wrytry

2012-01-14T04:00:00.000-08:00

In the book Great Soul, Lelyveld is unafraid to highlight the sometimes flawed and sometimes naive thinking (e.g. when responding to the request of jewish leaders to mediate on the palestine issue) and means adopted by bapu to achieve the very noble goals. also points out the lack of a lasting impact on the big issues of caste and communal harmony. L admires the ability of MG to remain consistent on most issues despite his unceasing articulation and fine-tuning of his position. one wonders whether he would have been more successful if he had been able to evolve an advisory team to grapple with the complexities of a movement that sought to represent a diverse Indian population.

MG quickly became the leader of the movement and inaugurated mass politics in India by identifying with the masses. just as in s Africa subcontinent, he said, the real heroes were the indentured who continued to strike even when he was jailed, so in india the poorest were the ones he sought out for implementing the vision of change he had in mind.

MG not prepared to denounce caste system or bring it down in one big attack. L hints that his not being a brahmin made it difficult for him to dictate terms to the temple custodians. MG is not afraid to negotiate despite being self-contradictory at times e.g. in the well documented encounter with Vaikom priest Nambutiri in latter’s garden.

L says that MG not interested in mobilization outside Congress and then adds that Ambedkar’s “ he would like to uplift untouchables if he can but not by offending the Hindus” sums up essence of their divide and that Ambedkar, like MG, did not (want to) view untouchables as Hindus. He ends by saying that the choice was about what would be better- a segregated minority battling for rights or a tolerated adjunct with recognized rights. That MG might have been responsible in giving ambedkar, as the law minister and constitution maker, the national position he craved but never got till then. Ambedkar scathing in saying that MG failed in his attempt to spiritualise politics and that he had become commercialized by it.

2011-12-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

Starts by saying that his subject is not liberty of the will (‘unfortunately opposed to the misnamed doctrine of Philosophical Necessity’) but civil or social liberties.

“By liberty was meant the protection against tyrannical rulers”

Mill says that the rulers were “conceived as in a necessarily anatagonistic relationship to the people whom they ruled. Rulers consisted of a governing One or a governing tribe or caste.”

Mill talks of the subjects’ liberty consisting of setting a limit to the oppressive rule thru Political rights and constitutional checks.

Gillian Wright writes that Shrilal Shukla had told her that when writing raag darbari, he was concerned with the mild distortions in the system of that time. for capturing the goings on now, a marquez-like fantasy would be required. arun kamal, in his raag darbari ke paksh mein gavaahi, makes the same point in praising the use of an improvised, multidimensional? language by Shukla to capture the new complex reality.

2009-03-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

I do not know whether the cold water in winter is good in the long term for my skin and tissue but I feel less cold after taking a bath and also more alert because of the shock treatment i.e fall in skin temperature, for a short period, from around 25+ C to what I would estimate as 15 C or even less (assuming water temperature to be about 10 degrees). And after the first impact has been absorbed, the cold water seems to be just sliding off the body, which seems to have got a protective coat.

If in need of higher voltage shocks, I start with hot water and pour cold immediately afterwards- a poor man’s ‘sauna followed by a jump into the freezing lake water’(also called Sauna(temperature vary from 60 C to 133 C) plus Polar Bear Club). I have become less prone to catching a chill when I go out and managed to bring down to zero my winter cold count.

Devverman, India’s new tennis star, talks of 15 minute ice bath needed daily to recover from the training fatigue. Overworked, sore muscles need hardening? If already warm, probably do not need hot water relaxation.

The medical thinking is that cold should be applied first to numb pain and make the swelling subside. The subsequent heat treatment would provide relaxation.

click A NYT article by Bryant Urstadt on art of finnish sauna

2009-03-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

Wilde-

the brotherhood of man is no mere poet’s dream, it is the most depressing and humiliating reality.

We have come too far to encourage fraternity while continuing to maintain a distance with hoi polloi(the condition for a productive artistic output? In any case, whether artist is rich or poor, a degree of cocooning is required)

In the second half, Wilde is cursing the dumbing down effect that such equal mixing might lead to. Aristocratic republicanism of Nietzsche, elitism and appropriation of art

2009-03-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

Shangvi- sly(imp) and provocative. Delights in his access to the drawing room and bedroom talk( never very deep/bright) of the upper crust of Bombay and being able to poke fun at them as an insider. Has the potential to go beyond the clichés that mar his prose but seems too lazy and unwilling to spend too much thought on taking his work to the next level. Not completely entranced by new age thinking on love and the good life but unable to stake out a place for alternative thinking and a lifestyle that is very different from that portrayed on the third page or that peddled by gurus. Has the contempt for the material life of the rich man who has not worked too hard for his money.

2009-02-24T07:55:00.000-08:00

E. German Hoenecker jokes (hang up and try again- similarity between phone and H;

Erich Honecker wakes up, throws open his doors and welcomes the rising sun with a hearty "Good morning." "Good morning, dear Erich," it replies. After lunch he greets the sun again. "Good day, dear Erich," it responds. At bedtime he bids the sun goodnight. "Kiss my ass," it tells him. "I'm in the West now."

click http://www.ttaxus.com/gdrjokes.html for more gdr jokes

The inanity of eavesdropping on the same person; Stockholm syndrome can operate both ways i.e. the holder of captive cannot maintain a detached approach for long if he is not brain dead and heartless; there comes a time when you have to admit that your job has no higher purpose and is also killing you mentally. You know you are in the wrong job when the kid in your block eyes you with suspicion and shows little respect. You have to acknowledge that you cannot break the spirit of those you suppress. You never have absolute power, only illusions of power and you become more in control of your life the sooner you realize that. Wiesler does, his boss does not or refuses to do so. The relationship between the two reminds one of the intelligence boss in ‘Burn after reading’.

Every job can be made interesting if enough mental effort is made. Equally, no end to the boringness of a job if no effort is made.

Towards the end, Laszo, the dissident writer protagonist, confronts the Minister who had ordered surveillance and harassed his partner-an actress- and expresses wonder at the moral and intellectual caliber of the people who ruled the country. Stupid people can rule a country badly without harming lives of people too much. It is when the not so bright wield unbridled power and start intruding into the personal lives and controlling them that disaster strikes. The movie brings out the results of efficiency wrongly directed. Many are employed but there is little or zero constructive output(opening letters and compiling statistics of useless things and ignoring the figures that would present the regime in bad light). How the air of secrecy vitiates everything, from professional relationships to personal ones. The dependency that it breeds. You are free to discuss/ameliorate for the very little time when you are in open territory, safe nowhere.

The awe in which artists are held- in GDR, where little question of money and televised show off, it is the freedom to use their mind, body(the colleague of Wiesler? says that the artists are always enjoying themselves in bed) that is envied most by the mindless bureaucrats. W meeting Christa Maria in the pub and expressing his appreciation of her ‘art’ and requesting her to be herself. He is assuming that he has got to know her real self by listening in to her.

Joke again. The leader of the GDR, Erich Honecker, wants to know what the people really think of him. So goes out among the people in disguise. He asks a man on the street: "Excuse me, but what do you think of Honecker?" The man leads him down a side street, makes sure that nobody hears him, and whispers into Erich's ear, "I support Honecker!"

The joke brings out both the degree of suppression/uncertainty (even supporters of Honecker cannot be sure to be safe-the insecurity and arbitrariness is brought out nicely by another joke in which a jail inmate tells another,” you cannot be sentenced for 5 yrs for doing nothing since the sentence for that crime is 10”. Non-supporters of Honecker know that even lonely streets are not safe) and the degree of knowledge (everyone including Honecker knows that everything is rotten but everyone also knows that their salvation lies in maintaining the charade, not getting caught and ensuring that other loyalists get sidelined; the dissident know that the rulers know that they are disliked; the rulers know that the dissidents know that the rulers are inept and cannot be trusted)

2009-02-16T05:17:00.000-08:00

In Jafar Panahi's ‘Mirrors’-had also been hooked from the very start by his white balloon and Offside-one is left wondering at many points why the people little Mina encounters are not extra helpful; these doubts are only partially resolved by the ‘baring the device’ in the middle of the movie. Many of The previous scenes have to be re-interpreted (again without complete resolution/satisfaction) after the revelation. Panahi does not want to give explanations, only document the city life(tehran) seen from eyes of an adventrous grade 2? girl and the background talk of bus riders, walkers. He also always keeps the viewer hungry, and sometimes impatient, for what happens next.

The unreliability and incompleteness of her ‘knowledge’ provides the rambling but never dull story. Mirrors has more adventure than White Balloon and some of the child’s responses are much more adult like and jaded. Both the girls are not very patient but in Mirrors, the girl has little time to sit and think and have a conversation(she having no elder brother, as in White balloon, to help her negotiate). At the same time, she trusts completely the kinder people she questions and entreats them (bus driver, policeman, old lady) to come with her to the destination that is flashing through her mind at that moment. Knows a few things but cannot put them all together. Neither can those who try to help her since the info is insufficient.

Most of those who are asked for help have valid reasons for not staying with her for long. She is not afraid to ask questions and is confident of her ability to find her way. A small girl wondering about for so long - what does it say about her society? The girl is treated as an adult (only because of her confidence?) and sometimes she displays the indifference of adults-the scooter and car crashes do not affect her much.

No society can be unidimensional. Young girls more free to talk, act and move about than adult women. The freedom that she has when she cannot value it and use it well will be absent when she wants it later in life. The bus scene of the engaged? couple exchanging loving glances and unaware of Mina ‘catching’ them tells a lot about the constraints women have to live under and also of the small mercies. Mina's smile is also a mix of innocence and knowingness.

Mina’s parents can be blamed for not making arrangements for her going home and also for making her act. but this is something that everybody seems ready to overlook, if not condone.

Panahi is perhaps making a comment on the value of capturing random movements and interactions of a small girl. It might be better than following a more predictable adult but invading the private world of a kid becomes self-defeating after a certain point.

Svejk like combo of angel and devil.

2007-09-26T02:53:00.000-07:00

bbc radio 4 in our time program on Victorian pessimism

Mathew Arnold on honeymoon cannot be too optimistic

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night

Fragmentation lonelnesss vulnerability uncertainty(abt aty of scriptures, higher criticism); turn too personal- coomunal loss has to be faced alone

1844- engels on english poor. All in dark, stranded. ‘struggle’ is v. Darwinian although b4 origin of species. Loss of confidence has to do with scientific change and loss of faith(henry oldenberg, future secy of royal sociey met Spinoza)

Sea of faith/fate?; Aegean tragedy.

Housman of a later generation talks of abandonment; all props gone. His pessimism becomes a matter of austerity; discipline in imagination; economy of despair.

Oxford from anglicism to catholicism(newman)

Bible just a book- german comparative historians; strauss ‘life of jesus’ transltd by george eliot(who also translated Spinoza)

39 articles canonicity; to get fellowship, degree, clergyman

Geology- charles lyall; ruskin’s ‘sound of hammer’ ; sun will go out

1869 victorian liberal arnold wrote culture and anarchy; barbarians are landed class who are nto well rounded human beings but can control; philistines are middle class.

Ward healers and backslappers vs political punditry

Competition from America and germany; v r not centre of creation; other repercussions of Darwinism; eugenics coined by galton, cousin of Darwin; beautiful evoltx?.; founder of salvation army says put them in an island; degeneration theory-nordau?; power of steam to transform travel; electricity-commcx.; elite worries of being outpopulated by masses; breaking up of certnties made others take advntage. George gissing, powerful voice of pessimism, alientatd from own community. Hardy doing comparable work. Women getting new opps. Writing in new ways but no 2 cheerfully. ‘New woman’ novel.

Cloudburst- steam and electricity. Univ college London-clough; wells(gloomy texts were v popular; 1895 time machine discusses degnrtx and also new physics-last scenes 30 m years into future talk of death of sun; abominable desolation of dying red disc and final struggles of life on earth hot survive) and gissing-loer middle class.

Pessimists do literary art better. Murky depths get canonized. WT Stead- pioneer of sensationalist modern jornalism, exposed child prostitution in London(The Victorians, AN Wilson); Football Assoctx begins in 1863;30 clubs by 1868; Aston Villa Wesleyan Chapel, Christ Church Bolton-->Bolton Wanderers;Bramhall lane Sheffield drawing crowds of 10k in late 1870s. 1871-72 dostoevsky writes the devils."Man canot possibly exist without his former Gods"-Kirilov

Period of mass education. 1870 state funded education. Vote extended.

Fear of cities- semi vicious savage class. Lambroso early criminologist; looks at head features. Undersanitation.

Both marx and Darwin; underground culture; literary and also in non-lit; the u/g we travel in; novel ‘netherworld’. Failing of the light. Right now nightmare is ‘burned up’-2 much light. Cos of pollution, less lite. Whats happening in agriculture? Collapsing; depopulated ;

Holmes always gets man and out of darkness. First virtual celebrity. Threatening but solvable.

2007-07-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

Cannot resist taking Gilbert Trail(had gone down it for a short distance the last time I was in Kasauli about 5 years back) at Kasauli after the early morning rain on 17th june 07 despite knowing that my morning walk will become a walked half marathon by the time I reach back.

The trail, parallel to the Upper Mall, is broad & skirts the western? side of the rocky hill on which Kasauli is built but becomes narrow at a few points. Brits might have ridden horses on it during their rule but only a brave rider would ride on it now. The path leading to the point from where thwarted lovers on horseback are said to have jumped off (see below for details) is littered with beer bottle caps and cigarette butts. Intoxication produced by the natural beauty is obviously not enough for some. Spot a small deer(called khakkur by locals?) that runs off on seeing me and find no trace of it when I reach the edge.

The late Shama Futehally did a better job in capturing the beauty and danger of the place- “…..a dramatically narrow cliff path which is called, I think, Gilbert Walk, and is rather touchingly maintained as a ‘Nature Trail’ by the much-maligned Forest Department. Mercifully the stark beauty of the walk has not been interfered with. It is too stark, in fact – although the views are breath-taking the ravines are fearsome, and their fearsomeness contributes something to Kasauli’s Raj lore. At one particularly unnerving bend in the path, two English lovers are meant to have jumped their horses off the cliff and gone to their deaths, because they were not allowed to marry. The spot has now been domesticated with a clearing and a bench, and given the unexceptionable name of Lovers’ Point, but it still gives rise to gooseflesh.”

A pile of recently disintegrated blackblue soft rock covers a narrow stretch whereas an embankment along another stretch is losing stones from the middle, leading to a 2-3 feet gap that is going to widen and cut short the trail. Both of these are near the (back of the) Air Force complex at Manki Pt. Go up to the area behind the microwave station and lose hope of finding a way to the Lower mall after the end of the cliff face and the trail becoming many red-brown pine needle covered paths going down.

2007-05-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

A year or two before Coetzee won, had come across a list of potential Nobel winners that included Oz, Atwood and Pamuk. Was not at all surprised when Coetzee won and felt very relieved that I had sampled and acknowledged the brilliance that was being given the highest approval.

There is a similar feeling of familiarity and reverence about Pamuk’s work despite my having read very little of his oeuvre. Can claim to have become more variety seeking but I think that the main reason is that a good writer’s fame and books are reaching different corners more quickly.

S. Africa and Turkey have strong links with India and one feels the kind of solidarity with their writers that was once the exclusive privilege of the Russian masters. Turkey is closer both geographically and culturally to India but it took Pamuk to revive the fascination that began with Ataturk and to create a deeper interest.

Poetic Parables for troubled times. The local is immersed in foreign influences since the novel is based in a town that has many gifts of modern age but cannot embrace it as a package and leave in toto its own package of traditions. All the characters are provincial except Ka, the doomed protagonist.

If I, belonging to neither of the two dominant cultures whose supposed clashing alerted the Nobel Academy to the usefulness of Pamuk as an antidote to the warring impulses, felt terrible one can only speculate how much more sad the author, who keeps trying to achieve a beautiful provisional synthesis of seeming opposites and takes a small step forward from ossified tradition for his society with every work, would have felt.

Divorced sweetheart who is available and yet elusive partly because of her own notions of propriety and obligation toward father(cannot indulge herself when he is nearby). Tantalizing pursuits. Regulation of choice and pleasure. A chance to make amends for missed opportunities-sexual, political and religious. Not so much a mid age crisis as a longing for the past. Possessing what was beyond capability but did not seem so. Mellowed now but still not satisfied.

Poet who is an outsider. The local people do not accept him and he himself acknowledges that he is a ‘worthless nobody’ in Germany. (Therefore not sad even if he is ignored or appreciated only as an exotic novelty- many woman authors read because of this) A return to the roots that brings more pain pleasure poems, parables than he can handle/balance. A lot of lectures from inspired men by religion or terror(some are inspired by both and are the most attractive;persuasive?)on the need to remain within tradition and not blindly follow western concepts.

2006-06-05T03:27:00.000-07:00

italia 90 remains the personal high point in terms of involved but uninformed spectating. Although in terms of goals it was not the most prolific. It is said that it took the backpass rule to make US94 and subsequent cups more goalrich.

Starting with the most thankless job on the field and also the most stylish. goalkeeping antics over the years of silver jersey Zenga(voted the sexiest Italian player by the Italians, he did not concede any goals for a world cup record number of minutes, helped surely by the silken obstinacy of shirt out Baresi, eyes wide open Maldini and leadership of Bergomi?), Preudhomme, long limbs and longer dives Goycoechea. Taffarel solid without being flamboyant. Pumpido’s error against Cameroon that began the latter’s dream run.

The horrible tackle by Italian goalkeeper(Pagliuca?) against the Irish-we will not score goals and not let others do so either. Van der saar-lean tall bundle of quick reflexes.Frowning Zubizaratta. Flourescent patches Campos. Colombia’s Higuita and the cheeky half line steal by Miller. His rump shaking near corner flag after scoring goals. What pace and style at 38! Escobar’s self-goal with a lunge at the ball that is said to have caused his death later. Wiry Yellow jelly blob on head Valderrama.

How Sicilian Toto almost made Italia 90 his own. Platt also worked the substitute magic with his head. Cannot forget his astounded but mixed with glee look. Peters, Beardsley and Shilton-both men trying to defy age at the highest level. Gazza exit tears in 90 after a lot of unwarranted tackles and tumbles. and hands on hip Romario tears in 98?. babyface Bebeto’s babycradling celebrations.

Klinsmann not as clean as Lineker but of the same mould as far as ball pouncing earnestness was concerned. His partnering with rudi voeller. And the latter’s altercation with Rijkaard leading to expulsion for both? Ruud Gullit and van basten both off colour in 90. the laudrup brothers failing Bergkamp’s control(of ball and mind) and shooting skills leading to one of the best dying minutes goal and the exit of Argentina in 98. The Dutch seem to be losing some of their trademark flair with every world cup and will need to raise level to win the affection that Cryuff and his band are said to have commanded.

USA 94 and team USA. Meola and his men did not have the skills or the imagination but were keenest competitors on the world stage. And the goatee of Lalas? helped. Dour, extra long and loopy aerial passing Norwegians who put behind 94 and scored twice against Brazil in the group match win. The ‘94 win by the Brazilians was thus not as unalloyed as one might expect. Argentines were sour losers plodding along in 94. ‘Mule’ Ortega and giftedly serious Batistuta helped Argentina put up a much better show in 98. in 94 ebullient Caniggia shone briefly and more fat than tackles battling maradona gave some glimpses of golden days. Suited Bilardo kept huffing and puffing on the sidelines and was even given the marching orders once. The solo goal by Oraiwan (Saudi Arabia) that put out the Belgians(always quiet but effective with marshals like Cuelmanns and eyecatching shoes Scifo) and took SA to next round where Andersson magic awaited them.

France 98 was Europe almost all the way. The Croats finally ran out of steam despite the brilliantly consistent showing of Suker. Nigerians teaching Spain a lesson. Only Spanish performances I remember are the hattrick by Michel in 90 and desperate trying by Raul and Hierro in recent world cups. The Spaniards are give ups in World Cup. never fire when it matters. It may change. The Danes revived memories of 86 through the skills of laudrup brothers and schmeichel.

Inspirational Paraguayan Chilavert, proving that one man can do many things but not everything. Baggio,R starts firing late in 94. Stojkovic(90) and Stoitchkov(98) free kicks. Hagi’s long range missile. Skuhravy headers. Cyril Makanaky. Tireless sweeper matthaus who should not have played in 98.

7/8 in last 8 of 94 were European. Still brazil won. 6/8 in 90. In 98, 6/8 european(non Europeans were argentina and brazil). In 02, 4/8(including Turkey).

Time to stick neck out. In 06, Europe will improve showing. 5 surely, possibly 6. Brazil should have an easy ride to the 2nd round and even beyond unless Italians start producing goals out of nothing or the Czechs live up to their world no.2 ranking. France have an enviable possible meeting with Spain in round 3 before facing unenviable samba music. Germany will need more than home advantage to get past other strong European teams(Sweden or England) in round 2 and the survivor will run into Portugal/N’lands/Arg, producing perhaps the best match of the tournament. The early death of great quality will be because of the no.5 seeding given to mexico, 10 to n’lands and 17 to Portugal.

Koreans and Iranians are looking more aggressive but both are in fancied groups and will have to overcome an European team after the relatively easier job of beating the African team in group. It is time the Saudis make good use of their past WC maulings. 2 Asian teams in second round seems unlikely and korea seems to have the slightly easier path than japan. Top ranked African team Tunisia should carry on to 2nd round. Despite being in stronger group, Paraguay is more likely than Ecuador to stay on.

Italy’s Group E has two top 5(Czech, US) and three top 15 teams, if one goes by FIFA rankings. D(Mexico) and F(Brazil) each have three top 25 teams. So we can expect groups producing untimely first round deaths rather than a single deadly group. And the mockery of rankings that WC02 made will only add to the funereal mood. Also top teams can expect explosive second round encounters with other fancied teams e.g. Eng-germ; braz-ita; arg-port.

More than 500 years after the great European empire building experiment started and new worlds opened up with new trade routes, all the great naval rivals (Spain, Portugal, England, France, Holland) will be there for another battle for world domination, along with those whom they plundered and ruled e.g. the African first timers-Angola(Portugal), Ivory Coast (France), Ghana(Britain), Togo(Germany, then Britain and France) are going to experience further but bloodless plundering of their citadels. Spain was all over Central and South America and the southern parts of US. Spain and Portugal had even pragma-hubristically drawn a line in the Atlantic dividing the world into separate hemispheres of influence. The top three most obese nations will be there although the second spot has both Mexicans and Australians as contenders.

2006-05-27T04:35:00.000-07:00

A shabad from the Granth Sahib:

"You are me, and I am You-what is the difference
between us?
We are like gold and the bracelet, or water and the
waves

If I did not commit any sins, O Infinite Lord,
how would You have acquired the name, 'Redeemer of
sinners'?

You are my Master, the Inner-knower, Searcher of
hearts
The servant is known by his God, and the Lord and
Master is known by His servant

Grant me the wisdom to worship and adore You with my
body
O Ravi Daas, one who understands that the Lord is
equally in all, is very rare."

A very amusing ‘exchange’ between God and a man of God. The almost playful tone is the result of a perceived nearness to him. The urge to possess of a kid, lover is transformed into knowledge that he already has what he wanted. I love you not in order to partake of your wisdom but to become wise in the act of loving.

There is a difference/distance between us and it may be huge but not unsurpassable. I need you because my shortcomings need the intervention of a higher power than I possess. I know that I benefit from your presence but please do not forget that my devotion has a contribution to make in making you more desirable to others.

I make my body an instrument of your will. An insignificant sacrifice to make compared with your blessings and the chance of uniting with you

2006-05-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

written soon after harvard crimson allegation: America’s penchant for the exotic and how India is considered very hot these days. Amitabh Bachchan knows a few things about business. He recently mentioned in a interview that when a country is doing well economically, everything about it becomes very interesting and marketable. He was replying to a question about the readiness of Indian film industry to collaborate with Hollywood in making slick productions. according to him, the studios have done their homework and are fully prepared.

The Kaavya Viswanathan plagiarism episode is part of the publishing industry’s brush with India’s exoticness. If we have chick lit by a second generation Indian turned American, it will click, especially if the kid who is writing it and the heroine chick have Harvard association. If the right combination is there, the plot can be procured. If so much money has exchanged hands, the writer must be good. If so much money has exchanged hands we can use the fact to fool every reader. The only trouble is that not every reader is a fool.

One feels pity for her although she has caused a very small dent in the image India is projecting to the world. Some Indians are known to carry with them their habit of easily compromising on principles when they emigrate. Many Indians will also not accept the worth of fellow Indians if the foreigners do not fete them first. The sale that she would have got here would be partly because of the fact that she has done well in America and has been lionized by them.

She is smart but not smart enough to resist temptation. Very few with her ambition and finding themselves in her place would be able to resist. She may or may not be feeling guilty but she will need all her creativity to challenge the claims of Harvard Crimson and NYT. Taking people for a ride and earning money by doing so may not be a sufficient qualification for Investment Banking, the author’s preferred job sector, but the experience will certainly make her stronger to take on the male dominated field.

The egregious behaviour of the publisher deserves severe condemnation. They make the mistake of launching a faulty product in the market and then start hoping that they would not be caught. When caught, they sing praises of the author. Their commitment to the besieged author would be laudable if someone at a junior level had bungled and a Senior VP was not behind the whole deal. One can understand their brazenness because in many ways it is their book. They wrote some parts of it and they raised the stakes by giving an advance of $500000 for the two book deal whereas an unpublished author usually gets $10000. The marketing machinery usually takes when the product is ready to be launched. Here the marketing people were doing everything from R&D to Advertising. They can get away with it because they are not carmakers and no reader will lose her life by ‘using’ the book.

It also raises again the issue of endorsement. Oprah drew flak for promoting a book which was supposed to be a true story but turned out to be full of stretched truths. At least Kaavya is not guilty of lying in the book.

What else do you expect in a goognabled world? To expect that someone would try to live up at least to the half million advance is asking for too much. The pressure of living up to the smart kids in Harvard probably gets higher priority. If she had not written the book, she would have been a much less recognized but still a bright Harvard lady with a bright future. Now she is infamous and her extremely amateurish plagiarism has undone the brightness of her past and may even cast a shadow on her future. Will you sell your principles for half million?

Written 3-4 days after the controversy broke out: Even if the author had been male, women would have been far less judgemental. They do not have as much a desire for revenge as the men have and more importantly and also unfortunately, men are not ashamed to publicly announce this .

I was harsh on Kaavya(I did feel pity for her despite having reservations about the very small dent the image Indians are trying to project to the world might have suffered) before I read the posts on the net, esp. Sepia Mutiny, although not as harsh as others. I was harsher on her publishers and could not understand the naïve comments made by some about the possibility and extent of involvement of the publisher and even their ignorance. The issue is not about the worth of her writing. It is about the marketability of a product that luckily happens to have a Harvard student with exotic qualities as its author. In some ways her reactions are perfectly natural. The phrasing may be inappropriate but she is only human. My fundamental objection was and remains the propriety of according author status to a kid who has a lot to learn. This again can easily be countered by saying that there is a market for that. But there is also a market for child abuse. Still society does not sanction it. Similarly, no matter how good you are with the racquet or the club, you cannot join the pro tour before a certain age.

Standards of publishing may or may not have fallen but our expectations from young adults as performers have grown a lot. And whether or not a kid is allowed to perform is a decision that must carry the imprimatur of the parents. Even after giving the go-ahead, their duty does not end. They have to guard against the exploitation of their child by others and also by themselves. Jennifer Capriati’s father could not control either the urge to make more money through his daughter and, after some time, could not control his daughter either.

One form of Internalizing leads to conformity(according to Jon Elster, a desire caused by a drive to be like other people as contrasted with confirmism- the desire to be lik other people) and is the indispensable tool for any outsider who yearns to be accepted. She was only doing what she was expected to do to live up to the expectations of her own family and also that of the society she had chosen to make her own. She was expected to cater to the American taste and she and her helpers did nothing wrong in filling her book with references and names that would further bolster her American credentials even as the book was packaged as a product of someone who was not exactly one of them but close to being accepted because of her success.

After having made the successful ascent to the supposed pinnacle of academic achievement in USA and being able to see the promising future if she continued going by the book and internalizing more acceptable norms and conventions, she was trying to the difficult job of digging for her pure unconventional past. She would have even pulled it off but the internalizing impulse could not be resisted and it overshadowed the need to project her original rebellious side. A conventional exotic is what she will be called, despite her valiant efforts to show the readers the other side. Her creativity will be buried under the rancorous allegations.

She was thrust into the big league on the basis of her own claims of creativity(her half written Opal story) and the belief of her supporters in the efficacy of the packaging process. The subsequent additions were the only protection(not just inadequate but, as it turned out, carrying the potential to cause greater harm) against the relentless critical glare of the reading industry. She had not yet outgrown the impulse to conform but was expected to produce something original.
She was not wrong in trying to use any achievement gambit to achieve her admission goal. Every smart kid does that, often with the connivance of parents. After all, one never knows what small factor would impress the enigmatic selection committee members and tilt the decision in one’s favour. In fact, she was being very consistent in touting her potential as a literary person based on the prizes she had won for her poetry. Her mistake was in getting carried away by the hype that is necessary to market a not quite there product. And the money was both part and cause of the hype.

2006-03-12T00:23:00.000-08:00

"The march of the novel through history: testimony from my grandfathr’s bookshelf" is the essay i liked most from Amitav Ghosh's book 'Imam and the Indian and other prose pieces'.

This essay by amitava ghosh ends with a homage of sorts to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya who, Ghosh says, is widely regarded as one of the intellectual progenitors of Indian nationalism. Nirad babu had called him the ‘creator of Bengali fiction and ….the greatest novelist in the Bengali language (had read two days back in Armesto’s 'Civilisations ' a similar praise for Bankim and a phillipine renaissance man rizal?)

Bankim had identified Sanskrit and English school of Bengali writers and had said that the latter has fewer practitioners but produced better writing. He also said that there was nothing like an indigenous school of writing which owed nothing either to the ancient scholarship and literature or to the western knowledge and ideas

“The English or the German language can possess no words or expressions to denote ideas or conceptions which have not entered the Teutonic brain(or which the Teuton refuses to acknowledge as kosher)… just as the Englishman or German boasts of still vaster number of ideas utterly foreign to the Hindu.”

He then goes on to narrate the tale of a navvy who had strayed into the country and whose request for food had yielded a coconut. The navvy had proceeded to bite and chew the husk Compares the approach of scholars to the hungry foreigner and says that they ‘bite at the husk of Sanskrit learning’ and do not go ‘to the kernel’. This is in agreement with another line that had prefaced the tale of the coconut-“Nothing is more common subject of merriment among the natives of India than the European’s ignorance of all that that relates to India.”

Defiant Indians who are testing the so-called superiority of the foreigner. Coconut is not so rare a plant that a navvy would be completely unaware about its well protected nectar and kernel. And offering coconuts to hungry and foreign strangers is indicative of a slightly cruel sense of humour. One is reminded of the story of the crane and the fox who invited each other for dinner and served soup in a pitcher and plate respectively. Before you ask “How do cranes drink from pitchers?”, let me say that it is a story which is far fetched but which does not fail to convey the feelings of one-upmanship and revenge. Another story I have just remembered is even more fantastic and I got it by its tail i.e. by an unforgettable image. It is about a generous ant who finds a pitcher and decides to convert it into a common home because most other animals want to move in once they see it.

“I cheerfully admit the intellectual superiority of Europe. I deny, however…that intellectual superiority can help the blind to see or the deaf to hear.” The openness to improvement and candour in acknowledging the advancement of Europeans is matched by the assuredness of a wise civilization that could not prevent gradual decay.

Bankim is replying to Protestant missionary W. Hastie, who had written about the ‘hideousness and grossness of the monstrous system’ of ‘myrotheistic idolatory’. He had also expressed wonder that this has been the ‘principal pabulum of the spiritual life of the Hindus for about a thousand years, and the loudly boasted lore of their semi-deified priests.’ Acc. to Hastie “The Hindu is just what his idol gods have made him.” and adds that idolatry, and not foreign conquerors, are the curse of Indian’s history. “No people was ever degraded except by itself.”

in ‘the ghosts of Mrs. Gandhi’, one of the most touching(it touches upon the issues of instigated communal tension and the range of responses that such breakdowns in normal life evoke, ethical issues like the best response and appropriateness of writers 'participating' in the violence by describing it and how much time should have lapsed before they can participate, how neutral can one be?, the paralysing effect of violence on some and the opposite effect on others ) essays in the book, Ghosh writes about the difficulty of writing about violence without creating a panorama of violence. He talks of the Bosnian writer Dzevad karahasan, who says in his remarkable essay ‘Literatrure and War’, “the decision to perceive literally everything as an aesthetic phenomenon(aesthetic of indifference)- completely sidestepping questions of goodness and truth -is an artistic decision which began in the artistic realm and went on to become characteristic of the contemporary world” “let us not fool ourselves. The world is written first- the holy books say, that it was created in words-and all that happens in it, happens in language first.”

Women who could protect men and make the hoodlums scamper. Lalita Ramdas, Veena Das, Mita Bose, Radha Kumar. Nagarik Ekta manch and their pamphlet ‘Who are the Guilty?’

men who could keep their head while all around people were losing theirs-Swami Agnivesh, Ravi Chopra, Chandrashekar.

Safdarjang Enclave, the place where our author was during the 1984 riots, was not safe, and the his friend's neighbours, an old couple, were reckless in their tardiness. the loyalty and presence of mind of their servant and the concern of their non-Sikh neighbours helps them escape death.

The 'not joining' of VSN is to keep intact his status as observer and explainer of people who are not blessed with his kind of dispassionate analysis. Joining would bring contamination. One cannot avoid taking their side and, worst of all, might even start thinking like them. VSN stance is I am what I am and enjoy it so much that I dare not change it. Show me your defects before I move on to the next travelogue.

Both of them have a more than ordinary and sustained exposure to other cultures but have been affected differently. Amitav Ghosh has diffidence and a deference to academic rigour which VSN lacks. A writer cannot survive without some unchecked biases. VSN has some of the biggest biases. it is a question of background and the extent to which you are willing to have your opinions challenged.

The Company-Short History of a revolutionary idea

2005-08-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Traces the evolution of a concept that has grown in importance and power over the centuries and spawned myriad specimens. Plays down the fears of those attributing supranational command to MNCs and talks of the transformation of slave employees to company men to organisation men to entrepreneurial agents.

Raises issue of shareholder vs. stakeholder capitalism and the increasing intervention of government in company affairs. Considers companies as franchises who can win trust and thus the benefit of doubt during crisis if they also promote social good.

Magisterial survey interspersed with enough numbers to give a better idea of issues discussed.

3000 BC in Mesopotamia saw an attempt to rationalize property ownership. Assyrians(biblical savagery wale) had some partnerships going.

Phoenicians and Athenians(their model stands out for its rule of law and no whims of king allowed and its welcoming of outsiders-Pasion d.370 BC was a slave who died as the richest, made money in bankg and shippg; but scale was small-what do u expect form city state? Shield factories, the biggest factories employed no > 100; I thot cloth and trinkets wd be big biz even then,esp. in democratic city states; have to read more about Pericles and Solon) took the capitalism top sea. Expense time and risk at sea made p’ship even more necessary. Homer denounces merchants of Tyre.

By Second Punic War(218-202) Societates(‘mere groups of individuals’?;shortterm and most wealth still in agri and estates) of Rome wit their tax farming publicani, each partnetr having a share since a single knight could not guarantee a big levy; also engaged in grinding shields and swords.craftsmen formed guilds(corpora or collegia)

Romans created fundamental concepts of corporate law, esp the idea that an assoctx. Of people had collective identity separate from its human constituents; linked companies to familia, basic unit of society. Partners-socii left the running of co. to managers-magister who kept tabulae accepti et expensi.

Muhamad(569-632) was a trader. Sindbad, a merchant was hero whereas Christians had tuf time reconciling creed and deed. Muslims sat b/w west and East and had reached China before Polo(1275-92 travels saw him admiring the junks with cabins for 60 merchants) came. Trade was natural in a barren area. In 1076 China had a 700 year lead over European Iron factories, producing 125k tons. When Gama reaches E Africa, his better dressed hosts wonder how his puny ship could brave it like the Chinese ships.

Islamic law had muqarada for partnerships but oral testimony and no written contracts made it half-hearted? Also no single heir as in (selfish?)Europe. Chinese culture and govt. interference sunk hopes of corporates blooming. But China always excelled in eco of scale till the 18th cent. e.g. in porcelain but became ossified since they never competed with stare monopolies of other countries.

Yung Lo(Ming emperor) in 1403 dispatches fllet of treasure ships to Asian regions. Decline after 1424; Zheng he, famous captain given landlubber’s job by sons. In 1793, emperor to emp(George 3) As u can c, v have everything and no need to import manufactures of barbarians. None so blind as he who will not see. English and the Europeans lived it up during the industrial revolution (Landes) with incestuous spying and trade secrets spilling.

2 sorts of medieval orgs after Roman influence is history.

Guilds and chartered companies of N Europe and the merchant empires of Italy.
Maritime firms in Amalfi and Venice since 9th cent. Venetians formed consortia to lease galleys from state. (it has alwys been smart not 2 buy huge vehicles)

12th cent- compagnia(family firms on the principle of joint liability) emerges in Florence and other inlanf towns. Cum panis (breaking bread together)

1340- double entry bookkeeping to keep foreign offices honest. Letters of exchange in which Italian banks dominated(first hundi?has to be gujrat?). banchi(banco or benches behind which Italian money lenders sat) and compagnia intertwined. Bankers9many just pawnbrokers with 40% rates) and prostitutes would be refused communion in many cities.

But grossi banchiwere well captlzd with international branch network. They lured landlords to deposits-more liquid way of scooting during pol crisis than your farm.

1339- Edward 3 defaults and so do Bardi and Peruzzi- Florentine banks. In 1357, beleagured Ed gives right to collect customs on wool exports to Staple of London in exchange for money.

1423- Florence’s war addiction left it with public debt 6* annual revenue(double thje proportion that US in early 90s)

Medici bank- 4 Popes and 2 French Queens; bankrolled Renaissance. Begun in 1397 by Giovani di Bicci de Medici- it secured the papacy’s business. Since good Christians never took interest, Medici paid in diff currencies(with hidden premium) or licences or goods, thus making them diversified traders who went from wool(wd drag em to lending to crown) to cloth and then a alum monopoly(dyeing). 10 branches, ach a separate p’ship to keep losses lo. After Cosimo de M , war of roses and bad debts in London

1478- lost papal biz; 16 yrs later Ms expelled from Florence.

Datini- Merchant of Prato; Black Death and Flo weaver revolt agst guild. permancence was till prerogative of state. So lets go to N Europe to see the light.

Security and fellowship in a forbidding world through corporate persons like towns, univs, guilds. Also transmissx. Of wealth and tradition. Corp. of London still has ¼ ofr land, 3 pvt shols, 4 mkts and hampstead heath.

Saxon Gildan- to pay. Guild got a monopoly in return for small donation to sovereign. 17 yrs apprenticeship in London made u freeman, conscription exempt and free to put up shop within city walls. Guilds more like TU than companies.

1707- boatman guild ambushes a world’s first-Denis Papin’s steamboat. Steampower used 100 yrs later.

Most successful of regulated companies (a consortia to negotiate better price like the galley fellows) was Staple of London, founded in 1248 for wool exports. In 1357, beleagured Ed gives right to collect customs on wool exports to Staple of London in exchange for money. In 1466, Henry 6 wd give it aty over Calais to get customs on wool imported by continent. State offerd security and guaranteed mkt to firms.