tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50412510429861958912024-03-14T19:48:01.937+05:30Coffee Rings EverywhereNatashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.comBlogger1698125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-108757977542414792024-03-14T19:47:00.002+05:302024-03-14T19:47:14.216+05:30Concrete Rose: A Book That Acknowledges The Confusion Of Young Men<p> <span style="font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem;">Angie Thomas is probably the most powerful voice of her generation, and with ‘Concrete Rose’, the prequel to</span><span style="font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem;"> </span><a href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2023/03/the-hate-u-give-is-a-book-that-reminds-us-of-our-privilege" style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-text-opacity: 1; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem;">The Hate U Give (THUG)</a><span style="font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem;">, she has yet again set standards which even she will struggle to beat. This is the story of Maverick Carter- of what made him the man we came to love and admire in THUG.</span></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">One afternoon, he is a seventeen year slinging dope, old playing basketball and buying gifts for his girlfriend. A few hours later, a DNA test comes out positive and he realises that he had impregnated his best friend’s girlfriend during a one night stand when his condom slipped. The mother of the child disappears and he is stuck with a three month old baby he had no idea was his. His mother insists that he ‘man up’ and shoulder his responsibilities. He learns to change diapers and burp the baby. He moves out his music collection to make place for the crib, and sells his recorder to buy essentials for the baby. He even gives up slinging dope and takes up a minimum wage job. His girlfriend breaks up with him, the baby keeps him awake at night, he is exhausted working in the grocery store and school becomes the one place where he can catch up on his sleep.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">Normally a teen pregnancy turns the mother’s life upside down, but here it is the father who bears the brunt of it (though he had no say in whether or not the pregnancy should be continued). Though he had never been particularly ambitious, Maverick sees even the few dreams he had disappear. He sees no escape from a deary future where he will be bagging groceries all his life. Angie Thomas does a remarkable job of getting into the psyche of the teenage father, and talking about how much damage the ‘men don’t cry’ myth does to young black men.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">The book also talks about how few options are available to young black men growing up in black communities. Of how they are forced to align with the gangs in order to survive and of how they lack positive role models who might inspire them to do better. Maverick believes that “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”; since his father was an important member of a gang, he will have to join it too. It is only at the end of the book that he understands what his employer and mentor meant when he said that “while an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, it can roll away if kicked at the appropriate time.”</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">One wonders how realistic Maverick’s mother’s character is. You admire how she teaches her son to be primary parent, but you also wonder how many women would have compelled their son to take on the responsibility instead of trying to return the child to the mother. Clearly she wants her son to be a better father than her husband had been, and this creates interesting dynamics between the two. There is another emotional part where she admits to her son that she is in a lesbian relationship with someone her son thought was her ‘friend’. He wonders why he feels betrayed by his mother, and also thinks of how his jailbird father is the only one to lose out completely.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">Apart from his relationship with his mother, Maverick is in two other important and complex parent- child relationships- with his father who he starts to question, and with his baby son who he loves unconditionally. Each of the relationships is deeply nuanced, making the entire book a delight to read.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">While there are many fabulous books written for young adults, there are not many that address the issues faced by young men. ‘Concrete Rose’ does a wonderful job of acknowledging the confusion faced by young men, especially those arising due to changing gender dynamics, and this book will certainly provide a counter to the <a href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2022/12/why-we-should-worry-about-the-growing-radicalization-of-young-men" style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-text-opacity: 1; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">toxicity spewed by Andrew Tate and other such proponents of the manosphere</a>. While Maverick’s situation may not be universal, his confusion certainly is, which makes this a must read for young men.</p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-35946061947391489802024-03-14T19:45:00.006+05:302024-03-14T19:45:51.456+05:30'She & I': A Tale Of Male Victimhood, Entitlement And Obsession<p class="graf graf--p" name="7364"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">[First published in </em><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/03/she-i-a-tale-of-entitlement-and-obsession/" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/03/she-i-a-tale-of-entitlement-and-obsession/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">YouthKiAwaaz</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">]</em></p><p><em style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem;">“This is my story- a story spanning ten years. A story of my blood; my tears. I was thirty-three when it all began. I was forty-three when it ended. This is not my story alone. It is also Kamala’s. And, I feel as if I’ve just woken up and the dream has drifted away.”</em></p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">With these opening words, the narrator of ‘She & I’ pulls you into his story of victimhood and obsession. He is, a 33-year-old man from a family that is neither too rich, nor entirely poor. He believes he is too educated to work in the fields like the rest of his family, yet is unwilling or unable to get a job befitting his perceived stature.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">So he spends his day <em style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">“eating thrice a day, sitting in empty places, getting money from my parents on the pretext of applying for jobs, smoking.”</em> While he is manning his cousin’s telephone booth, he sees Kamala for the first time and falls in lust with her.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">Kamala, is a beautiful, self-possessed and fiercely independent widow with twin daughters who has been offered a clerk’s job on compassionate grounds after the death of her husband. For the next ten years, the narrator remains obsessed with Kamala. He is always around; doing odd jobs for her, eating the food she prepares for him, making demands on her time, never spending any money on her, but complaining that she doesn’t give her anything in return for his loyalty. They gradually get into a physical relationship, but neither of them initiates anything more permanent.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">While the narrator is a wastrel who clearly runs away from a commitment of any kind (he even refuses to get married giving the most flimsy reasons for not doing so), Kamala comes across as someone true to her name. Like the lotus after which she is named, she thrives even in muddy water and doesn’t let any of the muck stick to her.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">She has a full time job, she brings up her daughters single-handedly, she manages a estates of her parents and parents-in-law and is a source of support to the women in the village, particularly those who do not have any other support. Since the story is told from his perspective- you do not really question what she sees in him and why she remains in a relationship with him- surely it is not because he runs errands for her?!</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">Things change for the pair when Kamala gets transferred to the district headquarters. There are many more people in her life now. The narrator suspects her of having an affair, though she denies it. He is torn apart by jealousy and insecurity, and when he sees that she is unaffected by his hurtful words, his love turns into obsession. He stops eating, he stops talking to people, and lets himself be consumed by the imaginary wrongs she did to her.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">Here, we are offered a very accurate portrait of society. Since he is male, and therefore can do no wrong, his mother and sisters are quick to blame Kamala for his moods, to the point of accusing her of bewitching him. Without pausing to think of why Kamala may not want to formalise a relationship which gives her very little, they put the blame on the fact that she is of a higher caste and that she will have to give up her widow’s pension if she remarries.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">Imayam is one of the finest Tamil writers today and his books normally bring out the startling inequities of society. The scope of this book is less panaromic than that of the others, but it is still a stunning portrait of patriarchy works to create entitled men who expect their women to perform exactly as they expect them to, and of the constraints within which society expects women to behave. While the end was slightly predictable, what cannot be denied is that the book is a brilliant study into the mind of an obsessed man, and of how the intersectionality of caste and gender work at the individual level. The book is unsettling, but so is the message it conveys.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">The story is set in Tamil Nadu, but the emotions are universal. If you like stories set in small town India, if you like reading stories that have strong emotions, and if you enjoy stories told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator, this book is for you. The book reminded me of Vivek Shanbhag’s ‘Sakina’s Kiss’, which too was told from a perspective of a man who considers himself a victim, even though he is not one.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-inset: var(--tw-empty,/*!*/ /*!*/); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; border-color: currentcolor; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">I received an ARC of the book. The views expressed in this review are my own. This book has been published by Speaking Tiger. </em></span></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-32979004017031099132024-03-14T19:43:00.001+05:302024-03-14T19:43:11.810+05:30'2024: India In Free Fall' Is A Must Read For Those Concerned About India<p> <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">[First published in </em><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/03/sanjay-jhas-2024-india-in-free-fall-describes-the-last-decade" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/03/sanjay-jhas-2024-india-in-free-fall-describes-the-last-decade" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">YouthKiAwaaz</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">]</em></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="77c3">In ‘2024: India in Free Fall’ former Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha talks about some of the urgent issues that the nation should be concerned about — ‘from the othering of Muslims minorities and the bulldozing of citizen’ rights and even homes, to the surreptitious dismantling of the judiciary and the unfettered growth of crony capitalism and plutocracy that has aggravated income inequality.’ In an ideal democracy, with General Elections just a few months away, these issues should be discussed on prime time debated every night. Since mainstream media seems to have abdicated it’s role of a watchdog, it is left for books like this to ensure that these issues do not fade from public memory.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="9053">Sanjay Jha, who describes himself as the person who has the dubious distinction of remaining suspended from the Congress Party for the longest period of time, still describes himself as “a Congressi by DNA”. He grew up in the India that many of us thought we grew up in — an India that was loyal to the Nehruvian ideas of secularism, liberalism and scientific temperament.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="38a0">He believed, as most of us did at that time, that in a democracy people have the fundamental right to question those in power. In today’s India, however, being a secular liberal has almost become an insult. Nehruvian idealism is not something anybody claims to follow, and if they do, they are relegated to being part of the fringe minority. Yet, Sanjay Jha remains true to those ideals, and it is that which comes through in this entire book.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="6b39">2024 provides an analysis of many of the issues which might have destabilised a government in the past, but which far from being doing that have not only not been adequately discussed, they have been ignored to a point where they have completely faded from public memory. Throughout the book, which discussing everything from the handling of the Covid epidemic, to the state of the economy and the level of unemployment, the author keeps reiterating his stance that if the 2024 elections are fought on the basis of performance, it is extremely unlikely that the current government would come back. However, he also points to the fact that the election is more likely to be fought on emotions than on facts.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="36ef">While holding the BJP government responsible for ignoring the promises on which it was elected in the first place, the author does not give the Congress Party a free pass either. Despite being a former Congress spokesperson, or maybe because of it, calls out the largest opposition party for resisting (or delaying) taking a stand on certain issues, and for not facilitating a grassroots protest. He also questions the leadership style, and talks of the importance of access and managing perceptions. Given how long and intimately the author has known the party, and how he remains loyal to its values, it might be good for the party in question to introspect on these issues.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="47cc">When I was talking to someone the other day they said that it is ‘the job of politicians to lie’ and that I should not get agitated about the fact that election promises have not been kept. What the person failed to understand was that even if one concedes that politicians make election promises which they perhaps have no intention of keeping, in a functioning democracy the media is supposed to question them relentlessly and hold them accountable for the promises they made. In India, as the author reminds us in the book, the mainstream media often ends up defending the government even more than the official party spokespersons do!</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="cfe5">The predominant emotion running through the book is not anger, but disappointment tinged with bitterness. The book is a silent lament for the values that an entire generation grew up with but which have now been eroded. There is bitterness about lost opportunity, and sadness that a country which was poised to take its place among the best in the world is today slipping down on many of the global indices that matter.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="b5b0">Above all, this book serves as a reminder of the many issues which we have allowed to slide from our memories after the initial outrage- incidents of communal violence, issues of gender oppression, and the gradual erosion of the values on which the nation was built. Ideally, these issues should have been kept alive by the opposition and by the media, but after a few days of hashtags, they have now disappeared from all of our consciousness. The book serves to remind even those who genuinely care for the idea of India of the number of incidents that we have now completely forgotten.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="798e">2024, as the author says, is an important year for the world. Three of the largest democracies (USA, UK and India) go to polls this year. All three nations are facing extremely challenging times. All three have deviated from the principles on which the respective nations were founded, and in two of those countries, the government seems to be out of touch with what the population wants. The book does not make any predictions about what might happen in 2024, but it does remind us of how we got to this point in history.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="4812">This book is a must read for everybody who is concerned about where the nation is heading.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="0c0c"><i>The book has been published by Harper Collins India. I received an ARC of the book. The views are my own.</i></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-59028009558854313162024-03-14T19:40:00.004+05:302024-03-14T19:40:39.405+05:30This Book Debunks The “Hindu Khatre Mein Hai” Conspiracy Theory<p> <em class="me" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">[First published in </em><a class="af mf" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/02/facts-behind-the-conspiracy-theories-that-are-driving-conversations/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;" target="_blank"><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">YouthKiAwaaz</em></a><em class="me" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">]</em></p><div class="er es et eu ev l" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin-bottom: 68px;"><article style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="l" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="l" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><section style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="fk fl fm fn fo" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="ab ca" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; justify-content: center;"><div class="ch bg ew ex ey ez" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 24px; max-width: 680px; min-width: 0px; width: 680px;"><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="68c7" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="li fs" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Love jihad. Population jihad. Forced conversions. Muslim appeasement.</em></span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="2791" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">You cannot live in India or be in contact with Indians without hearing these words multiple times every week. Whether it be your family or school WhatsApp group, discussions in the office cafeteria, dinner party conversations or debates on news channels — when you hear people go on and on about these topics, you almost start to believe that “Hindu khatre mein hai/ Hindus are in danger” and that ‘something’ should be done immediately to ‘safeguard’ the religion and those who practice it. Maybe not everyone genuinely thinks that Hindus will be reduced to being a religious minority in the country, but many certainly believe that they have got a raw deal and that it is a disadvantage to be born a Hindu in India.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="aeb0" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Many of us intuitively or anecdotally realise that these conspiracy theories are just that — conspiracy theories. However, these falsehoods have been repeated so often by high ranking politicians, government functionaries and mainstream media that they have almost become the truth.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="28e7" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Moreover, in the absence of hard facts, it is almost impossible to counter any of the claims. That is where the book, “Love Jihad and Other Fictions” comes in. The trio of journalists, Sreenivasan Jain, Mariyam Alavi, and Supriya Sharma brought hard-nosed journalistic scrutiny to these viral claims, and in this book have laid out the ‘simple facts to counter the viral falsehoods.’</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="dc0d" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">They used a combination of looking at publicly available data, seeking information through RTIs, contacting the leaders who make/ made these claims, and did on the ground reportage to arrive at the truth behind each of the issues.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7c5f" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The book follows a simple format. The falsehoods are grouped into four broad classifications — love jihad, population jihad, conversions and Muslim appeasement. Each individual issue is compressed into a heading, the claims are described in detail, depending on the nature of the claim either the data is analysed (or lack of supporting data noted) or the story is investigated through on-ground reporting, and a single line conclusion states if the issue is fact or fiction.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="1ac6" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">While some of the claims are debunked by analysing data, but you don’t need a background in statistics to understand the simple graphs which are completely self-explanatory. Other stories which deal with specific individuals or events are subject to proper investigative journalism, including reading available information and interviewing the various stakeholders before arriving at the conclusion.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="4c67" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="li fs" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">The four main sections covered in the book are:</span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="671a" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="li fs" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Love Jihad:<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></span>Love Jihad is apparently a conspiracy whereby Muslim men get women of other religions to fall in love with them with the objective of converting them to Islam prior to marriage. The book examines the prominent instances of “love jihad” before establishing that in each of those cases, the intent behind the inter-religious relationship was not to convert the woman to Islam. The authors also analysed the complete list of cases of “love jihad” before arriving at the conclusion that the numbers are too low to be considered a ‘conspiracy’.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c6ba" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="li fs" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Population Jihad:<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></span>The proponents of this conspiracy cite government records to claim that Muslims are waging a holy war by producing more children, and that the population of Muslims will exceed that of Hindus in a few decades. Many, including high ranking politicians have also alleged that there is large scale migration of Muslims from neighbouring countries, which is responsible for changing the religious demographics of border districts. The book analyses the available data behind each of these claims, and concludes conclusively that there is no basis for making any of the claims.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="09f7" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="li fs" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Forced Conversions:<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></span>According to this conspiracy, Christians plan to take over India through mass forced conversions, and the proponents of the theory allege that many who undergo conversion continue to hide the fact in official records. The book analyses existing government data to show that the percentage of Christians has not gone up. They also investigate the allegations of forced conversions to prove that those who did convert did so out of their own volition.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7e4b" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">However, through the same on ground interviews they also establish that while there are some people who self-identify as Christian and go to church regularly, they continue showing their original religion in their official records in order to enjoy the benefit of reservations and other affirmative action.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="8619" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Since affirmative action is intended to compensate for generations of oppression, the book makes a strong case for extending reservations to Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims also. This section also discusses whether or not the anti-conversion laws enacted by several states is compatible with the provisions of the Constitution which give the right to “propagate” your religion.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="bcca" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="li fs" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Appeasement of Muslims:<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></span>Hindutava parties accuse other political parties of “Muslim appeasement”, and claim that haj subsidy, funding of madrassas, and the fact that Muslim men can practice polygamy prove that Muslims are mollycoddled to the detriment of other religions. The book examines each of these issues separately and explains exactly how none of them offers any special privileges to Muslims. In fact, the authors argue, if a Universal Civil Code is implemented, people belonging to the majority religion will stand to lose the most.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="687c" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The Epilogue is the most heart wrenching section of the book, because it uses publicly available data to show how violence against religious minorities have gone up exponentially in the last nine years. Which some of the violence may have been directly orchestrated by those who enjoy political patronage, all the violence took place only because the dominant political climate allows hate and hate crimes to be normalised.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d474" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The book ‘Love Jihad and Other Fictions’ debunks many of the myths we hear every day, and provides facts to counter the falsehoods. Anyone who wants to know the truth behind the claims, should read the book, because it ensures that we are aware of the facts and are no longer acting through ignorance.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="963b" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">As is the case with <a class="af mf" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2023/11/h-pop-the-book-we-must-read-to-understand-the-new-india/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Kunal Purohit’s ‘H Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars</a>‘, having read the book, it will be up to us to either choose to counter the narrative and challenge falsehoods with facts, or to choose to be silent. Whatever we choose, the choice will be ours.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="82b4" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The book is published by Aleph Book Company. I received a review copy, but the views are my own.</em></p></div></div></div></div></section></div></div></article></div>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-25738937873166669692024-03-14T19:36:00.003+05:302024-03-14T19:36:20.690+05:30‘Swallowing The Sun’: A Family Saga Set In Pre-Independence India<p> <em class="me" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">[First published in </em><a class="af mf" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/02/swallowing-the-sun-a-family-saga-set-in-pre-independence-india" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;" target="_blank"><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">YouthKiAwaaz</em></a><em class="me" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">]</em></p><div class="er es et eu ev l" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin-bottom: 68px;"><article style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="l" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="l" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><section style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="fk fl fm fn fo" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="ab ca" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; justify-content: center;"><div class="ch bg ew ex ey ez" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 24px; max-width: 680px; min-width: 0px; width: 680px;"><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="187c" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">We have we have this pre-conceived notion that the women in pre-independence India were meek and docile. That they were largely confined to the house and that they did not have any opinions of their own. Yet, if we look at history, we see that there were very many women who participated in a very meaningful way both in the freedom struggle and in various battles to achieve social and economic equality. These were not just privileged women from westernised families, but women from the working class and the oppressed class; women who you would not expect to be out there protesting or even having (much less expressing) an opinion of their own.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a1d8" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="li fs" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">In this lyrical work of fiction set in the first half of the 20th century, Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri has chosen to debunk the myths of the silent Indian women by writing about a family that defies the norms set by a patriarchal society.</em></span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="24f9" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">At a time when child marriage was rampant, one man fought society to give both his younger daughters an education and forced them to pursue careers. In the society of his day, on the demise of his wife at childbirth, the Maratha farmer would have married a second wife who would have taken care of the girls and the newborn son, but he defied society to put the girls in an Ashram school, where they lived and learnt with other orphan girls. He encouraged them to go to college and trusted them enough to live on their own in Bombay and study in a co-educational institution. What makes the story even more powerful is the fact that it is clearly inspired by the author’s own mother, who was herself a postgraduate in the same pre-Independence period.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="1511" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The story spans one generation- roughly 50 years of Malati’s life- the time span may not be enough to call it an intergenerational saga, but the story does follow people from multiple generations of the family long enough to see how perceptions and prevailing attitudes change, and how certain things which were not even considered early on in the story become normalised towards the end. Malati herself evolves from an intelligent and headstrong young girl to an empathetic and accomplished woman forged by love, loss and life.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="e6a1" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The book’s greatest strength is the powerful characters, especially the women characters. Yes, the pioneering women students, Malati and her sister Kamala, are the protagonists, but the subsidiary characters are equally strong. Their Aiyee, for instance, seems like a silent housewife, but she put her foot down whenever needed, taught her daughters to carry themselves with pride and dignity, and supported her husband when he dreamt crazy dreams for the girls. Their older sister Surekha was allowed to decide whether or not she wanted to be the second wife of an extremely rich and powerful man and did so on condition that he would never emotionally or physically abuse her. Maa Saheba, the first wife of the man whom Surekha married, was called crazy by society, but was she really crazy- she was one in the long tradition of bhakti saints who only wanted union with a Lord Krishna and asserted her agency whenever she could. Sarla and Veena, the two daughters of Surekha’s husband, were both high-spirited young women who craved romantic and sexual gratification. As you encounter each of these characters, you start to realise how much you stereotype a particular time, but that even in those days, women did assert themselves within their limitations.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="020b" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">There are many layers to each of the main characters. For instance, we feel quite indignant when a particular character shows his misogynistic nature by trying to clip the wings of his wife. But soon we realise that the couple hide a secret which both are determined to protect, and his controlling nature is just to ensure that his wife is protected.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="77e4" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Of particular importance throughout the book is, of course, the battle for independence- the different ways in which people participated in the freedom struggle, the different choices available to them, and how some people chose to become lawyers or teachers, thereby providing a continuation of intellectual leadership, of how some people joined the nonviolence struggle, and others joined the revolutionary struggle. People were very different from each other, but each was driven by a love for the motherland and a desire to do whatever it takes to free India from the clutches of the British.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="fbcb" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The most stunning part of the book, however, is the lyrical language. Sometimes, it seems a little over the top, but it never ceases to be beautiful. The author quotes abhangs from Marathi bhakti saints, Marathi and English poetry from the period, and verses from Kalidassa’s Meghadoota. The same kind of lyrical beauty permeates the book, and her gorgeous prose ensures you can almost visualise what is happening in front of your eyes. This is clearly a book that will make it many shortlists when literary awards are announced, and rightly so. Few debut novels tackle social themes in as enchanting a way as this one does.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c886" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Time takes on very different meanings in this book- sometimes, short periods of time are described in vivid detail over many chapters, and at other times, years flip by in a sentence or two. In the last quarter of the book, timelines get a little confusing when, in an attempt to close certain subplots, the author jumps forward several years before returning to pick up the main narrative where she left off.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a02d" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Swallowing the Sun, a title taken from an abhang of Muktabai– “the ant flies into the sky and swallows the sun”, is a book about individuals. Still, through their story, we also get a deeper understanding of the socio-economic and political world of the first half of the previous century. A word about the exquisitely beautiful cover- flowers, birds and fruits are painted against a muted gold sky, with the ghats of Banaras in the background, creating a scene as evocative as the book itself.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="4870" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">I received a review copy of the book, but the views are my own. The book has been published by Aleph Book Company.</em></p></div></div></div></div></section></div></div></article></div>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-36050077466622085902024-03-14T19:31:00.005+05:302024-03-14T19:31:40.679+05:30Condemning An Abuser Should Be Easy… But Why Does It Sometimes Become So Difficult?<p><i> [First published in <a href="https://www.womensweb.in/2024/02/pandit-birju-maharaj-condemning-an-abuser-should-be-easy-sometimes-become-so-difficult/">Women’s Web</a>]</i></p><p><b>Trigger Warning: This speaks of sexual abuse and grooming by someone in a position of power and may be triggering for survivors.</b></p><p>The noted Kathak exponent Pandit Birju Maharaj passed away two years back. His death affected me greatly because I had just become a student of kathak and the composition we were learning then was one of his. For the next couple of days, I let his baritone voice comfort me while I mourned the fact that I would never see him teach or perform live.</p><p>Then the allegations of sexual harassment started coming out, which left me stunned. There was no question of not believing the victims/ survivors. Anyone who understands how power dynamics work knows that the classical music and dance space offers immense scope for sexual abuse. As a woman and as a feminist, I offered nothing less than unconditional support to the women speaking up.</p><p><b>However, a large part of me was shattered<br />S</b>hattered because realised I would never again be able to truly appreciate a phenomenal talent like him. The almost divine voice which took me to undreamt levels- how could that voice belong to a man who preyed on defenceless women? To me it seemed almost unfair that just when I had learnt to be truly mesmerised by someone, he was taken away twice- once through the death of his physical body, and then through learning about how he acted with women.</p><p>I struggled to reconcile the two aspects- the formidable talent who literally moulded kathak into its modern form and the man who took advantage of women in his charge. Separate the Art from the Artist, I repeatedly told myself. But it is so much easier to say it than to actually do it.</p><p>As a student of kathak, his name came up in almost every class. The compositions he wrote and sang, the innovative techniques he devised for teaching the basics, the simple descriptions which helped us get the right posture. It is almost impossible to stay in love with the dance form without encountering him everyday.</p><p><b>I recognised that he was not untainted, yet…<br /></b>More than once, when I finally mastered something I was struggling with, I would glance up at his portrait seeking approval. Yet, whenever I did that, it would be with a twinge of guilt- was I complicit in the conspiracy of silence that protects sexual abusers?</p><p>I have pondered on this for two years and I still don’t have an answer.</p><p>At an intellectual level, I continue to stand by all I said two years back. Sexual abuse is rarely about sex, it is about power. When power dynamics are not equal, even a consensual relationship between two adults may not strictly be consensual. The victims deserve our nothing less than our unconditional support, and as a woman and a feminist I will not deny them that.</p><p>Yet, as a student of a classical art form of which he was the undisputed master, how can I ignore or deny the contribution he made?</p><p>Perhaps the best I can do is to continue to respect and be grateful for the immense body of work that Pandit Birju Maharaj left behind, while at the same time recognising that despite his almost divine talent, he too was human. And human beings are often flawed. As a friend reminded me, the artist and the human being are often two very different people.</p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-47445891914782446182024-03-03T19:24:00.003+05:302024-03-03T19:24:15.014+05:30Dear Men, Do you have any idea what women go through everyday?<p><i> [Based on a twitter thread, and published in Women’s Web]</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Yet another horrific sexual assault has been committed against a woman in India. As always, men are advising women on how they should take adequate precautions. Adequate precautions? Do men have any idea what women go through everyday?</p><p>Let’s ask a couple of questions to understand how women and men navigate the world differently, shall we?</p><p><br /></p><p>What do you do when your 2-wheeler stalls on a highway at 9 pm?</p><p>If you are male, you walk to the nearest toll booth and try to find someone who can help you fix it the bike. Or you stand on the road, thumb a lift, and return the next day with a mechanic.</p><p>If you are female, you wonder how to save yourself from rape. [Disha, a veterinary doctor from Hyderabad couldn’t save herself].</p><p><br /></p><p>When you are booking a hotel room in a place you are unfamiliar with what do you look for?</p><p>If you are male, you look at photographs of the rooms. You check if there is a pool or a gymnasium. You read reviews of the food. You check out the view and the location.</p><p>If you are female, you go through reviews from other women to see if the place is safe.</p><p><br /></p><p>When you want to go for a run, what do you do?</p><p>If you are male, you wear your running clothes, lace up your shoes, turn on the Garmin and go.</p><p>If you are female, you check if there are people about, you send a quick WA message to your friends to see if anyone wants to run with you, you pull up an emergency contact number on your phone, you hold your housekey in your fist so you can use that as a weapon if needed. And then you decide running on a treadmill is safer than running on the road.</p><p><br /></p><p>No, men have no idea how much women need to think before doing things that they take for granted. Yet, women know it is never enough.</p><p><br /></p><p>Women are always scared.</p><p>When we wave goodbye to a friend at the metro station, we say, “text me when you get home.” And if she doesn’t, we start worrying and call to check if she reached home safe. And the moment she picks up the phone we say, “next time you forget to text after reaching home, I will kill you.”</p><p><br /></p><p>When we take cab from the airport late at night, we pretend to take a photograph of the licence plate and send it to a friend, so the driver knows there is a record of us being in his cab. When we find the driver checking the mirror too often, we often dial a number and have imaginary conversations with people. Sometimes, we even carry a hot beverage with us, so we can throw it on the face of the driver if things get out of hand.</p><p><br /></p><p>Our family is scared for us.</p><p>The last time I visited my father in law, he yelled at me because I chose to walk home from the metro station at 8:30 pm. “If you had called me, I would have driven down and picked you up”, he told me. He was nearing 80 then, but he was willing to get out of his warm home in a Delhi winter because he was terrified of what could happen to a woman walking 600 meters through a residential area.</p><p><br /></p><p>We worry for our colleagues.</p><p>When my female colleagues travelled alone by overnight train, I would call them before going to bed so my phone number would be at the top of the call list in case something happened to them. I never even thought of doing that for my male colleagues.</p><p><br /></p><p>Women choose not to do things that men take for granted.</p><p>We never step out alone for a smoke. We take someone with us because we are scared.</p><p>We are terrified of being the only female on a train or bus. Paradoxically, we are even more scared of being the only woman in a ladies compartment because what if a man jumps on at the last moment and does something to us?</p><p><br /></p><p>Men never know the fear we constantly live with. They can never understand what we go through every day while just going about our daily life. They will never know that we are constantly in fight or flight mode, and the toll it takes on our physical and mental health.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, dear men, please don’t tell us to “take precautions”- we already do. If you want to help, be better allies. Listen to women when they articulate their concerns regarding women’s safety. Explain to other men why they should change certain behaviours. Don’t be a silent observer when a woman is in trouble and is appealing for help. Teach your sons and nephews, brothers and cousins, father and uncles the meaning of consent. Understand consent yourself. Thank you.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-46794854594834370802024-02-22T20:44:00.003+05:302024-02-22T20:44:18.413+05:30Reimagining the Ramayana in Troubled Times<p><i>[Review of Lindsay Pereira’s “The Memoirs of Valmiki Rao”]</i></p><p>Valmiki Rao is a 70 something retired postmaster who lives in a Ganga Niwas chawl in Mumbai, the same house he grew up in. Never married and with no dependents, he is the quintessential observer. He sees all that happens in his chawl, he empathises with the struggles of people, and he offers no judgement. During his life, he witnessed multi-generational family dynamics among the residents of the chawl. A chawl which had only Hindus families- no Muslims, no Christians, no Parsis- most of them lower caste families from the same area in Ratnagiri. Most of the original inhabitants of the chawl were mill workers who had migrated to Bombay, and without going into the history, the author tells the story of how the influence of the largely communist trade unions on the political landscape of the city was gradually replaced by that of the more militant Shiva Sena.</p><p>The major part of the book is set in 1992–93, the period where India in general witnessed religious frenzy of the kind not seen since Partition. Most people in Bombay would have struggled to place Ayodhya on the map, they knew that it was unlikely they would ever visit Ayodhya and pray at the Ram Mandir, yet so many of them was invested in ensuring that the Babri Masjid came down and the temple came up. You see how the Shiv Sena was able to capture the loyalty of the youth, not by offering them anything tangible, but merely by letting them know that they and their frustrations were visible to the party. The book offers a sociological background to the growing radicalisation of youth, and of how they were manipulated into considering people with whom they have no personal interaction as the ‘enemy’.</p><p>The Memoirs of Valmiki Rao, is not as much a retelling of India’s favourite epic, as much as it is a re-imagining of the same. The characters can be easily identified. Ramu is a promising young lad born to parents who doted on him. He remains the ‘golden boy’ even after his mother passes away, and his father brings home a younger second wife who is determined to ensure that her step children are cut off. He falls in love with Janaki, the daughter of a (relatively) wealthy shopkeeper, who reciprocates his advances. Ravi Anna, from the ‘enemy’ chawl also falls in love with Janaki and with the help of his sister plots to kidnap her. Sundar is the quintessential boy who lives and works in a roadside chai stall- he has little idea about his family, but he is fiercely loyal to Ramu. The story plays out against the backdrop of the riots that erupt in the city. The story of Ramu and Janaki could be the story of countless others- pawns in a larger political game over which they have no control.</p><p>Without it being the central theme, the book speaks of how women are often silenced in society. A woman might do no wrong, yet she is blamed. And she is the one expected to suffer in silence because of decisions made by ‘her’ men. In one of the most poignant scenes of the book, Janaki confronts Ramu who has gone visibly cold, and when he turns around accuses her, in sheer distress, she rushes out into a rioting city. Her’s is the story of many women, caught between the whims of fathers, brothers, and lovers each of whom act as if their honour rests in her vagina.</p><p>Like Rohinton Mistry’s “A Fine Balance”, the book is an ode to the city of Bombay. It is full of small details which bring the city to life. He talks of how life would come to a standstill on Sundays when entire families would gather around the TV to watch Ramayana. He describes how Govindas would make a human pyramid to break the matka on Gokulashtami, and how families would throw water on them from windows. He talks of carrom tournaments conducted under naked blubs, and chai tapris with unnamed and unseen young boys rushing around. He describes how chawls gradually give way to co-operative housing societies, but how nothing else really changes. The book is set in the past, but it remains a cautionary tale for the present. It clearly articulates how no matter who wins or loses the political battles, it is the common man who pays the price.</p><p>This is definitely one of the best books I read this year.</p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-70366344192167423142024-02-19T18:01:00.003+05:302024-02-19T18:01:55.694+05:30‘Maria, Just Maria’ Makes Us Question Why Some People Are Called ‘Mad’<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">[Book review first published in</span><a class="af me" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/02/maria-just-maria-makes-us-question-why-some-people-are-called-mad" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;" target="_blank"> YouthKiAwaaz</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">]</span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="ebf6" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><em class="mf" style="box-sizing: inherit;">“Madness is often an easy solution for writers to conclude a story, especially stories with a hero or heroine in the grip of an existential crisis. This in short is the world’s relationship with madness. In real life, though, madness is boring. No, actually real life is boring and madness might add a touch of interest to it.”</em></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="303c" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Thus muses Maria, the protagonist of Sandhya Mary’s “Maria, Just Maria”, a 30 something woman who is being treated in a psychiatric hospital. Most of the story is told from the perspective of Maria as a child- a perspective which is not every common, but which works every effectively in this story.</p><h1 class="mg mh fr be mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my mz na nb nc nd bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7b61" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; letter-spacing: -0.016em; line-height: 30px; margin: 1.95em 0px -0.28em;">The book is full of an assortment of characters</h1><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj ne ll lm ln nf lp lq lr ng lt lu lv nh lx ly lz ni mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="01d6" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 0.94em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Maria, the fourth and not wanted child of her parents, is left at Kottarathil Veedu, her mother’s ancestral home, to be brought up by an assortment of relatives. Her grandfather, Geevarghese, who is considered “mad” by the rest of his family is her best friend who <em class="mf" style="box-sizing: inherit;">“spends most of his time in toddy shops and gallivanting around the village taking his granddaughter along.”</em></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="18ed" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">But the ‘respectable’ members of the family are an equally quirky bunch- a great-grandfather over ninety years old and at death’s door, a great aunt who was in the grip of dementia, a grandmother with few feelings for her husband but who bore him 15 children of which a dozen survived, a great uncle who worshipped his sister in law, an unmarried aunt who was a Communist and in love with a much older man, an uncle who would treat all the villagers even when he was still studying to be a doctor. Each of these characters is sketched with warmth- you love their oddities, you empathise with their fears and feelings. You wonder what is normal and what is not.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c584" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">To the mix, add Chandipaati the talking dog with an attitude who is more philosopher than mutt, and Ammini a parrot with an almost enviable vocabulary. The village statue of Geevarghese Sahada/ St. George who is bored stiff of sitting still on his horse and protecting chickens when called to do so decides to enliven his existence by entering the dreams of the villagers. Even Karthav Eesho Mishiha / Jesus Christ makes an appearance as a dark man with a darker beard with whom Maria plots a revolution which will give power back to the people.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="11d0" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">As the story proceeds from one incident to the next in a non linear fashion, you start to question a world which tries to slot people into convenient moulds. What do you say about the spinster great aunt who knows how to pleasure herself, or the newly married aunt who accidentally locks her husband out of their bridal suite?</p><h1 class="mg mh fr be mi mj mk ml mm mn mo mp mq mr ms mt mu mv mw mx my mz na nb nc nd bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="8810" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; letter-spacing: -0.016em; line-height: 30px; margin: 1.95em 0px -0.28em;">The book holds a mirror to society</h1><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj ne ll lm ln nf lp lq lr ng lt lu lv nh lx ly lz ni mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="dab4" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 0.94em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The book holds up a mirror to society, and forces us to look beyond binaries. People contain multitudes and cannot be put into convenient slots. Life is rarely tragic or comic, it is just life- unexpected, yet deeply expected. The book also questions our political and religious systems. In a passage where Maria is talking to Karthav Eesho Mishiha, she asks-</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="2616" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><em class="mf" style="box-sizing: inherit;">“Tell me, do you gods really have the kind of power that humans believe you have?’<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Maria genuinely hopes that gods exist, desires it with all her heart, except that they should be gods who know how to do their jobs properly. What is the point in having gods who can’t even stop humans killing each other.”</em></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7794" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The book makes us question why we can’t be more empathetic, kind and inclusive. It asks why we should want everyone to conform and punish those who do not. It also questions the traditional expectations that society has from women-</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="1ad2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><em class="mf" style="box-sizing: inherit;">“Besides, where is the fairness in what you say? If a man has a good job, he is considered accomplished, even if he doesn’t have any children. But for a woman to be considered accomplished, she just has to produce some children. She can go to Pluto and back, and still you won’t acknowledge her accomplishment unless she has popped out a few children. Truly, Ammachi, I don’t understand your world or its standards!”</em></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="8cc0" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">“Maria, Just Maria” is set in Kerala- the characters, settings and situations would not work anywhere else, yet there are no sweeping descriptions of any of the elements that we have come to associate with the literary depiction of Kerala.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a670" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">“Maria, Just Maria” is translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil who in addition to being a writer and translator is also a mental hearth professional. Interestingly, the book, according to Sandhya Mary, did not set out to be a novel. It was a series of notes she wrote to herself, mostly in English.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="681b" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">It was only when she decided to make it a novel that the stories were rewritten in Malayalam- so the translation is almost a homecoming for the book. The translator quotes Edith Grossman who said <em class="mf" style="box-sizing: inherit;">“A translation can be faithful to tone and intention, to meaning. It can rarely be faithful to words or syntax, for these are peculiar to specific languages and are not transferable.”</em> Jayasree Kalathil’s translation certainly feels seamless.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="862d" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The book ends with the line <em class="mf" style="box-sizing: inherit;">“Poor Maria.”</em> But who is really “poor”? Should a person be branded crazy because they live life differently from what is considered normal? If a person is happy, who are we to brand them as crazy? Why should success be unidimensional?</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a569" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">What if someone like Maria doesn’t have great ambitions; what if she is content being ‘verum Maria- just Maria’. Should she be judged for that? The book is a plea for a more inclusive world. And it is that plea that remains with us long after we finish the book and stop chuckling over the antics people get into.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="0c89" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><em class="mf" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The book is published by Harper Collins</em>. <em class="mf" style="box-sizing: inherit;">I received a review copy. All views expressed in the review are my own.</em></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-72603679550461035162024-02-13T19:50:00.001+05:302024-02-13T19:50:10.100+05:30‘Swallowing The Sun’: A Family Saga Set In Pre-Independence India<p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="8bf6" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">[First published in </em><a class="af mf" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/02/swallowing-the-sun-a-family-saga-set-in-pre-independence-india" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank"><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">YouthKiAwaaz</em></a><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">]</em></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="f419" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">We have we have this pre-conceived notion that the women in pre-independence India were meek and docile. That they were largely confined to the house and that they did not have any opinions of their own. Yet, if we look at history, we see that there were very many women who participated in a very meaningful way both in the freedom struggle and in various battles to achieve social and economic equality. These were not just privileged women from westernised families, but women from the working class and the oppressed class; women who you would not expect to be out there protesting or even having (much less expressing) an opinion of their own.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="5533" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><span class="li fs" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">In this lyrical work of fiction set in the first half of the 20th century, Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri has chosen to debunk the myths of the silent Indian women by writing about a family that defies the norms set by a patriarchal society.</span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="a2a7" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">At a time when child marriage was rampant, one man fought society to give both his younger daughters an education and forced them to pursue careers. In the society of his day, on the demise of his wife at childbirth, the Maratha farmer would have married a second wife who would have taken care of the girls and the newborn son, but he defied society to put the girls in an Ashram school, where they lived and learnt with other orphan girls. He encouraged them to go to college and trusted them enough to live on their own in Bombay and study in a co-educational institution. What makes the story even more powerful is the fact that it is clearly inspired by the author’s own mother, who was herself a postgraduate in the same pre-Independence period.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="eb8c" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The story spans one generation- roughly 50 years of Malati’s life- the time span may not be enough to call it an intergenerational saga, but the story does follow people from multiple generations of the family long enough to see how perceptions and prevailing attitudes change, and how certain things which were not even considered early on in the story become normalised towards the end. Malati herself evolves from an intelligent and headstrong young girl to an empathetic and accomplished woman forged by love, loss and life.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="291c" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The book’s greatest strength is the powerful characters, especially the women characters. Yes, the pioneering women students, Malati and her sister Kamala, are the protagonists, but the subsidiary characters are equally strong. Their Aiyee, for instance, seems like a silent housewife, but she put her foot down whenever needed, taught her daughters to carry themselves with pride and dignity, and supported her husband when he dreamt crazy dreams for the girls. Their older sister Surekha was allowed to decide whether or not she wanted to be the second wife of an extremely rich and powerful man and did so on condition that he would never emotionally or physically abuse her. Maa Saheba, the first wife of the man whom Surekha married, was called crazy by society, but was she really crazy- she was one in the long tradition of bhakti saints who only wanted union with a Lord Krishna and asserted her agency whenever she could. Sarla and Veena, the two daughters of Surekha’s husband, were both high-spirited young women who craved romantic and sexual gratification. As you encounter each of these characters, you start to realise how much you stereotype a particular time, but that even in those days, women did assert themselves within their limitations.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="814f" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">There are many layers to each of the main characters. For instance, we feel quite indignant when a particular character shows his misogynistic nature by trying to clip the wings of his wife. But soon we realise that the couple hide a secret which both are determined to protect, and his controlling nature is just to ensure that his wife is protected.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d53f" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Of particular importance throughout the book is, of course, the battle for independence- the different ways in which people participated in the freedom struggle, the different choices available to them, and how some people chose to become lawyers or teachers, thereby providing a continuation of intellectual leadership, of how some people joined the nonviolence struggle, and others joined the revolutionary struggle. People were very different from each other, but each was driven by a love for the motherland and a desire to do whatever it takes to free India from the clutches of the British.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="fe0c" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The most stunning part of the book, however, is the lyrical language. Sometimes, it seems a little over the top, but it never ceases to be beautiful. The author quotes <em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">abhangs</em> from Marathi bhakti saints, Marathi and English poetry from the period, and verses from Kalidassa’s Meghadoota. The same kind of lyrical beauty permeates the book, and her gorgeous prose ensures you can almost visualise what is happening in front of your eyes. This is clearly a book that will make it many shortlists when literary awards are announced, and rightly so. Few debut novels tackle social themes in as enchanting a way as this one does.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="336f" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Time takes on very different meanings in this book- sometimes, short periods of time are described in vivid detail over many chapters, and at other times, years flip by in a sentence or two. In the last quarter of the book, timelines get a little confusing when, in an attempt to close certain subplots, the author jumps forward several years before returning to pick up the main narrative where she left off.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="5657" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2.14em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Swallowing the Sun</em>, a title taken from an <em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">abhang</em> of Muktabai<em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">– “the ant flies into the sky and swallows the sun”</em>, is a book about individuals. Still, through their story, we also get a deeper understanding of the socio-economic and political world of the first half of the previous century. A word about the exquisitely beautiful cover- flowers, birds and fruits are painted against a muted gold sky, with the ghats of Banaras in the background, creating a scene as evocative as the book itself.</p><p><em class="me" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">I received a review copy of the book, but the views are my own. The book has been published by Aleph Book Company</em> </p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-31727570349949852212024-02-05T20:58:00.001+05:302024-02-05T20:58:33.050+05:30How Does India Mourn? A Book On Last Rites In Different Religions<p> <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">[Book Review of Minakshi Dewan’s ‘The Final Farewell: Understanding the Last Rites and Rituals of India’s Major Faiths’ first published in </em><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/01/the-final-farewell-forces-us-think-of-death-and-last-rites" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/01/the-final-farewell-forces-us-think-of-death-and-last-rites" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">YouthKiAwaaz</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">]</em></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="01db">Death is the only certainty of life, and yet that is the one thing we do not prepare for.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="9fa6">When my father passed away after a protracted illness, without even discussing it with each other, my mother and I knew we would not be conducting any elaborate last rites. We chose the electric crematorium because it was the least polluting option, and then immersed his ashes in the Cauvery. It was all over in one and a half days, and we sought closure however we could. My father was a deeply religious person, and we do not know what he might have thought of it, but that is the case with most people. We plan our weddings, our birthdays, and other assorted celebrations, but most people do not even think about their death, much less plan it.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="5691">They don’t need to because all religions have prescribed funeral and mourning rituals, which are often both elaborate and expensive. Minakshi Dewan’s The Final Farewell does a fantastic job of describing the last rites and rituals prescribed in each of the major religions in India- Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity and Parsis.</p><p class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote" name="2cdc">“How does India mourn?” was a question that struck the author while she was performing the last rites of her own father, and this book is a culmination of the many interviews she had with people associated with performing the last rites of the deceased.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="f1bd">What struck me most while going through the narratives was how similar funeral and mourning rites are in each of the religions- of how, in almost all religions, there are specialists without whose assistance the last rites cannot be performed, and of how across religions, the period of mourning ends with an elaborate feast which tests the means of the family of the deceased. The other common factor across religions is how women are excluded from all displays of public mourning, though they continue to perform a role at home.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="af90">In the section on Hindu funeral and mourning rites, the author examines the caste hierarchy in performing Hindu funeral and mourning rituals. The task of directly assisting with the cremation in burning ghats is left to the Doms, who are considered the lowest even among the Dalits- for the rest of the world, they are “Untouchables”, yet ironically, the soul cannot attain release. Through her research, the author also found out that there is a separate category of “funeral priests” who only assist in the 11 days of rituals. Once the “<em class="markup--em markup--p-em">mrithyu ka kaam</em>” is over on the 12th day, they are supposed to disappear from sight and let the regular priests take over.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="fbc3">The author also digs deep into how much people spend on funeral and mourning rites. It is not cheap, and we have all heard stories of families which did not have enough money to treat the dying but go into debt to ensure the last rites are performed.</p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="2838">Death during COVID</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="592a">While all of this is interesting from a sociological perspective, it is the second part of the book which is deeply engaging. The author examines how funeral and mourning rituals changed during the Pandemic. During the first wave, bodies were taken straight from hospitals in body bags, and any ritual that involved touching the deceased person had to be suspended.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="c0b4">While reading her descriptions, which were based on countless interviews, I was reminded of a friend of the family who lost her nonagrian mother to COVID- it was not the death she mourned as much as she did the fact that they couldn’t give their mother a proper funeral-<em class="markup--em markup--p-em"> “we did everything so well for our father”,</em> she’d cried.<em class="markup--em markup--p-em"> “All we could do was watch Amma being cremated in the electric crematorium over video. We couldn’t even say goodbye”.</em> The massive number of deaths during the second wave also saw many women get involved in conducting the last rites of people whose families were not able to give them a fitting funeral. Though women are traditionally excluded from participating in mourning, many came to the forefront, and it is hoped that now funeral rites will adapt to enable the participation of women.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="6e99">The book also describes communities at the margins. The sub-cultures of funeral performers who flourish in the margins of funeral and mourning rites- rudhalis, mirasans and opparis, who are professional mourners and parai and gaana, who provide musical performances. The challenges faced by the kinnar community while performing last rites. The lack of access to burial spaces for Dalits in many rural and even urban communities sometimes results in people burying their dead under roads or below their own huts.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="0a26">The book also provides hope when it describes a few organizations which provide an empathetic and inclusive space for people to conduct the last rites of their loved ones. Lastly, the book examines the environmental impact of traditional funeral rites and throws open questions about whether these practices can continue or not.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="bcfe">I enjoyed reading Minakshi Dewan’s <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Final Farewell</em>: <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Understanding the Last Rites and Rituals of India’s Major Faiths</em> both for the descriptions of the funeral and mourning rites followed by different communities and because <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">it challenged me to think about how caste, gender and social-economic status permeates everything in life, including death.</strong></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="4f43"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">The book is available wherever books are sold. I received a review copy of the book, but the views are entirely my own.</em></p><p class="graf graf--p graf--empty" name="2d48"><br /></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-11616037596116131722024-02-05T20:55:00.002+05:302024-02-05T20:55:19.297+05:30'The Day I Became A Runner' Delves Into Women, Sports And Rural Poverty<p> </p><p class="graf graf--p" name="cd79"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">[Book review of Sohini Chattopadhyay’s “The Day I Became A Runner”, first published in </em><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/01/the-day-i-became-a-runner-understanding-gender-in-india" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2024/01/the-day-i-became-a-runner-understanding-gender-in-india" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">YouthKiAwaaz</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">]</em></p><p class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote" name="ae2d">“The Day I Became a Runner” begins with how the author took up running. <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">“I was a lump in those days- a squat, easily breathless lump”,</em> she says. Yet, she took up running to cope with the grief of losing her grandmother. Turning up at the neighbourhood park every morning became her mourning ritual.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="529b">Even though she stopped more than she ran, she turned up everyday. Like every other woman runner, she tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, when she had to pass someone she would stop running, sidle past and start again even if it disturbed her rhythm.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="5fa6">Through her experiences as a newbie runner, she makes very valid points about how even urban, educated women are excluded from public spaces, and of how women are acutely aware of the risk they take every time they put themselves in public. The chapter sets the tone for the entire book- it is not just the stories of eight elite women runners who represented (and in once case, almost represented) India in the international arena; it is a socio-political commentary on the role of women at home and outside.</p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="691d">The Trailblazers</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="d01e">The first two runners profiled in the book are names that only quizzers and the most devoted sports enthusiasts would know- Mary D’Souza who represented India in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and Kamaljit Sandhu who won a gold medal in the 1970 Bangkok Asian Games.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="8365">Two women from very different backgrounds who excelled in sports at a time when even educated women did not have ambitions beyond marriage and family. By juxtaposing the stories of her grandmother and mother on the stories of these two athletes, the author not only reinforces the passion and commitment displayed by them, but also gives an overview of gradual evolution of the role of upper class/ upper caste, educated women in urban India.</p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="ae4d">PT Usha</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="20f6">PT Usha is well known to every Indian- the story of the young girl who trained on the sandy beach of Payyoli and made history when she missed the bronze medal by a hundredth of a second at the Los Angeles Olympic Games has been told and retold multiple times.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="516d">You would think there is nothing new left to uncover, but the author brings out nuances that remain unspoken. For instance, when describing how the attitude of the sports officials accompanying the Indian contingent changed, she writes-<br /><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">“More than anything else, she noticed the body language of the Indian official who had come to summon her for the phone call from the Prime Minister — the alertness, the eye contact, the slight bending towards her while speaking…Until that moment, the officials accompanying the Indian Olympic contingent had not spoken to anyone other than the hockey team members.”</em></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="3ec5">The author, also, doesn’t shy away from displaying her ambivalence towards PT Usha. The author is clearly disappointed that the woman who inspired countless young women with her sporting prowess and who, post-retirement, started a residential athletics academy for women is critical of “those feminists”, and she articulates it while describing the young women who train under PT Usha-<em class="markup--em markup--p-em"> “I saw them being the equals of men, claiming their place in the world without hesitation.</em> <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">But Usha’s perspective was different. ‘I train girls because girls listen to authority’, she told me. ‘They have more discipline than boys. They are easier to mould and prepare. They bring you better results, more medals. And it changes their life too.’”</em></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="9cb9">The author resolves her ambivalence- <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">“It was difficult for me to separate my Usha from the Usha I met. Her politics didn’t take a thing away from her record on the track, from the thrill it was to watch her in action. Nor did it diminish her years of work training young women in athletics on her own, working outside government institutions. It should not have mattered. Yet it did.”</em></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="39c8">It is this honesty which shines through in the book, and makes it so special.</p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="e8ae">The Women Accused of Not Being ‘Women Enough’</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="0eb2">The author reserves her best for the next three stories — Santhi Soundarajan, Pinki Pramanik and Dutee Chand- and sets the benchmark for how the media should report on gender. All three athletes were accused of not being women (or not being woman enough); accusations of that nature can wreck the personal life of a person, but what made it worse was the sensational way in which each case was reported by the media.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="cf52">Shanthi, for instance, was accused of “failing a gender test”- clearly the person reporting it did not even know the difference between sex and gender, and was only interested in writing a titillating headline. The author tears apart the uninformed reportage of the media, while also giving the reader an introduction to gender.</p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="6564">Women, Sports and Rural Poverty</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="5c32">The last section of the book talks about how in many parts of rural India, sports is perceived as a way to break out of the cycle of poverty. For Olympian Lalita Babar, sports was the means to escape the grinding poverty of rural Vidharba and create a better life for herself in Navi Mumbai. Even before she became an Olympian, Lalita Babar won a hattrick at the Mumbai Marathon.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="1bf4">It is an event where hundreds of recreational woman runners participate in every year, but what sets them apart are the reasons why they run. Recreational runners run for the joy of running (or to attain fitness goals), but for Lalita Babar running is a passport to a better life. When asked about Lalita’s legacy, a coach said, “Lalita lacks the killer instinct. Most Indians are happy to be good enough.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="6727">They don’t want to be the best.” Whether this is strictly true or not, the reality is that as the headmaster of the school where Lalita studied says, <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">“at least fifteen girls who graduated from this school have gone on to get government jobs after Lalita… (she) showed this was possible.”</em> The chapter on Lalita Babar and the next one can be read as a thesis on gender and poverty in rural India, and highlights many issues at the intersection of gender and poverty.</p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="715d">Conclusion</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="fc7c">The book ends with the story of Ila Mitra who would have been India’s first female Olympian if WW-II had not intervened, and who went on to become a trailblazer in the Communist movement, but for that, you need to read the book. This book is not just the story of elite women athletes, but speaks of how in a society defined by gender inequity, these women gave other young women the courage to dream big. Isn’t that an achievement in itself?</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="8e43"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">I bought a copy of the book, and my opinions are my own.</em></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-4869873604213037862024-01-08T18:39:00.002+05:302024-01-08T18:39:19.278+05:30Poonachi: Or the Story of a Black Goat<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJbSAFPZi7kZYQf8dTC3c85N_ega0HmOBJzr31zrcI8g5KKmS9hHocsEBc9yrtez83xxiv-tSK9s3YgNjw_g8Ho4A0G6pSqQMkqXQmeoDNu4mc5gOTeILZBT3m1uN1uzq-yaQzRfhZ-NqKZLAzEIFWHcakf-ckDYOndGW4AuCzZr-RcCeM7CAfGQ6GGg-N/s1280/WhatsApp%20Image%202024-01-08%20at%2010.42.41.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJbSAFPZi7kZYQf8dTC3c85N_ega0HmOBJzr31zrcI8g5KKmS9hHocsEBc9yrtez83xxiv-tSK9s3YgNjw_g8Ho4A0G6pSqQMkqXQmeoDNu4mc5gOTeILZBT3m1uN1uzq-yaQzRfhZ-NqKZLAzEIFWHcakf-ckDYOndGW4AuCzZr-RcCeM7CAfGQ6GGg-N/s320/WhatsApp%20Image%202024-01-08%20at%2010.42.41.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />"Perumal Murugan the writer is dead," wrote Perumal Murugan after the targeted hate he received from the right wing forced him to quit his job and fear for his life. But how can a writer not write? Or as he puts it, "How long can an untold story rest in deep slumber within the dormant seed? I am fearful of writing about humans; even more fearful of writing about gods… let me write about animals." He chooses to write about goats, or more particularly about a tiny black female goat called Poonachi.<p></p><p>Poonachi is the smallest goat the old man has ever seen- a gift from a giant of a man who wanted only a "kind hearted man" to have her. The old man, and his wife are themselves struggling to survive, but they take on the responsibility of the black goat. They do not have anything to feed her, and even after several weeks, she remains as small as a new born. She may be tiny, but she if feisty and she forms a bond with the old woman and talks to her constantly though she doesn't know how much the old woman understands.</p><p>Poonachi is the story of a black goat, but somewhere along the line, you start to think of her as a spirited young woman. A young girl who ignores dangers because she is fascinated by the world. A young woman who falls in love, and holds the memory of her lover in her heart even when she is forced to mate with an older, more acceptable partner. A young mother struggling to look after her children, yet distraught when the kids are snatched away. A lovelorn woman who meets her lover again and enjoys a few moments of bliss. Poonachi is the victim of circumstances just like a human in identical circumstances would be, and through her experiences and thoughts, the author delivers a scathing commentary on the twin evils of gender and poverty.</p><p>Comparisons to "Animal Farm" are inevitable, but Poonachi is a very different book. Both are allegorical and political, but there is empathy and emotion in Poonachi which is missing in Animal Farm. The book speaks of hunger and greed. It speaks of betrayal and cruelty. But people do bad things not because they are bad, but because they are left with little choice. When a human is struggling to stay alive, can you really blame them for slaughtering their goat? It is this sense of helplessness that remains long after you finish the book.</p><p>In the introduction, the author says he is "deeply familiar" with goats, he clearly is. I was awestruck by the description of the plants and trees- you can almost feel the landscape, see the plants from the perspective of a tiny goat and taste the stalks and leaves the little goat munches. Perumal Murugan is one of the foremost writers of our time, and this might be his best book!</p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-33392203503499066532023-12-26T20:01:00.003+05:302023-12-26T20:01:58.513+05:30Kashmir: Partition Trilogy #3 - A Framework For Understanding Kashmir<p class="graf graf--p" name="6b16"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">[First published in </em><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2023/12/kashmir-partition-trilogy-3-a-framework-for-understanding-kashmir" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2023/12/kashmir-partition-trilogy-3-a-framework-for-understanding-kashmir" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">YouthKiAwaaz</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">]</em></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="2477">Kashmir is the third and last book in Manreet Sodhi Someshwar’s Partition Trilogy, which explores the events, exigencies and decisions that led to Independence, Partition and the Accession of States, which eventually led to the borders of India and Pakistan being what they now are.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="3819">Like Lahore and Hyderabad, the first two books of the Partition Trilogy, Kashmir too is a historical fiction told at two levels- the high-level political negotiations between the people whom history books talk about, and the stories of the common people who were being pulled apart by forces beyond their control.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="b745">Most people who have grown up in Independent India have only a vague understanding of what is often called the Kashmir issue. We know that the cartographic boundary of Kashmir differs based on whether the map was drawn in India or Pakistan. We know that the Army has been deployed in Kashmir for most of our lifetime and that the area has enjoyed only brief periods of peace. We know that Kashmir enjoyed “special status” till the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. However, most of us are unaware of the history of Kashmir, and of the conflicting interests which ensued that the issue never achieved a peaceful solution. This book goes a long way in addressing those gaps.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="d747">Almost all the historical figures who were involved in the process of decision-making appear as characters in the book. Through her study of archival material the author has recreated decisive moments of history and presented them as fictionalised scenes. Lord Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Sheikh Abdullah and Maharaja Hari Singh all flit through the pages of the book, and literally bring history alive. The invasion by the Kabailis and the battles fought by the Indian Army to defend their land and reclaim lost territory are faithfully rendered.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="d6c1">But what makes the book come alive are the common people. The husband who forces himself on his second wife every night in the hope of impregnating her. The husband who builds a floating vegetable garden and plants rose bushes on it for his wife. The man who ‘marries’ the woman he abducted and tries to kidnap her from the house where she is given shelter. The man who lost his beloved to mob violence and tries to atone by providing a safe haven for other abducted women. There are conversations between two brothers, one of whom supports the National Conference and the other the Muslim Conference. There is an entire family struggling in different ways to cope with the grief of losing a loved one. It is through each of these characters that the book comes alive, because they are the ones who face the consequences of decisions made in cities far away.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="5056">History has never been kind to women- they are either erased completely from the pages of history books or they are reduced to victims. Books set during the Partition, in particular, focus on how rape was used as a weapon of war and of how women protected family honour by sacrificing themselves.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="6806"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Kashmir: Partition Trilogy #3, however, is full of stories of women who are recipients of or witness to senseless violence, but who rise above it to leave a mark.</strong></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="97ad">No history of Kashmir can be written without mentioning the Sher e Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah, but this book notes the contribution of his wife, Begum Akbar Jahan, who, when her husband was jailed, left the seclusion of her home to tour the villages, keeping hope alive in the hearts of the Kashmiri people.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="06b7">Less well known than Begum Akbar Jahan but pivotal to the book are the composite characters Zooni, Durga Mehra, Kashmira and Margot Parr. Durga Mehra witnessed the murder of her husband at the hands of the Kabailis but kept her family together till she was able to find safe passage back to her homeland. Both in the refugee camp and after her reunification with her family, she, like countless other women before her, applied her empathy and her considerable organization skills to the welfare of other women who were left destitute because of events beyond anyone’s control. Kashmira’s husband was killed “by mistake”- one of several similar mistakes that the Indian Army would make in the coming decades- but even while giving in to grief, she never lost sight of her need to pull herself together for the sake of her family. The state of Kashmir, in particular, is populated by countless women like her, and through her, the author honours each of them.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="995a">Zooni, the activist and sharpshooter, is based on a real woman who was the poster child of the Kashmiri resistance. Though not much is known about the woman who inspired the character, Zooni rises over personal tragedy, exchanges her slingshot for a rifle and offers her services to the Indian Army. Her courage, resilience and abiding concern for the welfare of her family is symbolic of the moral force displayed by countless women of Kashmir.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="2ac9">Perhaps my favourite character was that of the US journalist Margot Parr. She faces misogyny in her profession but doesn’t let that come in the way of chasing a story. She smokes, drinks and has a relationship with a considerably older man. When asked for her personal opinion by a politician, she was quick to retort, <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">“My personal opinion is nobody’s business; you’ll agree. But my professional opinion is a work in progress: the more I learn, the better informed I am.” </em>However, despite the professionalism, she develops a deep emotional bond with the family whose houseboat she lives in and goes beyond the line of duty to keep them financially, emotionally and physically secure.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="dfd4">Comparisons with the previous books, Lahore and Hyderabad, are inevitable. Though the storyline of Kashmir concludes a few months before that of Hyderabad, it is fitting that it should be the third book in the Trilogy because the history of Kashmir remains inconclusive. While both the Partition of Punjab and the Annexation of Hyderabad extracted a heavy price, the long-term repercussions are largely personal. The political drama ended once the borders were fixed, and what remained was a generation of people who were left to deal with the trauma they experienced and the almost paralysing ‘what ifs’. Kashmir, on the other hand, remains as much of a contentious issue as it was in 1947–48, and the social, political and personal repercussions of the political deliberations and strategic manoeuvres of 1947–48 continue to be felt even today. Reading Kashmir gives us the framework to understand the Kashmir problem; for that reason alone, I would recommend the book to anyone interested in learning more.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="8e4e">I would recommend reading it as a part of the Partition Trilogy. Many of the historical characters were developed in the earlier books, and Kashmir merely builds upon them. Some of the ‘common people’ from earlier books, too, make a reappearance in Kashmir and knowing the back story will help in better understanding what drives them in this book.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="0429">Kashmir would shine as a stand-alone book, too. It is a tight page-turner that takes us through the political decisions made in Delhi, Lahore, New York, Srinagar, and Jammu, and the ramifications of those decisions on common people. It explains why the ‘Kashmir issue’ is as complicated as it is and how there can be no easy solutions to it. Above all, it is the story of human resilience and love, even in the midst of gruesome violence, which shines through is hope, empathy and courage.</p><p><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Kashmir: The Partition Trilogy III is published by </em><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/author/harpercollins/" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/author/harpercollins/" rel="noreferrer noopener noopener noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Harper Collins</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">. I thank the publisher for an Advanced Review Copy, but the views are my own.</em> </p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-51280021421651133562023-12-26T19:59:00.001+05:302023-12-26T19:59:25.035+05:30‘H-Pop’: A Must-Read Dive Into The Secretive World Of Hindutva Pop Stars<p><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">[First published in </em><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2023/11/h-pop-the-book-we-must-read-to-understand-the-new-india" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2023/11/h-pop-the-book-we-must-read-to-understand-the-new-india" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">YouthKiAwaaz</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">]</em> </p><p>In April 2017, a Ram Navami procession snaked its way through the lanes of a small town in Jharkhand where Hindus and Muslims had existed in peaceful coexistence for decades. As the procession approached the main mosque where eminent Muslims of the town were waiting to receive them with sweets and good wishes, the music changed, and with it the mood of the people. The peaceful procession suddenly became a mob chanting Hindutva slogans in a way which was deliberately provocative to Muslims. The police swung into action turned off the music and prevented the situation from taking an ugly turn. Later that evening, however, some people returning home from the procession caught a Muslim man speaking to a Hindu woman and assaulted him. Later that night, the man died.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="158b">Two years after the incident took place, the author, Kunal Purohit, set out to interview eyewitnesses to find a clue to why the incident took place in a place which had earlier known communal harmony. He was struck when one eyewitness recounted that the mood of the people suddenly changed when the music changed. How could one song who’s lyrics were barely audible over the beat exert such a sway over the audience? Who were these Hindutva pop stars who were fomenting such divisiveness and hate? Were they acting in isolation or were they a part of a larger movement that was creating societal acceptance of the core beliefs of Hindutava? The author had to find out, and from these thoughts, <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">‘H=Pop: The Secret World of Hindutva Pop Stars’ </em>was born.</p><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote graf--startsWithDoubleQuote" name="b6af">“Can a song trigger a murder?<br />Can a poem spark a riot?<br />Can a book divide a people?”</blockquote><p class="graf graf--p" name="fcfe">These are some of the questions that the author sets out to answer through this book. He looks at three ways in which the Hindutva message is spread- music, poetry and publishing, and in each of these, he profiles one person who is immensely popular and effective in the genre. The book is based on ground research spread over four years during which time the author spent countless hours interviewing and interacting with not just the three people profiled, but also their family and close associates. He attended their programmes and spoke to them about their early childhood, their journey to fame, and their frustrations and aspirations. By choosing to profile one person in each genre, the author is able to convey a lot more than he would have had he chosen to write about each of the movements in general.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="cc07">Everything written about in the book is set against the socio-political background of the country. The book is sprinkled with references to almost all the important events of the previous 4 years- the Pulwana attack, the 2019 General Elections, the Abrogation of Section 370, the anti-CAA-NRC protests that swept the country, Shaheen Bagh, the Lockdown, the Farmer Protests, the second wave of COVID and the UP elections. Each of these affected the people profiled in significant ways- either by providing material for their art or in more personal ways.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="bcf1">Each of the people profiled is fascinating in different ways, and though they all fall under the large Hindutva ideology, each of them is driven by different objectives and has different aspirations. Though this is the main source of livelihood for each of them, money and fame is not the only thing that drives them- they want something more, something intangible.</p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="6486">Kavi Singh</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="0c61">Kavi Singh is one of only two female singers in the macho, masculine world of Hindutva pop music. Her appeal lies in the fact that she has a quick turnaround time and is fast to react to current events, and she unambiguously directs her listeners to react in a certain way. The lyrics to her songs are direct and warn of an Islamic takeover of the country-</p><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote graf--startsWithDoubleQuote" name="935d">“Kuch logo ki toh saazish hai,<br />Hum bacche khub banayenge.<br />Jab snakhya hui humse szaada,<br />Fir apni baat manayenge.</blockquote><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote" name="4a99"><em class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">(</em>Some people are conspiring,<br />That we will produce many children<br />When their numbers go past ours<br />They will make us dance to their tune.<em class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">)</em></blockquote><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote graf--empty" name="8b28"><br /></blockquote><p class="graf graf--p" name="1864">Songs like these have little basis in reality, because the fertility rate of Muslims is going down, and unless Hindus stop reproducing completely, Muslims will never become the majority in the country. However, songs like these are widely popular and their target audience is swayed by rhetoric and doesn’t demand facts.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="46a3">Despite her fame, Kavi’s own life is full of contradictions. Though she dresses in gender-agnostic outfits and has cultivated a male swagger, she is still a victim of patriarchy. Her career and image are carefully controlled by her adoptive father, and she is almost ostracised by her family when she chooses to display sexual agency. While Kavi Singh has achieved fame, she wants more- she wants to be recognised as someone who guides her listeners about the (imagined) danger that Muslims present to her idea of a Hindu state.</p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="3c88">Kamal Agney</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="eeae">Kamal Agney is a Hindi poet whose poetry ‘revolves almost exclusively around the cause of Hindutva. His poetry furthers Hindutva in innumerable ways: he will find ways to emphasize some of the core elements of the ideology, he will clearly delineate the ‘enemies’ of Hindus, he will stroke anger and hate towards them, dehumanise them using his rhetoric and won’t shy away from creating new foes.’ He does this by creating false binaries, by asking provocative questions and by re-writing historical events and figures by giving them a religious spin. One of his poems, for instance, goes-</p><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote graf--startsWithDoubleQuote" name="ab33">“Jinnah ko mila Pak, Nehru ko Hind,<br />Koi toh bataiye Chandrashekhar ko kya mila.</blockquote><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote" name="b737">(Jinnah got Pakistan and Nehru India<br />Someone tell me, what did Chandrashekhar get?<em class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">)</em></blockquote><p class="graf graf--p" name="d8da">Through this poem, he implies that both Jinnah and Nehru were beneficiaries of Partition, even though it is well documented that Nehru opposed Partition till it was clear that it was inevitable. Timelines are also deliberately messed up by bringing up the name of a revolutionary who was martyred in 1931, well before the demand for Pakistan gained momentum.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="8606">It is interesting that the poet did not vote for the BJP in the first election where he was eligible to vote, but gradually came into the Hindutva fold and became one of its most vociferous champions. What is also interesting is that he is no longer content with just moulding public opinion; he wants to be able to wield political power and is disheartened that the Chief Minister he campaigned for hasn’t rewarded him sufficiently.</p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="5a1c">Sandeep Deo</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="8296">Former journalist turned author Sandeep Deo wears many hats in his quest to advance the Hindutva ideology. He runs a popular YouTube news channel, has his own publishing house and is growing his e-commerce website to distribute Hindutva books and other religious items. He is also a spiritual guide and gives advice to parents and children on how to live their lives the Hindu way.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="7399">Deo has studied the Hindu scriptures extensively, and he wants to reestablish an Akhand Hindu Rashtra. Interestingly, he often criticises the BJP government when he feels they are not taking a firm enough stand in stamping out elements which Deo believes are against Hindus and Hindutva.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="a951">Unlike most people with strong Right Wing leanings, he does not shy away from criticising the Prime Minister, and in his news shows, he often comes across as anti-establishment. “Every Ram needs Vasishtha. Every Chandragupta Maurya needs a Chankay”, he says. Clearly, he sees himself as a kingmaker who can take down the established king if he strays from the path that Deo believes is the right one.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="d6c3">Through these three portraits, the author brings to life the world of Hindutva Pop, which is growing and thriving away from the gaze of the mainstream urban media. The author also puts these developments in the context of similar movements internationally, which polarised people and eventually resulted in documented violence against communities.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="416d">What makes the book exceptional is the fact that though it is meticulously researched and presented, the author leaves his personal opinions out of the narrative. While it is clear that he is disturbed by the objective and impact of H-Pop, he merely presents facts and leaves it to the reader to form their own opinions. The book is a masterclass in journalism because the author continues to maintain his objectivity throughout the book; something that is often missing in what passes for journalism these days.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="67e6">This book, as summarised in the blurb, presents <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">“the frightening face of new India- one that is united by hate, divided by art.”</em></strong> I would urge anyone who wants to understand what is happening in the country better to read this book.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="6737"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">The book has been published by Harper Collins India. I received an advance review copy, but the views are my own.</em></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-83755790357632208832023-12-04T20:23:00.007+05:302023-12-04T20:23:29.486+05:30Why Women Celebrating Karva Chaut should not be shamed<p> <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">[Shaming women who observe Karva Chauth does not serve any purpose because all it does is make people defensive and defensive people tend to dig further into their own beliefs. First published in </em><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.womensweb.in/2023/11/should-women-celebrating-karva-chaut-be-shamed-for-doing-so/" href="https://www.womensweb.in/2023/11/should-women-celebrating-karva-chaut-be-shamed-for-doing-so/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Women’s Web</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">]</em></p><p>I knew Karva Chauth was around the corner when my social media feed started filling up with photographs of mehendied hands, and I braced myself for the sappy posts and the acrimonious debates that I knew would follow. I was not disappointed.</p><p>Every year, I find a vast majority of my female friends to be firmly on one or the other side of the Karva Chauth debate. There are friends who undertake the fast, dress up for the evening puja and post photographs on social media. And there are friends who write long, fiery posts denouncing the custom as patriarchal and anachronistic. Both these groups of women often end up clashing on social media, and there seems to be little common ground between them.</p><p>And every year, I end up reflecting on what my stand is. This year was no different.</p><p><b>Is Karva Chauth inherently patriarchal?<br />O</b>f course it is. It is a fast undertaken by women for the well being and long life of their husbands. Tradition does not require the man to undertake a similar fast for the well being of their wives, so it is certainly one sided.</p><p>A few younger couples, inspired no doubt by Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, both keep the Karva Chauth fast, but that doesn’t change the fact that the genesis and intent of the festival is patriarchal. There are women who say that Karva Chauth is really a celebration of sisterhood, that it is a day when women get to dress up and pamper themselves, but when the purpose of the festival is to celebrate gender imbalance, that cannot be used to absolve the festival from being labelled “patriarchal”.</p><p><b>Should women be dissuaded from celebrating Karva Chauth?<br /></b>This is a harder question to answer. Karva Chauth, as is much else, is a matter of personal faith. A woman who has grown up seeing the women of her family celebrating Karva Chauth is conditioned into believing that this is something that women do for the welfare of their husbands. For them, keeping the fast is akin to paying an insurance premium, and they are willing to do that for the sake of their husbands.</p><p>Personally, I do not think we have the right to force them to change their belief, especially since their actions are not causing direct harm to anyone else.</p><p><b>Should women be shamed for celebrating Karva Chauth?<br /></b>Certainly not. Many women who consistently and vociferously speak up for women’s rights, have been called “false feminists” and have been shamed for observing the Karva Chaut fast. This in my opinion, this goes against the spirit of feminism. Like it or not, we have grown up in a patriarchal world, and have been conditioned to think and act in ways which go against true gender equity.</p><p>Most of our religious rituals (by our, I mean Hindu, but it is applicable to most religions) are intrinsically patriarchal. Across cultures and religions, women are “given away” in marriage. Hindu women are dissuaded from performing funeral rites. Women house owners have spoken of how difficult it is to find a priest even to perform a housewarming puja in the absence of a male partner.</p><p>As feminists, each of us, in our own way and at our own pace, challenge these age old beliefs and seek to change ourselves and those around us. There is no such thing as a “perfect feminist”; each of us is an “evolving feminist”. Shaming women who observe Karva Chauth does not serve any purpose because all it does is make people defensive and defensive people tend to dig further into their own beliefs.</p><p><b>Is it Ok that Karva Chauth discriminates between women?<br /></b>There is however, one aspect of Karva Chaut which most people who observe it do not consider- Karva Chauth is not inclusive. Only married women are allowed to observe Karva Chaut. A woman who might have been keeping the fast and performing the puja for decades is prevented from observing the festival when she loses her husband.</p><p>If indeed, as some say, it is a celebration of sisterhood, does a woman cease being a ‘sister’ when she loses her husband?</p><p>In order to prove that the festival is not patriarchal, some women claim that the fast is for the entire family, not just for the women- if that is the case, does the family cease to exist when the husband passes away?</p><p><b>It’s the same issue for all Indian festivals!<br /></b>Karva Chauth is not, of course, the only festival which is not inclusive. In fact, most Hindu festivals discriminate against women who have lost their husbands. But this is one aspect of the festival which the women who observe it should think about- do they want to be a part of something that is blatantly discriminates. Yes, as feminists, we believe in the right of women to choose. But inclusion is as important as individual choice, and the festival fails on that count.</p><p>At one time, in Bengal, only married women were permitted to participate in Sindoor Khela, where Goddess Durga is fed sweets and pampered on the last day of Durga Puja before being symbolically sent back to her father’s home. The ritual has now evolved to include not just unmarried women and divorcees, but also widows and transgender women. Today, Sindoor Khela is genuinely a celebration of Sisterhood, even though it too is rooted in the patriarchal tradition of sending the woman back to her marital home. If one festival could evolve, there is no reason why others should not, as long as those celebrating them are mindful.</p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-36871345837966472332023-12-04T19:50:00.001+05:302023-12-26T19:54:49.707+05:30Suhana Khan Was Supporting Re-Use Of Bridal & Party Wear, Not Being A ‘Clueless Star Kid’!<p> <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">[First published in </em><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.womensweb.in/2023/12/suhana-khan-batting-for-sustainability-bridal-party-wear-dec23wk1sr/" href="https://www.womensweb.in/2023/12/suhana-khan-batting-for-sustainability-bridal-party-wear-dec23wk1sr/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Women’s Web</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">]</em></p><p class="graf graf--p graf--empty"><br /></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="800e">Suhana Khan, in a recent interview, praised Alia Bhatt for wearing her wedding saree when she went to receive the National Awards, and went on to add, “as somebody with a platform, who has an influence, I thought that was incredible and a much-needed message. She took a stand towards sustainability. If Alia Bhatt can re-wear her wedding saree then we can also repeat an outfit for a party. We don’t need to buy a new outfit.”</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="d768">Suhana Khan is being heavily trolled for her statement, with some of the less nasty comments being:</p><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote" name="319f">its so funny when rich people start doing things the rest of us have been doing forever and start thinking they’re being ecofriendly and sustainable.</blockquote><p class="graf graf--p graf--empty" name="0763"><br /></p><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote" name="a3e6">Alia Bhatt wearing her dress twice is a symbol of sustainability and she is an inspiration for doing so, say the star kids! </blockquote><p class="graf graf--p" name="3fcf">Many people mentioned that they wear the same pair of jeans for an entire week, or that they are still wearing the kurti they bought while in college. However, what all these people choose to ignore is the fact that Suhana Khan was not talking about everyday wear. She was making a very valid point about the clothes that the bridal party purchases for weddings.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="1981"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">How many times have you worn your wedding saree or lehenga?</strong><br />My grandmother draped her 9-yards wedding saree to lit the lamps on Kartikai Deepam every year. The women of my mother in law’s family would drape their wedding chunnis over their head while sitting down to perform a havan. The bride reused all the outfits she wore at her wedding- often, they were the only “good” clothes she possessed.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="53e4">Things, however, are no longer the same now. Today’s brides wear extremely expensive outfits for each of the wedding functions, and few (if any) of them are re-worn. One reason for this is a very practical one- today’s bridal outfits are far more elaborate than the ones worn traditionally which consequentially makes them less versatile than the ones worn by earlier generations. But the other reason, and perhaps more important reason, is that it is considered infra dig to repeat wedding outfits at other events, and people hesitate to do so because they know that they will get caught out because of the digital footprint.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="53e3">It is against this background that one should look at Suhana Khan’s statement that “if Alia Bhatt can re-wear her wedding saree then we can also repeat an outfit for a party. We don’t need to buy a new outfit.” She was talking specifically about high end outfits, not about the jeans and kurtis which we wear daily. Far from being the “spoilt star kid” which people insinuated she was, Suhana Khan was in fact using her name and privilege to make a very valid point about sustainability.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="c32a"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Suhana Khan batted for the environment<br /></strong>”We don’t realise but making new garments creates waste which impacts our biodiversity and environment” she said.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="f6ac">While the statement may sound a little vague and contrived, Suhana Khan was drawing attention to a very important issue- that while we tend to picture huge smokestacks belching black smoke into the air when we think of polluting industries, the fashion industry is equally environmentally destructive.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="7a00"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Let us examine the environmental footprint of fashion<br /></strong>Fashion production is responsible for 8 to 10% of global emissions which is more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. The industry consumes over 93 billion cubit meters of water every year, which is enough to meet the needs of 5 million people. More than 20% of industrial water pollution originates from the fashion industry.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="ea3d">The social cost of the fashion industry is equally high. The industry employs women and children in developing countries at lower than minimum wages and forces them to work long hours in appalling conditions. Some of the chemicals used in production also raise health concerns both for producers and consumers.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="b4ce">What makes the environmental and social cost of fashion production worse is the fact that 85% of the textiles produced lands up in landfills every year, thereby creating the problem of waste disposal.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="f188">The only way to counter this is to embrace sustainable fashion<br />Today, one in six social media influencers proudly proclaim they never wear the same outfit again. This puts tremendous pressure on regular people to buy more clothes than they need. Each tee shirt, for instance requires 2,700 litres of water for production, which is roughly equivalent to amount of water 3 people would drink in an entire year. While the people who trolled Suhana Khan might wear the same pair of jeans for 5 years, I wonder how many of them think of the environmental cost while mindlessly purchasing yet another tee shirt?</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="c469">It is essential that we reduce the number of garments we purchase, and that we wear the garments that we already possess as many times as possible. This can be done by buying, wherever possible, good quality and classic outfits that will last for several years. Borrowing and exchanging clothes was extremely common in the past, and enables you to get more wear out of the same number of clothes. Thrifting and hiring are becoming popular in niche circles of people who make the effort to exert sustainable choices.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="94ed"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">This requires a change in mindset<br /></strong>All of this, however, requires a change in mindset from excessive consumerism to more responsible shopping. When celebrities and influencers are seen and photographed wearing the same outfit more than once, it can lead to a change in mindset. By <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/etimes/bollywood/alia-bhatt-wears-her-wedding-saree-at-69th-national-film-awards-says-it-is-a-big-moment-i-am-very-grateful-after-receiving-the-best-actress-award/videoshow/104516130.cms" href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/etimes/bollywood/alia-bhatt-wears-her-wedding-saree-at-69th-national-film-awards-says-it-is-a-big-moment-i-am-very-grateful-after-receiving-the-best-actress-award/videoshow/104516130.cms" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">wearing her wedding saree at an extremely prestigious professional event</strong></a>, Alia Bhatt sent out the message to brides that they could and should look at whether their bridal outfit could be worn even after the wedding.</p><p><em class="markup--em markup--p-em"></em></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="863a">Instead of calling out Suhana Khan for speaking about Alia Bhatt re-wearing her bridal outfit, we should appreciate her effort to normalise and popularise sustainable fashion.</p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-73458396225101826102023-11-28T19:00:00.004+05:302023-11-28T19:00:50.242+05:30'One Small Voice': Read This Book To Understand The Reality Of India Today<p><i> [First published in <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2023/11/book-review-one-small-voice-by-santanu-bhattacharya/" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2023/11/book-review-one-small-voice-by-santanu-bhattacharya/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">YouthKiAwaaz</a>]</i></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="c342"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">One Small Voice</em> is the debut novel of Santanu Bhattacharya. The ‘one small voice’ is the voice of Shubankar “Shabby” Trivedi, who grew up in a typical upper caste, (self-defined) middle-class household in a small town in northern India. In the newly liberalising India, the greatest aspiration of his parents was to ensure that he had an English medium school education, studied engineering and got a well-paying job which would enable him to purchase a larger than the one his neighbours’ children drove.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="5e65">His rather uneventful life was disrupted when communal violence swept through northern India in 1992, and he became the sole witness to a brutal lynching. He scanned the newspapers for many days hoping to find the name of the victim, but he soon realised that in times like that, the media reported stories of “deaths, not of the dead”.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="f98f">For a quarter of a century after witnessing that incident, he would continue to try and seek the name of the victim, whose name he remembered started with the letter M. What shook him up most was the conspiracy of silence adopted by those who knew the victim- they chose to defame the victim by describing him as a “kaamchor” who probably went back to his village, only to avoid having to confront the brutal truth of his passing.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="0ce7">Though, on the surface, Shubankar appeared no different from hundreds of thousands of adolescents like him, this incident changed his worldview completely. He could not find common ground with his family, which, instead of condemning the lynching, chose to justify it. This led him to drift apart from his family and create an independent life for himself in Mumbai. This estrangement also led to small but significant acts of rebellion, like the time when he took a flat on rent in his name because the landlord was not willing to have a Muslim tenant.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="e02c">Shubankar would still have remained a slightly stereotypical man if not for an accident that left him physically crippled, battling PTSD and questioning every aspect of his existence. The story is told in three timelines- the schoolboy Shubankar, who is a prisoner of the middle-class aspirations of his parents; the Shabby, who has broken free from his cloistered existence and is exploring Mumbai physically, sexually and emotionally; and the post-accident Shabby who is dragging out an existence while trying to decide whether to try and put himself together again.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="62a4">The narrative shifts seamlessly between the various timelines, with each chapter gently pushing the story forward. The accident is alluded to throughout the book, and by the time we see details of it, it is almost anticlimactic and opens up far more questions than can ever be answered.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="580a">What are the schisms that hold the country together? What causes people to turn on those who have selflessly helped them in the past? How are some friendships sustained while others drift apart? What compels people to forgive those who they have grievously hurt?</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="b234"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">One Small Voice</em> is not just the coming-of-age story of Shubank Trivedi. It is also the story of India from the newly liberalised economy of the 1990s to a society where a new class attains affluence, creating more divisions between those who have access to air-conditioned malls and those who do not. <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">It is the story of an India where people gradually stop trying to hide their communalism and where even affluence doesn’t necessarily protect you from becoming a victim of politically sanctioned mob violence.</strong></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="fdf4">The book tackles many issues that are of relevance today. The invisible labour of women, the pressure on high school students to get admission into professional courses, the increased indoctrination of young people, differential expectations on men and women, growing cynicism and changing definitions of morality. What could have become a tedious social commentary is avoided because of the well-developed character of the protagonists. Each of the characters has hidden facets, and they never fail to surprise us when they react in ways different from how we expect them to behave.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="ceb0">The story spans a quarter of a century- a tumultuous period where the country is repeatedly rocked by mass violence. However, regardless of the magnitude of violence unleashed, it is possible for people to remain only vaguely aware of it or to completely forget about it if they were not directly affected. However, the patterns of violence repeat and will continue to do so till the cycle of violence is broken. Through the stories of the remarkable set of characters, the author shows how the country is fractured along the lines of class, caste, religion, gender and language and how the gap between the powerful and the oppressed in each of these intersections keeps widening. <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">The book starts with fire and ends with fire; the past, the present and the future are all intertwined and will continue to be.</strong></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="86b7">Yet, the book ends with hope. The hope that sanity and peace will prevail; that silent masses will finally realise, as Shubankar’s parents do, that the idea of “oneness” which has been sold to them is actually divisive.</p><p class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote" name="716e"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">“What matters in the history of time is not the story that dazzles today, but the one that sparkles with so much honesty it survives. Even if it is old by only one small voice.”</em></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="2930">This book is that “one small voice” which will endure. Read it to understand the reality of India today.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="c2ea"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">[The book is published by Penguin Fig Tree. I got a review copy from the publisher, but the views are my own.]</em></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-766328296611095552023-11-14T18:29:00.003+05:302023-11-14T18:29:21.380+05:30Book Review: ‘Climate Capitalism’ Offers The Optimism We Need In These Times<p> <em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">[Written for </em><a class="af mf" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2023/11/climate-capitalism-offers-the-optimism-we-need-in-these-times/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;" target="_blank"><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">YouthKiAwaaz</em></a><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">]</em></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="5ba0" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The AQI in Delhi has been hovering between ‘unhealthy’ and ‘hazardous’ for nearly a week. Schools have shifted to the online mode, there are restrictions on outdoor activities, hospitals are reporting a sharp uptick in the number of patients with respiratory-related ailments and newsrooms are running programmes on what can be done to tackle air pollution.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="b8b2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">When you witness the same story repeating itself every year, it is easy to give in the despair. “The Toon Guy”, Rohan Chakravarty, captures this eco-anxiety in his recent cartoon when an environment campaigner mourns- “It’s a lost cause. Nothing makes sense. We are all doomed.”</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH0diVXuvdsCRj_2r7oP29pKMzIwE-uiwNsPZp4gFBhK-8QNp8xkFX-p98270N7CtAkUbDGfTtESjh_kM6nAqPBlNdsaXGnrOJ0sP82NxUg6JMJWJYqexZ9hc51t7VKhY_-9_dpZ9QZXwR_t6Hk7-MOHxaQ_cZE5y7MPi5VkNUKZ7PnmUFlOQxU2SnJAct/s720/ecoanxiety.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH0diVXuvdsCRj_2r7oP29pKMzIwE-uiwNsPZp4gFBhK-8QNp8xkFX-p98270N7CtAkUbDGfTtESjh_kM6nAqPBlNdsaXGnrOJ0sP82NxUg6JMJWJYqexZ9hc51t7VKhY_-9_dpZ9QZXwR_t6Hk7-MOHxaQ_cZE5y7MPi5VkNUKZ7PnmUFlOQxU2SnJAct/s320/ecoanxiety.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">In such a scenario, Akshat Rathi’s book </span><em class="me" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;">“Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions”</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.06px;"> offers a glimmer of hope. The author takes us on a journey across five continents and profiles unlikely heroes who are driving the fight against climate change.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFwuw6YycOa7btR7kLhvhyphenhyphenge8H6vXnxMUQnoamaRXnQIF6REyQRgzRYV3nX1CB1nInoTsZoPs0G9i1GRNjKAFP-fG4XasDmsVNyS8aQgZWp9K2DLAXm92kHdFtg1aHhxR7Lf0fp9YgBcrx0X1sOqIExtIq1NFxdlZwDt7AkU4uss2pHvLOjX_ZnTmfYG5n/s466/819zqohYc-L._SY466_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="302" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFwuw6YycOa7btR7kLhvhyphenhyphenge8H6vXnxMUQnoamaRXnQIF6REyQRgzRYV3nX1CB1nInoTsZoPs0G9i1GRNjKAFP-fG4XasDmsVNyS8aQgZWp9K2DLAXm92kHdFtg1aHhxR7Lf0fp9YgBcrx0X1sOqIExtIq1NFxdlZwDt7AkU4uss2pHvLOjX_ZnTmfYG5n/s320/819zqohYc-L._SY466_.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">From the Chinese bureaucrat who did more to make electric cars a reality than Elon Musk to the Danish students who helped to build the world’s longest-operating wind turbine or the American oil executive building the technology that can reverse climate damages, the book introduces us to people who are working in different ways to develop and scale technologies that can bend the carbon emissions curve.</span><p></p><h1 class="mv mw fr be mx my mz na nb nc nd ne nf ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="fd95" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; letter-spacing: -0.016em; line-height: 30px; margin: 1.95em 0px -0.28em;">Capitalism brought us to the brink of a catastrophe; capitalism needs to save us from it</h1><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj nt ll lm ln nu lp lq lr nv lt lu lv nw lx ly lz nx mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7988" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 0.86em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">It is unfettered Capitalism that has brought the world to the brink of a climate catastrophe. Though it has been obvious for decades that we cannot continue polluting the “commons” of the atmosphere without having to eventually pay an extremely heavy price, we failed to tax polluting industries.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="854c" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Now, we have a limited time window for deploying solutions to reverse climate change, and that time is certainly not sufficient for overthrowing capitalism and replacing it with a more benign system. If we are to achieve zero net emissions by 2050, it can only be done by reforming capitalism and harnessing the forces of capitalism to tackle the climate problem.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="691e" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Climate capitalism, the author argues, is about aligning the world with what is considered economic common sense.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="8fa6" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The author uses ten case studies from across the world to show how, in the long run, it would be tens of trillions of dollars cheaper to achieve climate goals than to deal with the costs that come from the damage caused by missing them. China is the world leader in the production of both Electric Vehicles (EVs) and the batteries that power these EVs; though the two stories are not directly linked, both were caused by the coming together of favourable government policies, people with an entrepreneurial spirit and the persistence required to develop new technologies.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="41b1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The success of solar power in India too can be attributed to the coming together of people, policies and technology, and the story of wind power in Denmark shows how government policies can catalyse people and technology to come together to generate clean energy.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="91e7" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">In the chapters, <em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">“the Fixer”, “the Billionaire” and “the Wrangler”</em>, the author profiles individuals who, in very different ways, contributed to creating an enabling environment for clean technology. These are individuals who influenced government policy, ensured the flow of capital into cutting-edge research and who ensured that the climate agenda figured in top-level discussions.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="4523" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Perhaps the most inspiring stories are those featuring Vicki Hollub and Paul Polman. Vicki Hollub, the CEO of Occidental Petroleum, flipped the business model of her company from being one that extracts carbon from the ground to one that attempts to capture carbon from the atmosphere and bury it deep underground.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d983" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Yes, government policies played a role in making it economically profitable for her to do so. Still, this example shows that carbon capture is something that can be attempted on scale. Paul Polman changed the focus of Unilever to ensure that social responsibility was at the core of all their processes, resulting in the consumer goods company becoming the most sustainable company in the world. These two examples hold out hope that capitalism can align itself with challenging climate goals.</p><h1 class="mv mw fr be mx my mz na nb nc nd ne nf ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c363" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; letter-spacing: -0.016em; line-height: 30px; margin: 1.95em 0px -0.28em;">The book is overtly optimistic, but don’t we need optimism?</h1><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj nt ll lm ln nu lp lq lr nv lt lu lv nw lx ly lz nx mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d6c1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 0.86em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The book, however, paints an extremely rosy picture. While the ten stories profiled in the book show that a ‘green economy’ is both possible and profitable, what is left unsaid is the fact that this is possible only when multiple factors fall into place at the same time.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="ac19" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Each of the success stories is a result of the combination of favourable government policies which follow a carrot-and-stick approach, financial investment into R&D, technological breakthroughs, people with the foresight and ability to drive new processes, and a market that demands and consumes clean technology. It is unlikely that any of these success stories can be replicated if one or more of these factors are missing.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="1a8e" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">This book is an antidote for people living from eco-anxiety. It shows us that all is not lost; that if enough individuals demand accountability and climate justice, they can force governments, capitalists, and scientists to come together to start working on their ambitious climate goals. In the words of Bill Gates, who is also featured in the book, <em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">“(the book is).. an important read for anyone in need of optimism.”</em></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph lg lh fr li b lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lt lu lv lw lx ly lz ma mb mc md fk bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c19c" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><em class="me" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The book is published by Hachette India. I received a review copy of the book, but the views are my own.</em></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-5356958354261779452023-11-07T17:15:00.002+05:302023-11-07T17:15:36.857+05:30When you win a battle you never expected to win<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1mWEYzmRBNF-RPpH4MJwJ99iXF60f4wA3AqBjvgBTcc3vhtqAfBSSophyXqP8WE0OY8tfRCyl8lOgF0qsfpTbobkGBbo65jnMkK-vZ-lKuKu8khFuzKQEe7OFBlAzkls2wtv6_iZsUCEYki2Ks4-fdAnFB0rSSdCoJ4-7MgV-b8gv1r5s6-g-n0ZuL1_o/s1024/Chevella.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1mWEYzmRBNF-RPpH4MJwJ99iXF60f4wA3AqBjvgBTcc3vhtqAfBSSophyXqP8WE0OY8tfRCyl8lOgF0qsfpTbobkGBbo65jnMkK-vZ-lKuKu8khFuzKQEe7OFBlAzkls2wtv6_iZsUCEYki2Ks4-fdAnFB0rSSdCoJ4-7MgV-b8gv1r5s6-g-n0ZuL1_o/s320/Chevella.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>WE WON!!!</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="c9b3">Two simple words. But even 24 hours after the NGT ruled in our favour, the enormity of what we accomplished is yet to sink in.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="5e07"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">How can people win against the system?</strong><br />“We are just a motley group of people. How can we expect to take on the System”, I told a friend in a rare pessimistic mood last year. “Only the Avengers can pull this off; we are not them.”<br />When we set out to save the Chevella Banyans, we hoped to win, but I doubt if we expected to win.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="d3a0"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Everyone makes it a binary between Development and the Environment<br /></strong>Everybody knows that banyans are a keystone species. Nobody denies the economic benefit of having a stretch of massive road lining banyans. Everyone claims to love trees.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="aac4">BUT, that dreaded word- DEVELOPMENT! We were constantly accused to coming in the way of development.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="6728">We have been conditioned into thinking that it is always a battle between the environment and development. People advocating for the environment are branded as being “anti development”. But, it need not be a binary. Both can co-exist. Both must co-exist.</p><p class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote" name="bc47"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">“Road bhi. Jhaad bhi”</em> was always our slogan. Widen the road by all means, but do it so the largest clusters of banyans and some of the last Deccan grasslands are bypassed. But people were unwilling to listen. Sadly our planners first draw a road on paper, then force fit it on the terrain.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="f883"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">When we didn’t make much headway with changing public opinion, we had to go to the Court</strong><br />Two years back, we took the case to the NGT, but we didn’t have a watertight argument even there. The law doesn’t protect the rights of road lining trees outside forests and reserves. We were fighting on a technicality. But our lawyer had faith in his arguments and we had faith in him.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="48c8"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Gathering the Data<br /></strong>How many banyans were we talking about? NHAI claimed there were only about 700 banyans. We estimated double the number. To resolve the matter, we walked the entire 42 kilometer stretch and counted the banyans on either side of the highway. There were 914 banyans!</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="0e96">While we were at it, we also geotagged each of the banyans, photographed them, and noted down estimated girth, height and other notable features. This database was invaluable. It helped us respond to each of NHAI’s claims with data based arguments.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="66ba"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">The dreaded T-word</strong><br />Then, there were the flagbearers for translocation. People genuinely seemed to belive that you can translocate trees the way you move furniture around your drawing room. We spent an inordinate amount on energy in educating people about what translocation implies, the low success rate, and how massive banyans such as these are unlikely to survive translocation.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="ee94"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Everything was in our favour, but would we win?<br /></strong>We were in a strange position. Everyone accepted the economic value of the banyan trees. Everyone realised that NHAI had made little effort to minimise the environmental disturbance. YET… the contract had been awarded. The trees had been marked and land acquired. Would the NGT rule in our favour?</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="3fec">The day before the judgement, I was asked if we would win. Though cautiously optimistic, I was realistic enough to say, “maybe not. But that we fought so hard with hard facts will make it easier for those who come after us.” The ruling was a validation of all we believe in.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="4bda">The judgement is a landmark one because it recognises the worth of road linking trees which are outside forests or reserves. It drives a wedge into the current thinking that planting “n” trees compensates for felling one.<br />We hope that this ruling sets a precedent and is used by others to drive a wedge into the mad expansion of infrastructure without even considering the environmental repercussions of it. We would love nothing more than for others to build on what we achieved.</p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-2092186869050051532023-11-06T14:33:00.001+05:302023-11-06T14:33:09.329+05:30Book Review: The Centre, Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi<p> <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">[First published in Y</em><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2023/10/book-review-the-centre-ayesha-manazir-siddiqi" href="https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2023/10/book-review-the-centre-ayesha-manazir-siddiqi" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">outhKiAwaaz</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">]</em></p><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote" name="90c2">It all began with Adam.<br />Doesn’t it always?<br />We met at a literary translation studies conference at Senate House, and it was through him that I first learned of the Centre.<br />Or….no, wait. Actually, pause. Rewind.<br />I should probably start with why I was at the conference in the first place.”</blockquote><blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote graf--empty" name="747d"><br /></blockquote><p class="graf graf--p" name="318f">The first fifty words of Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi’s debut novel, “The Centre”, are clever and clumsy at the same time. Clever because the little wordplay and the introduction of the title of the novel into the text immediately draw you in. Clumsy because the words and style seem almost conversational. Both these descriptive words continue to swivel through the mind while reading the book.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="17bd">The premise of the book is intriguing. The protagonist, Anisa Ellahi, was 18 when she came over from Pakistan as a student with dreams of achieving fame as the translator of important works of literature. Now, nearly two decades on, she was <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">“living by myself, making mediocre karela cashew stir-fry,….. and pretending to make a living by writing subtitles for Bollywood films.” </em>She meets and starts dating Adam, who has native-level fluency in ten or eleven languages. During the time they are together, she struggles to teach him even a few words of Urdu, but just before they fly to Karachi to meet her parents, she finds that he has acquired the ability to speak Urdu at the same level of fluency as her grandmother in just 2 weeks. Through him, she comes to know of a top-secret and super-exclusive program which promises fluency in just 10 days.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="376d">After breaking up with Adam, Anisa signs up to learn German at the Centre. Despite her scepticism, she emerges with absolute fluency in the language and proceeds to translate a slightly obscure German work, which is received with much critical acclaim. Though Anisa should be content with finally achieving all that she has ever dreamt of, she continues to remain unfulfilled. She is plagued with troubling dreams which clearly belong to “the Storyteller” whose narration she heard continuously for 10 days at the Centre. In her discontent, she reaches out to her Supervisor at the Centre and embarks on learning a second language. As she finds out more about how the Centre works, she continues pondering on the ethics of the immersive programme and whether the price extracted is worth it.</p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="2e5c">The Detailed Characterisation</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="eb42">Though told through her voice, the protagonist is extremely unlikeable. She is self-centred and ensconced within layers of privilege. Though she is a brown girl living in a racist society, Anisa’s class consciousness comes through in most of her interactions, especially in her interaction with her boyfriend. She looks down on her best friend’s boyfriend- though she justifies it by saying that her friend is consciously dumbing herself down to please him, it is clear that she also disapproves of him for who he is. She also, more than once, betrays both confidence and friendships without the slightest remorse.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="65ae">The only recipient of her unconditional love seems to be Billie, the cat she jointly adopted with her boyfriend. Despite, or perhaps because of, being so unlikeable, Anisa comes across as a well rounded character.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="58d3">The secondary characters are similarly well etched. Her best friend, Naima, goes through a complex character arc, which is extremely believable. That she is aware of what she is doing and still does it only makes it more poignant. Shiba, the Supervisor at the Centre, was probably my favourite character- independent, intelligent and caring. I wondered what she saw in Anisa that made her trust her so much. Through the characters of Anisa and Shiba, the author also brought home the fact about how quickly people living abroad adjust to a feudal lifestyle when they return home to India/ Pakistan.</p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="e8e4">Varied Conversations In ‘The Centre’</h3><p class="graf graf--p" name="7cc9">The book raises very pertinent questions about appropriation and assimilation. Can language be picked up through a brief but intense study, or should it be gradually assimilated through lived experiences? Can a person who achieves fluency in a language without having experienced the language be said to be truly fluent? At what point does assimilation through an immersive experience become cannibalisation?</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="5fc1">The author describes how many multilingual people have <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">“these sort of ‘neutral’ accents, the kinds of unplaceable dialects you sometimes find in third-culture kids or global cosmopolitan elites raised in the international schools and gated compounds of Oman or Turkey or Singapore”</em>. She questions if it is a natural outcome of knowing multiple languages or because the speakers consciously or unconsciously strive for “unplaceability”. While the author talks about language and translation, one is reminded of R.F. Kuang’s recent best sellers “Babel” and “Yellowface”, both of which tackle similar issues. Who owns the language? At what point does learning and using a language not your own become colonialism and/ or exploitation? How should one value the contribution of a translator or an editor of a work? These are important questions, and while neither author gives any answers, at least the questions get flagged off.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="192d">The book also tackles themes of feminine friendships and relationships. She repeatedly talks about how women in romantic relationships allow their own fire to be dimmed so as not to outshine their heterosexual partners. She speaks of how female friendships are often devalued in a quest for a romantic relationship. Do women really need a heterosexual partner- can’t they survive and flourish even in the absence of romantic relationships as long as they have strong female friendships?</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="b963">Despite being quite self-centred, Anisa consistently underplays her success and blames herself for every failure. This is a typical feminine trait, and it is often the most competent woman who suffers most from it. It is flagged off and left for the reader to ponder over or not. The other issue that is flagged off is the sexual dynamics at play in professional settings; the author brings up the interplay of consent and power structures and how men walk away from such encounters without having to pay any price.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="00e8">The book is tightly paced. Though the story is set over several years, the pace lags and speeds up according to the needs of the narrative. Weeks pass by in a single sentence, while time slows down at when she is at the Centre. At a critical point in the narrative, we are presented with two scenarios, either of which might have played out- that we are kept guessing about which of the two scenarios took place in that blimp in time, only reinforces the point that is being made.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="2dfb">I would certainly recommend this book. Though 300 pages long, the pace of the book never flags. Many issues are brought up and left for the reader to resolve on their own. Towards the end of the book, you realise why ‘clumsy’ was a word that first came to mind while describing the book- there is a reason for the narration to be as it is, and it fits totally with the story. At the end of the book, more than one ending is indicated, and the reader is left to write their own. That, perhaps, is the hallmark of an engaging book.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="28e7"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">The book is published by Pan Macmillan. I received a review copy, but the views are my own.</em></p><p class="graf graf--p graf--empty" name="2210"><br /></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-7157508748767008792023-10-30T13:12:00.002+05:302023-10-30T13:12:28.733+05:30Stop Making Irresponsible Statements Glorifying Long Hours Spent At Work!<p>[First published in <a href="https://www.womensweb.in/2023/10/stop-glorifying-long-hours-spent-at-the-workplace-oct23wk4sr/">Women's Web</a>]</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Anjali joined an investment bank after completing her MBA. She was living in a shared flat with two other women. They all worked hard and partied harder. This was the life she had dreamt of since her parents enrolled her in the IIT coaching classes, and she loved it. Two years later, she married her batchmate. They moved into their own 2 BHK, but nothing else changed for them. They had a housekeeper who would come in during the day and a cook who took care of dinner. Saturdays were reserved for grocery shopping and other odd jobs, and they had Sundays to themselves. Anjali never understood why some women complained about work-life balance. As far as she was concerned, women could have it all. Wasn’t she proof of it?</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ff9933; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;">But… can women really have it all?</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Once she turned 30, Anjali, who till them had ignored all the aunties who kept asking her when she was going to give “good news” became acutely conscious of the ticking of the bio clock. She worked through the first two trimesters of her pregnancy, and kept working almost till her due date. Once the baby came, she engaged a full-time nanny and focussed on training her so she could get back to work at the end of her maternity leave.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Things went well for during the first week. She gradually eased back into her role. Since she was still breast feeding, she used a breast pump to express milk twice during the work day. She left on time, and managed to beat the traffic and return home in time for the late evening feed.</p><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #ff9933; font-family: inherit; font-size: 30px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;">Her commitment to work questioned, her time and labour taken for granted</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">But the good times didn’t last.</p></div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Soon Anjali started hearing comments like “so you are leaving early today, are you?” and “have you taken a half day today?” when she was logging off after completing all her pending jobs. She held back from reminding them that unlike them, she hadn’t taken multiple coffee breaks- she had just worked more productively than they had, and finished on time.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">“Anjali, there is a team meeting scheduled for 7 pm. You will have to stay back for it”, her line manager informed her when she was getting ready to leave. The meeting could have been easily scheduled during working hours, but she couldn’t say much since she was the only one who was affected. Gradually, she saw that the plum assignments were going to other people. Though productivity had never been an issue, the organization had decided that she was less “committed” after she became a mother.</p><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">She also realised that in the few months that she had been on maternity leave, the dynamics with her husband had changed. She had taken on more domestic responsibilities since she “was at home”, and he <a href="https://www.womensweb.in/2017/05/behind-every-superwoman-inconsiderate-man/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077cc; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: none !important;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">stopped doing some of his jobs</span></a> because there was “full-time help” at home. Her husband doted on their child, but she was clearly “primary parent”, and that she would be the one who would be expected to prioritise the child over all else. Anjali loved her job and didn’t want to drop out, but she recognised that things were no longer what they were before. Without her intending it to be that way, she would forever be thrown into situations where she would be forced to choose between home and work. Women could not have it all!</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ff9933; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;">We all know the Anjalis in our lives</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">If Anjali’s story sounds familiar, it is because each of us know several Anjalis. It is extremely hard for employees to find a work-life balance in organizations which place a disproportionate emphasis on “commitment” defined in terms of the number of hours spent at the workplace. This affects all employees, but takes a greater toll on women since society expects women to bear the primary responsibility for housekeeping, childrearing and caregiving.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">In general, when men return home after a 12 or 14 hour workday (including commuting time), they can expect to have a warm dinner waiting for them; <a href="https://www.womensweb.in/2022/01/working-moms-judged-shamed-manage-time-for-your-child-jan22wk4sr/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077cc; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: none !important;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">women would have to</span></a> cook/ heat the dinner, feed the kids, supervise homework and plan for the next day before eating. Is it any wonder that women consciously or unconsciously slow down their careers because they cannot do it all?</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ff9933; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;">Women drop off the workforce as they go up in seniority</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">A few years back, I had analysed the gender data for my team. We had nearly 50% representation of women at the entry level, but the percentage dropped to 33% at the next level, and it kept dropping till we had only one woman at the managerial level. <a href="https://www.womensweb.in/2021/12/boss-women-at-the-workplace-dec21wk4sr/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077cc; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: none !important;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">This is the case across industries.</span></a> Though the percentage of women at entry level may be high, the number keeps dropping, and there are barely any women in the corner offices.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">This is certainly not because women are less competent than men- they aren’t. But one of the determining reasons is that women are not able to balance the insane time demands of the workplace with the personal responsibilities placed on them (there are many other systemic reasons for women dropping out, but this is certainly one of them).</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ff9933; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;">Irresponsible statements by industry leaders make things worse for women</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">It is in light of this that statements like the <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/infosys-founder-narayana-murthy-says-youngsters-should-work-70-hours-a-week-11602731.html" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077cc; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: none !important;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">one made by Narayana Murthy about ‘youngsters having to work 70 hours a week’</span></a> are so problematic. Male or female, expecting people to work 70 hours a week is moronic. Assuming 2 hours per day to commute to work, and 6 hours of sleep every day, you are left with 6 hours a day for everything else. Eating, attending to personal hygiene, dressing, paying bills, everything in just 6 hours a day. Even assuming you have a full-time housekeeper cum cook who takes care of all your requirements, you are left with virtually no time for exercise, friends, hobbies or even watching and discussing cricket. Yes, Narayana Murthy specified that this is only in the initial years while a person is establishing their career, but is such a lifestyle sustainable, much less desirable?</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ff9933; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;">And what about the women whose lives will be made worse by these expectations?</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Women face so many barriers while seeking a professional education and a career- will that not become worse if parents know that their daughters are expected to work 70 hours a week? Men have the privilege to focus on their career, because even if they get married, nothing will change for them. However, women will be subject to intense parental pressure to quit their jobs because a 70 hour work week would make them <a href="https://www.womensweb.in/2021/07/im-proud-of-you-too-pops-motm-may-shortlist-july21wk2sr/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077cc; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: none !important;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">undesirable in the marriage market</span></a>. Even if women fend off the pressure and work those 70 hour work weeks, will they be able to enjoy the benefit of that investment after they get married and have children?</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">There are people who say that women can choose to focus on the careers by not getting married/ having babies. While this is certainly possible, is it fair that only women are confronted with this choice? Even men who are fully focussed on their career get married and have children- neither of those life events disrupts their career progression. Why then should only women be expected to choose one or the other?</p><h2 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ff9933; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px;">Long hours do not necessarily mean better productivity</h2><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">What is needed to redress the gender balance is a two pronged strategy- companies realising that long hours do not necessarily imply greater productivity, and societal acceptance that caregiving, housekeeping and childrearing are <a href="https://www.womensweb.in/2017/10/feminism-home-share-mental-load-of-chores/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077cc; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: none !important;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">gender agnostic</span></a>.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Countries like the Netherlands and other Scandinavian and West European countries have shown that the introduction of flexible work hours has not resulted in a dip in productivity. Instead, if the focus remains on the output rather than the hours spent at work, productivity has gone up because there is an incentive to complete the job in the least possible time. These are also the countries where both partners share housekeeping, caregiving and childrearing in a more equitable manner, leaving both men and women with more time for leisure.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;">Countries like India where “hard work” is prioritised and where young people are brought up on the mantra of “work hard now so you reap rewards later”, are also countries which have <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---sro-new_delhi/documents/genericdocument/wcms_342357.pdf" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077cc; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: none !important;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">low labour force participation by women</span></a> and are extremely <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/world/indias-rank-in-happiness-survey-lower-than-war-torn-ukraine-russia-here-s-why-11679308341835.html" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0077cc; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: none !important;" target="_blank"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">low on the happiness index</span></a>. If we want the nation to progress, instead of glorifying 70 hour work weeks, we should be seeking greater productivity in white collar industries.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "work sans", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">[Disclaimer: these are “first world” problems, and are largely restricted to the urban professional worker in corporate and in service industries. However many of these issues would similarly translate into other settings.]</em></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-87928589202226388672023-10-11T13:05:00.001+05:302023-10-30T13:09:33.254+05:30Book Review: Anandibai Joshee: A Life in Poems<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEWM07Mihz6Dil_pPC-VBp3CIlnahJ1Ec5diQDqCfJUWkrmvfoTJb8iSoME5-0wcwsderxX5lweT3rvFyJ8vrYwaBV7v3C53PIB8B9rc0cFygL3mGEUk8ZcYrCUysIlG05gTSFRcl7sN7cxyPaYYhy39biahj83AZ98aH9yutgKA31gd9EvwyD9O9vONgv/s3024/image_50774273.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEWM07Mihz6Dil_pPC-VBp3CIlnahJ1Ec5diQDqCfJUWkrmvfoTJb8iSoME5-0wcwsderxX5lweT3rvFyJ8vrYwaBV7v3C53PIB8B9rc0cFygL3mGEUk8ZcYrCUysIlG05gTSFRcl7sN7cxyPaYYhy39biahj83AZ98aH9yutgKA31gd9EvwyD9O9vONgv/s320/image_50774273.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>We have all heard about Dr. Anandibai Joshi, the first Indian woman to cross the Atlantic and to study medicine at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Married off to a widower many years a senior, she was 12 or 14 when she gave birth to a son who died even before his naming ceremony could be performed. It was this tragedy that drove home the fact that Indian women didn’t have access to modern medical care, and led to Anandibai defying tradition and going to the United States to become a “lady doctor”. Sadly, she died soon after she returned to India, which ensured that her husband directed the telling of her legacy.</p><p>According to the popular narrative, it was Anandibai’s husband who was a progressive zealot obsessed with ensuring she became a doctor. He was, apparently a controlling husband, who didn’t shy away from inflicting physical violence on his young wife to ensure she studied well. Her success, according to this narrative, was entirely scripted by her husband.</p><p><b>But who was Anandibai Joshee?<br /></b>However, is that the truth? Was Anandibai merely a puppet who was directed by her husband? Could a woman completely lacking in agency have managed to survive (and even thrive) two years in a completely alien environment without giving up her identity? Did Anandibai have dreams and aspirations of her own, or did she merely do whatever her husband directed her to do?</p><p>These are the questions that Shikha Malaviya attempts to address in ‘Anandibai Joshee: A Life in Poems’. In this poetic biography, the narrative is centred around Anandibai, and the picture that emerges is of a strong young woman who knows exactly what she wants, and who is willing to make small compromises without losing the essence of who she is.</p><p><b>The book traces the development of Anandibai through poetry<br />T</b>hrough this collection of poems, the poet, story traces the development of Anandibai from the time when she was a young girl to her last days.</p><p>The eight year old who sits on a swing and says:</p><p><i>“pumping my legs furiously<br />to see how high I could go<br />braids flying, skirt rippling, sun winking<br />toes trying to touch the sky<br />my only witness a green pigeon<br />whose wings I conspired to steal”</i></p><p>The nine year old who looks her 26 year old prospective groom in the eye and says, <i>“Majhe nav Yamuna Ganpatrao Joshee aahe”.</i></p><p>The young woman who’s leaking breasts remind her of the baby she lost even before the 11th day when they were to name him, and to whom she says:</p><p><i>“through your loss I find purpose<br />my son with no name birthing a dream<br />and I volunteer myself to my countrywomen<br />as I take the oath of Hippocrates<br />to heal and heal, to do no harm, to don<br />the white coat only men have worn”</i></p><p>The Anandibai who emerges from the pages of the book is not a woman in need of a saviour. Her husband may have wanted her to become the first lady doctor in India, but it was a dream she dreamt too, and she was the only one who made it happen.</p><p><b>The book dwells deep into who the person behind the legend was<br /></b>The conflict between the fears and ambitions of Anandibai’s husband and her are brought out beautifully in the poem “LOVE ACROSS BLACK WATERS”, written in the form of letters crossing before they reach. While the first letters are of a proud husband and a wife who misses him, his tone soon changes:</p><p><i>“What I was afraid of has happened<br />all I taught you undone like a knot<br />style of saree altered, and what next?<br />Will the next photograph be of you in Western dress?”</i></p><p>In the letter that crosses this, she writes:</p><p><i>“my integrity greatly measured from such a long distance<br />under your able guidance I thrive in this new land<br />I never tire of upholding my native<br />all during the day a saree draped on my person.”</i></p><p><br /></p><p>The contrast between the two cannot be starker. He is jealous and fearful of losing control over her. She is full of hope. She knows she made compromises where she had to, but also knows she remains true to who she is. He was not, however, able to tolerate the woman she was growing into when far away from him. This is not the tale of a young girl moulded by her husband; this is the story of a woman who grabs whatever opportunities she can without losing a sense of who she is.</p><p><b>The book is rooted in feminism<br /></b>This is an unabashedly feminist retelling of the story of Dr. Anandibai Joshi, and the very first poem sets the tone for what is to follow:</p><p><i>OUTSIDE THE CHAUKAT<br />Kalyan, Maharashtra, Nineteenth Century</i></p><p><i>If you want to know what happens in this bustling town by the sea, Kalyan, which in Sanskrit means well-being but whose shores have thrice been plundered by the Mughals, the Portuguese, and the British, despite the shade of a fortress and a long city wall with four gates and eleven towers, whose welfare is erased and renamed Kallian and Cullian<br />-ask the men, for they are the ones who wear shoes that take them outside the chaukat. They are the lucky ones, who, donning their turbans, smell the dung of many homes, hear the hum of horses hooves, darken their hands with the ink of newsprint, read the khabar of the day while sitting on a jhopala in the courtyard, dragging a puff from a gurgling hookah<br />- whereas the women tiptoe softly, their bare soles hardened walking from kitchen-to-cowshed-to well, fingertips charred from stoking the chulha, thoughts spilling over like water from vessels balanced on their heads, of what lies beyond a door frame, that make a splash and then evaporate</i></p><p>When she moves to Philadelphia, she encounters other kinds of inequities. She wonders if the people around her see her as a person or as a curiosity. She muses about whether she is fundamentally different from the freaks she saw in a circus. When she visits the boarding school at Carlisle where Native Americans were sent to so their traditional ways could be replaced by modern European thoughts, she cherishes the fact that she was able to hold onto her apparel, her food and her spiritual views, even while getting a modern education.</p><p>‘Anandibai Joshee: A Life in Poems’ is an important book to read, because it goes beyond the bare facts of the life of one of India’s pioneering women. While it draws on letters, journals, articles and old photographs, by using Anandibai’s voice and the medium of poetry, the book centres the narrative on the woman, her thoughts, her challenges, and how she reacts to the environment of her times. This is certainly a book I will be recommending to many of my friends.</p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-53264554020550631222023-10-10T13:03:00.001+05:302023-10-30T13:05:35.987+05:30Claudia Goldin’s Nobel Prize in Economics highlights gender inequity in the labour market<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikPfPJ0Ob6SySf9m0it-zQYRgE2h9IOpzAPBCT-cQRlUOJbJDloH5HJx2fUkv6aav7i61DxHC2Q5xRlOR2jTLylj41o09KROhh6k72RcEOfeDD8jpdm3d8EZM_ioPrBw6zpMbNLAq8B4ALS-qrioVSm7Ak3UooBTMFk7XFAnPMhT2WnjlBYKTBoK56TQB5/s1640/There%20are%20still%20large%20differences%20between%20women%20and%20men%20in%20terms%20of%20what%20they%20do,%20how%20they're%20remunerated%20and%20so%20on.%20And%20the%20question%20is,%20why%20is%20this%20the%20case%20And%20that's%20what%20the%20work%20is%20about..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikPfPJ0Ob6SySf9m0it-zQYRgE2h9IOpzAPBCT-cQRlUOJbJDloH5HJx2fUkv6aav7i61DxHC2Q5xRlOR2jTLylj41o09KROhh6k72RcEOfeDD8jpdm3d8EZM_ioPrBw6zpMbNLAq8B4ALS-qrioVSm7Ak3UooBTMFk7XFAnPMhT2WnjlBYKTBoK56TQB5/s320/There%20are%20still%20large%20differences%20between%20women%20and%20men%20in%20terms%20of%20what%20they%20do,%20how%20they're%20remunerated%20and%20so%20on.%20And%20the%20question%20is,%20why%20is%20this%20the%20case%20And%20that's%20what%20the%20work%20is%20about..jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div></div><blockquote><div>“There are still large differences between women and men in terms of what they do, how they’re remunerated and so on. And the question is, why is this the case? And that’s what the work is about.”</div><div>- Claudia Goldin</div><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Claudia Goldin became the third woman, after Elinor Ostrom and Esther Duflo to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, and the first woman to be an individual winner. This takes the percentage of women awardees (in Economics) up from 2.17% to 3.23%, which is nearly a 50% increase. But that is the not the only reason we should be celebrating the win of the 77 year old economic historian and labour economist from Harvard University. We should be celebrating because Claudia Goldin was awarded the Prize for “having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes’.</div><div><br /></div><div>Globally, labour force participation of women is about 50% while that of men is closer to 80%. Even when women work, they are often paid less than men performing an equivalent job. Claudia Goldin’s research examines the source of these gender differences and throws up insights into the role of women in the labour market.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Historical data shows patterns of inequity in labour markets</b></div><div>By looking at available historical data, it was assumed that female participation in the labour force started going up in the 20th century and it was assumed that there was a positive co-relation between economic growth and female participation in the workplace. By studying the historical data in greater detail, Goldin concluded that the participation of women in the work force was grossly underreported, especially for married women where the occupation was simply captured as ‘wife’. She also found that when workplaces shifted from home/ near home to a factory after the Industrial Revolution, the participation of women in the labour force went down drastically, and it started picking up only after the rise of the service industry.</div><div><br /></div><div>By studying the female participation in the labour market for different cohorts, Goldin confirmed what was already known- that even if women entered the labour market, they dropped out after marriage and childbirth. Her research, however, threw up an additional insight- when women tried to re-enter the labour market after their children were grown up, their options were restricted by the educational choices they had made 2 decades ago. This was a vicious cycle, because the educational decisions had been taken at a time when women did not expect to continue working after marriage and childbirth, and the fact that they were have desirable educational qualifications later proved to be an impediment to their participation in the labour force market.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The power of contraceptive pills in improving participation of women in the workplace</b></div><div>From the 1960s onwards, the relatively easier availability of contraceptive pills ensured that women were able to delay marriage and childbirth, which ensured that more women entered the workforce, particularly in fields like medicine, law and economics which involved an extended professional training. However, despite the entry of professionally qualified women the wage gap between men and women remained. Goldin looked at data from a range of sources, and found that the gender pay gap could not be explained by factors like age, education or productivity. Her research showed what we now take as common knowledge- that employees with long and uninterrupted careers tend to get higher wages, and that salaries are often decided based on the perception of how long a particular employee will work with the firm. Goldin’s research clearly showed that, in the United States, the difference in income starts out being fairly small, but that both earnings and rate of growth of earnings fall after women have their first child.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Goldin’s work both highlights causes of inequity and offers a framework for solutions</b></div><div>It is largely because of the pioneering work of Claudia Goldin that we are able to understand the demands of the contemporary labour markets. When employees are expected to be constantly available and flexible to the demands of the employer, women who have greater responsibilities at home lose out on both career progression and earnings.</div><div><br /></div><div>Goldin provided the background against which policymakers can try to create legislation to remove/ reduce these institutional barriers. It is because of her work that we now know that educational attainment alone doesn’t do much to reduce the earning gap- what is of greater importance is the opportunity to plan and finance a return to the labour force after having children, or to have greater flexibility at work.</div><div><br /></div><div>By awarding the Nobel Prize to Claudia Goldin, and acknowledging her work on ‘advancing our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes’, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has put the gender inequity in the labour market in the spotlight. This should, hopefully, start more conversations on what policy makers and corporates can do to ensure that women’s labour is acknowledged and rewarded.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041251042986195891.post-5022349273363804462023-10-09T13:02:00.001+05:302023-10-30T13:03:35.433+05:30Book Review: Tiger Season, Gargi Rawat<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7WAvHEh1apWaqnWANKF59MW46K8Jdv5fScO61iQeip_H3OF3Rx8G5X-N2ppy9HkG2MvPgXwvkLKP131kU-gLsu6_fiY6o_oFJEGY-ZU4huGceC9PtrB1xoKx4nMxiGnJuV_t2Zr-eCaZqKYoDQ17wHsE40dH_Y0FU1n1YpFMNOnAESAX6SG20sLSL7a-j/s3024/image_50754817.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7WAvHEh1apWaqnWANKF59MW46K8Jdv5fScO61iQeip_H3OF3Rx8G5X-N2ppy9HkG2MvPgXwvkLKP131kU-gLsu6_fiY6o_oFJEGY-ZU4huGceC9PtrB1xoKx4nMxiGnJuV_t2Zr-eCaZqKYoDQ17wHsE40dH_Y0FU1n1YpFMNOnAESAX6SG20sLSL7a-j/s320/image_50754817.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div>Sunaina Joshi is a reporter with a news channel covering urban centric health related issues, but her heart is with the great outdoors and she keeps submitting proposal after proposal for reporting on wildlife and environmental related issues. She gets a great opportunity when her news channel is commissioned to run a campaign on tiger conservation, featuring a Bollywood actor trying to resurrect his image after a scandal.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are clear parallels between the protagonist and the author, Gargi Rawat, who has been reporting on the environment and wildlife conversation for many years, and she uses the novel to create awareness about wildlife conservation, the role of the forest department (especially the forest guards), responsible wildlife tourism and the need to understand the the nature of man-tiger conflict before commenting on it. Many animal lovers (me included) have signed petition, retweeted hashtags and otherwise agitated for saving individual tigers, without understanding of the backdrop against which most of these conversations play out. By integrating it into the storyline of the novel and using that to develop the story arc, the author personalises the issue and ensures that we understand it in a manner which we might otherwise not have.</div><div><br /></div><div>While wildlife conservation the soul of the novel, the author also touches on several other issues- the fickleness of social media, activism for sale, the intrusive nature of media, even expectations from and guilt of children!</div><div><br /></div><div>There is also a romance- the character starts out as a Mr. Darcy, but it is impossible not to love someone who apologises as often and as honestly as he does. The protagonist is entirely believable and loveable- that she is fuelled by her passion and coffee makes her a firm favourite of mine. There is a large cast of characters, but they are all so human that it is impossible to dislike any of them.</div><div><br /></div><div>Overall, it was an enjoyable book- an entirely “unpreachy” one.</div><p></p>Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00481081735923606868noreply@blogger.com0