Mother Pious Lady - Book Review

12:33 PM Shanky 2 Comments


There are big books of small things, small books of big things and big book of big things and small books of small things. If I were to classify this book into one of these four then I would probably say it is a big book of small things. But these small things are those that make up the social fabric of India and in turn what India is all about. As I had earlier indicated in my review of A Rainbow in the Night, I like authors who drive their point by first showing out the entire landscape and then focusing on their object/element of choice. Mr. Desai also uses such a technique when he goes back to the dark old days to the good old days and then explains how our current thinking is either markedly different from or heavily influenzed by those days. However, because it is a big book of small things, the focus is kind of blurred and the sharpness is quite not what you get out of a research paper. This is good as well as bad depending on what you expected out of the book. For me, it was good as I got a wholesome picture and I could mould each chapter or experience to the management scenarios I encounter, to explain why customers/co-workers behave/work in a certain way.

The book follows a time-linear path as it starts from past, then moves on to the present and finishes off with future. The good thing is that the author has provided majority of pages for the past, then to present and a few pages for the future. This shows the sound research and subject knowledge of the author. He analyzes how the past experiences have affected the present. He also had the maturity to not to blabber some nonsensical prediction for our future. Rather he explains how we can shape our future and urges us to use the right lens so that we are not misled by all the brouhaha around brand India. Another good news is that the book is divided into very small chapters, each is (kind of) an experience that an average Indian citizen would have undergone. So these chapters can be read in any order or some of them can even be skipped if you are not interested. The effect it has on the overall reading experience depends on how many chapters you skipped rather than which chapters you skipped as these are experiences which tie to each other anyway. But I would recommend not to skip the initial chapters as this evoked strong sense of nostalgia in me. It made me grin from ear to ear and sometimes even crack up laughing thinking about what I had done in my childhood. Any guy/gal born in 1980s should try not to skip the early chapters.

The chapters about the Bajaj scooters and stainless steel utensils made me grin from ear to ear. While the chapters about the hill stations and vacations made me frown up on him for trivializing such an important experience in my life. But then again he shifted gears and had me in splits and nodding in smug appreciation when he trashes the concept of ‘arranged marriages’. I shall give you just one experience which he had explained with which I quite couldn’t agree. In one of the chapters he explained the emergence of small town girls and he argues that the mask or whatever it is that they make out of their duppattas as a sign of progress or sign of increasing self confidence. This explanation looked contrived in my opinion. The book in essence took me on a roller coaster in terms of my reactions to the chapters.

An interesting observation I made while reading this book is that how close is our thinking to China's when it comes to patriotism and portraying our country to outside (read: Western) world. In smoke and mirrors, Pallavi Iyer mentions that Chinese citizens hated bad news and avoided it at all cost. In fact, they had built a false Utopia around them and chose to ignore some of the pressing problems they have in their country. The media regulation is only part of that plan as media houses play an important role in upkeeping the utopian image. It is strikingly similar to our behavior wherein we ignore the presence of slums and feel indignant when a westerner points it out! Two things emerge -
  1. The author further strengthens my belief in Ubuntu, philosophy that All Towns are one. We, like the Chinese, want only the good India and good part to be known to us and the world.
  2. More importantly, he opens our eyes and hence urges us to shut up, accept it, acknowledge it and change it. Rather than ignoring it or whining about it and searching for the emergent India at the top while the emerging India is at the middle
Tackling a big problem, on which everyone has an opinion about and most have an emotional attachment to, even in a big book is tricky. There will be chapters which you have exactly the opposite view than the one that the author has taken. You might opine that the author has made a mountain out of a mole hill in certain other chapters. But the author has presented his view and smartly put into a form where you have the choice to skip the chapter if you want. So I don't really see this as a disadvantage but only a minor hiccup. From my personal experience, I found the boring chapters were in the middle and I could not help but yawn and switch off my reading lights. This was one of the most time consuming books for me. It took me almost three months to finish this book. Mumbai's traffic and commute did not help much either. Another important factor is that you run out of nostalgic moments somewhere in the middle of the book and the boring present starts to take over. These were the pages I found the most difficult to coast through because I am confused where this country is presently headed to while the author definitively tries to pave a path. At least he is clear about what he is talking.

All in all, it’s a great book especially if you are a sociology student or if you are a traveler in India who wants to understand why we are like this only or even if you are a resident Indian who cannot understand your neighbor who is a filter coffee sipping, Hindu newspaper reading, cricket fanatic who can argue about any topic under the sun. It’s a great read, go get it!

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Lessons From Doing Nothing

11:27 AM Shanky 17 Comments


NangYuan Terrace and Doing Nothing

As I had told you guys before reaching Mumbai, I had been to the islands of Thailand and met people from other countries. During these encounters I realized that though every human being is unique, there are lessons we can take from everybody we meet and apply it in our lives. So here are some of my interesting observations:

Everybody has problems - If you know me personally, then you know how much I desist the Indian way of "settling down". While your parents will want you to be unique early in your school days and the trophies you bring home for poetry and elocution is much appreciated, it is never seriously viewed. It is to be written in the "hobbies" section of your resume. The main part of your resume is supposed to follow the routine route of Professional Education --> Work --> MBA --> Work --> Marry --> Home and Car --> Kids -- Die! I thought or was led to believe by the books and Hollywood movies that my counterparts in the western hemisphere have a better life! But I was proved wrong by Danielle, a 20 something English girl who was an accountant in a firm and quit her job because it became "too much". She narrated her woes in life and the pressures the society in UK puts on an individual. Her next career move, according to the society and her family should be to get an MBA, then get married and settle down in life. But she wants to be a writer and volunteer in the education space. I was totally flabbergasted! It was a story like any other Indian's only that she was super cute and had an English accent! 

Get real. Get experience - I had to walk over 5 Km to get to the highest viewing point on Koh Tao - my most favorite spot in Thailand. The viewpoint was called Nangyuan Terrace and was actually a part of a resort. As a PR move the resort had allowed free access to the public and right at the ledge of the viewpoint is a restaurant overlooking the beautiful atoll Nang Yuan which is a popular day trip among visitors. It is here that I met David - A guy from England who lost his job with Barclays Capital. He is travelling and trying to find a job in SE Asia as the economy here is touted to be better. While talking to him topics about India and its culture came up. He was very curious to know how the marriage system works and the role that gold plays in the marriage and hence the economy. He even tutored me about the economic impact at which point I yawned more than I nodded. And then he revealed that he does not even have a degree which made me almost jump off the cliff! Looking at my expression and my open mouth he explained further - "Unlike India, in the western hemisphere you need experience. Your certificate does not hold any value for a job application unless you have worked in the industry. If you want to change your sector and find a new career or even an alternate career, then get real, get some experience and work your way up. I started 7 years ago as a back office analyst and now I have been fired as a consultant" 

Exposure is reality - We often come across westerners in weird, unique, different careers and wonder how they had even thought about becoming what they were. I kind of figured out the answer to this question while exploring the beautiful reefs of Koh Tao. My dive instructor was a guy named Toby and he was all of 20 years. While it amused me to no end that he was an instructor at such a young age, it irritated him that I was amused by his age. Shamelessly, I kept prodding about how he knew that this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He said he was exposed to diving at 15, the minimum age for you to be certified, and got hooked to it. He has been diving ever since and took up the instructor course at 18, again the minimum age to start, and became an instructor at 18! In India rarely do we get such exposure to a variety of professions. Rarely do we travel to other nations to give a different experience to our children. If there needs to be change in the way we look at life and career it is not enough if we swap marks for grades and give prizes for everyone. Rather, I would say make competition mandatory but the basis of competition must be different depending on the student. For that you need to expose him and bring to his cognition that there are alternate avenues available. 

Do nothing - We Indians have a compulsive need to be doing something. While we plan our holidays we plan for "activities" to be done and sights to be seen. If there were not enough things to do then we label the place as "Not so good". "It was fun but there is nothing to do beyond a day in Kodaikanal and it gets boring." Such statements are testimonial that we have lost the power to extract happiness in doing nothing and just enjoying each others' company! We need a boat ride or a monkey falls or at least a children's park to enjoy the holiday. But travelling and doing nothing during a holiday is awesome. Its fun! All through this entire sojourn I had so little to do and I enjoyed it! I did not have a "must see" place that I was anxious not to miss out or a "must try" activity that I desperately wanted to try. I did nothing but laze around the beach, read a book and eat at the local coffee shop. I simply loved it!

Confusion - After all this, I was confused! What am I doing? Am I doing the right thing? But confusion is good. Confusion leads to good conclusions. 




This post has been entered for the expedia travel competition in indiblogger. 

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