Summary
Jim Collins would want to introduce the book as '7 habits of Highly Effective Companies' when 'Effective' means companies that went from usual survival mode to phenomenally outperforming the market consistently. Now, the 7-habits has some real gems, and otherwise a lot of generic gyan, the same is true with this book too.
From thousands of publically traded companies market-price data Jim Collins (and the research team) came up with 11 companies that showed a Good to Great transition. They had a specific criteria to identify such transition and 'Great' company. Then they studied these 11 companies and their direct comparison companies to come up with common traits. Traits are
1) Level 5 Leader- leaders who have both “personal humility” and “professional will”. Seems arbit idea but they thing to be common quality of CEOs of those 11 companies. Perhaps it works that way, a low-profile, open-to-feedback CEO may get opportunity of invite the brightest ideas and also can get buy-in from all without hurting their egos. But I don't think Jamie Dimon of JPMC, or Sandy Weill of Citi or Jack Welsh .. any other guys fit this critieria and still they made their companies great.
2) Get the right people in team. Don't worry about what to do, that's for later. First who, then what.
3) The “Hedgehog concept”: One simple idea about what you can best in the world at, make money from and like doing it. Each of them separately and together are different from what is your core-competence.
4) Culture of self-discipline- so that you just make systems and norms and team follows it. You dont have to spend time on managing/ motivation etc. This comes from step 2.
5) Pioneering use of technology as accelerator, but as a source of transition
6) Flywheel- all these things together, very slowly build-up momentum and like fly-wheel sustain it. Then the company breaks through.
My view of the book
A lot of gas. Perhaps the points he is making are correct, but after reading the book who are no wiser as to how to make it happen- how can be a level-5 guy, how you identify who are right people, how you actually come to Hedgehog concept etc.
Biggest point can be that perhaps his criteria to decide on these G2G companies was not the correct one and so these 6 common traits of publicly traded old (atleast 50 years old to have that much history) are not relevant for the remaining companies and organizations.
But overall still there were quite some good pointers. Biggest of them was that while doing budgeting G2G companies don't reduce allocation for their non-main-focus areas, they simply stop allocation for them- they have a stop-doing list (as opposed to to-do list).
Read this article on vary good analysis of the book.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown ~ Simon Johnson, James Kwak
What the book is about
For the past 3 decades Wall Street has become too entrenched within Washington power corridors. Under their influence an increasingly de-regulatory regime has overseen (or failed to oversee) American financial system. Current financial crisis (2007-2009), which is the main subject for the book, has resulted from these circumstances. Bankers'approach has resulted in situation that privatizes the profits, while socializes the losses. Solution in short: Too big to fail is too big- cut them to size.
13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown ~ Simon Johnson, James Kwak
What the book is about
For the past 3 decades Wall Street has become too entrenched within Washington power corridors. Under their influence an increasingly de-regulatory regime has overseen (or failed to oversee) American financial system. Current financial crisis (2007-2009), which is the main subject for the book, has resulted from these circumstances. Bankers'approach has resulted in situation that privatizes the profits, while socializes the losses. Solution in short: Too big to fail is too big- cut them to size.
Why this name:
2009- 13 bankers came to meet President Obama to discuss how the deal with the finacnail crisis of 2007-2009. And after the meeting there message was 'we are in this together'.
1997- Brooksley Born, then head of Commodity Futures Trading Corporation (CFTC) proposed to issue a “concept paper”. Her concern was that 'lack of oversight allowed the proliferation of fraud, and lack of transparency made it difficult to see what risks might be building in this metastasizing sector'. Larry Summers, Deputy Treasury Secretary at that time, is supposed to have called her saying "I have thirteen bankers in my office, and they say if you go forward with this you will cause the worst financial crisis since World War II." NYTimes so aptly alliterates Credit Crisis Cassandra.
These two event, coincidently involving 13 bankers, symbolize the power of Wall Street; the new financial oligarchy within US.
Very apt quote from The Great Gatsby
"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Referring to big banks, who brought global economy to the brink of failure, caused millions to lose their savings of life-time and then left it for the governments to salvage the situation using taxpayers money.
How Wall Street became so powerful
Election campaign contributions, 'revolving door' between private sector and government services' and finally but most importantly their idealogical power that convinced people to the extent that pro-Wall Street sentiments were taken for granted.
Comparison with the Asian crisis of 90s
They dissect the financial crisis of South-East Asia (starting from Mexico, and that extended to Korea, Russia...). They show that in each emerging economy one common factor was crony-capitalism- close relationship between some oligarchs with the government (other factors were high levels of debt, cozy and dependence on volatile inflows of capital from the rest of the world).
And in each of these economies US and IMF pushed for taking long term stance (instead of bailout), even when it meant making few big companies bankrupt.
Later, when the similar situations came up in US (thats 2007-09 crisis), government took just the opposite route. This time, instead of huge money of taxpayers was spent to bailout the financial institutions.
I wonder why India was not mentioned. We didnt have this crony-capitalism problem, or because we were not affected directly by this crisis?
Further
The book is a good read. A lot of further readings can be obtained from the blog of the authors. One post by another expert provides a very good summary (in fact more than that) of their last chapters. Book's site also provides very good information.
For the past 3 decades Wall Street has become too entrenched within Washington power corridors. Under their influence an increasingly de-regulatory regime has overseen (or failed to oversee) American financial system. Current financial crisis (2007-2009), which is the main subject for the book, has resulted from these circumstances. Bankers'approach has resulted in situation that privatizes the profits, while socializes the losses. Solution in short: Too big to fail is too big- cut them to size.
Why this name:
2009- 13 bankers came to meet President Obama to discuss how the deal with the finacnail crisis of 2007-2009. And after the meeting there message was 'we are in this together'.
1997- Brooksley Born, then head of Commodity Futures Trading Corporation (CFTC) proposed to issue a “concept paper”. Her concern was that 'lack of oversight allowed the proliferation of fraud, and lack of transparency made it difficult to see what risks might be building in this metastasizing sector'. Larry Summers, Deputy Treasury Secretary at that time, is supposed to have called her saying "I have thirteen bankers in my office, and they say if you go forward with this you will cause the worst financial crisis since World War II." NYTimes so aptly alliterates Credit Crisis Cassandra.
These two event, coincidently involving 13 bankers, symbolize the power of Wall Street; the new financial oligarchy within US.
Very apt quote from The Great Gatsby
"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Referring to big banks, who brought global economy to the brink of failure, caused millions to lose their savings of life-time and then left it for the governments to salvage the situation using taxpayers money.
How Wall Street became so powerful
Election campaign contributions, 'revolving door' between private sector and government services' and finally but most importantly their idealogical power that convinced people to the extent that pro-Wall Street sentiments were taken for granted.
Comparison with the Asian crisis of 90s
They dissect the financial crisis of South-East Asia (starting from Mexico, and that extended to Korea, Russia...). They show that in each emerging economy one common factor was crony-capitalism- close relationship between some oligarchs with the government (other factors were high levels of debt, cozy and dependence on volatile inflows of capital from the rest of the world).
And in each of these economies US and IMF pushed for taking long term stance (instead of bailout), even when it meant making few big companies bankrupt.
Later, when the similar situations came up in US (thats 2007-09 crisis), government took just the opposite route. This time, instead of huge money of taxpayers was spent to bailout the financial institutions.
I wonder why India was not mentioned. We didnt have this crony-capitalism problem, or because we were not affected directly by this crisis?
Further
The book is a good read. A lot of further readings can be obtained from the blog of the authors. One post by another expert provides a very good summary (in fact more than that) of their last chapters. Book's site also provides very good information.
Baudolino~ Umberto Eco
A wonderful adventure of a lovable liar.
Year 1204, place Constantinople, person Nicetas Choniates a historian at Eastern Roman Imperial court. The city is being sacked by the pilgrims on their way to the 4th Crusade. Nicetas (Niketas in the book) is saved 'from the fury of the invaders' by a knight, who "appeared as handsome as Saladin, on a bedecked horse, a great Red cross on his chest, sword drawn, shouting "Gods belly!...". That's our hero Baudolino, who later flatly informs Niketas that he had the horse and the knights attire are actually stolen. Perhaps this is the only truth he tells, as after this there is no limit to the wonderful tales of Baudolino.
Baudolino~ Umberto Eco
A wonderful adventure of a lovable liar.
Year 1204, place Constantinople, person Nicetas Choniates a historian at Eastern Roman Imperial court. The city is being sacked by the pilgrims on their way to the 4th Crusade. Nicetas (Niketas in the book) is saved 'from the fury of the invaders' by a knight, who "appeared as handsome as Saladin, on a bedecked horse, a great Red cross on his chest, sword drawn, shouting "Gods belly!...". That's our hero Baudolino, who later flatly informs Niketas that he had the horse and the knights attire are actually stolen. Perhaps this is the only truth he tells, as after this there is no limit to the wonderful tales of Baudolino.
Niketas is a court historian, and living at Byzantine court has taught him to evaluate people with calm distrust. But what to do of a man, who flatly admits that he is an inveterate liar, possesses likable personality, has got wonderful tales to tell and most of all who is also ones savior? While the city burns and later when he is on the run with family, Niketas can not keep himself from constantly listening to the amazing account of Baudolino's life.
Towards the very beginning of the book Baudolino gives himself out candidly-
"Whether or not I saw him is another question. Master Niketas, the problem of my life is that I've always confused what I saw with what I wanted to see. ...with me, whenever I said I saw this, or I found this letter that say thus and so (and may be I'd written it myself), other people seemed to have been waiting for that very thing. You know, Master Nikatas, when you say something you've imagined, and other they say that's exactly how it is, you end up believing it yourself."
But still, there are things that keep Niketas half convinced that he is listening to a true account of life- Baudolino's knowledge of the thing that are known only to most widely read savants, his confidence in narrating stories and of course his evident fluency with so many languages (an ability possessed only by the apostles). Baudolino tells about how he came to be the adopted son of the Holy Roman Emperor himself (Frederik I Barbarossa), the story of founding of city of Alessandria, how he was instrumental in brokering peace between the Italian cities and the Emperor and how he falls in love with his adopted mother and end up even kissing the Empress! Taking a number of personalities, events and even the legends of the era as raw material, Eco spins out an entertaining adventure of Baudolino. Over the course, he shows how a number of legends (holy grail, wealth of Pretor John's kingdom, so many holy relics, myriad mythic creatures like Unicorn etc.) might have become part of popular legends. Checkout the fantastic world map that Baudolino used in his quest for Prestor John's kingdom.
After Tom Holland's scholarly account of European life around the first Millennium, I could appreciate this romance from Eco even more- depiction of roughly the same era, portrayal of a number of events and personalities from the and events from the same period, but in more fun-filled, and imaginative way. In an interview Eco had said about the book 'There are no advances in philology here – ... These are not pages or erudition, they are pages of comedy'. But that doesn't mean he takes it lightly. He says further 'it is an apology for utopia, for those inventions that move the world. Columbus discovered America by mistake: he thought that the earth was much smaller... A continent is conquered following a myth.' And towards the end of the book Eco uses one of the mythic creatures to explain Gnostic creation beliefs.
But why is it we never hear of this superhero, this Baudolino, in our history books? Its because, when Nicetas wrote his history, he omitted Baudolino's name deliberately. Otherwise he would 'have to tell about the relics they fabricated (and so many other irreverent things.)... And the readers would lose faith in the most sacred things'. Niketas is comforted by his mentor that the beautiful story of Baudolino would still not be lost- 'sooner or later, someone- a greater liar than Baudolino- will tell it.' Thus referring to himself, Eco closes the enchanting story of Baudolino.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Second hand shop in Utrecht:Stichting Kringloop Centrum Utrecht
Stichting Kringloop Centrum Utrecht
Bus no. 6 from central station
Bus stop Kastelenplantsoen
Sunday, May 23, 2010
The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman ~ Louis de Bernières
Magic realism. Need to read at least one book of Gabriel García Márquez's books to check it out from the master himself. Someone mentioned in Wikipedia that Louis de Bernières was paying homage to the style that came from Latin America by employing the Magic Realism style that was born there (?). And, intelligent as I am, further thought that he was paying specific tribute to Garcia by naming one of the characters after him. It might be that Garcia is fairly common name in Latin America and that this style (or even way of thinking) was usual for de Bernieres in his initial years as author; and so homage or no homage, perhaps he had no choice in these matters.
This was my third book by de Bernières. In each of his earlier two books that I read (Corelli's Mandolin & Birds without Wings) I had observed a method- an arrangement of events to get to the heart of the reader. First, he would depict an idyllic picture of a community and slowly get you in love with them. When doing so, he would give so many details for each setting, each character and each event that you would find the whole situation funnily real, and also would find yourself living those moments. And then in the second half, he would disrupt the whole way of living for the village/ small town, uproot them from their homes and would show one by one, how life turned sour for the individuals. And once again, like he had done with the good days, here also you would not be spared the gruesome and melancholy details.
I was suspecting the same treatment in this book, and was already dreading reaching the 2nd half of the book. But this time the end was not so bad. While for Colombia (or whichever country it was he was describing) the nature of the governance doesn't change much by the end of the book just becasue of regime change; the little town of Cochadebajo de los Gatos is spared the destruction and the townsfolk end the novel with a long fiesta, like in Asterix.
The long named town is the setting for the novel. And is home to funny, strange but lovable characters. While they are living their lovely-lovely life their with their million idiosyncrasies and hundreds of wild cats; a dishonest cardinal unwittingly starts an inquisition with an over-zealous priest in command. Unimaginable atrocities depicted with horrifying details make you wonder if really man is capable of doing all that. But the wonder should rather be reserved for the funny ghosts of the town who not only refuse to marry, but also fall in love in their afterlife, have kids and even get killed from their ghost-hood and transported back to life with a rebirth :)
Eventually the inquisition reaches the town, but is defeated in a fantastic battle fought by army, townsfolk and ghosts. The modern day Torquemada, El Innocente, is taken by St. Thomas Aquinas himself with a promise that he will go naked forever.
Millennium ~Tom Holland
Subtitle of the book reads "The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom", that should give some idea about the book. Focus of the book is roughly the 100 year span of European history around the first Millennium (10th & 11th century). During that time...
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Millennium, by Tom Holland
Subtitle of the book reads "The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom", that should give some idea about the book. Focus of the book is roughly the 100 year span of European history around the first Millennium (10th & 11th century). During that time, a lot of political and religious movements happened the way they happened, as people were waiting for the anti-Christ and then Christ to come once the thousandth year after the Savior was over. While no one exactly knew whether those thousand years were to be counted from the moment of His birth or Passion, or if those years were to be taken literally as 1000 years or even if those years were already gone by. And so even when the years kept going by, the people continued with their games out of fear, despair and hopes of the Millennium and the arrival of the Christ.
The tussle between the Papacy and rulers, Holland explains, first made Church getting too strong (with much fun and at length, he describes how even a emperor was forced to wait on a Pope for three days, standing outside the Pope's castle in snowy winter). And then, this same struggle made rulers to assert themselves more sternly, which made the state more independent and separate from the Church. He says that this would have paved way for secular democratic states ruled by modern ideas (allowing gay marriages etc.), however, the evolution of this modern state is not the focus of the book. So I find it funny that this is exactly what The Independent wants to highlight the most, perhaps because its so catchy- 'A pact between an obscure Pope and a Dark Ages emperor led to gay weddings and Voltaire' :)
Holland also describes at a very high level also the major events since the death of Constantine that led to the momentous years around the Millennium. The evolution of Lord-serf relation, Knights, Castles, Peace of God and so many other things that I used to read about became even more clear. I think best part was the chapter on events that finally resulted in Norman conquest of England. True to his style, Holland named that chapter '1066 and all that'.
Another masterpiece of Tom Holland that matched my expectations after Rubicon and Persian Fire. Just today finished the book. Unlike other books, and like any of Tom Holland's, this one was required you to really focus due to its over-complicated sentence structure; but was still so much enjoyable, interesting and hence a fast read.
The tussle between the Papacy and rulers, Holland explains, first made Church getting too strong (with much fun and at length, he describes how even a emperor was forced to wait on a Pope for three days, standing outside the Pope's castle in snowy winter). And then, this same struggle made rulers to assert themselves more sternly, which made the state more independent and separate from the Church. He says that this would have paved way for secular democratic states ruled by modern ideas (allowing gay marriages etc.), however, the evolution of this modern state is not the focus of the book. So I find it funny that this is exactly what The Independent wants to highlight the most, perhaps because its so catchy- 'A pact between an obscure Pope and a Dark Ages emperor led to gay weddings and Voltaire' :)
Holland also describes at a very high level also the major events since the death of Constantine that led to the momentous years around the Millennium. The evolution of Lord-serf relation, Knights, Castles, Peace of God and so many other things that I used to read about became even more clear. I think best part was the chapter on events that finally resulted in Norman conquest of England. True to his style, Holland named that chapter '1066 and all that'.
Another masterpiece of Tom Holland that matched my expectations after Rubicon and Persian Fire. Just today finished the book. Unlike other books, and like any of Tom Holland's, this one was required you to really focus due to its over-complicated sentence structure; but was still so much enjoyable, interesting and hence a fast read.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Office worries
Woke up after thinking (dreaming?) whole night about office matters. For past few days have been worried that my whole days goes in office work or thinking about it. Then I was struck with a comforting thought-
Maturity to think over life's real problems or the discipline to leave office worries to office itself will come later. But till then, I can be happy that biggest worries in life are about office matters and not something to do with my family, friends, health or other personal matters.
Maturity to think over life's real problems or the discipline to leave office worries to office itself will come later. But till then, I can be happy that biggest worries in life are about office matters and not something to do with my family, friends, health or other personal matters.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Utrecht Taxis
RIBOTAX
Phone 030-2441474
Mobile 06-50275019
van Egmondkade 92
3553 JL Utrecht
----------------------
Prestige
0302875050
----------------------
Schipholl Taxi
0302300400
Good option to go to Schiphol airport. For 55 Euros you can reach there from any ONE point within Utrecht. If you have to go to 2-3 houses within Utrecht to get all friends, then those costs are extra, @ normal charges.
Phone 030-2441474
Mobile 06-50275019
van Egmondkade 92
3553 JL Utrecht
----------------------
Prestige
0302875050
----------------------
Schipholl Taxi
0302300400
Good option to go to Schiphol airport. For 55 Euros you can reach there from any ONE point within Utrecht. If you have to go to 2-3 houses within Utrecht to get all friends, then those costs are extra, @ normal charges.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Death. By choice.
Got to know of sad demise of one of my colleagues' mother. Sometimes the Grim Reaper comes as a shock and almost always he comes uninvited. But this time, he was one sought out visitor (though still I feel an unwelcome one, when finally he would have arrived)- the departed was one weary fighter after long battle with pain.
I remember how few days back my colleague had told of her mother's situation- "my mother is dying". Not as an event, but as an action- not as in 'this is happening to her', but more as 'she is doing it'. Indeed then she explained that too much pain caused by cancer has made her to decide to end her life. In the Netherlands this is allowed (euthanasia).At that time, she was looking for an appointment with the specialist doctor to make this happen. Appointment! To die?!!
I know of my own family members, who in last few days, were forced to wish for death due to pain. Also, I remember my friend Gert, who when he got to know that he had cancer, decided not not to go for chemo. His was a choice for better quality of life though for fewer days- he reasoned that chemo would make him live an extra few months, but would make his health deteriorate so badly that those would not be days worth living. And now, now I hear of this lady, who consciously took an appointment to end her world. How much strength and rational thinking is needed to make such a decision, and how much will power is needed to stick to it? Because life would start tempting you again towards her, the moment you return to occasional lucid moments from your morphine induced slumbers!!
Farewell o departed, though we know not where you go. And I wish strength to all those you leave behind. In life, I hope I can someday be as resolute as you showed yourself to be in death. And may your tale make me and my loved ones and your loved ones, live life more fully.
पश्येम शरदः शतं|
जीवेम शरदः शतं|
श्रुणुयाम शरदः शतं||
As for death, I think I can just pray as so many have done before me
अनायासेन मरणं, विना दैन्यें जीवनं!!
I remember how few days back my colleague had told of her mother's situation- "my mother is dying". Not as an event, but as an action- not as in 'this is happening to her', but more as 'she is doing it'. Indeed then she explained that too much pain caused by cancer has made her to decide to end her life. In the Netherlands this is allowed (euthanasia).At that time, she was looking for an appointment with the specialist doctor to make this happen. Appointment! To die?!!
I know of my own family members, who in last few days, were forced to wish for death due to pain. Also, I remember my friend Gert, who when he got to know that he had cancer, decided not not to go for chemo. His was a choice for better quality of life though for fewer days- he reasoned that chemo would make him live an extra few months, but would make his health deteriorate so badly that those would not be days worth living. And now, now I hear of this lady, who consciously took an appointment to end her world. How much strength and rational thinking is needed to make such a decision, and how much will power is needed to stick to it? Because life would start tempting you again towards her, the moment you return to occasional lucid moments from your morphine induced slumbers!!
Farewell o departed, though we know not where you go. And I wish strength to all those you leave behind. In life, I hope I can someday be as resolute as you showed yourself to be in death. And may your tale make me and my loved ones and your loved ones, live life more fully.
पश्येम शरदः शतं|
जीवेम शरदः शतं|
श्रुणुयाम शरदः शतं||
As for death, I think I can just pray as so many have done before me
अनायासेन मरणं, विना दैन्यें जीवनं!!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Putting inline comments in mails
Usually we need to put inline comments while replying to mails. Its always useful to put our name in the beginning of such remarks, with special font so that the remark stands out.
Microsoft Outlook can do it automatically for us, as given below
Microsoft Outlook can do it automatically for us, as given below
The outlook setting is fairly simple.
Go to Tools --> Options --> Click on Emailoptions
(my screenshots are for Dutch version of MS Office).
In the two drop-downs asking for options on inline comments, make proper choice. Also indicate how you would want your name to be marked before the comments.
Click Ok. Done!
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Secure print using MS-Office
It usually happens in office that I need to print some confidential document. For such cases, the only option with me is to click the Print button and then run to the printer.
Recently I got to know from my colleague Alex that a very useful facility for this is available in Office suite for quite some time.
It's very simple- while printing you can provide a one-time password. The printer would print the document only when you have provided that password on the printer itself. Of course, you can use this only if the printer in your office/ home has option to input password, but most modern printers come with this facility.
For step by step instructions
Click File --> Print. Then on the pop-up window, click Properties button, select 'Page Setup' tab, and then select 'Secure Print' from the Output Method drop-dpwn.
Recently I got to know from my colleague Alex that a very useful facility for this is available in Office suite for quite some time.
It's very simple- while printing you can provide a one-time password. The printer would print the document only when you have provided that password on the printer itself. Of course, you can use this only if the printer in your office/ home has option to input password, but most modern printers come with this facility.
For step by step instructions
Click File --> Print. Then on the pop-up window, click Properties button, select 'Page Setup' tab, and then select 'Secure Print' from the Output Method drop-dpwn.
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.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris
First published in 1964, the book seems to be full of information. If I want to put some of the useful parts of the book in here, I will have to put the whole book here. God!! I dont know how many years of observation leads one to such insights. Ofcourse a lot of it is kinda armchair theorisin after making a lot of observations, but whatever he writes seems so true. And also consisten with the findings of greats of other disciplines such as that if Dr. Eric Berne etc.
First of all, why 'Naked Ape', becos if one took common sense approach of a biologist, who normally starts by naming a species of black footed squirrel found in Africa as African Black Footed Squirrel, the one would name Homo Sapiens Naked Ape bcos undoubtedly they are apes and also naked bcos they are hair less.
Around 15m years back, when the forests were getting reduced, some of the apes cames out of forests into open. Till now they were dependent on trees for food but now the became carnivore too. They had to compete with carnivores in the new surrounding for the prey and from here came some changes thru which we humans became what we are- bilogically and culturally. But this happened so fast that we didnt have time to shed vegetarian ape's habits, and so we now have both the traits, that of hunting carnivores and that of a vegetarian ape.
The exodus from the forests brought abt following changes-
First published in 1964, the book seems to be full of information. If I want to put some of the useful parts of the book in here, I will have to put the whole book here. God!! I dont know how many years of observation leads one to such insights. Ofcourse a lot of it is kinda armchair theorisin after making a lot of observations, but whatever he writes seems so true. And also consisten with the findings of greats of other disciplines such as that if Dr. Eric Berne etc.
First of all, why 'Naked Ape', becos if one took common sense approach of a biologist, who normally starts by naming a species of black footed squirrel found in Africa as African Black Footed Squirrel, the one would name Homo Sapiens Naked Ape bcos undoubtedly they are apes and also naked bcos they are hair less.
Around 15m years back, when the forests were getting reduced, some of the apes cames out of forests into open. Till now they were dependent on trees for food but now the became carnivore too. They had to compete with carnivores in the new surrounding for the prey and from here came some changes thru which we humans became what we are- bilogically and culturally. But this happened so fast that we didnt have time to shed vegetarian ape's habits, and so we now have both the traits, that of hunting carnivores and that of a vegetarian ape.
The exodus from the forests brought abt following changes-
- Standing vertical
- Hunting for prey. Which entails collective effort of hunting packs and not the intra group rivlry of vegetarian apes.
- They became territorial as all hunting animals are, as opposed to wandering apes.
- Neoteny (prolongiong some of the infantile characteristics till adult age, in fact we became infantile apes. so that the brain can take time to grow enuf (bioogical developement of the kid) and the kid can learn by mitation and teachings.
- And till that time one of the parents, mother, had to stay with the kid at home.
- For the successful cooperation among the hunting group members, they had to be sure that while they are away hunting, someone else wont take away all the loot of the females. and so came the male-female pair bonding mechanism, a cultural way to ensure hunting group harmony. also like all the species, where child rearing is massive project, both parents started taking care of the tasks. only in our case the pair bonding was permanent.
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