schools. Again, the publicity needs of having organized the largest marathon ever triumphed any realities!

A big thank you to the much maligned and oft neglected civic workers - police personnel, safai workers and the numerous other city officials who contributed to the event. The police and safai workers had been out in the rain since 6 am, making arrangements.

Apparently there is another marathon this coming weekend (30th July). The Mayor's Varsha marathon was a Satish Pradhan promoted event for the past 16 years. Now that he has switched from the Shiv Sena to Congress, it seems he's taken the marathon with him. So one week after the Sena-sponsored marathon, there's going to be a Congress-marathon. Amazing that the civic authorities can be subjected to the stress of hosting two marathons, for such petty political reasons

By my obervation, the largest cheering crowds were in the lower middle class areas, where people were on the streets in huge numbers. They were enthusiastic, cheering everyone on with "Come on", "Bhaago", "Run" and so on. By comparison, near large apartment buildings like Kores, Runwal and Hiranandani complexes, hardly anyone noticed the runners.

Heavy rains started around the time I was near the 16 km mark, and continued for about a half hour. Incredible to walk in such rain! Fortunately, during most of this time, I was on the pothole-free stretch.

Around the 19 km mark, my thighs started cramping up. At this point, I had to start running, for that was the only way to avoid the pain in the thighs and keep going.

Oh, yes. My time for the half-marathon distance was 3 hours 5 minutes.

Blogs, Freedom of Speech and Indian Democracy

This week has seen a lot of activity in the Indian blogosphere due to the Indian government’s attempts to block certain blogs. Repercussions of this activity have been everywhere – the news was important enough to merit a piece on the technology news website news.com, a special half-hour show on NDTV, an Times of India editorial, several front and inside page news items in major Indian newspapers, and even this editorial in the leading Marathi newspaper, Loksatta. Indian Bloggers, as a group, succeeded in creating enough pressure on the government and the blog ban seems to have been lifted today. Several factors regarding this entire episode merit some thought and discussion.

Enforcing the ban: Who erred?

It has been made abundantly clear by several observers that the effect of the Indian Government’s request to ISPs was to remove access to millions of blogs hosted by blogger, typepad and geocities. Several interesting factors here:

• It has now come to light that the Indian government’s list was specific to certain blogs. It would thus be wrong to consider this as equivalent with blocking in such countries as China, Pakistan or Iran, where dictatorial governments restrict access to large swathes of the Internet that don’t agree with their cause. Clearly, the Indian government did not engage in anything different than what is common practice in many countries– blocking material that is offensive. For example, Germany and France both block neo-nazi hate speech websites. This type of censorship is not restriction of freedom of speech. Rather, it enforces “social norms” on the wild side of the Internet. Of course, the government did not help its cause by initially making the list of blocked sub-domains confidential.
  
• Many bloggers have assumed or blamed Sarkari Babus (who “by definition” don’t understand technology) had come up with a list that caused blanket bans. Would someone care to explain how such ignorant and tech non-savvy civil servants would have found offensive or terrorist-written material on the Internet? It is clear that there is some government monitoring of blogs – and there is a possibility that terrorists would use blogs to communicate with each other (by writing unpublished posts in shared accounts) – and those that do the monitoring would discover some offensive material from time to time. It is time to stop the blaming and give the government officials some credit. Their confidential list is a severely restricted list, and does seem to contain at least some material that is offensive.
  
• It seems that ISPs in India were clearly out of their depth when handling the government request. Lacking a technical means to do sub-domain blocking, ISPs should not have blocked entire domains. Informing the government of this fact before enforcing the blocking would have been a much more sensible approach. It is not clear why the babus get all the blame while the ISPs go scot free.
  

Blogs as a medium

• The rapidity with which news spreads around the blogosphere has often been a useful feature of blogs. The Gaurav Sabnis v. IIPM issue is well known among Indian bloggers, and was initiated and vigorously pursued by bloggers. In the present instance, bloggers have shown themselves to be a rather impatient community, holding the government responsible even before all the evidence was available.
  
• The influence of bloggers in pushing the mainstream media was clearly seen in the way print and television media picked up the issue within a day of it being posted on blogs. Although the effect of bloggers as citizen journalists has generally been overstated, their impact cannot be ignored.
  
• As enterprising bloggers showed the way to get around the blocks (Tor, pkblogs.com, and proxies), it was clear that the ban, like other attempts to restrict information on the Internet, would not completely wipe out access to this information. Of course, it increases the cost of access and sometimes that may suffice to curtail freedom of speech.
  
• As Lawrence Lessig argues in his Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, without citizen vigilance, the openness of the Internet is under threat by architectural changes. Bloggers, watch out against big brother!
  

Democracy in India

• It is an encouraging sign that the several thousand bloggers in India seem united in their voice for freedom of expression, irrespective of their political or other beliefs.
  
• At least in this particular case, bloggers have displayed firm belief in the idea of democracy in India. Even though they might be accused of being too quick to compare the state to autocratic regimes, it is comforting that democracy is an entrenched value in so many influential minds. This optimism must however be tempered by the bloggers constant references to the foreign media’s coverage of India as a beacon of hope, thanks to its democracy. The belief in democracy must come from within, not from outside.

Social networks of soccer

A nice visualization of "passing" in football as a social network. Data used are from the world cup finals. Notice how the playmakers - Makelele, Zidane, Pirlo - seem to have a lot of passes directed to them. See Visual Complexity for many more networks.

A poem on Bombay, by Aadil Jussawala

Amardeep Singh has put this excellent poem on his blog, along with some thoughts after the Mumbai blasts.

The Black Cloud

Over the last couple of days, I read science fiction after a very long gap. The book was Fred Hoyle's 1957 novel "The Black Cloud". It is good science and good fiction.

- The portrayal of the scientific and political establishment of the late 1950s - early 1960s is excellent. Particularly, in the aftermath of the atomic bomb, and the ongoing arms race, the societal responsibility of scientists is a central issue in the book.

- Another interesting aspect is the prescient description of the various uses a digital computer may be put to. Some of those such as speech recognition, voice synthesis, complex mathematical calculations, and so on have already become real.

- Its a quick read - the plot moves pretty fast, there are few important characters, which are reasonably well developed. The story does have a couple of twists, but does not indulge in any kind of sensational surprises.

- Its the first science fiction book I've read that actually contains derivatives and other mathematical notation to explain some calculations made by the characters. In fact, many scientific principles are discussed in way more detail than in most science fiction books.

- The portrayal of Britain's decaying power, and of the helplessness of non-industrialized nations is spot-on.

On the whole, a fun book to read.

Wake Up: AR Rahman with 150 All Stars

I went for this concert yesterday evening, at the Eastern Michigan University convocation center. AR Rahman (as with many other people) is my favorite Indian music composer from the present times. I was curious about the concert, knowing that he wasn't on a big tour with a lot of Bollywood personalities, but rather performing with 150 all stars.

The all stars, apparently, were students from EMU and from Miami University, Ohio. They had learned and reinterpreted Rahman's music in their own style. It was a refreshing look at Rahman's music, performed in a style alien to Bollywood.

Choir singers, a four-violin and cello string section, many drums and cymbals, a tabla, flute and keyboards (Rahman) formed the orchestra, conducted by Ethan Perry. The concert began with a very powerful rendition of "Ramta Jogi" and "Taal Se Taal Milaa" from Taal. The mostly Indian audience was a little surprised by the multiracial group, singing in perfect Hindi. Their voices were strong, and a little different in key from the originals.

The concert proceeded on an interesting pattern - live music and choir-style singing of Rahman's songs, interspersed with "karaoke" of Rahman's recorded music with live singing by Rahman himself, Vasundhara Das, and a couple of young singers from the choir. It even included a dance performance that used Rahman's "Rang De" from a CD! On the whole, an odd mix of performances!

The choice of songs in each particular style was very good. The choir performed some songs obviously suited to their style (Veerapandi Kottayilae, Thee Thee, and a fabulous rendition of Zikr), Rahman and Vasundhara Das crooned/ lip-synced some songs (Khalbali, Dil Se Re, Maa Tujhe Salaam for Rahman; Shakalaka Baby, Ik Onkar, Yaaro Yaarodi for Vasundhara Das). The young white American who performed "Rang De Basanti" was fabulous - with his "twanged" punjabi; the group of girls who performed "Paathshaalaa" fit the rebellious mood of the songs well.

On the whole, an enjoyable experience.

Some notes from the concert

- Rahman seemed to be enjoying himself, listening to the choir perform his songs in a new style. He appeared to be intrigued by the idea, and impressed by the results.

- After almost every song, a different announcer came on stage and heaped lavish praise on Rahman - talk about beating your own drum (and also, "preaching to the choir!")

- The EMU president made a speech welcoming Rahman and his music to the institution. After the intermission, Rahman was handed a key to the city of Ypsilanti by the city mayor. Quite a honor!

- It was announced that Rahman is funding and providing other support for the first "Conservatory for Western Classical Music" in India, to be set up in Chennai.

- Indians in America don't seem to behave very differently from those back home. There were more catcalls, whistles, rude gestures, and other kinds of bad behavior than any other event I have attended in America. I wonder what it is that makes us such bad spectators.

- The global nature of music was made amply obvious. As the choir singers of many backgrounds twisted their tongues to get the Tamil and Hindi sounds right, I thought of the quite unreal scene in front of me. I have witnessed Western Classical concerts with a multiracial orchestra. I hadn't imagined seeing such a performance of popular hindi music. It was inspiring to see that so many young people of diverse backgrounds found this music enjoyable, and could perform it so well! Seems like great days are ahead in terms of musical collaboration around the world!

Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi

One of the most acclaimed Indian movies of 2005. I saw "Hazaaron... " on VCD. It is truly a different movie by most hindi movie standards. It stands out in many aspects, most importantly the top-notch performances in leading roles by Kay Kay Menon (who has recently begun to receive the attention his talent and screen presence demand), Shiny Ahuja (supremely confident in a terrific role) and Chitrangda Singh (wow! she sets the screen on fire!), and small but effective parts by other actors.

Hazaaron is set in the late 1960s through 1970s period in various North Indian locations. The director, Sudhir Mishra, truly brings this period to life. The language, clothes, and setting all seem very real. Neither is there any attempt to "glamorize" the past, as seen in the lavish sets in melodramas such as "Devdas" or "Parineeta" nor the big scale of the unknown past of 1857 as seen in "Mangal Pandey". The music, costumes, dialogue and situations are all straight out of the 1970s. More than anything else, the film succeeds in capturing the India of 1970s - full of uncertainty, youthful energy, and idealism.

The film is a series of really quick scenes - the story moves very fast, from Meerut to Delhi to rural Bihar, and from the late 1960s to the later period of emergency rule and naxalite movement. The quick cuts, and lack of "obvious" dialogue leaves a lot of room for interpretation, a valuable characteristic for a movie such as this. It is highly entertaining and provocative. Through each of the lead characters, and the different directions their intertwined lives take, we see various forces at work on the minds of young people in that period.

Hazaaron succeeds at two levels - in telling the story of its characters and in telling the story of that period. It is a classic love story, with true to life characters - each moving to their own rhythms, each dreaming their own dreams. This story is set against the backdrop of a nation in a period of turmoil. I was impressed by how the movie conveyed the essence of each character - how their thoughts and motivation leads to actions that may seem irrational to an outsider.

There are three central human characters in the story. Siddharth, Vikram and Geeta. They are all college students in an unnamed Delhi college.

The idealist Siddharth, a rich father's son, moved by leftist thought and the extreme divide amongst the haves and have-nots, decides to leave the pleasures of the city and his born with a silver spoon life for a stint in rural Bihar, joining similarly motivated young people in the naxalite movement. His revolutionary, non-compliant nature is conveyed through very simple things. He calls his father by the name Judgesaab, in a firm refusal of the personal relationship , preferring to stress the class divide between the masses of poor and the very few rich. In spite of all his revolutionary spirit, he cannot give up his love for Geeta, a college sweetheart, herself conflicted in many ways.

The pragmatic, go-getter Vikram, the son of a Gandhian is skeptical of Siddharth and his Marxist friends. He has keenly observed the corrupt bureucracy, sycophancy, and the way the world works. He believes in working for his own upliftment, whichever way possible. He succeeds in almost anything he tries - property deals, brokering agreements between government and businesses, and keeping politicians appeased. A true lobbyist, broker, a man seemingly with no ideals but his own gain. Yet, he is defeated in many ways - the idealistic Geeta, whom he loves, is in love with Siddharth; his Gandhian father, for whom he cares refuses his help, choosing to go to jail during the emergency. No matter how much money or power he earns, he cannot win the respect or love of those that matter to him.

And Geeta. She is torn between her love for Siddharth and a sincere desire to do something good, and her middle class fear or pragmatism on the other. Geeta is unsure of what her dreams really are. She drifts, she searches, she loses and then she wins. Geeta is the most fascinating character of the movie.

As the characters progress towards their future, we see India through their eyes. Geeta is most likely the character viewers will identify with - the many forces pulling her in many directions, all at once, a thousand desires unfulfilled. Yet, while the outwardly strong Siddharth and Vikram discover their failings, Geeta finds her strength. Many missteps along the way, but by the end of the story, Geeta is firmly set along a path that I believe will be hers throughout life. The changes are remarkable and very moving.

A truly amazing film, on many levels. I could probably write hazaaron more words, and yet not say enough!

Breaking the spell

Daniel C. Dennett, the author of The Mind's I and Darwin's Dangerous Idea, among other books, was at the University of Michigan yesterday with a lecture introducing his new book Breaking the spell. It was a highly entertaining and humorous presentation. His juxtaposition of the pictures of thousands of people gathered at the Vatican and Mecca, participating in religious ritual with those from the super bowl and other sporting events had the audience in splits.

The new book proposes a scientific study of religion. Hirak has posted an excellent summary of the presentation.

विंदांना ज्ञानपीठ !

ज्येष्ठ मराठी साहित्यिक आणि कवी विंदा करंदीकर ह्यांना भारतीय साहित्यातील सर्वात प्रतिष्ठेचा ज्ञानपीठ पुरस्कार जाहीर झाला आहे. ही बातमी वाचताच आलेली पहिली आठवण म्हणजे विंदांच्या बालकवितांची पुस्तके - अजबखाना आणि एटू लोकांचा देश. अगदी लहानपणी आईबाबांनी ह्यातल्या वाचून दाखविलेल्या काही कविता अजूनही लक्षात आहेत. आहेतच त्या खास! ( अर्थात आता मात्र विंदांच्या इतर कविता वाचायल्या हव्यात ! )

विंदांच्या अजबखान्यातील माझ्या आवडत्या काही कविता:

मैफल
एक झुरळ
रेडिओत गेले;
गवयी होऊन
बाहेर आले.
             एक उंदीर
             तबल्यात दडला;
             तबलजी होऊन
             बाहेर पडला.
त्या दोघांचे
गाणे झाले
तिकीट काढून
मांजर आले!

आटपाट नगरामध्ये 
आटपाट नगरामध्ये
नाही होत चोरी;
हुशार मुले काळी; आणि
खुळी मुले गोरी.
             आटपाट नगरामध्ये
             किती किती मजा
             प्रधान भरतो पाणी; आणि
             रस्ते झाडतो राजा.
आटपाट नगरामध्ये
नाही चालत नाणी;
एक शेर गुळासाठी
दहा-बारा गाणी!
             आटपाट नगरामध्ये
             सुटी नाही, बाळा,
             सांग कशी सुटी असेल,
             जर नाही शाळा?

एटू लोकांचा देश :  वाङमय
जर कोणी
कविता केली,
प्रथम पुरतात
जमिनीखाली
             पण जुनीशी
             झाल्यानंतर
             शहाणे करतात
             जंतर-मंतर !
मग कवितेतून
रुजतो वृक्ष;
फुले येतात
नऊ लक्ष !

एटू लोकांचा देश : शिक्षण
एटूंच्या देशांत
सक्तीचे खेळ;
मुलांना नसतो
शिकायला वेळ

म्हातारे देतात
परीक्षा शंभर;
मेल्यानंतर
कळतो नंबर !