Hi everyone!
"Great Soul" by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Joseph Lelyveld is an eye-opening and ultimately surprising (to me anyway) new biography of the late great Mahatma Gandhi. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a bit of an India-phile. I first started taking notice of Indian culture in 2009 when I saw my first Bollywood film "Race" and I have been rabid about wanting to learn more about Indian culture and history ever since. I was particularly interested to learn more about the life of Gandhi-ji whose campaigns of civil disobedience against British colonial rule were instrumental in helping shape a modern independent India, sometimes it seemed (at least according to Mr. Lelyveld's engaging book) in spite of himself.
Prior to reading this book, the depth of my knowledge about the Mahatma was more-or-less limited to Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning 1982 biopic starring Ben Kingsley. I haven't seen the film in thirtysomething years so I am not overly familiar with the details depicted within in, though I do remember repeated scenes of Gandhi in jail, the great Salt March, his reluctance regarding the eventual partition of India upon independence, and his assassination at the hands of Hindu nationalists. I also remember how he preached the importance of self-reliance, encouraging Indians to spin their own cloth as opposed to relying on British imports. A more recent Hindi-language film "Gandhi My Father" depicted the troubled relationship the Mahatma had with his eldest son Harilal, a portrayal that wasn't particularly sympathetic to Gandhi-ji, and ultimately is what inspired me to further investigate his life. Philip Glass's opera "Satyagraha" whose title is taken from Gandhi's overall philosophy is also a source of considerable interest.
While Mr. Lelyveld succeeds in conveying the complicated life of India's "Great Soul," the reader is left with a troublesome portrait of the man many consider something close to a 20th century saint. He begins by spending a considerable number of pages discussing Gandhi's life as a young lawyer in South Africa and his establishment of two communes inspired by the great Russian writer and philosopher Leo Tolstoy. Gandhi was particularly active early in his life with the cause of promoting greater commonality and understanding between Moslems and Hindus, and the destruction of the traditional Hindu caste system, a cause that began in South Africa but continued and was further shaped by his years spent back in India.
Mr. Lilyveld doesn't shy away from the less savory aspects of Gandhi's life and philosophy. As portrayed here, Gandhi is a man of singular determination, often at the expense of his family. Gandhi's wife, an illiterate but seemingly well-intentioned woman, quickly fades from relevance as Gandhi develops an ambiguously non-sexual but intensely devoted relationship with a German Jewish body-builder named Hermann Kallenbach. The two remained passionately involved for much of Gandhi's life. Whether this affair was ever consummated remains in question, though letters exchanged between the two might hint at something less than platonic. As part of his Satyagraha, Gandhi swore off all sexual intimacy. In order to be a true pilgrim for the cause, Gandhi believed that one must live one's life with total sexual pureness, though in his last years, Gandhi was known to have had a predilection for young women whom he invited to share his bed, sleeping naked, and engaging in "non-sexual" massages.
As presented in this book, Gandhi is a man of deep contradictions, whose actions were often interpreted as running counter to the philosophies he seemed to embody throughout his work. He is originally ambivalent about gaining independence from Britain, deeply believing that the key to success of India as an independent nation was in abolishing the caste system and not necessarily the ruling British Raj. He was also a champion of bettering the lives of India's Moslems, a cause which ultimately cast him in opposition to the Hindu nationalist movement. I was particularly surprised to learn that Gandhi actively campaigned on behalf of the establishment of a new Moslem Caliphate upon the fall of the Ottoman Empire following World War One. As partition drew near, Gandhi sought to live out his remaining months in an area that became part of modern-day Pakistan, and was the scene of some of the worst Muslim-Hindu brutality at that time. Many Hindus felt he had betrayed them which ultimately prompted his assassination in 1947, an event which Gandhi rather eerily seemed to have predicted.
Mr. Lelyveld's biography exhausted, disturbed, and enlightened me. His narrative style is never less than engaging and I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about one of India's greatest and most formative public figures. One needn't have a strong knowledge of colonial history or Gandhi's life to appreciate this book. I don't know how the book was received in India upon its publication last year but I can only imagine it stirred some controversy. Lelyveld's "great soul" is a difficult man, a man of the people despite his upper-caste background. While Gandhi's work inspired and one can argue created a modern nation, he is presented here as only a moderately successful politician, whose greatest contribution to Indian and world history is a demonstration of how sheer determination and force of will can rally a nation's dispossessed and inspire them to an awesome if troubling degree.
Ciao.
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Monday, August 6, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
A Call to Action--India and the Right to Pee Campaign
Hi everyone!
I'm en route to spend a few weeks with my brother in the beautiful state of Colorado. It's a long road trip when it's just me on my own, but the end result is worth it!
I want to tell you about an article that really struck me in today's New York Times. Apparently--and probably not surprisingly--there are more people in India than there are toilets. According to this article, the link to which I'll include below, in Mumbai alone there are 5,993 public toilets (with an additional 2,468 urinals) for men and only 3,536 for women. In these public toilets--which are filthy beyond belief--a male attendant collects anywhere from 2 to 5 rupees from customers in need of said facilities. The hitch though is that while men need to pay for the privilege of using a proper toilet, they can use the urinals at no charge. The same is obviously not true for women. Every time a woman needs to urinate, she must pay for the dubious privilege.
While it may not seem like a big deal for many of you reading this blog, when you consider the fact that many of the poorest people in India survive on as little as 29 rupees a day, 2 to 5 rupees paid out every time one needs to take care of one's natural functions really adds up. The article goes on to say that although women in Mumbai comprise half the city's workforce, many of these women do not have access to a toilet in their workplace. Thus, they are forced to use these public toilets and are getting ripped off in the process.
According to a recent article from the BBC, 35 non-government NGOs have organized around a campaign called--quite appropriately--the Right to Pee that in Mumbai alone has already collected 50,000 signatures by activists who have gone door-to-door as part of a movement to raise awareness about this ludicrous double standard. But more than this, the Right to Pee organization is charged with bringing attention to the need for improved sanitation, more and cleaner toilets, and the hiring of female attendants to look after the women's bathrooms. Mumbai city officials met with a select group of campaigners last week to discuss plans to build hundreds of new public toilets specifically for women all across the city. Whether this initiative reaches any sort of fruition in India's notoriously corrupt public sector remains to be seen. It is, however, a step (however small) in the right direction.
If nothing else, it further raises the point that despite its miraculous economic growth, the disparity between India's rich and poor remains staggering. The infrastructure--or lack thereof--as it exists now simply cannot hold.
I have looked for a website address for this campaign and was unable to find anything. I recently joined an online organization called Change.org wherein members can write and file petitions for or against any cause that matters to them. The petitions are posted on the Change.org site and anyone can affix their signature to it. Over the course of the next few days, I will be lending my voice to this Right to Pee campaign by drafting a petition on Change.org addressed to the appropriate Indian civic authorities in charge of public sanitation. Any and every human being has the right to clean, safe, sanitary, and FREE toilet facilities regardless of gender.
I will post on here the moment my petition is live and I will encourage you to share this link with everyone you know so we can get at least 100,000 online signatures. The Indian government must be held accountable by its citizens. My petition is only a small step, but it is a step and part of a much larger campaign.
In the meantime, please click below for the New York Times article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/world/asia/in-mumbai-a-campaign-against-restroom-injustice.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Ciao.
I'm en route to spend a few weeks with my brother in the beautiful state of Colorado. It's a long road trip when it's just me on my own, but the end result is worth it!
I want to tell you about an article that really struck me in today's New York Times. Apparently--and probably not surprisingly--there are more people in India than there are toilets. According to this article, the link to which I'll include below, in Mumbai alone there are 5,993 public toilets (with an additional 2,468 urinals) for men and only 3,536 for women. In these public toilets--which are filthy beyond belief--a male attendant collects anywhere from 2 to 5 rupees from customers in need of said facilities. The hitch though is that while men need to pay for the privilege of using a proper toilet, they can use the urinals at no charge. The same is obviously not true for women. Every time a woman needs to urinate, she must pay for the dubious privilege.
While it may not seem like a big deal for many of you reading this blog, when you consider the fact that many of the poorest people in India survive on as little as 29 rupees a day, 2 to 5 rupees paid out every time one needs to take care of one's natural functions really adds up. The article goes on to say that although women in Mumbai comprise half the city's workforce, many of these women do not have access to a toilet in their workplace. Thus, they are forced to use these public toilets and are getting ripped off in the process.
According to a recent article from the BBC, 35 non-government NGOs have organized around a campaign called--quite appropriately--the Right to Pee that in Mumbai alone has already collected 50,000 signatures by activists who have gone door-to-door as part of a movement to raise awareness about this ludicrous double standard. But more than this, the Right to Pee organization is charged with bringing attention to the need for improved sanitation, more and cleaner toilets, and the hiring of female attendants to look after the women's bathrooms. Mumbai city officials met with a select group of campaigners last week to discuss plans to build hundreds of new public toilets specifically for women all across the city. Whether this initiative reaches any sort of fruition in India's notoriously corrupt public sector remains to be seen. It is, however, a step (however small) in the right direction.
If nothing else, it further raises the point that despite its miraculous economic growth, the disparity between India's rich and poor remains staggering. The infrastructure--or lack thereof--as it exists now simply cannot hold.
I have looked for a website address for this campaign and was unable to find anything. I recently joined an online organization called Change.org wherein members can write and file petitions for or against any cause that matters to them. The petitions are posted on the Change.org site and anyone can affix their signature to it. Over the course of the next few days, I will be lending my voice to this Right to Pee campaign by drafting a petition on Change.org addressed to the appropriate Indian civic authorities in charge of public sanitation. Any and every human being has the right to clean, safe, sanitary, and FREE toilet facilities regardless of gender.
I will post on here the moment my petition is live and I will encourage you to share this link with everyone you know so we can get at least 100,000 online signatures. The Indian government must be held accountable by its citizens. My petition is only a small step, but it is a step and part of a much larger campaign.
In the meantime, please click below for the New York Times article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/world/asia/in-mumbai-a-campaign-against-restroom-injustice.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Ciao.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Birds of Dreams: Free downloads throughout the summer
Hi everyone!
I haven't done this in a while--a shameless pitch for my novel "Birds of Dreams"--but I just wanted to let you all know that I am uploading the entire novel to Scribd.com, a new chapter/section every day through the summer. You can click on the links below and access it for free.
While it is nowhere near as steamy as "50 Shades of Gray," it is a fun summer beach read and I certainly wouldn't mind replicating the online success of "50 Shades" prior to that book's print publication. A salesclerk at my neighborhood 7-11 just told me that she's not only missed her train stop because she's been so engrossed in "50 Shades," she's walked into things because she can't put it down...much to her grown son's embarrassment. And mine, for that matter...though it does have me curious.
I continue to be delighted by the fact that to date the majority of Facebook likes for "Birds of Dreams" (not to mention downloads) have been from college-aged kids all over India. It probably has to do with the fact that Bollywood plays a fairly significant role in the story.
At any rate, click below and check back daily for the latest installment.
Part One:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/96068324
Part Two:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/96160750
And "Like" the page on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Birds-of-Dreams-A-Novel/265750846787433
I'll be reviewing Ayad Akhtar's beautiful debut novel "American Dervish" and Ridley Scott's latest sci-fi blockbuster "Prometheus" at the weekend. So stay tuned!
Ciao.
I haven't done this in a while--a shameless pitch for my novel "Birds of Dreams"--but I just wanted to let you all know that I am uploading the entire novel to Scribd.com, a new chapter/section every day through the summer. You can click on the links below and access it for free.
While it is nowhere near as steamy as "50 Shades of Gray," it is a fun summer beach read and I certainly wouldn't mind replicating the online success of "50 Shades" prior to that book's print publication. A salesclerk at my neighborhood 7-11 just told me that she's not only missed her train stop because she's been so engrossed in "50 Shades," she's walked into things because she can't put it down...much to her grown son's embarrassment. And mine, for that matter...though it does have me curious.
I continue to be delighted by the fact that to date the majority of Facebook likes for "Birds of Dreams" (not to mention downloads) have been from college-aged kids all over India. It probably has to do with the fact that Bollywood plays a fairly significant role in the story.
At any rate, click below and check back daily for the latest installment.
Part One:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/96068324
Part Two:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/96160750
And "Like" the page on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Birds-of-Dreams-A-Novel/265750846787433
I'll be reviewing Ayad Akhtar's beautiful debut novel "American Dervish" and Ridley Scott's latest sci-fi blockbuster "Prometheus" at the weekend. So stay tuned!
Ciao.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Book Review: Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
Hi everyone!
I just finished reading an extraordinary book. Katherine Boo, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for the New Yorker, has written a beautifully rendered portrait of life in the Annawadi slum of Mumbai. Annawadi is a notorious slum that borders on the Mumbai international airport. Its 3,000 denizens live in a shanty community that is bordered on all sides by the luxuries and wealth of New India.. This is not your average non-fiction narrative detailing the horrendous poverty inherent to one of the world's most developing countries. Instead, Ms. Boo approaches her subject through the keenly focused lens of a storyteller. By focusing on the lives of two families and various other individuals that exist on their periphery, "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" provides an insightful and richly detailed account that never slips into sentimentality while maintaining a level of compassion and a narrative drive as finely wrought as the best in crime procedural fiction.
Muslim teenager Abdul is a garbage picker and his family's primary wage earner. His family is able to survive based on the money he brings in by sorting garbage and selling it to local recyclers. His mother, Zehrunisa, holds the family together with her wit, sharp tongue, and strong familial loyalty. Abdul's sister is recently divorced and has left her husband's family to live once again with her own people. Abdul's father is in poor health but dreams of finally moving out of the slum to a small plot of land on Mumbai's outskirts where he hopes he can one day raise his family (consisting of eleven children) in peace.
Unfortunately, a verbal altercation with a neighboring woman results in a self-immolation and a trial that threatens to destroy everything Abdul and his family have long fought for.
Add to this mix is Asha, a determined daughter of the slums, who uses corruption and sexual favors from powerful men to gain a foothold in the cadre of Annawadi's power-wielding elite; youngsters Sunil, Sonu, and Kalu, friends of Abdul's, who do what they can to stay ahead by relying on street smarts; Asha's daughter Manju, who runs an English class out of her home while hoping to pursue a university degree; and Meena, Manju's friend, who resorts to tragic action when she realizes she will never escape the slum.
"Behind the Beautiful Forevers" is a page-turner that is all the more compelling for being true. What prevails is an unadulterated portrait of the human spirit and an innate will to survive despite overwhelming odds. It also brings to life the struggles and challenges of a nation trying to overcome an historically caste-bound society where the division between the very rich and the very poor is epic and seemingly insurmountable. This is one the very best books ever written about India and one that should be required reading for anyone interested in learning about one of the world's fastest growing economies and the lengths people will go to in order to provide themselves and their families a better tomorrow.
I just finished reading an extraordinary book. Katherine Boo, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for the New Yorker, has written a beautifully rendered portrait of life in the Annawadi slum of Mumbai. Annawadi is a notorious slum that borders on the Mumbai international airport. Its 3,000 denizens live in a shanty community that is bordered on all sides by the luxuries and wealth of New India.. This is not your average non-fiction narrative detailing the horrendous poverty inherent to one of the world's most developing countries. Instead, Ms. Boo approaches her subject through the keenly focused lens of a storyteller. By focusing on the lives of two families and various other individuals that exist on their periphery, "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" provides an insightful and richly detailed account that never slips into sentimentality while maintaining a level of compassion and a narrative drive as finely wrought as the best in crime procedural fiction.
Muslim teenager Abdul is a garbage picker and his family's primary wage earner. His family is able to survive based on the money he brings in by sorting garbage and selling it to local recyclers. His mother, Zehrunisa, holds the family together with her wit, sharp tongue, and strong familial loyalty. Abdul's sister is recently divorced and has left her husband's family to live once again with her own people. Abdul's father is in poor health but dreams of finally moving out of the slum to a small plot of land on Mumbai's outskirts where he hopes he can one day raise his family (consisting of eleven children) in peace.
Unfortunately, a verbal altercation with a neighboring woman results in a self-immolation and a trial that threatens to destroy everything Abdul and his family have long fought for.
Add to this mix is Asha, a determined daughter of the slums, who uses corruption and sexual favors from powerful men to gain a foothold in the cadre of Annawadi's power-wielding elite; youngsters Sunil, Sonu, and Kalu, friends of Abdul's, who do what they can to stay ahead by relying on street smarts; Asha's daughter Manju, who runs an English class out of her home while hoping to pursue a university degree; and Meena, Manju's friend, who resorts to tragic action when she realizes she will never escape the slum.
"Behind the Beautiful Forevers" is a page-turner that is all the more compelling for being true. What prevails is an unadulterated portrait of the human spirit and an innate will to survive despite overwhelming odds. It also brings to life the struggles and challenges of a nation trying to overcome an historically caste-bound society where the division between the very rich and the very poor is epic and seemingly insurmountable. This is one the very best books ever written about India and one that should be required reading for anyone interested in learning about one of the world's fastest growing economies and the lengths people will go to in order to provide themselves and their families a better tomorrow.
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