Cat story

Let me admit upfront that I am fond of cats. Even my favourite cartoon character is a cat-Garfield. During my school days in Chennai we had ‘adopted’ a stray cat who used to frequent our house and  we used to feed milk to her regularly. At my cousin’s palace in Allahabad, there was an elegant Siamese cat whom I fondly remember playing, with when she was a kitten. The attributes I typically associate with cats include cleanliness, lazy, independent and non-obtrusive (as long as you keep feeding them on time) and a bit of a show off (depending on their pedigree). Hence you can imagine my excitement when I started reading Nilanjana Roy’s debut book-The Wildings (Aleph),a highly imaginative tale about cats based in and around Nizamuddin area of Delhi (well know because of the famous dargah).  I have to admit that I enjoyed the book. Obviously the author has been a keen observant of the species and she has captured their nuances very well, be it about their playing, fighting, hunting or just sleeping.

The story starts with the adoption to a cute orange colour kitten called Mara by a family of bigfeet(humans).The presence of this  kitten with certain special powers amidst them alarms the  stray cats of Nizamuddin (cats mark out their territories where outsiders are not welcome) and they plan to kill her. Meanwhile the basement of a ramshackled house is the breeding ground for a bunch of wild cats who have never been outside and prey on any stray animal which happen to stumble into the house. Only the old owner of the house holds them back. Once he is no more the stage is set for an epic confrontation between the wild cats of the house with the other group of stray cats of Nizamuddin who have by now made peace with Mara and are training her to control her special power. Will this power help them in their fight to the finish with the wild cats? What role will the cheels play in this showdown? Will the cats belonging to dargah come to their rescue? The stage is set for an exciting climax. Beside the cheels, rats, tigers, langur and a mongoose also play an important role in the narrative.

It may be a typical good guys vs the bad guys story, but it is the  idea of putting   cats as the main protagonists that is the real winner.

The production quality of the book (as in other Aleph titles) is first –class. The glossy cover and the beautiful illustrations inside (by Prabha Mallya) add to the flavour. If you have not bought any Aleph title earlier, this is a good one to start with, for all fiction lovers.

Joe Sacco

Chechnya has been in the spotlight recently after the Boston bombers (Tsarnaev brothers) were revealed to be of Chechen origin. How exactly did these two young men (Tamerlan, the elder was 26 and his younger brother, Dzhokhar was 19) get radicalised is something which will continue to be debated for some time. However, to get a very informative snapshot of what has been happening in Chechnya and the existing conditions there, I would recommend that you go through Joe Sacco’s latest collection –Journalism (Random house). Joe Sacco, an American of Maltese origin, is the leading proponent of what is known as comics journalism and has been reporting from conflict zones around the world (Palestine is perhaps his most well known work which exposes the inhuman conditions Palestinians have to face in their daily lives). Journalism consists of his reporting from travel to six locations around the world–The Hague (war crimes tribunal), Palestine, Chechnya, Iraq, Malta (Immigration issues from Africa) and India (Condition of dalits in Kushinagar –U.P, published in ‘Caravan’ earlier).

The story about Chechnya is based on Sacco’s interactions with Chechen refugees in refugee camps/centres in the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia where they had fled after Boris Yelstin launched an all out war on Chechnya in 1994 to curb the insurgency. The refugees continue to stay in pitiable conditions even as the Russian forces coerce them to return to Chechnya (to show to the world that things have ‘normalised’ in this troubled part). The ground reality in Chechnya is still very different from what the Russians would like to project to the world.Inspite of presence of large no of Russian soldiers, frequent encounters with the rebels, suicide bombings, danger of landmines, imposition of curfew, power cuts etc have made the refugees averse to returning to Chechnya and they continue to stay put in these camps inspite of the lack of proper facilities/space. In fact one woman mistakes Joe (who is accompanied by a Russian bodyguard) as someone who has come to take her back to Chechnya and starts howling that she does not want to go back. Through interaction with another refugee woman we come to know that Chechens have been at the receiving end of the Russians since the eighteenth century and inspite of various brutal attacks on Chechens, Russians have never been able to successfully quell them.

This story along with the other five stories in this collection bring to forth atrocities humans are capable of inflicting on other humans be it for caste differences, religion, region or difference in colour of the skin. The art work by Joe Sacco is first class as usual and we can clearly see the anguish on the face of the victims. A brief note after each story helps to put the story in the right perspective. For those who have not read anything of Joe Sacco earlier, this collection would be a good one to make a beginning. If you like this collection, then I would recommend you immediately go for Palestine (also published by Random house and available at most leading book shops).

Looking for Mario

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‘Dwell your soul in the realm of light’ – from the GTDC brochure of Old Goa

Apart for the Sun, sand and sea the two other things I really looked forward to during my recent maiden visit to Goa was the stay in Old Goa and coming across the works of my favourite Goan artist – Mario De Miranda. The beaches did not disappoint and I really enjoyed the languorous meandering from one beach to the other in North Goa (We were putting up in Calangute) and the idle lying amongst the innumerable shacks dotting the beaches .It would have certainly helped had we put on sun screen lotion more regularly but then maybe a trip to Goa is not complete if you don’t get a little sun burnt! It was also quite an experience to ride a scooter (available on hire and the best way to move around) after a gap of nearly 10 years! What did disappoint me was that amongst the many flea markets along the beaches there was no trace of any work of Mario (For some strange reason Bob Marley and Che Guvera dominated the T-shirt motifs though I came across very few people actually wearing these designs).Even on enquiring, people expressed their inability to guide me to any place where I could find Mario’s work. Some reacted as if they were hearing his name for the first time! Even when I found a ‘Goa’ ceramic mug at a momento shop, it had work by an artist which closely resembled Marios’ but still there was no trace of Mario. I reconciled myself that maybe because Mario spent most of his working life in Bombay, he was not so well known in his home town (where he shifted from Bombay after retirement and passed away in December 2011).

After three days in north Goa we shifted to Old Goa and the GTDC hotel is beautifully located close to all the heritage sites in this old capital of Goa (before the capital was shifted to Panjim in 1843). After all the noisy frolic in North Goa, it certainly felt nice to in this serene and less crowded part which lies along the Mandovi river. The quiet drive from Panjim to Old Goa along the Mandovi river itself is a treat. Most of the heritage churches and the cathedrals are at a walking distance from each other and the prominent ones include the church of Bom Jesus which houses the body of St Francis Xavier, Se Cathedral and St. Cajetan’s Church. These were built in the fifteenth century when Goa was under Portuguese occupation, are well maintained and worth a visit. Close to these lies the Viceroy’s arch (very close to Mandovi river) which was a symbol of Portuguese triumph. Close to the arch is a regular ferry service to the nearby island of Divar and in better weather it would be fun to explore this island and all the heritage houses on it.

On the last day of our stay it had got quite hot and we were wondering if you should go and have a closer look at the two remaining heritage sites which are located atop a mound—Tower of St. Augustine and convent of Saint Monica , before we left for the airport. Eventually I decided to have a look and I am glad I did. The colossal 46 meters high tower of St. Augustine lies amongst the ruins of one of the largest complexes built by the religious order of the Augustinians and the convent of Saint Monica which could once accommodate 250 devotees has an impressive architecture characterised by three solid buttresses. The same building houses Asia’s first museum of Christian Art which has many sacred artefacts on display. Most of them were made by local artisans as it was not possible at that time (Portuguese occupation) to dispatch these from Portugal to meet the rising demand.

As I was coming out from the Museum I noticed some Goa memorabilia on display in one corner. On closer inspection much to my surprise and delight, it turned out to be a cosy museum shop which also had lot of merchandise by guess who? Yes none other than Mario de Miranda. Suddenly my Goa visit was complete!

Highbrow

What is interesting now is that there's no longer just two or three writers but a whole literature. And that literature goes from the very high-brow Amit Chaudhuri to the very low-brow Chetan Bhagat and there's a whole spectrum. ---- Salman Rusdie on the current state of Indian writing in English (interview in The Hindustan Times)

No offence to Chetan Bhagat fans but Jeet Thayil’s debut novel Narcopolis (Faber & Faber) definitely falls in the category of highbrow literature. Based on the drugs scene in Bombay in the seventies/eighties it takes us through the decadence of the owner (and an addict) of a drug den (Chandukhana), Rashid along with his family (son Jamal) and a few of his close associates (including a eunuch-Dimple/Zeenat) and the clients. The other character which shows a constant deterioration as the story covers a time span of 20 years is the city of Bombay itself where Jeet spent many years trying to unsuccessfully kick off the addiction (which he finally managed to do in 2002 in New York).Hence, the detailing of the different drugs, the accoutrements etc is all very well done and something which I had not read before. (It is surprising that very little literature has come out based on this theme, even though this was an acute threat to our society at one time). I have read some excellent books based on Bombay in the past (Maximum City by Suketu Mehta, Beautiful Things by Sonia Faleiro and The Last Man in Tower by Arvind Adiga readily come to mind) so the benchmark is already set high and frankly I would not put Narcopolis in the same category. I do not doubt its ltierary merits (It was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize 2012, won the DSC prize at the Jaipur Literary Festival and Jeet is an accomplished poet as well) but as I said earlier it belongs to highbrow literature which is not exactly my cup of tea. I could appreciate its imagination in certain sections but at times it ventured into realms beyond my comprehension/appreciation. I found the track about the eunuch Dimple  who later becomes Rashid’s live in partner Zeenat and her mentor Mr.Lee (who has escaped from Mao’s China) who introduces her to opium particularly engrossing.

Besides the awards, what attracted me towards the book was the excellent cover design which encompasses the theme of the book so well. If there ever was an award for the best cover design, I have no doubt that this book cover would win it hands down. Also the book starts of with an amazing line which captures the decent of Bombay into Mumbai so well-‘Bombay, which obliterated its own history by changing its name and surgically altering its face, is the hero or heroin of this story....’ .

So if high-brow is your scene, go right ahead!

My Groaning Shelf

Must say, January and February are tough months for bibliophiles like us, both emotionally as well as monetarily. The event to look forward to in January is undoubtedly the biggest jamboree of writers in atleast Asia if not the world. The Jaipur Literary Festival (JLF)has become  a sort of pilgrimage where the literati collect annually in the last week of January to celebrate fine (and sometimes not so fine but  popular) writing  with authors from all over the world (JLF has also  inspired almost every metropolis in the sub-continent including Delhi to have a literary festival of its own!).The festival is  so well organised way that inspite of the huge crowds (which keeps on increasing year after year) the festival has been incident free so far though not controversy free with the proposed Rushdie participation last year and the strong objections to Ashish Nandy’s remarks on corruption this year. But with so many creative people around a bit of friction is expected. Last year, I had the good fortune of spending three wonderful days at Diggi Palace (which hosts the JLF) and managed to attend many sparkling sessions including those by  Gulzar, Pavan Verma, Vinod Mehta, Tarun Tejpal, Suhail Seth, William Darlymple, Prasoon Joshi, Mohammed Hanif and Chetan Bhagat amongst others ( a little names dropping never hurt anyone!). One also has the additional benefit of buying the participating author’s books at the fair and then getting them personally autographed. This year unfortunately I had to give the festival a miss because of some pressing official and personal reasons but it was not an easy decision to skip  and I hope to be back next year.

Then February kicked off with the World book Fair (4^th to 10^th) at the good old Pragati Maidan. For some reason, which is beyond me, the organisers decided to hold the fair in such a way that we had only one weekend falling during the duration of the fair. The fair has now become an annual affair and I sincerely hope that the organisers take care to organise the fair next year in such a way that we get two weekends to visit the fair. With the fair spread around more than 10  halls it is virtually impossible to visit even 50 per cent of the fair in a single day. Moreover, the weekend also coincided with the annual comics convention (Comic Con) at Dilli Haat and also the Delhi Literary Festival which was launched this year at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Arts. Obviously, I could not miss the comic con with the result we had to give the Literary Festival a miss. The two visits resulted in my monthly budget being hit for a six. (No more book purchasing for the next 3 to 4 months!).The bigger culprit was Comic con where the discounts were low and the prices were high. Still I was able to buy my first Robert Crumb comic (A lot of foreign publishing houses including Fantagraphics participated in the convention this time) and a Captain Haddock toy (Tintin was sold out on day one!) even though I had to pay through the nose for both of these. Also, managed to buy a nice Marvel poster, to add to my collection.

With only one day available for the visit , we headed to Hall no.1 at the World Book Fair. Most of the big boys of publishing were there-Penguin, Random House, Rupa (along with Aleph), Om as well as Roli. While we waited for our jugaad to arrive at Penguin (so that we could get a higher discount) we decided to check out other stalls starting with Random House stall and immediately got ambushed by the heavy discount...flat 40 % off on all titles including my favourite category-graphic novels. Even after exerting a lot of constraint I was down 2 grands in no time.But with a Joe Sacco (The Fixer),  a Collins Rayner (The Road to Perdition) and Nadeeem Aslam’s latest(The Blind Man’s Garden) I really could not complain. Then we picked up some more bargain books and posters from Roli (They had a killer collection from Phaidon but so were the prices!) and then decided to take a peep into Rupa. And thank God for that. Rupa it appears is now distributing Tara books and I was able to gloss over all the beautiful books from this niche publisher based out of Chennai. They come up with amazing looking books but unfortunately they are not easily available (mostly sold abroad) and secondly being a niche category, they are expensive. Still I could not resist buying I saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail which was one of the best art books of 2012. Based on a 17^th century English poem, under the genre of trick verse, it is a book which has to be seen/read to really appreciate the hard work and creativity which must have gone into conceiving and printing it.

By the time we reached Penguin, we had already overshot our budget  and unfortunately the book I really wanted to buy (Habibi by Craig Thompson) was already sold out! After Hall no.1 we didn’t have the strength to visit any other stall and began our long walk to the parking in front of gate no.2. Sad that we could not visit other big publishers like Hachette, Pan Macmillan or Scholastic. Maybe next year. For now I have enough supplies on my shelf to outlast the coming three months self imposed exile from venturing near any book shop.

PS:-As I am writing this, I have just received an invitation from Penguin for their annual Spring festival at IHC in March (Control Amir, Control).

Dil dhoondta hai...

I have been fortunate enough to meet and observe at close quarters, the legendary lyricist and poet, Gulzar (real name Sampooarn Singh Kalra) on a few occasions, thanks to my wife’s Ph.d on his poetry. The first time was at his residence on Pali Hill, Bombay in January 2009 when we had to record an interview. We reached at the appointed time and were informed by his secretary that he was in a music session with Vishal Bharadwaj and we would have to wait for some time As we sat in the waiting room we were totally taken aback when Gulzar himself appeared a few minutes later and apologised for the delay due to the extended session. Once Vishal left, we were led into his drawing room which also includes his study (consisting of his library and his study table –with which he has been often photographed) and the interview went off well over a few rounds of chai. When it was time to leave he presented a big box of chocolates for my daughter and came till the entrance of the house to see us off. Obviously we were greatly touched by his humility and simplicity. Since then we have met him at different places Delhi, Jaipur) and at different locations (Diggi palace at Jaipur, India International Centre and the India Habitat Centre at Delhi) and I have come to know different facets of his personality. To start with, he is incredibly sharp and agile for someone who is 79 years old. This is partly because he follows a strict schedule of sports (playing tennis) and writing every day. He is no ivory tower poet who writes as per their whims and fancies. For him writing is a 9 to 5 job (similar to our regular office job) which he carries out with full dedication. After that it is time for his tennis. Secondly, he keeps himself occupied with some sort of literary activity or other. Be it  writing lyrics, poems, releasing books (in Hindi and Urdu),participating in literary festivals, attending plays based on his works Salim Arif, receiving awards or just playing with his two year old grandson who stays close by.

Obviously the general  public is more aware about his film lyrics but apart from the same he a formidable collection of poems and short stories to his credit including a unique  genre of three line poems called Triveni**. Some of these are really outstanding. Sample these

‘Bheega bheega sa kyon hain yeh akhbar

apney hawker ko kal sey change karo

“paanch sau gaon bah gaye is saal”’

And,

‘Kya pataa kab kahan sey mareygee?

Bas ki mein zindagi sey darta hoon

Maut ka kya hai, ek baar mareygee’

As far as the films are concerned, he has given us some outstanding lyrics starting from ‘Bandini’ in 1963 (Mora gora ang lai le) and has been  at his best while dealing with relationships. He was at the top of his prowess in the 70s and 80s. My personal favourites include songs from ‘Khamoshi’ (1970), ‘Anand’ (1970), ‘Aandhi’(1975),  ‘Mausam’(1976), ‘Gharonda’ (1977) and ‘Masoom’(1982) some of which he also directed. He had the capability to beautifully express emotions with unmatched brevity and simplicity

‘Tum aa gaye ho noor aa gaya hai

Nahin to chiragon sey lau jaa rahee thi

Jeeney ki tumsey wajeh mil gayee hai

Badi bewajah zindagi jaa rahi thi’

-Tum aagaye ho, ‘Aandhi’

‘In umr se lambi sadkon ko

Manzil pe pahunchte dekha nahin

Bas daudti phirti rehti hain

Hamney toh theharte dekha nahin’

-Ek akela is sheher mein, ‘Gharonda’

Post ‘Maachis’ (1996) however some critics feel that Gulzar has not written anything significant and there has been a steady decline in his writing. The imagery which was so effortless earlier on seems forced and convoluted and the writing laboured, as in Kajra re from ‘Bunty aur Babli’(2005). To some extent this is true but even now the earlier spark shines through some of his work whenever he keeps the lyrics simple like in ‘Dil to bacha hai jee’ from ‘Ishqiya’(2010) . However, the credit should be given to him for remaining relevant even after spending over 50 years in the industry which has seen so many changes. From Chaiya Chaiya, ‘Dil Se’ (1998) to Beedi, ‘Omkara’ (2006) to Challa from ‘Jab Tak Hain Jaan’ (2012) he has been consistently giving us chart busters.

** A Rupa Publication, 2003

The Google Story

Over the past few years, Google has become such an integral part of our lives that it is now

difficult to imagine browsing the internet without visiting the Google site at least once .It has

become our default one stop shop whenever we are searching for  information in any field—be it

sports, cinema, current affairs, technology etc.(When a friend recently asked his daughter to find out

the number of keys on their laptop she was using, she promptly logged on to Google to find the

answer!).However, like many others I often used to wonder to how do these guys make any money? What is the story behind the unusual name and the minimalist home page design which has remained almost unchanged since the company was incorporated in 1998 by two Stanford Phd students Sergey Brin and Larry Page? What is the secret of their famed work culture which combines fun and work in just the right proportion?  Answers to these questions and many other insights about the incorporation and the spectacular growth of the company can be found in David Vise’s excellent bestseller –The Google Story, published by Pan Macmillan. It also give us a look into the way renowned US universities like Stanford, Harvard and MIT encourage their students to incubate innovations (Jerry Young, the founder of Yahoo was their senior at Stanford) and guided them to convert their ideas into a tangible product which can then be monetized with the help of venture capitalists who are always eager to put their money on the next big idea.

 Larry and Sergey came from very diverse but strong academic backgrounds and hit off instantly when they met at Stanford in 1995. By 1997 they had a working model of a search engine ready and they called it ‘Pagerank’. Initially they wanted to sell it to the other existing search engines including Yahoo. Unable to find a suitable buyer, they decided to take a leave of absence from the Phd programme at Stanford and start their own business. Rest, as they say, is history.

 Eric Schmidt (former CEO of Novell) who joined the company in 2000 to handles the day-to-day running of the business completes the triumvirate which runs Google today. The way he ended up joining Google makes for interesting reading as Larry and Sergey were reluctant to hire someone to look over their shoulders but the venture capitalists wanted to strengthen the management as they planned to scale the business. Along with the growth including a path breaking IPO in 2004 came various lawsuits and intense competition from the grand daddy of Silicon valley-Microsoft which had (and still does) lagged behind Google and Yahoo in the search space on the internet. Infact, the only discordant note in the book is the continuous attempt to show how the ‘good’ guys at Google have always managed to keep ahead of the ‘bad’ guys at Microsoft and how Google is now the attracting better talent than Microsoft. Some of the quoted instances maybe true but as the recent launch of me too products by Google  like Google + (to take on Facebook)and the Nexus tablet (to take on I-pads) have shown , in the cut throat competition of high technology one needs to constantly adjust one’s moral compass as per the changing scenarios.