"Only boring people get bored"
- seen on a T-Shirt
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
The White Tiger- Aravind Adiga
Overall a nice book to read. Witty in language, satirical in style, vexing in the issues it exposes but short enough to finish before you get tired of them. After having read quite a few Hindi satire in Indian magazines and newspapers, the book more seemed like series of such satires. Of course with two major differences- the book is bound together by a single story and very well so and the language is far too irreverent for an Indian magazine to publish.
So while I enjoyed the book a lot (finished in almost single sitting), the book gave me same feeling as I got from Slumdog Millionaire- we might have much better work of talent (even by the same music composer or writer) its the one that is marketed well TO or packaged FOR the West that will get an Oscar or a Man Booker.
The book is organized as series of letters that a Bangalore entrepreneur Balram Halwai writes to the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. And in those letters Balram lays open story of his life which starts in a deprived class family of ten or fifteen members in feudal North Indian village- 'the Darkness', becomes a bit better when he becomes car driver for the village's landlord family then finally reaches 'the light' when Balram becomes an entrepreneur in Bangalore.
Over the letters, Balram talks about usual 'issues' that we all Indians are aware of and love to hate. In fact, its almost amazing that in so few pages the story touches up on so many of them- dowry, corruption in normal life, electoral malpractices, lack of education, over population, worshiping of white skin, tendency of middle class to just live with their lot without protesting, naxalism, caste system, urban-rural divide, extreme disparity of income and tens of other such things. Once in a while Adiga shows his anguish over these through the foreigh educated, NRI son of the landlord, who at the same time compromises and perpetuates the evils and thereby shows the superficiality of so called modernity of urban middle/ upper class. Balram, the poor kid, on the other hand talks about these in rather matter of fact way and then uses them remorselessly to climb the social ladder. So while Adiga takes you through miriad problems, he never gets didactic and leaves the judgements totally out of the narrative.
But even though Balram himself say that he is "no normal human being, but a freak, a pervert of nature... a man who is prepared to see his family destroyed—hunted, beaten, and burned alive by the masters" so that he "can break out of the coop", the message is still unsettlingly clear. The only way for a person from Darkness to come to Light, is to destroy, to steal and to wrest; there is no way society is going to let you come out in some ethical way- either the upper class people, the meneyed class will push you back or the people from the Darkness will cling themselves to you and eventually pull you back in the Darkness. The result- in case of Balram is comes out a murderer of his own employer. In case of others, the spread of Naxals in from Bihar till Andhra.
The similar story was in 'Inheritance..' by Kiran Desai where homeless Gorkhas take possession of Mussorie's homes. So either the foreign awards are going to books only if they show such revolutionary streaks or we are ignoring a big impending problem. One party got surprise when the India Shining slogan was beaten severely in an election, but still as a government India has not taken its lesson. Singur and other such cases of dispossessing farmers of their land, continued spread of Naxals, growing slums in cities they perhaps point towards a problem, which we are ignoring at our own peril. Or... perhaps we can remaing happy that India is not that sort of place where revolutions can occur, we are indeed bit coop of hen where top 0.1 % can keep on using the remaining 99.9%.
Anyway, coming back to the book; I think Aravind is not the first writer to written in this angry tone about contemporary India- young writes, foreign educated and themselves children of priviledge, who came back and saw a lot of things that didn't make sense and then wrote with such irrevenace and wit. Nor he will be the last. But when it remains limited within Indian media and get the lable of 'serious journalism', Adiga and others get attention out of India as well and then the lables such as 'India bashing' and 'Western voyeurism for slums' are thrown.
One thing was not clear- why choice of Chinese Premier as the intended audience of the letters. Two reasons I think- one, only a foreign intended audience would justify some Englishification of Indian-isms and rather simpler explanation of Indian situations which would later make the book easily readable by foreign readership; two, Chinese, as opposed to British or American, premier would be more in line with current way the world is being talked about. But overall, in the story, there doesn't seem to be a justifiable reason for addressing the letters to Premier Jiabao.
But despite such items the book was very good read. It raised very good questions but who care for them? :) It was a good, entertaining read with some quite fun passages. And the overall theme- rags to riches- in a bit different form anyway made for an exciting reading.
Some quotes
"Neither you nor I speak English, but there are some things that can be said only in English. ...
Let us begin. Before we do that, sir, the phrase in English that I learned from my ex-employer the late Mr. Ashok's ex-wife Pinky Madam is: What a fucking joke."
"The Autobiography of a Half-Baked Indian." That's what I ought to call my life's story.
Me, and thousands of others in this country like me, are half-baked, because we were never
allowed to complete our schooling. Open our skulls, look in with a penlight, and you'll find
an odd museum of ideas: sentences of history or mathematics remembered from school
textbooks (no boy remembers his schooling like one who was taken out of school, let me
assure you)...
The story of my upbringing is the story of how a half-baked fellow is produced.
But pay attention, Mr. Premier! Fully formed fellows, after twelve years of school and three
years of university, wear nice suits, join companies, and take orders from other men for the
rest of their lives.
Entrepreneurs are made from half-baked clay."
" understand, Your Excellency, that India is two countries in one: an India of Light, and an India of Darkness. The ocean brings light to my country. Every place on the map of India near the ocean is well off. But the river brings darkness to India—the black river.
Which black river am I talking of—which river of Death, whose banks are full of rich,
dark, sticky mud whose grip traps everything that is planted in it, suffocating and choking
and stunting it?
Why, I am talking of Mother Ganga, daughter of the Vedas, river of illumination, protector
of us all, breaker of the chain of birth and rebirth. Everywhere this river flows, that area is
the Darkness."
"One fact about India is that you can take almost anything you hear about the country from
the prime minister and turn it upside down and then you will have the truth about that thing. "
"At the end of the market is a tall, whitewashed, conelike tower, with black intertwining snakes painted on all its sides—the temple. Inside, you will find an image of a saffron-colored creature, half man half monkey: this is Hanuman, everyone's favorite god in the Darkness. Do you know about Hanuman, sir? He was the faithful servant of the god Rama, and we worship him in our temples because he is a shining example of how to serve your masters with absolute fidelity, love, and devotion.
These are the kinds of gods they have foisted on us, Mr. Jiabao. Understand, now, how hard
it is for a man to win his freedom in India."
Tolerance towards corruption
"No one blamed the schoolteacher for doing this. You can't expect a man in a dung heap to
smell sweet. Every man in the village knew that he would have done the same in his
position. Some were even proud of him, for having got away with it so cleanly."
"The inspector pointed his cane straight at me. "You, young man, are an intelligent, honest,
vivacious fellow in this crowd of thugs and idiots. In any jungle, what is the rarest of
animals—the creature that comes along only once in a generation?"
I thought about it and said:
"The white tiger."
"That's what you are, in this jungle."
"Now, I say they took me on as their "driver." I don't exactly know how you organize your
servants in China. But in India—or, at least, in the Darkness—the rich don't have drivers,
cooks, barbers, and tailors. They simply have servants."
"Is there any hatred on earth like the hatred of the number two servant for the number one?"
"These are the three main diseases of this country, sir: typhoid,
cholera, and election fever. This last one is the worst; it makes people talk and talk about
things that they have no say in... Like eunuchs discussing the Kama Sutra, the voters
discuss the elections in Laxmangarh."
"sagging badminton net, so I could stay near them.
But a pair of suspicious Nepali eyes spotted me out: "Don't loiter in the courtyard. Go and
sit in your room and wait for the masters to call you."
"Ram Bahadur glared at me, so I said, "All right, sir."
(Servants, incidentally, are obsessed with being called "sir" by other servants, sir.)"
" .., It's because 99.9 percent of us are caught in the Rooster Coop just like those poor guys
in the poultry market.
The Great Indian Rooster Coop. Do you have something like it in China too? I doubt it, Mr.
Jiabao. Or you wouldn't need the Communist Party to shoot people and a secret police to
raid their houses at night and put them in jail like I've heard you have over there. Here in
India we have no dictatorship. No secret police.
That's because we have the coop.
Never before in human history have so few owed so much to so many, Mr. Jiabao. A
handful of men in this country have trained the remaining 99.9 percent—as strong, as
talented, as intelligent in every way—to exist in perpetual servitude; a servitude so strong
that you can put the key of his emancipation in a man's hands and he will throw it back at
you with a curse."
"... the Indian family, is the reason we are trapped and tied to the coop.
The answer to the second question is that only a man who is prepared to see his family
destroyed—hunted, beaten, and burned alive by the masters—can break out of the coop.
That would take no normal human being, but a freak, a pervert of nature. "
"Do you read English?" he barked.
"Do you read English?" I retorted.
There. That did it. Until then his tone of talking to me had been servant-to-servant; now it
became man-to-man. "
"So I stood around that big square of books. Standing around books, even books in a foreign
language, you feel a kind of electricity buzzing up toward you, Your Excellency. It just
happens, the way you get erect around girls wearing tight jeans.
Except here what happens is that your brain starts to hum."
So while I enjoyed the book a lot (finished in almost single sitting), the book gave me same feeling as I got from Slumdog Millionaire- we might have much better work of talent (even by the same music composer or writer) its the one that is marketed well TO or packaged FOR the West that will get an Oscar or a Man Booker.
The book is organized as series of letters that a Bangalore entrepreneur Balram Halwai writes to the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. And in those letters Balram lays open story of his life which starts in a deprived class family of ten or fifteen members in feudal North Indian village- 'the Darkness', becomes a bit better when he becomes car driver for the village's landlord family then finally reaches 'the light' when Balram becomes an entrepreneur in Bangalore.
Over the letters, Balram talks about usual 'issues' that we all Indians are aware of and love to hate. In fact, its almost amazing that in so few pages the story touches up on so many of them- dowry, corruption in normal life, electoral malpractices, lack of education, over population, worshiping of white skin, tendency of middle class to just live with their lot without protesting, naxalism, caste system, urban-rural divide, extreme disparity of income and tens of other such things. Once in a while Adiga shows his anguish over these through the foreigh educated, NRI son of the landlord, who at the same time compromises and perpetuates the evils and thereby shows the superficiality of so called modernity of urban middle/ upper class. Balram, the poor kid, on the other hand talks about these in rather matter of fact way and then uses them remorselessly to climb the social ladder. So while Adiga takes you through miriad problems, he never gets didactic and leaves the judgements totally out of the narrative.
But even though Balram himself say that he is "no normal human being, but a freak, a pervert of nature... a man who is prepared to see his family destroyed—hunted, beaten, and burned alive by the masters" so that he "can break out of the coop", the message is still unsettlingly clear. The only way for a person from Darkness to come to Light, is to destroy, to steal and to wrest; there is no way society is going to let you come out in some ethical way- either the upper class people, the meneyed class will push you back or the people from the Darkness will cling themselves to you and eventually pull you back in the Darkness. The result- in case of Balram is comes out a murderer of his own employer. In case of others, the spread of Naxals in from Bihar till Andhra.
The similar story was in 'Inheritance..' by Kiran Desai where homeless Gorkhas take possession of Mussorie's homes. So either the foreign awards are going to books only if they show such revolutionary streaks or we are ignoring a big impending problem. One party got surprise when the India Shining slogan was beaten severely in an election, but still as a government India has not taken its lesson. Singur and other such cases of dispossessing farmers of their land, continued spread of Naxals, growing slums in cities they perhaps point towards a problem, which we are ignoring at our own peril. Or... perhaps we can remaing happy that India is not that sort of place where revolutions can occur, we are indeed bit coop of hen where top 0.1 % can keep on using the remaining 99.9%.
Anyway, coming back to the book; I think Aravind is not the first writer to written in this angry tone about contemporary India- young writes, foreign educated and themselves children of priviledge, who came back and saw a lot of things that didn't make sense and then wrote with such irrevenace and wit. Nor he will be the last. But when it remains limited within Indian media and get the lable of 'serious journalism', Adiga and others get attention out of India as well and then the lables such as 'India bashing' and 'Western voyeurism for slums' are thrown.
One thing was not clear- why choice of Chinese Premier as the intended audience of the letters. Two reasons I think- one, only a foreign intended audience would justify some Englishification of Indian-isms and rather simpler explanation of Indian situations which would later make the book easily readable by foreign readership; two, Chinese, as opposed to British or American, premier would be more in line with current way the world is being talked about. But overall, in the story, there doesn't seem to be a justifiable reason for addressing the letters to Premier Jiabao.
But despite such items the book was very good read. It raised very good questions but who care for them? :) It was a good, entertaining read with some quite fun passages. And the overall theme- rags to riches- in a bit different form anyway made for an exciting reading.
Some quotes
"Neither you nor I speak English, but there are some things that can be said only in English. ...
Let us begin. Before we do that, sir, the phrase in English that I learned from my ex-employer the late Mr. Ashok's ex-wife Pinky Madam is: What a fucking joke."
"The Autobiography of a Half-Baked Indian." That's what I ought to call my life's story.
Me, and thousands of others in this country like me, are half-baked, because we were never
allowed to complete our schooling. Open our skulls, look in with a penlight, and you'll find
an odd museum of ideas: sentences of history or mathematics remembered from school
textbooks (no boy remembers his schooling like one who was taken out of school, let me
assure you)...
The story of my upbringing is the story of how a half-baked fellow is produced.
But pay attention, Mr. Premier! Fully formed fellows, after twelve years of school and three
years of university, wear nice suits, join companies, and take orders from other men for the
rest of their lives.
Entrepreneurs are made from half-baked clay."
" understand, Your Excellency, that India is two countries in one: an India of Light, and an India of Darkness. The ocean brings light to my country. Every place on the map of India near the ocean is well off. But the river brings darkness to India—the black river.
Which black river am I talking of—which river of Death, whose banks are full of rich,
dark, sticky mud whose grip traps everything that is planted in it, suffocating and choking
and stunting it?
Why, I am talking of Mother Ganga, daughter of the Vedas, river of illumination, protector
of us all, breaker of the chain of birth and rebirth. Everywhere this river flows, that area is
the Darkness."
"One fact about India is that you can take almost anything you hear about the country from
the prime minister and turn it upside down and then you will have the truth about that thing. "
"At the end of the market is a tall, whitewashed, conelike tower, with black intertwining snakes painted on all its sides—the temple. Inside, you will find an image of a saffron-colored creature, half man half monkey: this is Hanuman, everyone's favorite god in the Darkness. Do you know about Hanuman, sir? He was the faithful servant of the god Rama, and we worship him in our temples because he is a shining example of how to serve your masters with absolute fidelity, love, and devotion.
These are the kinds of gods they have foisted on us, Mr. Jiabao. Understand, now, how hard
it is for a man to win his freedom in India."
Tolerance towards corruption
"No one blamed the schoolteacher for doing this. You can't expect a man in a dung heap to
smell sweet. Every man in the village knew that he would have done the same in his
position. Some were even proud of him, for having got away with it so cleanly."
"The inspector pointed his cane straight at me. "You, young man, are an intelligent, honest,
vivacious fellow in this crowd of thugs and idiots. In any jungle, what is the rarest of
animals—the creature that comes along only once in a generation?"
I thought about it and said:
"The white tiger."
"That's what you are, in this jungle."
"Now, I say they took me on as their "driver." I don't exactly know how you organize your
servants in China. But in India—or, at least, in the Darkness—the rich don't have drivers,
cooks, barbers, and tailors. They simply have servants."
"Is there any hatred on earth like the hatred of the number two servant for the number one?"
"These are the three main diseases of this country, sir: typhoid,
cholera, and election fever. This last one is the worst; it makes people talk and talk about
things that they have no say in... Like eunuchs discussing the Kama Sutra, the voters
discuss the elections in Laxmangarh."
"sagging badminton net, so I could stay near them.
But a pair of suspicious Nepali eyes spotted me out: "Don't loiter in the courtyard. Go and
sit in your room and wait for the masters to call you."
"Ram Bahadur glared at me, so I said, "All right, sir."
(Servants, incidentally, are obsessed with being called "sir" by other servants, sir.)"
" .., It's because 99.9 percent of us are caught in the Rooster Coop just like those poor guys
in the poultry market.
The Great Indian Rooster Coop. Do you have something like it in China too? I doubt it, Mr.
Jiabao. Or you wouldn't need the Communist Party to shoot people and a secret police to
raid their houses at night and put them in jail like I've heard you have over there. Here in
India we have no dictatorship. No secret police.
That's because we have the coop.
Never before in human history have so few owed so much to so many, Mr. Jiabao. A
handful of men in this country have trained the remaining 99.9 percent—as strong, as
talented, as intelligent in every way—to exist in perpetual servitude; a servitude so strong
that you can put the key of his emancipation in a man's hands and he will throw it back at
you with a curse."
"... the Indian family, is the reason we are trapped and tied to the coop.
The answer to the second question is that only a man who is prepared to see his family
destroyed—hunted, beaten, and burned alive by the masters—can break out of the coop.
That would take no normal human being, but a freak, a pervert of nature. "
"Do you read English?" he barked.
"Do you read English?" I retorted.
There. That did it. Until then his tone of talking to me had been servant-to-servant; now it
became man-to-man. "
"So I stood around that big square of books. Standing around books, even books in a foreign
language, you feel a kind of electricity buzzing up toward you, Your Excellency. It just
happens, the way you get erect around girls wearing tight jeans.
Except here what happens is that your brain starts to hum."
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Appeal: John Grisham
High level info
Unethical corporation dumps carcinogen, people start dieing, and in legal battle the company is slapped a trillion (or some such ridiculous amount) dollar fine/ damages. The company appeals, and to ensure winning, arranges for election of a puppet judge. Grisham preaches. Company wins.
My reading of the book
Such a good start. First few pages are only about people getting to know that the jury has reached the verdict and still I felt glued to the book.
Up to the first half it was all very good- developing characters, good pace, some legal jargon to make you feel you are reading something good and all the usual thriller stuff. It came as a surprise to me that even the judges are elected not appointed in US. So getting to know all those
Then Grisham got preachy. It became tale of usual tricks that you see in movies and so many other novels that candidates use to win elections. And when the stooge for the corporation coaches his son's baseball team, at that very moment you know this kid is gonna get killed and the stooge is gonna repent later on. And then the husband-wife lawyer couple! I think only Dickens wrote more one dimensional characters.
By the end of the book I didn't care which party wins, I had already lost. Even such election stuff people can write in a way that may make you turn pages one after another without stopping, but not here. And then to give a 'surprise' the truth doesn't prevail in the end- the company wins and you are supposed to feel what the world has come to. But you don't, because you wanna sleep.
- Author: John Grisham
- Publication and all that: read at Amazon
Unethical corporation dumps carcinogen, people start dieing, and in legal battle the company is slapped a trillion (or some such ridiculous amount) dollar fine/ damages. The company appeals, and to ensure winning, arranges for election of a puppet judge. Grisham preaches. Company wins.
My reading of the book
Such a good start. First few pages are only about people getting to know that the jury has reached the verdict and still I felt glued to the book.
Up to the first half it was all very good- developing characters, good pace, some legal jargon to make you feel you are reading something good and all the usual thriller stuff. It came as a surprise to me that even the judges are elected not appointed in US. So getting to know all those
Then Grisham got preachy. It became tale of usual tricks that you see in movies and so many other novels that candidates use to win elections. And when the stooge for the corporation coaches his son's baseball team, at that very moment you know this kid is gonna get killed and the stooge is gonna repent later on. And then the husband-wife lawyer couple! I think only Dickens wrote more one dimensional characters.
By the end of the book I didn't care which party wins, I had already lost. Even such election stuff people can write in a way that may make you turn pages one after another without stopping, but not here. And then to give a 'surprise' the truth doesn't prevail in the end- the company wins and you are supposed to feel what the world has come to. But you don't, because you wanna sleep.
The Appeal: John Grisham
High level info
Unethical corporation dumps carcinogen, people start dieing, and in legal battle the company is slapped a trillion (or some such ridiculous amount) dollar fine/ damages. The company appeals, and to ensure winning, arranges for election of a puppet judge. Grisham preaches. Company wins.
My reading of the book
Such a good start. First few pages are only about people getting to know that the jury has reached the verdict and still I felt glued to the book.
Up to the first half it was all very good- developing characters, good pace, some legal jargon to make you feel you are reading something good and all the usual thriller stuff. It came as a surprise to me that even the judges are elected not appointed in US. So getting to know all those
Then Grisham got preachy. It became tale of usual tricks that you see in movies and so many other novels that candidates use to win elections. And when the stooge for the corporation coaches his son's baseball team, at that very moment you know this kid is gonna get killed and the stooge is gonna repent later on. And then the husband-wife lawyer couple! I think only Dickens wrote more one dimensional characters.
By the end of the book I didn't care which party wins, I had already lost. Even such election stuff people can write in a way that may make you turn pages one after another without stopping, but not here. And then to give a 'surprise' the truth doesn't prevail in the end- the company wins and you are supposed to feel what the world has come to. But you don't, because you wanna sleep.
- Author: John Grisham
- Publication and all that: read at Amazon
Unethical corporation dumps carcinogen, people start dieing, and in legal battle the company is slapped a trillion (or some such ridiculous amount) dollar fine/ damages. The company appeals, and to ensure winning, arranges for election of a puppet judge. Grisham preaches. Company wins.
My reading of the book
Such a good start. First few pages are only about people getting to know that the jury has reached the verdict and still I felt glued to the book.
Up to the first half it was all very good- developing characters, good pace, some legal jargon to make you feel you are reading something good and all the usual thriller stuff. It came as a surprise to me that even the judges are elected not appointed in US. So getting to know all those
Then Grisham got preachy. It became tale of usual tricks that you see in movies and so many other novels that candidates use to win elections. And when the stooge for the corporation coaches his son's baseball team, at that very moment you know this kid is gonna get killed and the stooge is gonna repent later on. And then the husband-wife lawyer couple! I think only Dickens wrote more one dimensional characters.
By the end of the book I didn't care which party wins, I had already lost. Even such election stuff people can write in a way that may make you turn pages one after another without stopping, but not here. And then to give a 'surprise' the truth doesn't prevail in the end- the company wins and you are supposed to feel what the world has come to. But you don't, because you wanna sleep.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
India - Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture
What would you say about a mathematics book that teaches obscure calculus matters very easily, but at places shows 2+2=5? Roughly that's my understanding of this book.
I started this blog in 2003. Idea was & is to post my thoughts on the books that I read. At least they will serve as log for myself. Hopefully someone might even find these useful, but one shouldn't be too optimistic.
Anyway, since 2003 have been regular posting about books that I read. Punctually one post every two years :) Okay, last time I missed, so this is first review in 4 years, I will make up by posting twice this year.
Got this book from my friend Twan. He and others of our colleagues from Cognizant and Ordina are using this book as part of orientation program and to know India more.
Caution All such books, which try to condense a vast subject in few hundred pages, pose grave risk of overgeneralizing.
I think the problem in such cases is not with a book, which is only trying to make subject matter easier to understand. Something like ignoring small anthills and ponds when making high-level map of a territory . Its for the reader to take the information as a guideline and keep away from stereotyping. Specially, when a book is about people (some particular race, country, religion, organization, occupation), one has to be doubly careful. I don't think all canadian wear those beaver hats :) Anyway, I should get to the book.
High level info
First thing one notices in all such international publications is how the map of India has been depicted. This books shows complete Kashmir as part of India. Truth prevails!! :)
Mostly the book is very very to the point and still manages to give enough information. Starts with a short introduction to various facts like population, area, climate etc. followed by history. Starting Indus Valley Civilization, she describes our history in favourable and positive light.
Perhaps there was some word limit on history section. So she concludes that Clive's battles were result of instigation from Indian rulers and not Company's imperial trade practices and its officers' greedy activities! Anyway, the 'Blackhole of Calcutta' and 'The Mutiny' are two things which have shaped West's view of India for last two centuries, one can't find fault with this book for not digging more deeply into this.
Not putting too much energy into details of Indian political flash points, she simply (and rightly I think) advises a foreign reader to avoid travelling to India during election times and talking about Kashmir.
The main thing she describes as basis of India psche is belief in Karma. And with that the faith that what goes around, comes around. So there is no hurry for an Indian, as compared to 'Carpe diem' mentality of a Westerner. Plus the usual things you know- collectivist culture, respect for traditions and elders, not for time. (No wonder The Guardian is best selling paper in India, while Time is running in loss).
Then there is concept of Izzat- saving face, that determines how an Indian will behave in certain condition. It means that saying No for an Indian is difficult from his own dignity perspective and also for him its a rather rude way to treat another person. So when an Indian says 'we will see' or 'I will try', more often than not its a way of saying 'No'- 'Politeness, praise and respect are important and , eager not to cause offense, people generally 'edit' their thoughts' . I think this is the single biggest learning that an Indian and a non- Indian can have to improve their relationship. Indian should learn to say No, while a foreigner should try to assure and try to get accurate response from Indians.
Earlier, when they had to show India, they would put Taj Mahal on front page and a snake charmer on the back. Then there was wish to get into the details and then almost all the books started talking about 'Indian head wiggling' (so much that this specific habit has become a 'behavioural cliche' among foreign diplomats in India). This book gives a fine balance between the two extremes- the
usual 'Indian cribs' that you would find in usual books (lack of respect for time, corruption, red tape, slowness, crowd, dirt and heat) are also there, and in fact there without much mincing on words without worrying if this is going to bias a first time visitor to India But somehow the tone and the content is mature enough to indicate this is not all that is there.
Thankfully I have got opportunity to see the world outside of India and to observe Indians out of India. And I have come to observed differences between Indian and Western society but with understanding that these are not innate differences. These are just simple behavioural problems that perhaps most of us have, but they are not exclusive to us and that along with these we some other good qualities that non-Indians dont have.
Amazingly she gets into basic details of the Hindu religion, telling about its real name 'Sanatan Dharma' which even a lot of Hindus don't know. She describes how Bramhanism is different from (or rather is a aspect of it) Hinduism and that Bramhan must not be confused with Bramhin or Brahma. She informs that the walk around mandirs is done in clockwise direction.
She then tells about the 5 pillars of Islam (Shahad, Salat, Zakat, Sawm and Hajj), 4 stages of personal development in Sikhism (Manmukh, Sikh, Khalsa, Gurumukh), 4 objectives of Hindu life (Dharm, Arth, Kaam, Moksha) etc.
When she describes the festive year in India, at first I just read them as a normal occurance in our daily life. And then later in the book she talks about various life-cycle rituals. I knew that these are just a selection and actually there are so many more smaller or local festivals which are not mentioend. I don't know how ever we get time to do anything else!
While talking about crowded life, she makes very good observations- there is no 'needing my space' problem for Indians (now getting changed for new generation) and there is no word for 'privacy' in Indian languages.
There are so many more rather detailed observations of India life such as taking left hand as inauspicious and dirty hand or Tuesday as HanumanJi's day or Najar- evil eye, wife doesn't take husband's name etc.
She talks of India tendency to first establishing relation and then getting on to business. As part of this relationship building, Indians would volunteer information and enquire about rather private matters like religion, occupation, salary, marrital status etc. Indeed true. One thing she could have added was that for Indians there is not much of difference between various 'religions' in West- to us they are all Christians.
While she is appreciative of all good things that she could observe, while describing the negatives she doesn't mince words. Its for sure that million colors in India dresses and so many sounds in day-to-day India life would shock a first time visitor. When you talk to them, the most they come to expressing their disapproval is- 'interesting'. Nicci's verdict is very short and clear- 'cacophony of senses'. Later she explains- Its as much a mistake to confuse asceticism with aestheticism as it is to confuse estheticis with morality.
At the start, she describes things like tolerance for Caste based discrimination and other bad aspects of Indian life with bit diffidence; as if slowly leading the reader into Indian streets careful not to bias him too much against its social life. Towards the middle she describes such things with strongest language and by the end gets into sarcastic fun- regarding eating paan, 'the correct protocol for is to spit out the juice to add to the other orange stains spattering the street'.
Inacuracies There are certain parts of the book don't seem correct (not sure if this is prblem of book's accuracy or my lack of knowledge/ understanding/ bias towards my country). So don't read this section as confident statement of inaccuracies in the book, but as points which I didn't agree with.
Some famous Indians: 6 of them made to the list. Among Gandhi, Budhdha, Nehru and Tagore, one finds Jiddu Krishnamurthi (I myself had to Google his name) and B.K.S. Iyengar!! There is more to India than Mysticism and Yoga I guess.
Further down, there is mention of 'pragmatism' of Indian 'honesty is not a major value'. Feels bad, but looking at the level of corruption, adulterated stuff in market and normal tendency to fleece unknowing customer (e.g. by autowalas) there is not much to defend.
Among the airlines, there are no private airlines in India. double-checked, trust me the book was not published in 80s still Vayudoot is mentioned as major airline of India.
Apart from Cricket, Tennis is 'extremely popular' in India! If that's not enough, Polo is traditional game of Delhi!! I think
One thing that I hated in the book
When not 'hated' but strongly disagreed with. Its true that we would laugh if someone slips on a banana skin (till now I had assumed this was universal, only after reading the book I got to know this is Indian way). But I won't agree that Indian humor is lacking in subtlety and we enjoy slapstick humor. Appreciation of sardonic or 'dark' humor, she says is not much in India- I feel is same with the rest of the world. One related thing, which is also universal- intolerance towards puns. That's one discrimination we all pun-lovers (punster is the word) are fighting against.
All in all A nice book. Does warn a potential visitor to India about the contrasts and contradictions that he is about to witness and then tries to explain them as much as possible. While she takes strong stance against things like Caste based discrimination, for other matters she takes narative and explanatory tone rather than judgemental view. I think will definitely help a Westerner understad us better, even for an Indian its good book to understand how we appear from their eyes. For either type of readers, would be good to guard against stereotype, of course.
I started this blog in 2003. Idea was & is to post my thoughts on the books that I read. At least they will serve as log for myself. Hopefully someone might even find these useful, but one shouldn't be too optimistic.
Anyway, since 2003 have been regular posting about books that I read. Punctually one post every two years :) Okay, last time I missed, so this is first review in 4 years, I will make up by posting twice this year.
Got this book from my friend Twan. He and others of our colleagues from Cognizant and Ordina are using this book as part of orientation program and to know India more.
Caution All such books, which try to condense a vast subject in few hundred pages, pose grave risk of overgeneralizing.
I think the problem in such cases is not with a book, which is only trying to make subject matter easier to understand. Something like ignoring small anthills and ponds when making high-level map of a territory . Its for the reader to take the information as a guideline and keep away from stereotyping. Specially, when a book is about people (some particular race, country, religion, organization, occupation), one has to be doubly careful. I don't think all canadian wear those beaver hats :) Anyway, I should get to the book.
High level info
- Author: Nicci Grihault- travel writer and journalist
- Publication: Bravo Ltd, 'Culture Smart!' is their trademark
- General aim of the book: Explain India to a foreign visitor. She sets the scope of the book at the very beginning- its a companion to conventional travel guide and will not tell reader what time a train departs. Soon I learnt that she knows quite enough about India to suppose that ANYONE will be able to tell when a train would depart.
- Other details at Amazon
- My overall view on the book- Good book with nice insights and other useful information in so few pages. Despite Wikipedia there are certain aspects of life of a country which only an experienced traveler and journalist can tell. Don't take the book as analysis of India or even a tourist guide. Its just explaination (very good at that) of various aspects of India that a foreign (more accruately Western) traveller is expected to come across.
First thing one notices in all such international publications is how the map of India has been depicted. This books shows complete Kashmir as part of India. Truth prevails!! :)
Mostly the book is very very to the point and still manages to give enough information. Starts with a short introduction to various facts like population, area, climate etc. followed by history. Starting Indus Valley Civilization, she describes our history in favourable and positive light.
Perhaps there was some word limit on history section. So she concludes that Clive's battles were result of instigation from Indian rulers and not Company's imperial trade practices and its officers' greedy activities! Anyway, the 'Blackhole of Calcutta' and 'The Mutiny' are two things which have shaped West's view of India for last two centuries, one can't find fault with this book for not digging more deeply into this.
Not putting too much energy into details of Indian political flash points, she simply (and rightly I think) advises a foreign reader to avoid travelling to India during election times and talking about Kashmir.
The main thing she describes as basis of India psche is belief in Karma. And with that the faith that what goes around, comes around. So there is no hurry for an Indian, as compared to 'Carpe diem' mentality of a Westerner. Plus the usual things you know- collectivist culture, respect for traditions and elders, not for time. (No wonder The Guardian is best selling paper in India, while Time is running in loss).
Then there is concept of Izzat- saving face, that determines how an Indian will behave in certain condition. It means that saying No for an Indian is difficult from his own dignity perspective and also for him its a rather rude way to treat another person. So when an Indian says 'we will see' or 'I will try', more often than not its a way of saying 'No'- 'Politeness, praise and respect are important and , eager not to cause offense, people generally 'edit' their thoughts' . I think this is the single biggest learning that an Indian and a non- Indian can have to improve their relationship. Indian should learn to say No, while a foreigner should try to assure and try to get accurate response from Indians.
Earlier, when they had to show India, they would put Taj Mahal on front page and a snake charmer on the back. Then there was wish to get into the details and then almost all the books started talking about 'Indian head wiggling' (so much that this specific habit has become a 'behavioural cliche' among foreign diplomats in India). This book gives a fine balance between the two extremes- the
usual 'Indian cribs' that you would find in usual books (lack of respect for time, corruption, red tape, slowness, crowd, dirt and heat) are also there, and in fact there without much mincing on words without worrying if this is going to bias a first time visitor to India But somehow the tone and the content is mature enough to indicate this is not all that is there.Thankfully I have got opportunity to see the world outside of India and to observe Indians out of India. And I have come to observed differences between Indian and Western society but with understanding that these are not innate differences. These are just simple behavioural problems that perhaps most of us have, but they are not exclusive to us and that along with these we some other good qualities that non-Indians dont have.
Amazingly she gets into basic details of the Hindu religion, telling about its real name 'Sanatan Dharma' which even a lot of Hindus don't know. She describes how Bramhanism is different from (or rather is a aspect of it) Hinduism and that Bramhan must not be confused with Bramhin or Brahma. She informs that the walk around mandirs is done in clockwise direction.
She then tells about the 5 pillars of Islam (Shahad, Salat, Zakat, Sawm and Hajj), 4 stages of personal development in Sikhism (Manmukh, Sikh, Khalsa, Gurumukh), 4 objectives of Hindu life (Dharm, Arth, Kaam, Moksha) etc.
When she describes the festive year in India, at first I just read them as a normal occurance in our daily life. And then later in the book she talks about various life-cycle rituals. I knew that these are just a selection and actually there are so many more smaller or local festivals which are not mentioend. I don't know how ever we get time to do anything else!
While talking about crowded life, she makes very good observations- there is no 'needing my space' problem for Indians (now getting changed for new generation) and there is no word for 'privacy' in Indian languages.
There are so many more rather detailed observations of India life such as taking left hand as inauspicious and dirty hand or Tuesday as HanumanJi's day or Najar- evil eye, wife doesn't take husband's name etc.
She talks of India tendency to first establishing relation and then getting on to business. As part of this relationship building, Indians would volunteer information and enquire about rather private matters like religion, occupation, salary, marrital status etc. Indeed true. One thing she could have added was that for Indians there is not much of difference between various 'religions' in West- to us they are all Christians.
While she is appreciative of all good things that she could observe, while describing the negatives she doesn't mince words. Its for sure that million colors in India dresses and so many sounds in day-to-day India life would shock a first time visitor. When you talk to them, the most they come to expressing their disapproval is- 'interesting'. Nicci's verdict is very short and clear- 'cacophony of senses'. Later she explains- Its as much a mistake to confuse asceticism with aestheticism as it is to confuse estheticis with morality.
At the start, she describes things like tolerance for Caste based discrimination and other bad aspects of Indian life with bit diffidence; as if slowly leading the reader into Indian streets careful not to bias him too much against its social life. Towards the middle she describes such things with strongest language and by the end gets into sarcastic fun- regarding eating paan, 'the correct protocol for is to spit out the juice to add to the other orange stains spattering the street'.
Inacuracies There are certain parts of the book don't seem correct (not sure if this is prblem of book's accuracy or my lack of knowledge/ understanding/ bias towards my country). So don't read this section as confident statement of inaccuracies in the book, but as points which I didn't agree with.
Some famous Indians: 6 of them made to the list. Among Gandhi, Budhdha, Nehru and Tagore, one finds Jiddu Krishnamurthi (I myself had to Google his name) and B.K.S. Iyengar!! There is more to India than Mysticism and Yoga I guess.
Further down, there is mention of 'pragmatism' of Indian 'honesty is not a major value'. Feels bad, but looking at the level of corruption, adulterated stuff in market and normal tendency to fleece unknowing customer (e.g. by autowalas) there is not much to defend.
Among the airlines, there are no private airlines in India. double-checked, trust me the book was not published in 80s still Vayudoot is mentioned as major airline of India.
Apart from Cricket, Tennis is 'extremely popular' in India! If that's not enough, Polo is traditional game of Delhi!! I think
One thing that I hated in the book
When not 'hated' but strongly disagreed with. Its true that we would laugh if someone slips on a banana skin (till now I had assumed this was universal, only after reading the book I got to know this is Indian way). But I won't agree that Indian humor is lacking in subtlety and we enjoy slapstick humor. Appreciation of sardonic or 'dark' humor, she says is not much in India- I feel is same with the rest of the world. One related thing, which is also universal- intolerance towards puns. That's one discrimination we all pun-lovers (punster is the word) are fighting against.
All in all A nice book. Does warn a potential visitor to India about the contrasts and contradictions that he is about to witness and then tries to explain them as much as possible. While she takes strong stance against things like Caste based discrimination, for other matters she takes narative and explanatory tone rather than judgemental view. I think will definitely help a Westerner understad us better, even for an Indian its good book to understand how we appear from their eyes. For either type of readers, would be good to guard against stereotype, of course.
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