The Book Review Volume XXXVI No. 6 June C o n t e n t s

Salim Yusufji Catching Up With Gandhi by Graham Turner; Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his Struggle With India by Joseph Lelyveld; Timeless Inspirator: Reliving Gandhi conceptualised and edited by Raghunath Mashelkar 2 Malvika Maheshwari Playing the Nation Game: The Ambiguities of Nationalism in India by Benjamin Zachariah 5 Ankita Pandey Accommodating Diversity: Ideas and Institutional Practices edited by Gurpreet Mahajan 7 K.K. Kailash India’s 2009 Elections: Coalition Politics, Party Competition, and Congress Continuity edited by Paul Wallace and Ramashray Roy 9 Mark Schneider Undermining Local Democracy: Parallel governance in Contemporary South India by Lalita Chandrashekhar 11 Krishna Swamy Dara The Community of Rights: The Rights of Community by Daniel Fischlin and Martha Nandorfy 12 Faisal Devji Shi’a Islam in Colonial India: Religion, Community and Sectarianism by Justin Jones 13 Tahir Mahmood Islam in the World Today: A Handbook of Politics, Religion, Culture and Society edited by Werner Ende and Udo Sreinbach 14 Muhammed Haneefa The Malabar Muslims: A Different Perspective by L.R.S. Lakshmi 16 Rahul Mukherji The Eagle and the Elephant: Strategic Aspects of the US-India Economic Engagement by Raymond Vickery 18 Manjrika Sewak Conflict Society and Peacebuilding: Comparative Perspectives edited by Raffaele Marchetti and Nathalie Tocci 19 J. Devika Markets and Malthus: Population, Gender, and Health in Neo-liberal Times edited by Mohan Rao and Sarah Sexton 21 Anjali Arondekar Masculinity, Asceticism, Hinduism: Past and Present Imaginings of India by Chandrima Chakraborty 22 Book News 24 Chandan Gowda Bipolar Identity: Religion, Nation, and the Kannada Language Film by M.K. Raghavendra 26 Arshia Sattar Kshemendra: Three Satires from Ancient Kashmir translated by A.N.D. Haksar; Kama Sutra: A Guide to the Art of Pleasure by Vatsyayana. 28 Aasim Khan Lucknow Boy: A Memoir by Vinod Mehta 29 Kishalaya Bhattacharjee Looking Back into the Future: Identity and Insurgency in Northeast India by M.S. Prabhakara 30 B.G. Verghese Jashn-E-Khusrau: A Collection by Shakeel Hossain, Irfan Zuberi et. al. 31 Sucharita Sengupta The Writer’s Feast: Food and the Cultures of Representation edited by Supriya Chaudhuri and Rimi B. Chatterjee 32 Rakhshanda Jalil Black Ice by Mahmudul Haque. Translated by Mahmud Rahman 33 Abdullah Khan Beautiful Country: Stories from Another India by Syeda Saiyidain Hameed and Gunjan Veda 34 Nita Berry Light House in the Storm: A Collection of 24 Short Stories by members of the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children; Search for the Sacred Gem by Nilima Sinha 35

Editors Advisory Board Founder Members Editorial Advisory Board Romila Thapar Narayani Gupta Pulin Nayak Chandra Chari Uma Iyengar K.R. Narayanan S. Gopal Nikhil Chakravartty Raja Ramanna Mrinal Pande Indira Chandrasekhar Ashok Vajpeyi Consultant Editor Adnan Farooqui Meenakshi Mukherjee K.N. Raj Chitra Narayanan

SUBSCRIPTION RATES OFFICE MANAGER: Geeta Parameswaran Telephone: 91-11-2614 1887 / 41034635 Single Issue: Rs. 80 COMPUTER INPUTS, DESIGN AND LAYOUT Annual Subscription (12 Issues) Geeta Parameswaran Website: www.thebookreviewindia.org Individual: Rs. 1000 / $50 / £35 Please address all mail to: Institutional: Rs. 1500 / $75 / £50 The Book Review Literary Trust email: [email protected] (inclusive of bank charges and postage) 239 Vasant Enclave [email protected] Life Donors: Rs. 10,000 and above New Delhi 110 057 [email protected] The Book Review is a non-political, ideologically non-partisan journal which tries to reflect all shades of intellectual opinions and ideas. The views of the reviewers and authors writing for the journal are their own. All reviews and articles published in The Book Review are exclusive to the journal and may not be reprinted without the prior permission of the editors. Published by Chandra Chari for The Book Review Literary Trust, 239 Vasant Enclave, New Delhi 110057. Printed at National Printers, B-56, Naraina Industrial Area Phase-II, New Delhi 110028 The Book Review / June 2012 / 1 Gandhi As Journey, Traveller, And Baggage

Salim Yusufji

CATCHING UP WITH GANDHI By Graham Turner Penguin Books, Delhi, 2010, pp. 329, `350.00

GREAT SOUL: MAHATMA GANDHI AND HIS STRUGGLE WITH INDIA By Joseph Lelyveld Harper Collins, Delhi, 2011, pp. 425, `699.00

TIMELESS INSPIRATOR: RELIVING GANDHI Conceptualised and edited by Raghunath Mashelkar Sakal Publications, Delhi, 2010, pp. 370, `490.00

raham Turner, a British journalist, ked Turner promptly spreads the libel. In fact, comes to the Mahatma after cutting the Mahar Regiment is neither dedicated to Ghis biographer’s teeth on a life of the occupation of sweeping nor has custody of Queen Elizabeth, ‘based on intimate conversa- the sanitary arrangements on Republic Day. It tions with many of her family and friends.’ consists of trained soldiers and no more than Conversations with another friend, Rajmohan the usual regimental complement of tradesmen Gandhi, yielded the present venture: a journey —cooks, barbers, washer-men and sweepers. in Mahatma Gandhi’s footsteps, ‘standing At least two chiefs of the Indian Army have together? As for evidence, Turner speculates on where he stood, seeing something of what he come from the Mahars. Lesson: Turner is at whether Gandhi desisted from topping his saw, talking to some of the people who knew his most reliable when in the company of his class at school out of a sense of noblesse oblige him,’ in India, England and South Africa. Jeeves. —‘given his family’s elevated status, he may Turner’s grasp of P.G.Wodehouse is of an Echoes of Wodehouse, though, are not the have felt that striving too hard would have order that enables him to recall the precise only extraneous factor in evidence. Like the been bad form.’ Moreover those genes meant context in which the Gandhi motif surfaced in Attenborough movie, the book opens and that ‘he constantly surprised his opponents by Right Ho, Jeeves but he makes no claims to closes with Gandhi’s death. Salman Rushdie the stylishness of his behavior.’ Likewise, learning on his immediate subject, admitting had slammed that device, accusing Atten- Rajmohan Gandhi, descendant alike of the that at the outset he ‘did not even know he borough of pandering to a morbid strain of Mahatma and C. Rajagopalachari, ‘is—so to [Gandhi] had spent twenty-one of his most Christian sentiment, of life presented as a speak—of the blood royal by two different formative years in South Africa’. This is where waiting on death and murder as a moral tri- inheritances.’ Turner’s preferred mode of research, intimate umph for the victim. Its reuse here is an This outlook holds up better on English conversations with family and friends, comes equally questionable aesthetic choice, though ground, as when Turner carefully distinguishes into its own. His guides along the journey— the particular resonance that Christ’s example Gandhi’s Inner Temple training for Law from Rajmohan Gandhi in India and England, Ela did have with Gandhi is one of the running the mere Middle Temple—of inferior archi- Gandhi in South Africa—keep up the supplies themes of the book. Here is Rajmohan Gandhi tecture, antiquity and, it follows, intake. The of erudition and ensure that doors everywhere citing an admonitory letter from Rajaji to pace set by the ‘wealthier if not aristocratic fly open for him. The result is a book without Gandhi: ‘He wants to reach him at his deep- pupils’ at the Inner Temple may have inspired footnotes or a bibliography that yet secures a est, so he invokes Jesus.’ The invocation work- Gandhi to splash out on his Bond Street most privileged access to Gandhi’s life. ‘Behold ed, arresting Gandhi’s slide into a dangerous evening suit, chimneypot hat, those lessons in the lilies of the field’, Wodehouse might have involvement with the educated and accomp- dancing—lurid and baffling gestures from one murmured, and Turner would concur, playing lished Saraladevi Chaudhurani. Gandhi’s love intent on a teetotal, celibate and vegetarian up his modest Bertie Wooster to Rajmohan of Christ is, of course, well documented and existence, painted by his own hand into a Gandhi’s Jeeves. the book is replete with instances of his corner. Gandhi’s later disbarment from legal The limpid and absorbing prose of this pleasure in hymns, the New Testament and the practice—in 1923, for sedition—was not book conceals, as with the best of Wodehouse, company of his missionary friends. revoked by the Inner Temple till 1988 (or a good deal of craft. Turner’s flip choice of On a more quixotic note, Turner shows a 1983, as it becomes a hundred pages later). title—worthy of a Drones Club raconteur— surprisingly abject regard for the putative Entirely in pompous character, that. And it covers a many-threaded narrative combining virtues of birth and inheritance. It emerges may be why—in another of Turner’s finds— biography, travelogue, interviews and a vivid that ‘Gandhi had the genes of a ruling class in when Gandhi returned to England in 1931, his account of what it is like to be a descendant of his veins,’ a statement all the more feudal in passport gave out his occupation as ‘farmer’. Gandhi. But his dependence on word-of- singling out veins for the proper conveyance of Rehabilitating Gandhi with his own flesh mouth also makes Turner a peculiarly suscep- genes. Can this be an infection caught on the and blood is one of the original contributions tible and credulous reporter. When a dalit Queen Elizabeth project? An attempt to ex- of this book. Seen through the eyes of his informant in Delhi claims that, post-Indepen- plain affinities between the Mahatma and his grandchildren he comes across as an attentive dence, the Mahar Regiment of the Indian high-minded grandchildren? Or an effect of the and benign figure, quite the opposite of how Army has continued to be employed in sweep- transferred affection, even obeisance, that he was with his sons (‘the ultimate control ing up after the Republic Day Parade, a shoc- Rajmohan Gandhi attracts on their travels freak,’ in Turner’s crisp summation). Another

2 / The Book Review / June 2012 after his arrival in the country, insisting on the This is the Gandhi who today makes up a right to retain his turban within, and writes a homoousian ‘Inanda troika, if not trinity’, letter to the press on the subject three days along with John Dube and the Prophet Shembe later. He kicks up enough of a fuss to be re- as joint fathers of the post-Apartheid South instated to a first-class berth on the very train Africa. Not that he was a complete stranger from which he had been ejected the previous himself to the ways of realpolitik. He was night at Pietermaritzburg. politician enough to buy up the complete first Lelyveld traces the expanding arc of run of Rev. Joseph Doke’s admiring biography Gandhi’s life as a public figure: from notching of him, distributing copies among members up a series of protests and vindications for of British Parliament. He could also evince the himself, to representing the interests of Indian demagogue’s self-serving memory on occasion, traders in South Africa, till his final leadership happy to convey the impression that his stret- of a mass movement—just months to the end cher bearers had endured hazards on the front- of his stay—on behalf of indentured labourers. line of which he did not wish to boast. Lely- What makes Lelyveld possibly the best veld supplies a fact that speaks for itself: amid available source on this period is his attention the great carnage of the Anglo-Boer War, to context and eye for the telling detail. In Gandhi’s unit of eleven hundred men did not mapping the enlargement of Gandhi’s public sustain a single fatality. Similarly, in the Auto- role he also captures the shifts, hesitancies, the biography and specifically Gandhi’s account of in-built redundancy and problematics of the help he had given Balasundaram, the Gandhi’s political outlook and programme, all indentured Tamil labourer and victim of abuse, of which meant that while South Africa Lelyveld discovers a ‘full movie treatment’ that became a theatre of Gandhian action—and is at considerable variance from Gandhi’s own spectacular as such—it acquired little by way earlier recollection of the episode. And of the of a bankable legacy from him. subsequent stream of distressed indentured significant contribution is Turner’s itinerary of Gandhi could not conceive of joining workers pouring into Gandhi’s office (again, a visits to the physical landmarks of Gandhi’s forces with black South Africans in a common later assertion) Lelyveld finds no evidence. life: from state-managed sanctified sites at struggle against racism. While bridling at the One of the attractions of biography as a Porbandar and Delhi (‘all sock occasions’), to use of the word ‘coolie’ for Indian settlers, he form is that it gives us history on a plausible those in neglect, such as the house in Rajkot blithely used the equally derogatory ‘kaffir’ for scale, the scale of an individual life in the where he nursed his sick father and where the indigenous South Africans through the greater world. This is the outstanding service Lelyveld room Gandhi occupied no longer exists, to part of his stay in that country. What’s more, renders Gandhi, coming to him not after the forgotten ones like the Rajkot Residency (now ‘In the several thousand pages Gandhi wrote in fact—when Gandhi is an icon—but recap- regional railway headquarters) from where he South Africa, or later about South Africa, the turing the shifts and turnarounds, the ephe- was ejected in 1893, so forcefully that he was names of only three Africans are mentioned. mera that attended his life. In doing so Lelyveld to land in South Africa, and the newly erected Of the three, he acknowledged having met makes Gandhi difficult again, not the planed memorials of his stay in that country. only one. And when it comes to that one and smoothed phenomenon of moral trans- Gandhi’s lionization in South Africa could African, what documentary evidence there is cendence (retrospectively applied) who pre- not begin till the post-Apartheid period, when covers only two meetings—seven years dominates in the popular mind. the need suddenly arose for a whole tranche of apart…’ None of this restrained him from The well-selected pictures accompanying statues. These were supplied from India, holding forth on ‘the raw Kaffir’ in more than the text show the continual and dramatic per- where Gandhi is only ever sculpted in his one instance, nor from representing himself sonal transformations that marked the passage vintage look. And so, all but one of the Gandhi and his people as votaries of the principle of of Gandhi’s years. In addition Lelyveld’s me- statues in South Africa that Joseph Lelyveld racial purity. thod of drawing into close focus certain indi- observes in Great Soul show him not as he was He misread the political situation there, viduals and events that get underplayed in at the time but as he later became in India: the counting on Queen Victoria’s Proclamation of most contemporary telling, brings a fresh bald man in the loincloth. This universal image 1858 as a ‘magna charta’ to Indian subjects perspective to this much-told story, revealing of the Mahatma has also proved the more throughout the empire. Buttressing this new paradoxes. An exemplary case is the politic one to remember him by. This has to proposed partnership was how he saw his role, chapter on the Vaikom satyagraha, where do with what Lelyveld, a gifted phrasemaker, little realizing that white South Africans and Gandhi is seen to ‘pursue whatever tortuous describes as the expediencies of producing ‘a not London would determine the terms on logic comes to hand.’ He warned off George teachable heritage.’ which Indians were to exist in South Africa. Joseph from undertaking a campaign for tem- Alighting in South Africa, Gandhi spon- The loyal units of Indian stretcher bearers he ple entry because Joseph was a Christian and taneously ignited into a political figure. Turner led in the British cause during the Anglo-Boer this was an affair between Hindus; this at a attributes this to his still smarting from the War and the Bambatha Revolt of later would time when he expected Hindus to get exer- humiliation at the Rajkot Residency—where accomplish little for Indian interests in a South cised about the Khilafat. He wanted the Vai- he had gone to seek an irregular favour and Africa where defeated Boer generals were kom campaign to be kept local after having been shown the door; Lelyveld, to the piquan- increasingly co-opted into government. Nor himself put untouchability on the national cy of his situation as a London-trained Indian were any thanks forthcoming from the Zulus agenda. He castigated the idea of a protest fast professional plunged into a racist ‘frontier who saw Indians side with the genocidal for temple entry as it would pit Indians against society’. But the young man who, back in government and drew the obvious inference. It Indians, before going on to fast—barely a India, had meekly undergone purificatory was only in 1952 that the South African Indian decade later—against Ambedkar’s advocacy of rituals, bare-chested, to re-enter the Modh Congress formally made common cause with separate electorates for the Depressed Classes; Bania fold upon his return from England, now the African National Congress, three years a fast on behalf of savarna interests. begins to stand up for his dignity. He walks after a Zulu riot targeting the Indian Herman Kellenbach, P.S. Aiyar, Swami out of the Durban Magistrate’s court a day community. Shraddhanand, Mohammed Ali, B.R. Ambed-

The Book Review / June 2012 / 3 was not pre-eminently an Indian leader, what the book got prepared so quickly. When Ustad does that make of his followers? Amjad Ali Khan writes here of composing the The third book before us, Timeless Raga Gandhi Kauns, Gandhi’s own knowledge Inspirator, is exactly what the title gives away, of music is immaterial to the project. Mallika an idealization of Gandhi. The cover promises Sarabhai puts it across bluntly, in describing ‘a no less than ‘45 masterpieces’ within, by ‘45 performance of mine, Sva Kranti: The Revolu- iconic achievers.’ It breathes the command: tion Within. Set as a conversation between ‘Find your Inspiration, Find your Path, Find Gandhiji and me, it dwells on many of my Yourself!’ questions about his practice, about where I, as Raghunath Mashelkar, the editor, had a modern woman in a shattered world, stand given away the Baa and Bapu Awards for 2009. on these issues.’ And Kiran Bedi edifies us On the occasion he had also delivered an add- with how she might have gone about being a ress, titled Gandhian Engineering: More from Gandhian commissioner of police, had she Less for More. This proved the catalyst. A few made the rank. months later, he was approached by the office The icon can equally double as the bearers of the Gandhi National Memorial ventriloquist’s dummy. Mark Tully, firing from Society (GNMS)—organizers of the said award Gandhi’s shoulder, delivers a homily to the and people who take ‘pride in doing projects media on how it should conduct discussions. with a soul.’ The 45 iconic achievers were Arun Firodia lectures the State on how to duly listed and then, ‘the emails flew out of Dr. revive the rural economy. GM crops are a big Mashelkar’s office. One positive response after part of his vision, and if by contrast, Ela Bhatt kar, Shaheed Suhrawardy, are some of the another, and very soon his mailbox was trem- in her entry views Gandhi’s economy-as- companions and opponents who refract the bling with excitement.’ The book had to be community in direct opposition to globali- Mahatma for us, showing him in a varied but assembled in a matter of months, to meet its zation’s economy-as-corporation, let’s call that intimate light, in different phases and places, ‘non-negotiable’ deadline of 2 October 2010, her version, shall we? This is the anything-goes facing different situations and questions. The when its release would ‘mark 30 years of a Gandhi, after all. method is a triumph, revealing Gandhi—via glorious journey for GNMS’ and the centenary Sunil Gavaskar gamely wonders if Gandhi these shifting scenes and vivid cameos—in year of the Gandhian, N.K. Firodia, whose had any interest in cricket, and what moral relation to other figures. The kind of imme- Trust subsidized this venture. view he might have taken of the game. Sachin diacy and understanding on offer here is not While the editorial team’s elation at having Tendulkar cherishes the memory of a meeting unlike that afforded by a dead man’s personal met their target is understandable, we might with Nelson Mandela and a childhood viewing effects, discrete and chaotic as they may seem, pause to consider the hurry. There is a calculus of Attenborough’s film. (As elsewhere in cele- but which no unifocal account of his life could of neatly dovetailing interests at work here, of brity-stan, the sportspersons tend to be cri- ever hope to encompass. reciprocity and mutual endorsement, the book’s cketers here.) Vijay Bhatkar employs the faux For all these strengths the one place where celebration of Gandhi fast-tracked to reflect naif epistolary conceit: ‘Dear Mahatma,’ he the book falters is oddly enough its central credit on the celebrants themselves: the begins. ‘I do not know if this mail will reach premise, indicated by that preposition of the GNMS and Shri Firodia Trust. A feat of you. But why not? You are a Mahatma…’ subtitle: ‘His Struggle with India.’ Lelyveld Gandhian engineering? More from less for Buyers of this book may consider shelving draws on V.S. Naipaul’s pronouncement that more? This principle of orchestrating parallel it with their collections of Chicken Soup for the Gandhi was the least Indian of Indian leaders. applause operates within the book as well. Soul. Naipaul, and Lelyveld after him, takes as his Each of the 45 submissions comes accom- basis Gandhi’s lonely crusade for hygiene and panied by a polite pencil portrait of the iconic sanitation, his dismay at the refusal of Indians achiever in question and a page of acclaim for Salim Yusufji teaches History at the Moravian Mis- to share it, and his repeated castigation of the the writer: ‘a leader among thought leaders,’ sion School in Leh, Ladakh. Indian attitude towards excrement, denounc- ‘true son of India’, ‘living legend,’ and so on. ing it as a great medical, social and cultural Once again the undertow is inescapable: evil. In the end, the Indian attitude prevailed. Gandhi dual-tasking as a source of inspiration, Very true, and it may be added that Gandhi’s and as a celebrity platform, a certifier of the time abroad was the making of him to no clubbable. A memorial to Gandhi that also Thank You small extent: from his introduction to Hindu- redounds to the glory of the contributors. That ism and vegetarianism as intellectual pursuits these signals may have been unwitting does not in London, to his emergence as a political detract from the point; nor does the fact that The Trustees of The Book Review leader in South Africa. There was also that many of the contributors do have admirable Literary Trust wish to record their strong Victorian influence on his moral vision records of public service. grateful thanks to N.J. Sudarshan and and sense of self. In all their artlessness and zeal—ending N.J. Krishnan for their generous By this token, would Mao, who actually this book with the fervent hope that it may donation of Rs. 50,000 to the corpus waged war on China’s past, become the less ‘spur a powerful movement of contagious of The Trust to honour the memory of Chinese for it? He had even tried to reboot inspiration’—the editorial team miss the their father, N.S. Jagannathan (a Chinese society in accordance with an alien central issue. A Gandhi no longer drawing (let member of the editorial advisory board ideology of state. Was Mustafa Kemal the least alone expelling) breath is not an inspirator in of The Book Review). “We have heard Turkish of Turk leaders? Where is the belonging- the sense of exercising any control or agency about The Book Review in glowing terms ness of a leader to be found if not in the scale of his own. He is a passive and pliable foil, from my father, N.S. Jagannathan. He of identification s/he attracts at the place available to all comers. The purported object had great regard for the work done by where s/he operates? Especially in the case of a of the inspiration takes over, becomes the the journal.” Gandhi who never wielded coercive powers. subject in all but name and has limitless And if Gandhi the pre-eminent Indian leader powers of adaptation. This may explain how

4 / The Book Review / June 2012 Decentring the Nation in Writing History

Malvika Maheshwari

PLAYING THE NATION GAME: THE AMBIGUITIES OF NATIONALISM IN INDIA By Benjamin Zachariah Yoda Press, New Delhi, 2011, pp. 314, `495.00

he question of the nation—its presence territory, sharing a single public culture that is or absence, expansion or stagnation, theirs as heritage, and therefore an expression Texclusivity or everydayness, or its of their authentic identity. The third aspect, accuracy and ambiguity, has quite often relevant for our review, sees the nation, and its rendered the concept difficult and unyielding. related concepts like national identity and However, the extensive inquiries and the nationalism, as an import, characteristic of the variety of propositions put forth by social twentieth century ‘anti-colonial’ movements scientists over time has made its occurrence that were waged to end the imperial rule and and experience less threatening, more bearable to establish new states in the ex-colonial terri- and engrossing. Certain dominant ways of tories. Though this again has not been devoid understanding the phenomenon that find their of tensions and fusions, for instance, between mainspring across disciplines and regions, a civic, territorial, anti-colonial nationalism in which have been efficacious in the study of the India on the one hand and various ethnic and Indian nation as well, illustrate sharply the pan-cultural movements like Hindu national- revolves around a proposition of reviving and academic discourses for containing and taming ism exerting great influence on the other. revisiting a project that he believes ‘has so far its manifestations. One important way of Each of these three ways of approaching failed: of decentring the nation as a central approaching the concept, the most dominant the nation have their characteristic strengths focus of history writing in and about India.’ in social sciences, is to regard the nation as a and weaknesses that have been continually Even while advancing his concern to restrain form of identity that challenges other forms of debated, argued and counter argued by social history writing in India without letting it be collective identities like class, region, gender, scientists. Alongside these the birth of new subsumed within ‘an obligatory history of race and religious community. While the ac- nations (at least fifteen new states have been Indian nationalism,’ Zachariah suitably com- knowledgement to differentiate these identities created since 1990) and increasing instances of bines the considerations over the structural remains relatively unquestioned, there is little violence being designated as ethnic conflicts preconditions of nations, its positioning vis-á- consensus on the role of the ethnic, as oppos- and secessions, ‘nations’ and nationalism re- vis issues of power and emotions, with a ed to the political, components of the nation. main the most pervasive, frenzied and intrac- reasoning based on the ideological and sym- Although national identities and loyalties often table issue at the end of the twentieth century, bolic repertoire that makes nationalism, na- assume primacy over those of class, gender and pose as one of the greatest challenges to tional identity and nationhood possible. Of and race (religious attachments may at times both—an international order based on justice course, this then is also the inescapable para- rival national claims), national attachments can and equality and a domestic environment sans dox of such an endeavour—a deliberation over intermingle or oscillate in power and promi- intimidation and threats. With the ‘national nation and nationalism in an attempt to de- nence with other forms of collective identities. question’ often taking the centre stage in its centre it. But the book is not about nationa- This deliberation is also mirrored in the rival various manifestations, can we realistically lism; rather it is about ways to move beyond scholarly definitions and debates on origins of anticipate a retrenchment, let alone its rejec- it. The author is convinced of the necessity of the nation-like the primordialist interpreta- tion? Can we, ‘the people,’ narrate our history the work, ‘not just nationally but internationally’ tions stemming from the ‘givens’ like religion and the present by looking over the nation and as well. He clarifies that it is an ‘attempt at or language, strongly put forth by Geertz, beyond nationalism? More interestingly, what writing histories of various Indians’ attempts against Gellner’s thesis of objective, practical could be the importance of such an endeavour? to provide themselves with a nationalism, and necessity where nationalism ‘invents nations The book under review puts on the line some of the inevitable exclusions and failures of such where they do not exist.’ of these questions and literatures on nations attempts.’ Thus in a distinctive manner much A second position, increasingly problem- and nationalism in an intriguing and of the author’s focus is on modern Indian atized, looks at the ideological construction of challenging manner. history and historiography—what it has in- nationalism as a form of blight, as an indica- The author is a Reader in South Asian adequately interrogated and overlooked and tion of a discord with a predisposition to History at the University of Sheffield, and has what it has over-obsessed about. In the pro- violence between individuals but more often for long been associated with exploring South cess he extensively and unavoidably engages between collectives, stressing on the cultural Asia’s social and intellectual history along with with, appraises and critiques the works of rather than the political aspects of nationalism, mapping connections and gaps between some of the more notable historians of India, although a synthesis of the two might be ‘academic historical scholarship and popular like Partha Chatterjee, Ranajit Guha, Sumit possible as well. The doctrine that was first historical consciousness.’ His earlier works Sarkar and Sudipta Kaviraj among others. A associated with popular freedom and sove- include a biography, Nehru and Developing substantial part of the Zachariah methodology reignty prompted various social, political and India: An Intellectual and Social History c. to deal with the category of the ‘nation’ reflects intellectual developments that found powerful 1930- 1950. Carrying forward his deep inte- a comment made by Michel Foucault (whose and explosive expression in radical politics. rest in these subjects, with his characteristic other works Zachariah cites often) in On the The ‘people’ must be liberated; masters of irreverent style of writing, the plot of his new Genealogy of Ethics that, ‘my point is not that their own destiny and homeland—a historic book Playing the Nation Game introduces and everything is bad, but that everything is

The Book Review / June 2012 / 5 in Guha’s writings, though he speak of aban- cites this as the major impediment in the Playing the Nation Game doning History as imposed by the West, he attempt to look beyond the nation. The over- “ introduces and revolves around does not say the same about nationalism. The lap between different discursive frameworks a proposition of reviving and Subaltern Studies project appears to the author and the historians’ alleged attitude does not ‘as the peevish therapeutic attempts of a really then help the project move forward revisiting a project that he traumatized elite’ (p. 66). conceptually. Moreover, one gets a feeling as if believes ‘has so far failed: of In the next part the author continues his there are no discordant voices within the argument of writing histories of India that academia and popular consciousness. What decentring the nation as a need not be encircled within the history of the about those who have precisely struggled (and central focus of history writing nationalist movement by exploring three in- suffered) to speak of an alternative conceptuali- stances: a regional variation that looks at the zation of Indian history different from the offi- in and about India. Bengali encounters with ‘progress’ and the cial history? Finally, despite Zachariah’s asser- dangerous, which is not exactly the same as British rule; a religious premise of ‘inventing’ tions that the difference between scholarly and bad…I think that the ethico-political” choice Hinduism as a category for national use; and popular perceptions of nation and nationalism we have to make everyday is to determine the third, an ideological Nehruvian stance. might not be as clear, are there no instructive which is the main danger.’ Through all of this, Zachariah concludes that lessons to be drawn from areas and works The first half of the book is spent on ‘nationalisms are not matters of scholarly where there are differences or where they have interrogating Indian historiography as a tale of endorsement or rejection. They are most often indeed escalated? The relatively little attention to ‘selective remembering and strategic forget- tied up with official remembering and for- these areas and sometimes a slight lack of ting.’ The outcome of this historiography, the getting.’ He provokes when he states that, ‘the nuances on such aspects of his arguments could author states, is its alignment with the ‘official’ separation of the scholarly and the popular is well be a design of his methodology. historical consciousness—that intends to not as clear as may be thought, and the rheto- However, in unique ways this book could ‘control people’ who have interests different ric and style might be the one thing that dis- encourage historians and political scientists to from that of the state. Zachariah then goes on tinguishes the two versions of understanding think about nations and nationalisms in a to ‘reconstruct’ the narrative of the Indian nationalism and nations.’ more compelling and conscientious way. For a nationalist movement by determining who the The curious and troubling aspect of decisive decentring, the ‘nation’ demands an ‘people’ are—Gandhians, the Left, the Right, Zachariah’s arguments is that while it began even more astute inquiry. Zachariah un- the outcast(e)s—including women, Muslims with the proposal to decentre the ‘nation’ in doubtedly provides the laudable initial steps. among others. It is at this point that the reader history writing, it ends up accusing historians might be troubled enough to seek refuge in of being nationalists; historians’ failure to Malvika Maheshwari is a research associate at Guha’s or Kaviraj’s distinguished writings on perceive or admit their own statism leads them the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and the subject. But these for the author are to naturalize nationalisms of one or another teaches Indian politics at the Institute of Political unfinished projects. For instance he states that form, and to normalize the ‘nation-state’. He Studies (Sciences Po), Paris.

6 / The Book Review / June 2012 Why Won’t We Get Along Better?

Ankita Pandey

ACCOMMODATING DIVERSITY: IDEAS AND INSTITUTIONAL PRACTICES Edited by Gurpreet Mahajan Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2011, pp. 340, `750.00

eter Ronald de Souza in his foreword emerge in some of the essays. Peter Emberley’s sees the book’s central contribution in essay examines the idea of ‘diversity’. He Pproviding a ‘frame within which to proposes that we steer clear of a fossilized understand the troublesome question as to notion of culture as we frame policies of how a democracy should respond when a preservation of this diversity. His essay high- group acquires a voice, when that voice be- lights that a nuanced understanding requires us comes louder, and when it perhaps grows to be to situate diversity within its historical location a cacophony?’ In the introduction to the book, and integrate the changes it may have gone Gurpreet Mahajan states that the objective in through. Cultures go through transition, they this volume is to revisit the often asked ques- reinvent themselves, but this should not be a tions and the often given answers within the source of anxiety. The task of preservation can multicultural paradigm. ‘Why should we care happen alongside the renewal, transformation about diversity? How should we deal with and reformation of cultures. Citing the exam- cultural diversity? Should these diversities be ples of the Baul musicians in West Bengal as accommodated? This volume returns to these well as Dhokara metal casters, he notices how questions and the answers offered by multi- their lives and crafts have changed over time multiculturalism. Often liberalism is consi- culturalism, in the process of understanding and yet it has not lost its unique cultural dered western and a cultural community how India responded to some of these con- identity. Here one is reminded about the ways reminds one of the indigenous groups/ natives; cerns.’ The essays in the volume fulfil the in which States and political establishments Lamba’s essay unsettles this practice. above stated purpose. While they do revisit almost always prefer to deal with a static, self- In a similar vein, two essays which open a some of the key questions within a multi- contained notion of culture and a select few refreshing conceptual domain for multicultural cultural debate, they also critique aspects of it. who claim to be its representatives. In his politics are those contributed by K.K. Kailash These elements of critique prod me to app- essay Anil Bhatti argues that given the state of and Vinay Lal. Both of these essays point to roach the issue of accommodating diversity transition that all societies are always in, it non-formal or more appropriately, semi-formal from the bottom. While the editorial intent may be productive to abandon ‘bounded multi- non-institutional domains of cultural politics. could be to look at policy alternatives and cultural’ conditions in favour of ‘pluricultural Most often the dominant characters of this options before a democracy it cannot be conditions’ that are open and fluid. He de- story have been State policy, cultural minori- divorced from identifying why the question of monstrates solidarities of thought between ties, legislative debates, constitutional provi- accommodation emerges again and again. Europe and the former colonized world by sions, and judicial decisions. However, these Looking at the issue from bottom up the navigating through the thought of Herder, essays bring in electoral mobilization and reviewer asks, what prevents the accommo- Goethe and Tagore. He believes that this cul- popular strategies. K.K. Kailash’s article locates dation of diversity? Why do people find it tural dialogue can in fact propose radical solu- the process of accommodation taking place difficult to get along? tions to the problems that afflict our societies. through electoral practices. Documenting the Two lines of critique emerge as key To him these ‘pluricultural’ formations will electoral strategies in Kerala he tries to give themes when one navigates through the essays. sharpen people’s sense of commonness instead evidence of the existence of unique non-formal First is the recurring idea that the very con- of a heightened sense of self and other. Both or semi-formal processes of recognizing as well ceptual domain of dominant multicultural these essays persuade the readers to think of as accommodating diversity. It seems the NRI thought is not equipped adequately to under- diversity not as a museumized artifact but in Hindu community is also actively invested in stand the political and sociological realities of dialogue, alive and ever transforming. cultural politics outside the formal spaces. identity formation and cultural politics. Se- To these two voices recommending Vinay Lal states the anxieties experienced by condly that some multicultural articulations fail conceptual caution, Rinku Lamba adds her North American Hindus as a group. He to understand the power relations within which concern. She challenges the dominant ways in argues that the middle class NRI Hindu the State works. They seem to not give enough which liberal multiculturalism is thought about. experiences ‘a self aggrandizing rather than self attention to the structural inequalities that are Are liberal thought structures necessarily to be debilitating—anxiety of influence’.1 He intimately tied up with the demands of cultural located outside thought processes in modern mentions several strategies which the Hindu minorities and citizens. In this review I shall India? She gives us evidence from the thought NRI community deploy, to transform them- map these two themes which may be under- structures of two thinkers/social activists from selves into a political force. These are a notice- stated in the text yet are very crucial to know India, namely Ranade and Phule, of reflection able transition from recognizing Islam as world what prevents the accommodation of diversity. on their own socio-religious practices, where religion to treating it as an unquestionable The first theme that emerges from the both Phule and Ranade in their own ways liability and source of conflict. There have essays seeks to fortify the conceptual tools seem to appeal to the liberal instruments of been many attempts made to build solidarities social sciences have to make sense of ‘diversity’. change to be incorporated within the law and between Hindus and American Jews. He also While acknowledging that multiculturalism has state for the protection of the marginalized. observes an increase in the usage of digital travelled far from its once dominant liberal Her essay thus opens up the conceptual space technology for the purpose of forging the new variant, there are profitable suggestions that of an Indian variant of liberalism and possibly Hindu identity which is monotheistic and less

The Book Review / June 2012 / 7 evolve a better policy of group representation. Asha Sarangi’s contribution to the volume Essays in this volume argue that Even though she thinks that group-based is a very detailed narrative of the process of mechanisms are broadly apt, they suffer from linguistic reorganization of the Indian State as “ state policy is flawed in the three specific problems as the States implement well as the categories like ‘official language’, provisions it makes for them. Firstly, this mechanism becomes self- ‘national language’, ‘mother tongue’ that the perpetuating and ends up creating enclaves of State was utilizing to make sense of the minorities of different kinds. vested interests, resulting in more and more dispute. In her judgment, ‘The process of The essays are generous in their groups demanding these mechanisms. State formation in independent India had to Secondly, these policies assume that the be carefully carried out ensuring the due assessment of state policy as it group is indeed a unified one and that some balance between geography and polity, and within the group can represent the others. culture and State to accord with the demo- could have been also argued Thirdly, it is quite tough to evolve criteria cratic survival of collective representation and that the state has vested to ascertain which groups qualify for these recognition of cultural and social diversity’.3 mechanisms. Often enough group-based me- She also believes that the state carried out this interests/political compulsions chanisms of representation end up creating delicate exercise with much care. While which prevent a real grand narratives of cultural difference that may Sarangi looks at the State doing the tight rope not coincide with the existence of the group walk between political compulsions of a accommodation. on the ground. Thus group-based mechanisms federation on the one hand and regional need to be refined for them to avoid such pit- demands on the other, Vasanthi Srinivasan ” falls. Two other essays in the volume are scep- credits statesmen like C. Rajagopalachari ‘who tical about group-based representations, though struggled to find the golden mean between tolerant of the other; also many more NRI their reasons are different from Phillips’s. In imposing uniformity and inhibiting synthesis voices are seen sympathizing with the con- the context of the deliberations in the Consti- while addressing linguistic and communal servative communal minded Hindus in India tuent Assembly, V. Sriranjani points out that diversity’.4 Gurpreet Mahajan in her in pursuit of a certain political interest. All of the Indian Constitution prioritizes the group introduction adds a crucial missing piece to these are ways in which the community tries over the individual. Sriranjani’s essay demon- this narrative of language politics and linguistic to overcome this anxiety and make its political strates that the Constituent Assembly’s efforts reorganization. ‘The creation of language presence felt in America. We see in these two to recognize the identity of a religious group identity based States meant that groups that essays that cultural politics is not just a result has somewhat neglected the individual citizen’s had been a minority in the country became of deprivation/marginalization. Despite the rights. While formally one is free to not choose majority in a region. The creation of language- presence of economic comforts and rights a religious identity for oneself, the State based States created new minorities, and acknowledged, cultural politics can become a discourses concerning personal law as well as groups that were on grounds of religion a strategy for political accommodation or UCC make it difficult for people to opt out of dominant community suddenly reduced to a political influence. their group identities. She demonstrates this minority’.5 Also missing in this narrative is Sarah Joseph’s essay echoes many of these by citing debates of the Constituent Assembly that ‘in several states the emergent linguistic earlier recommended cautions. She argues that as well as the judicial pronouncements. To her, majority began to follow a politics of majo- it is too innocent to assume that cultural ac- the problem seems to be that the Indian State’s ritarianism as well as exclusion’.6 The various commodation and political recognition is suf- conception of rights is prior to the interest it avatars of the sons of the soil movements ficient to manage conflicts within South Asian serves and not dependent on it. Giving a pos- would be an example of this. Thus Mahajan societies. She believes that class inequality sible explanation to this priority accorded to makes it clear that State policy does not just cannot be kept out of any serious attempt to group identity, Rohit Wanchoo argues that deal with an already present minority or majo- understand inequality in South Asia. Despite a perhaps it is a characteristic feature of all non- rity, but that State policy creates majority and stated attempt to accommodate, the policies of western societies. He agrees that in India it is minority in the first place. the Indian State have intensified competi- group rights which have found ready accep- Bijen Meetei’s essay conforms with tiveness among groups. She also cautions tance not individual rights unlike the West. He Mahajan’s observation in the context of against two practices that make multicultural- sees this preference present not just in the Meghalaya’s cultural conflicts. He points to the ism the refuge of right wing forces. One of Constitution but in colonial administrative ways in which the policies of the Indian State them is to think of culture as self-contained discourses too. While this mechanism has its have produced competition between different reified objects. Second is to think that mere advantages and one can see why the Consti- minorities. Instead of the debate between recognition of the cultural groups will take tuent Assembly opted for it, he regrets that minorities and majority, the politics of recog- care of their historical disadvantage. There- within the discourse of group-based benefits, nition has emerged among competing minori- fore, it is important to account for power the Indian State is losing its grip over some ties. State policy in India is highly unequal in relations within which the State is embedded, fundamental changes that need to be brought rendering social justice and recognition to and structural inequalities which are not about to address the disadvantage of various various minorities. The author examines lan- altered. groups. A viable political choice to him would guage as well as land rights provisions among The second obstacle to accommodation of be to amend the way affirmative action is the three dominant tribes in Meghalaya to diversity is political not philosophical. Essays conceptualized in India. ‘Therefore the real demonstrate that instead of recognizing diver- in this volume argue that State policy is flawed political choices are about determining the sity the policy adopted by the Indian State in the provisions it makes for minorities of extent of reservations and the groups that are actually decreases the tolerance levels among different kinds. The essays are generous in eligible for such benefits. A viable option communities. their assessment of State policy as it could that tries to cater to both the needs of dis- The last two essays in the volume posit an have been also argued that the state has vested advantaged groups and to those of indivi- altogether novel domain where State policy has interests/political compulsions which prevent a duals would be to provide an extensive sys- compelled multiculturalism to consider the real accommodation. There are a set of essays tem of state funded education, but with anxieties of majorities in the wake of large- which identify several shortcomings in State limited and declining reservations in employ- scale migration. The essays of Vidhu Verma as policy. The essay by Anne Phillips seeks to ment’.2 well as Shefali Jha’s essays remind us about the

8 / The Book Review / June 2012 many ways in which the praxis throws ever new conceptual problems for the theory to re- Studying Elections conceptualize itself. Both of these essays are about the fear, real or perceived, of the majority community, feeling a sense of threat in their K.K. Kailash home country. Vidhu Verma writes about the Malayasian case in detail. She argues, ‘While INDIA’S 2009 ELECTIONS: COALITION POLITICS, PARTY COMPETITION, AND CONGRESS CONTINUITY enabling a significant number of non-Malays Edited by Paul Wallace and Ramashray Roy to acquire legal citizenship, the Constitution Sage, New Delhi, 2011, pp. xviii+412, `995.00 accepted provisions for affirmative action for the Malays. By accepting this notion, the ideas sketched out in the constitution were riddled iven the centrality that elections have with internal tensions and contradictions. come to occupy in the political fabric Some of these tensions emerge in the preoccu- Gof this country, it is not surprising pation with special rights for the Malays which that election studies are one of the prominent have left little room for the cultural rights of and oldest research traditions in political the minorities’.7 Plagued with fear of cultural science in India. Almost every election has suicide also are citizens of the Gulf states. been followed by a number of publications Despite being the majority and nationals in analysing its different dimensions. These stu- their home country, Shefali Jha describes the dies have employed a variety of approaches, fear of the nationals that their public sphere is besides the now dominant survey research dominated by foreigners. This fear is also approach, others include case studies, anthro- strengthened by the fact that many gulf mon- pological studies, single-election studies and archies do not allow a participatory role for also interpretative and descriptive accounts their citizens within the country’s political (Stéphanie Tawa Lama-Rewal, 2009). India’s sphere. The question that both these cases 2009 Elections, the book under review, is the raise is: what is the perspective within which fourth successive election study by two re- these claims, strategies and fears are to be nowned and respected experts on political understood? Are they just mechanisms to parties and elections, Paul Wallace and Rama- dominate over the foreigner? Or is there a shray Roy. Like their previous collective volu- need for accommodate these within mes in which they analysed the 1998, 1999 institutional spaces? and the 2004 General Elections, this study is This set of essays remind me that any also primarily located in the interpretative and serious attempt to accommodate diversity descriptive studies tradition. cannot be separate from understanding how As in the previous volumes, the Lok power relations produce disadvantage and Sabha election is analysed by examining the sustain inequity. One reads about cases of political stories in different States. Compared young people from various minority com- to their previous study on the 2004 elections, ties among States but also the generalizable munities who face threatening attacks on the this is a relatively larger volume and covers conclusions. roads, in their hostels, in workspaces and in more States. The three new States are Karna- Paul Wallace’s introduction as in the the police stations. Looking at the political taka, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir. earlier volume merely highlights some of the violence against minorities in India, the While Orissa and Assam have been dropped, main talking points of elections 2009. If it was question of equity and accommodation seems Kerala is analysed in a separate chapter unlike poverty and India shining in 2004, it is a long shot. in the previous volume. Meghalaya received governance, stability and dynastic politics in separate treatment in 2004; however in the 2009. Though it does raise key questions, References present study it is part of a chapter which among others, about the success of the Cong- covers six of the North Eastern States. The 17 ress and the decline of the Bharatiya Janata chapters that comprise this volume are arran- Party (BJP), it does not go on to answer them. 1 Lal, Vinay, A Bloated Hinduism: North ged in two parts. The first part deals with the- The main task of the introduction has been American Hindus and the Imagination of a Vanguard, matic studies and the second part focuses on limited to summarizing the key issues in the p. 285. analytical State studies. In the second part, the chapters that follow. A framework for analysis 2 Wanchoo, Rohit, Group Rights, Diversity, and States covered are analysed under three cate- or even a general argument setting the tone for Social Justice, p. 223. gories based on party system types; these in- the contributions that follow would have been 3 Sarangi, Asha, Linguistic Diversity in a Federal clude one favoured (dominant) party system, most useful. Polity, p. 158 alternating two-party systems and multi-party The thematic section of the volume is 4 Srinivasan, Vasanthi, Prudence and States. dominated by the federal dimension with four Statesmanship in Managing Diversity, p. 257. The volume brings out rich details of chapters discussing almost closely related 5 Mahajan, Gurpreet, ‘Introduction’, p. 35. almost the entire panoply of political activities issues. The other issues that find space in the 6 Ibid. on display during an election including candi- section include alliance making and coalition 7 Verma, Vidhu, ‘Representing Diversity: The date selection, caste and community calcula- politics, gender discourse in elections and an Malaysian Experience’, p. 307. tions, alliances and non-alliances, mergers and analysis of the BSP’s performance. While, defections, sub-State political considerations, Ramasharay Roy turns our attention to the election campaigns and policy agendas, issue nature of alliance formation in terms of their Ankita Pandey is Assistant Professor in the De- dimensions and axis of competition. The composition and character, Pramod Kumar partment of Political Science, Indraprastha College editors have however left it to the reader to examines the interface between the national and for Women, University of Delhi, Delhi. draw not only the similarities and dissimilari- the regional in the context of coalition politics.

The Book Review / June 2012 / 9 Jyotirindra Dasgupta brings to the fore- Bengal. Praveen Swami’s essay on Jammu and front a rather old issue which one thought had Kashmir grapples with the issue of how elec- been settled with the formation of federal toral democracy plays itself out in a State coalitions; regionalism and its implications for characterized by ethnic and religious crisis. national cohesion. Dasgupta examines the Karli Srinivasulu’s examination of Andhra issue historically with examples from Andhra Pradesh and Binoy Shankar Prasad’s study of Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Punjab and argues Bihar reveal that though on the surface there that the ‘disintegrating anxieties’ often attached appears to be a movement towards develop- to the ‘regionalist turn’ are unfounded (p. 65). mental and governance issues, identity issues Similarly, Maneesha Roy’s analysis of federa- continue to drive politics in the two States. lism, party system and structural changes does Maharashtra and Karnataka are examined not bring anything new to the table. This is by Raghavendra Keshavarao Hebsur in two probably because Roy ignores the existing separate chapters. While a historical approach corpus of work as well as debates on the issue is useful to contextualize a study, going far of federalism and the party system in the back in time is unnecessary. Hebsur’s dis- context of India. One fails to understand the cussion of the historical past in the case of logic of discussing the historical background to both States could have been covered in a para- federalism in India as well as the institutional graph or so with appropriate references. A features of a federation in the context of the more rational allocation of space would have 2009 elections. given the author more leverage to focus on the Rainuka Dagar’s gender discourse in issue under discussion in the two States. elections is an interesting subject for analysis Bhawani Singh and Vibhuti Shekhawat’s but has been handled unimaginatively. It study of Rajasthan not only has an exciting spreads itself thin by attempting to cover too title ‘Silent Tsunami in Rajasthan’ but has even many dimensions and also slips in numerous more fancy sub-titles within it, like ‘Varun impressionistic assertions. It abruptly reports a Venom’ (p. 230) and ‘Deglamorized Queen result from a survey of teachers across the Goes Berserk’ (p. 231) among others. With its northern region regarding their perception of freewheeling style it reads more like a journa- women’s issues raised by political parties in list’s diary. The paper makes no attempt to 2009 (pp.123-4). Details about the survey and relate to the larger changes that have taken its context were however not reported in the place in Indian politics over the last decade. study. The study would have been enriched if While Rajesh Dev’s brave attempt to cover the it engaged with similar studies on previous many States in the North East is admirable, elections. In the final thematic essay, analysing the flipside is that the analysis suffers in terms the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) performance, of its depth. The ‘intra-regional diversity and Christophe Jaffrelot observes that notwith- plurality of political claims’ (p. 362) that Dev standing its Sarvajan strategy, the 2009 elec- refers to is not sufficiently captured in the tions show that the BSP is primarily a dalit study. party. While it has consolidated its position This was a rather unexciting volume among the dalits in Uttar Pradesh, it has not compared to the previous Wallace and Roy gone beyond the State. He concludes that the contributions. Given that this is their fourth near absence of an organizational structure successive election study, the editors have the makes it likely that it will end up like other advantage of a longer and broader perspective dalit parties that preceded it. and could therefore have gone beyond looking The importance of State-specific factors in at 2009 as a stand alone election. Having accu- shaping the election verdict comes out dis- mulated insights from a series of elections, tinctly in many of the chapters. Ghanshyam there always exists the possibility of question- Shah’s study found that despite the voters ing existing paradigms and developing new being satisfied with the performance of the theoretical formulations. The editors may have UPA, they preferred to vote for the BJP in missed an opportunity, but this does not take Gujarat because of the performance of the away from the painstaking efforts involved in State Government. Interestingly he observes putting together this volume. This study will be that the Gujarat BJP had become a ‘regional useful to those who missed out the action party’ (p.189). Contrastingly, in Kerala the during the 2009 General Elections. voters preferred the Congress alliance. Gopa Kumar explains that this is because of ‘ticket References splitting’ (p. 242) where the voter makes a distinction between elections to the assembly Stéphanie Tawa Lama-Rewal, ‘Studying Elections in and parliament. The Congress in this frame- India: Scientific and Political Debates’, South Asia work is perceived by the voters to be better Multidisciplinary Academic Journal [Online], 3 | equipped to deal with issues at the all India- 2009, Online since 23 December 2009, accessed level. Both these chapters are primarily based 23 April 2012. URL: http://samaj.revues.org/ on survey-research. 2784 Amiya Chaudhuri’s study captures the decline of the CPM and the Left-front in what K.K. Kailash is with the Department of Political was undoubtedly a critical election for West Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

10 / The Book Review / June 2012 work in Karnataka as well as close study of Marginalizing Panchayats government documents, this effort to remove the PRIs from development has a major cost Mark Schneider to the deepening of democracy. By circumven- ting the local institutions, marginalized groups UNDERMINING LOCAL DEMOCRACY: PARALLEL GOVERNANCE IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTH INDIA are sidelined as there is no institution of By Lalita Chandrashekhar reservations in these parallel institutions out- Routledge, Delhi, 2011, pp. 225, `695.00 side the PRIs. Moreover, voters are likely to be less aware of development policies because elected politicians do not need to sell-develop- ith the passing of the 73rd amend- are given important powers over education ment initiatives to the public. ment of the Constitution which policy implementation and are consulted by While this book launches a compelling Wempowered a three-tiered local NGO-sponsored self-help groups. Here expert complaint against parallel organizations that (self) government system or panchayat raj, panels are established only to ensure technical avoid the messiness and benefits of local self- attention has been focused on the success of feasibility. In Karnataka, PRIs are subservient government, its main weakness is that it does decentralization in India. Millions of local to State bureaucrats, panchayats have no not provide an explanation for why PRIs politicians have been elected with constitu- power to recruit, transfer or discipline staff, should be better than parallel organizations. Is tional authority into the panchayat raj system and MLAs (or State legislators) have been it simply the case that State politicians won the since 1993. The heavy use of reservations for winning the battle for preeminence vis-á-vis the battle to keep panchayats weak or is it their women and members of marginal castes has zilla panchyat president. Moreover, commit- capacity issues that make success in develop- changed the face of descriptive representa- tees overseen by bureaucrats at the district, ment initiatives elusive in the short-run? Do tion, with important consequences identified block, and village levels are directly linked to politicians from the PRIs have the level of by scholars in the United States and India. the State and side-step the gram panchayats. training necessary to take on the responsibi- Despite the scope of these reforms, observers These commissions set up by the Central lities that NGOs have taken on and does the have begun to doubt the potency of these re- Government are financially autonomous and leaky bucket of local corruption prove too forms. In Karnataka the term of the president not accountable to the PRIs although some much of a risk for outside funders or central of the zilla (district) panchayat has been re- members of the PRIs sit in committees governments to bear when it comes to their duced to 20 months which is also the case for outside the formal arena of PRIs themselves. development priorities? I agree that local the gram (village) panchayat president. The Beyond these commissions, the author focuses elective institutions must be strengthened to range of development policy issues over her argument on the effect of Societies and bring development closer to the people— which elected local politicians have control State-instituted User Committees (CBOs) that particularly in rural areas where elite capture is are limited and are often indirectly influenced have taken the functions assigned to PRIs a major risk. The question, though, is whether by State politicians or bureaucrats. And the outside of their purview. The most striking or not government efforts to sideline local rise of outsourcing of State development example is the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in institutions are no more costly than efforts to initiatives to NGOs and other parallel bodies Karnataka, which is a centrally sponsored bolster these representative institutions. This have further weakened the degree to which scheme with the goal of universal primary edu- of course depends on the will to reform these local self-government is a reality in India that cation. Meeting minutes of the Zilla Panchayat institutions, provide for needed training in the has a substantive impact beyond its well-docu- show that elected members of the PRI are not policy area that have been outsourced to mented descriptive impact. consulted on the activities of this scheme NGOs and bureaucrats, and the time it will The argument taken up by Chandra- within the PRI deliberative bodies. The author take to get the point when panchayats have shekhar takes off from this point. She argues also finds that NGO capacity building efforts sufficient capacity to take on this responsi- that panchayat raj institutions (PRIs) have use the PRIs to help them with obstacles to bility in India as a whole. become marginalized by a trend toward out- their agenda but are financially autonomous sourcing development policy to parallel insti- from the PRIs and make decisions that are tutions that do not consult with elected local completely autonomous from them. politicians and are not accountable to voter In Chandrashekhar’s account, supported Mark Schneider is in the Department of Political approval. The exception is Kerala where PRIs by a considerable level of evidence from field- Science, Columbia University, New York. Communication

The Rudolphs’ review (TBR, Vol. 36, No. 3) of Volume I of my Politics of Northern India: 1937-1987, which focuses especially on the early life and career of Charan Singh, is the tenth review of the book. All the others have been highly favorable, so I have little to complain about. However, I find the Rudolph review rather out of place and misleading, both in its account of my purposes in writing it and in its assessment of the purpose of the project as a whole. Moreover, they have wasted scarce space on paragraphs containing irrelevant comments on India’s preeminent former leaders, as well as unnecessarily long quotations from the book, not all quite relevant to their points. The whole thrust of the review from beginning to end is that I am seeking to provide a place in some ‘pantheon’, as they put it, for Charan Singh. On top of that, they suggest I am seeking to ‘establish an alternative master narrative of post-Independence politics’ to replace those devoted to Gandhi, Nehru, and other exemplary figures. This is not at all my purpose. I am no hero-worshipper nor was Charan Singh. If there is a pantheon for honest and decent men and women, then fine, let the Rudolphs place him and any heroes of theirs of similar caliber inside it. However, the Rudolphs have chosen instead to join the ranks of his ill-wishers by repeating twice in the same review the statement that Charan Singh had ‘feet of clay’. Somehow, they seem to think I have suggested as much in part of a paragraph from which they quote concerning the entirely different matter of the scarcity of jobs for youths outside of government. Moreover, they have focused entirely on what they consider to be his defects, not his strengths. The Rudolphs also seem not to have fully grasped Charan Singh’s views on several matters, including his attitude toward satyagraha. I can assure them, however, that he would not have appreciated Anna Hazare’s campaign, despite his own life-long battle against corruption. Paul Brass

The Book Review / June 2012 / 11 Trans-cultural Perspectives

Krishna Swamy Dara

THE COMMUNITY OF RIGHTS: THE RIGHTS OF COMMUNITY it to make their central concern for the book. By Daniel Fischlin and Martha Nandorfy Storytelling, here, should not be understood as Oxford University Press, Delhi, pp. 328, `850.00 just exchanges of fairy tales or horror stories for entertainment, but should be seen as ociality is a fact of human existence, collective biographies of the communities as however, not an unproblematic one. well as the resistance against various forms of SEven after centuries of contemplation, it colonization. Storytelling also represents is still as enigmatic as ever. With the advent of dialogue and ‘multi-logue’. This complex form modernity, tension surfaced between the of speech gives rise to a complex code in individual and the community to which the which ‘communities emerge, develop, individual belonged. Socio-political thinking disperse, and at times also disappear in the has been varying as to which aspect should be flux of narrative time and space.’ Storytellings given prominence over the other. The domi- are an alternative source of information for nant narrative of ‘human’ ‘rights’ largely recog- indigenous group linked to land and comes nizes the individual as the bearer of these from the land. From this perspective, ‘life is rights with some concession to human collec- contingent upon a collective relation to the authors. The main argument of the book is tives or groups. This epistemic bias has re- ecosphere and the stories that the ecosphere that the rights of the community are shaped by sulted in excluding certain conceptions and gives up through its embodiment offspring, the ‘ethics of encounter’ in which our ‘rela- problems of marginalized communities from human and other.’ tional contingences’ (the community) stand the mainstream discourses on human rights. Citing the theatre historian Alan Filewod mediated by values of civil rights and justice. Even when collectivities are recognized by the the authors comment, ‘the word “community” ‘Equality of difference’ should be the guiding dominant discourses it is to accommodate the has become as bankrupt as its rhetorical norm in a more subtle, fair and ethical con- interests of the dominant collectivities in the predecessor, “the people”, had by the end of ception of ‘community’. The authors are name of national, religious and other cultural 1930s.’ They are also highly influenced by the critical of the newly floating communities like identities. Large, multinational business cor- work of French philosopher Jean Luc Nancy, the ‘facebook communities’ on the internet as porations are using the idea of community to particularly his The Inoperative Community. In promoting egotistic and narcissistic behaviour articulate and promote their business interests this work, Nancy writes, ‘the gravest and most among its members in the interests of business rather than the interests of their employees or powerful testimony of the modern world, the revenues. Google, Apple and other corporate workers. The book under review, a third one that possibly involves all other testimonies labels are criticized for invoking the notion of volume by the authors, attempts to offer us a to which this epoch must answer……is the ‘community’ which is distorting our biotic comprehensive and critical understanding of testimony of the dissolution, the dislocation, relation to others and land. The authors the concept of ‘community’. or the conflagration of community’. Giorgio comment upon how Apple products made in Interdisciplinary and trans-cultural pers- Agamben’s work, The Coming Community, has China by Foxconn have been reported to have pective is what the authors employ to under- also influenced the authors. Speaking of the violated the rights of the workers. The book all stand the complex issues that surround the state’s inability to tolerate that, ‘….singularities through emphasizes the inter-relatedness of problems of the rights of the community. form a community without affirming an iden- social collectives and individuals across Their intention is to challenge our academic, tity, that humans co-belong without any rep- cultures all over the global. theoretical, western, white conceptions of resentable condition of belonging… the state Since the authors cover a broad range of ‘community’. This ‘resistance to theory’, as … is not founded on a social bond, of which it issues, it is difficult for a reader to critically Upendra Baxi calls it, is a Foucauldian strategy would be the expression, but rather on the evaluate and appreciate the problems facing for destabilizing the discursive domains that dissolution, the unbinding it prohibits… a many communities. For example, the problem normalize and stabilize historically contingent being radically devoid of any representable of dalits is picked up in the later half of the and fluid practices. For this purpose, the voice identity would be absolutely irrelevant to the book but is dealt with in a manner that fits the of the subaltern is valued and prioritized over state. That is what, in our culture, the hypo- over-arching argument of the work ignoring the standard academic discourses. The domi- critical dogma of the sacredness of human life much of the complexity and specificity of the nant conception, according to the authors, pays and the vacuous declarations of human rights dalit predicament. The ambitious goal of the scant attention to the environmental con- are meant to hide.’ The above critiques of the authors to capture the common problems of ditions making humanity possible. They take concept of community and the state’s usurping many disadvantaged groups has resulted in a Alan Gewirth’s insight that human rights arti- of the human rights discourse while denying fragmented narrative. However, sociologists, culate social/community relation rather than the same to marginalized communities is the political scientists, social activists, legal scho- juridical and normative distinctions which was inspiration for this particular work. lars and human rights advocates must read this put down by Gewirth in his popular text The The book is divided into four parts with a work in order to acquaint themselves with the Community of Rights. Storytelling is given typical post-modern/colonial style of labelling. latest arguments offered by critical theorists, importance in order to challenge the dominant The socio-political conditions of several of the philosophers as well as the lessons that can be discourses of power and the State, that tend to marginalized communities spanning from learnt from the struggles taking place all over homogenize and promote ‘monologic’ in the Mexico to India are dealt with. Blacks, Romas, the planet. pretext of community. The writings of dalits, indigenous populations from North and Thomas King, particularly his 1995 collection Latin America, Chinese workers, women, Krishna Swamy Dara is Post Doctoral Fellow at One Good Story, That One is a major inspi- children, animals, environment etc., and their the Juritische Fakultet, Humboldt University, Ber- ration for the authors and they draw heavily on problem with rights is the main concern of the lin.

12 / The Book Review / June 2012 Taking Shi’ism to the Masses

Faisal Devji

SHI’A ISLAM IN COLONIAL INDIA: RELIGION, COMMUNITY AND SECTARIANISM By Justin Jones Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2012, pp. 276,`795.00

he existing vast scholarship on collec- For the Shia, therefore, as well as for many tive identities in India, whether it Sunnis, says Jones, Hinduism did not figure as Tdeals with caste, creed or nationalism, Islam’s great competitor in colonial India, with is dominated by a concern with their modern the struggle to reform and represent the ‘Mus- ‘construction’, a process generally seen as lim community’ being largely an internal one. having occurred during the colonial period. So And in fact it is remarkable how little refer- in the last two decades historians have care- ence there is to Hinduism in ‘reformist’ Mus- fully described the way in which communities lim texts of this time, especially given the large of all kinds are invented or reinvented through role that Islam plays in the simultaneous revi- a set of debates, practices and, most important val of Hinduism. The tendency of north Indian of all, ‘reforms’. They have shown us how Shias to vote for Congress against the League certain narratives of collective belonging end in colonial times, and then for the BJP against up defining the terms of debate on any given the Congress more recently, is as much a sign identity, thus closing some avenues of thinking of this unconcern with Hindus as it is of a while opening others in the process. In one rivalry with Sunnis. sense Justin Jones’s important book extends Yet it is clear from this book that the opportunism. Shi’ism, however, conceived of a this ‘constructivist’ argument to the Shia of more divided they became, the closer to one temporal division between the contemporary northern India. For example, he tells us in another did Shias and Sunnis move, with their world, in which religion could not become meticulous detail how the fall of the court in forms of argumentation and institutionaliza- dominant without denying the absence of the Lucknow during the Mutiny forced a com- tion converging so strongly that one is tempted Imam, and the reign of the messiah himself munity that had heretofore been defined by its to describe the rivalry between them in Freu- when taqiyya would finally come to an end. aristocratic allegiances to remake itself. dian terms, as the narcissism of minor dif- I mention this example so as to point out Thus the ulama or religious scholars of the ferences. Jones is at pains to make the case the remarkably imaginative ways in which sect not only found themselves bereft of that the many and important Shia figures who Shi’ism was thought about in the very period aristocratic support, but also freed from the rose to intellectual or political prominence upon which Jones focuses. Surely whether or control exercised by these great magnates in during this period, ranging from the jurist not such men as Ameer Ali or Jinnah were the past. Compelled to turn for patronage to Ameer Ali to Pakistan’s founder Mohammad representative of the Shia in a purely nume- ordinary believers, these men were able to Ali Jinnah, were not representative of north rical sense, the ways in which they were able consolidate themselves into a corporate group Indian Shi’ism in the explicitly ecumenical to think about modern life and society in dis- for the first time (just as their peers in the form of Islam they propagated, though he tinctively ‘Shia’ ways is of great and even cru- great shrine cities of Iraq were doing) while might have considered the possibility that this cial interest. Otherwise we must resign our- trying to manage what was now their most apparently non-sectarian religion was if any- selves to thinking that in the play of mirrors important relationship, that with the sect’s thing more Shia than the mirroring acts of that Justin Jones offers us, there is no funda- ordinary laymen, to their best advantage. In sectarian contestation that his book describes mental difference between Shi’ism and Sun- the meantime these laymen were similarly in- so well. For these men’s generic Islam did not nism. And so we come back to the very thing stitutionalizing themselves as Shia represen- preclude sectarian identification, only keeping he denies, the ‘construction’ of a Muslim com- tatives, each group turning to the colonial state it for one’s inner life in a good example of the munity in colonial India. Can we suggest, then, from time to time in order to stake its claim crucial Shia doctrine of taqiyya, often wrongly that the ‘generic’ and non-sectarian Islam to speak on behalf of the Shia as a whole. And translated as ‘protective dissimulation’ and seen retailed by so many Muslim leaders of the Jones very effectively describes the way in by the sect’s enemies as nothing less than time, both Shia and Sunni, represented not a which the gradual emergence of electoral and deviousness and hypocrisy. unified religion so much as a form of taqiyya, then mass politics in twentieth century India Given that taqiyya was often prescribed a simulacrum that nobody was actually meant further shaped the character of the Shia debate even in a Shia country like Iran, to regard it as to believe in but rather assent to only as a and activity, as it did that of every other group ‘protective’ is not very helpful. Instead we may courtesy? Fragmentary as it is, this suggestion in Indian society. want to follow up on a comment made by the open up an unexplored vision of ‘secularism’ as The emergence of mass politics, Jones poet-philosopher Mohammad Iqbal, himself a a Muslim category in modern times. argues, led to an increase in the contestation Sunni, who responded to a question about the Jones does in fact make an important for Shia representation internally, while exter- difficulty of establishing secular principles in a point about secularism as a colonial enterprise, nally also putting Shias on a competitive foot- religion like Islam, which apparently drew no arguing that the British policy of (relative) non- ing with the much larger community of north distinction between religion and politics, by interference in religious matters allowed Indian Sunnis. Indeed one of his chief claims referring to the occultation of the twelfth Shia Muslims in general as well as in their sectarian is that what other scholars have referred to as Imam and the consequent necessity of prac- milieus to make Islam into a closed system. the ‘construction’ of the Muslim community in tising taqiyya. European societies, said Iqbal, More than a defensive mechanism in the face this period was consistently undercut by Shia- defined secularism in spatial terms, by con- of colonial rule, Jones claims that it was the Sunni rivalry, itself a sign not of weakness and fining religion to private life and, he thought, elimination or enfeeblement of Muslim rulers tradition so much as of vibrancy and change. giving over the public arena to unprincipled and aristocracies in British India that offered

The Book Review / June 2012 / 13 ...so it was actually colonial Global Faith/Tradition “ secularism that, like all forms of the secular in Euro-American Tahir Mahmood

societies, ended up making ISLAM IN THE WORLD TODAY: A HANDBOOK OF POLITICS, RELIGION, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY Edited by Werner Ende & Udo Steinbach religion possible as a closed and Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi, 2012, pp. 1114, `1795.00 autonomous field. One impli- cation of this process, Jones tells slam is the predominant religion of con- temporary Africa and Asia and has a us, was that Shi’ism and Ilarge following in Australasia, Europe and Sunnism now came to be North America. According to reliable demo- graphic sources in as many as fifty-one nation- thought of as closed and states scattered over the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe followers of Islam are in a alternative systems, precisely as majority—in as many as forty of them the religions in the modern and Muslim population being above 80%. In many other countries of these continents indeed Protestant sense this Muslims constitute from a quarter to one-half word has. of the population. And, then, there are several Muslim-minority states in Asia and Africa where the headcount of Muslims is much ” higher than in any of the Muslim-dominated both the ulama and lay people the opportunity countries—India with its 160 million Muslims to turn religion into a totality, whereas the being on top of such nations. In the West, dynasts of the past never allowed either of while Europe is home to nearly 45 million these groups to consolidate themselves or followers of Islam, there are another about ten Islam in this way, with royal law, for instance, million in the United States. A cautious esti- constantly interrupting and limiting the exer- mate puts the total Muslim population in the cise of divine law. And so it was actually colo- present-day world at 1.7 billion. According to nial secularism that, like all forms of the some unofficial estimates the aggregate of secular in Euro-American societies, ended up Muslim population in Muslim-minority coun- making religion possible as a closed and tries on the globe exceeds the total number of autonomous field. One implication of this Muslims in all the Muslim countries taken the book translated by different bilingual process, Jones tells us, was that Shi’ism and together. In the present-day world thus Islam scholars—was brought out five years later by Sunnism now came to be thought of as closed remains a force to reckon with and Muslim the Cornell University Press in the United and alternative systems, precisely as religions presence on the globe is indeed enormous. States; and it has now been reprinted in India in the modern and indeed Protestant sense this The West has always taken a keen interest for distribution in South Asia. word has. Their very closeness to each other, in this global faith/tradition and has been The over 1100-page work is broadly therefore, made these competing systems into since long producing theoretical studies and divided into three parts titled (i) Historical the bitterest of rivals. Secularism, we might empirical works presenting various facets of Expansion, Political and Religious History, (ii) say, lies at the root of all religion, which is why Islam in its own way. Besides Britain, which Political Role of Islam in the Present and (iii) it can never supplant the latter. has in the past ruled a large number of Present-day Islamic Culture and Civilization. Muslim countries for long spans of time for Part I, under five heads, contains 16 articles which reason its interest in Islam is under- encompassing a brief history of Islam from its Faisal Devji is Reader in Indian History at St. standable, Germany too has been in the origin in the 7th century AD till the present, Antony’s College, University of Oxford. forefront in bringing out all sorts of books on the Sunni and Shi’a divisions in Islam, major Islam and the Muslim world. The book under revivalist movements of 18th to 20th centuries review here is a recent addition to such in different parts of the world, and statistical literature. It was first published in the Ger- data on the Muslim presence on the globe. The Book News Book News man language in Munich in 1984. Edited by section on Sunni Islam speaks of its history, two German professors, it is a bulky antho- theology, law and mysticism; and that on the logy of articles and country reports contri- Shi’as of the majority Ithna ‘Ashari group and buted by a large group of authors hailing from the Zaidi minority. The Isma’ili Shi’as are not Poetics and Politics of Sufism & Bhakti in South various back-grounds and covering the entire dealt with here—which would have been more Asia: Love, Loss and Liberation edited by gamut of Islamic affairs including the situa- appropriate and just—but, bracketed with the Kavita Panjabi tries to bridge the gap through tions in the contemporary Muslim world. The Ahmadis and Bahais, under Part III among the a comparative approach on the evolution and book when published was well received in the ‘Sects and Special Groups.’ The chapter on cross-fertilization of ideas between Sufism and academic circles in the West as a storehouse revivalist movements is quite selective, speak- Bhakti. The book focuses on the range of of ideas and information about all aspects of ing, besides some Arab reformers, of South influences across different linguistic and Islam and the Muslim society and went into Asia’s Jamaluddin Afghani, Shah Waliullah and cultural divideds. five editions in a short span of about two Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. The continent-wise Orient Blackswan, Delhi, 2012, pp.305, price decades. An English version of the fifth statistical data at the end of Part I briefly not stated. edition published in 2005—various parts of covers 38 countries each of Asia and Africa,

14 / The Book Review / June 2012 information on many other countries of the unduly restrict the scope of several entries. Muslim population in Muslim- African continent. Country reports are found While the blurb further describes the book as “ also on the Muslim States of Central, South ‘most authoritative’ and its contributors as minority countries on the globe and Southeast Asia, as also on four Muslim- world’s leading experts on Islam, it is mainly a exceeds the total number of minority states—China, India, Israel and work of ‘outsiders’—of its forty-four contri- Russia—whose citizenry includes large Muslim butors only five are Muslim by faith. Of course Muslims in all the Muslim populations. The section on country reports their impartiality and objectivity is beyond ends with a chapter on ‘Islamic Diaspora : reproach. I personally know quite a few of countries taken together. Europe and Americas.’ them and have hosted some of them here in Part III of the book opens with an article India at my university including the young 12 of Europe and a few countries of” Austral- on what its author calls ‘orientalistics and German scholar Monica Wohlrab-Sahr who asia and the two Americas. orientalism’ and later talks of Islam and cul- has attempted to cover all aspects of Islam in Part II of the book first deals, under three tural self-assertion, local traditions, linguistic the two vast continents of North and South different heads, with Islamic social systems, sphere and reflections of Islam in contem- Americas in a brief five-page piece. economics and law in general. Chapter III in porary literature. It ends with brief accounts of The book is now about three decades old this Part titled ‘Developments in Law’ attempts a variety of Islamic arts and architecture in and the factual information given in it is obvi- to deal in a short space of about thirty pages their historical perspective and modern forms. ously not up to date. The tabular statement of with the legal system of Islam covering its This last part of the book is followed by end- Muslim populations found in it dates back to history and state in the present age. A brief notes for all its chapters, authors’ short bio- 2004. Yet as a single-volume encyclopedic work note on sources and methods of law is fol- graphies, a sixty-page comprehensive biblio- touching upon all aspects of Islam and its follo- lowed by a cursory look at constitutional law, graphy and three indices—names, subjects and wers it may well cater to the needs of the Eng- criminal law, personal status laws, civil laws, geographical references. lish-speaking seekers of a general reference book. commercial laws and economic laws. This The book is repeatedly described in its general discussion is followed by brief country blurb as ‘comprehensive’ but the treatment of Tahir Mahmood, Member, Law Commission of reports. While major Arab states like Egypt, many aspects of Islam in all its parts is rather India, is a renowned jurist specializing in Islamic Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, scanty. It is surely comprehensive in its cover- Law, Hindu Law, Religion and Law and Law Relat- Sudan (pre-Partition), Syria and Yemen are age but the treatment of every subject is not ing to Minorities. He has been Dean, Faculty of dealt with countrywise, there are clusters on necessarily so. In an attempt to produce a Law, University of Delhi, Chairman, National Com- the Muslim nations of the Gulf and North multum in parvo on the 1400-year old Islamic mission for Minorities, Member, National Human Africa. Separate sections on Sub-Sahara and faith in its historical and modern settings the Rights Commission and Jurist-Member, Ranganath what the book calls ‘Horns of Africa’ provide planners of the book, it is evident, had to Misra Commission.

The Book Review / June 2012 / 15 A Socio-Historical Outlook

Muhammed Haneefa

THE MALABAR MUSLIMS: A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE By L.R.S. Lakshmi Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2012, pp. 200, `530.00

appila Muslims constitute more some serious errors due to the author’s lack of than ninety percent of the Muslim familiarity with the local language, names of Mpopulation in Kerala. The majority persons and places. To begin with, the commu- of these Muslims live in the northern part of nity ‘Mappila’ is wrongly spelt throughout the Kerala, called Malabar region. Historians and book as ‘Mappilla’ which in Malayalam means sociologists like Roland E. Miller, Stephen F. ‘unpardonableness’, and the word has nothing Dale, K.N. Panikkar, Hussain Randathani and to do with the community. The first paragraph many others have written about the socio- of the introduction begins with a factual error political and cultural world of Malabar Mus- when she writes ‘Jews arrived in Cochin as lims from various perspectives. early as 68 AD and a small town exists even L.R.S. Lakshmi examines the social, poli- today in this region surrounding the oldest tical, educational and cultural life of Malabar Jewish synagogue in the world’ (p. XV). The Muslims under the colonial administration author overlooks the fact that Cochin came from 1870. At first glance, there is no detail into existence only in the 14th century. The left unexamined. The seventh and last chapter Paradesi synagogue, built in 1568, is one of discusses the educational progress, women’s the many synagogues in the world, but not the The excessive and uncritical dependence empowerment, religious development and the oldest. on secondary materials have resulted in flawed political life of Mappila Muslims in the twenty- Throughout the book, Vakkom Moulavi is arguments. Somewhere she argues, ‘Unlike the first century. By discussing a wide range of erroneously called Vaikkom Maulavi. Jamalu- Nayars, the Mappillas were basically traders and issues on the Mappila community, she has deen Mankada is wrongly written as Jamalu- shop owners in the coastal belts and agricultur- made a sincere effort to satisfy both sociolo- deen Makkad (p. 164), and Sayyid Munavvar ists or petty traders in the interior. They did gists and historians alike. Ali as Sayyid Munnaftali (p. 165). Some of the not normally go to distant places in search of Lakshmi argues that Arab trading and the Malayalam words should be correctly written as education and employment’ (p. 61). However, intermarriage between Arabs and the local ‘nikudi’ instead of ‘nihudi’ (p. XXVIII), ‘pus- this finding is contradicted as she herself says women, economically motivated religious con- alans’ for ‘pusalars’ (pp. 26, 28, 81), ‘kabarst- that ‘there were a handful of Mappillas who versions by ‘low castes’; this and the egalitarian halam’ for ‘kavarasthalam’ (p. 65), ‘Kerala Sarva- went to Deoband’ (p. 87) and that some of the nature of Islam are cited as the main reasons kala Shala’ for ‘Kerala Sarvakala Shaka’ (p. 164). Mappilas travelled outside the region for behind the Islamization of the Malabar region. The popular notion in academics is that higher education. For instance, they went to However, many will have a problem in using the Malabar Muslims are matrilineal and that the Al-Baqiyyat-us-Salihat College, in Vellore. the politically loaded word ‘Islamization’ to they follow the marumakkathyam system. In the twenty-first century, Muslims form the describe the peaceful expansion and conver- However, it is just a dominant ideology in single largest group of the Keralite workforce sion of locals to Islam in the region. The hier- academics and an unjustifiable generalization. abroad. archical social order of the Mappilas is a Around 14-16 percent of Muslims in Malabar Similarly, while analysing the educational notable one. The hierarchy is formed not only follow the matrilineal system, and they are role of Himayathul Islam School in Kozhi- due to the conversion from the Hindu reli- mainly from areas like Kannur, Thalassery and kode, she points out that ‘a characteristic gion, but also due to the Hadrami influence in some parts of Kozhikode. Existing sociological feature of the school was that it was the only the region and the hierarchical social order literature on the Malabar Muslims have institution, which imparted free secular and that prevailed among the Hadramis. The discussed mainly the affluent and educated religious education’ (p. 105; emphasis mine). hierarchical order was also strengthened by the communities like Thangals, Keyis and Koyas. However, while analysing the educational economic domination and control of the port This work sadly is not an exception. She has system of Mappila Muslims in the colonial by the Keyis, Koyas and Baramis. As a critique referred to previous works on and interviewed period and after Independence, we can see to the egalitarian nature of Islam in Malabar, people mostly from the above communities (p. that Dars, Madrasas and Othupallis played an she sees that ‘the Thangals were spiritually 190). Lakshmi fails to incorporate the familial important role in imparting both secular and superior whereas the Keyis, the Koyas and the and marital life of the people from economi- religious education to them. In addition to Baramis were economically superior. The cally poor and educationally backward free education, Dars and Othupallis provide Pusalar(n)s and Ossans were occupationally Muslim communities in the Malabar region, free food and shelter as well for Mappila inferior’ (p. 28). When analysing the familial, where the dominant form of family system is students in the Malabar region. The author educational and other aspects of Malabar patrilineal. Like some other previous works herself points out elsewhere that ‘the Municipal Muslims, her work is completely silent about on the Malabar Muslims, this work also council of Kozhikode maintained sixteen these so-called socially, occupationally and shows the outsiders’ failure to reach and elementary schools in the city, out of which economically ‘inferior’ communities. connect with the poor and ‘inferior’ people of seven were for the “Mappillas” and seven for This is a lucidly written book without the Malabar region. It also shows how the the Hindus. In all the “Mappilla” schools, jargon. But, a native reader like me, cannot affluent and economically superior communi- education was free’ (p. 116). In such a context, read the book without making comments on ties influence knowledge production. Himayathul Islam School was just one of many

16 / The Book Review / June 2012 schools, which imparted free secular and Like Muslims in India, Malabar Mappilas religious education for Mappilas. are also lagging behind in education when The strength of the book is that it high- compared to other communities in the region. lights many relevant political and social issues However, they are much better and higher in that should get an urgent attention. Questions educational achievement in comparison with regarding the state’s role in Muslim education Muslims in other parts of India. Lakshmi’s and refugee issues are important. As she says, detailed study of Mappila education throws Mappila Muslims ‘were displaced in 1921 light on the State’s neglect and bias in allocat- when they were driven out as victims of the ing funds and resources to the educational British excesses in Malabar. Many Mappilla institutions in the region. Her discussion of men went to Karachi …their women lived in female educational development and the self- Kerala…but post partition period, these effort of the Malabar Muslims are illuminat- displaced Mappillas, whose numerical strength ing. In academics and at the policy level, there in Pakistan is around 10,000 are facing visa is an urgent need to give attention to some of restrictions from the Indian Government to the ‘dark sides’ of self-financing institutions. visit Kerala’ (pp. 168-169). She suggests that, Behind the banner of community service, able ‘The refugee issue is a serious matter of social and qualified graduates are demanded lakhs of concern and their grievances need to be rupees for being appointed to various teaching redressed without further delay’ (p.169). In the posts, higher fees and donations are extracted area of education, the lacklustre response from from students and the poor are exploited. the State and Central Governments has resulted Lakshmi also shows how the few economi- in the rise of many self-financed educational cally and socially ‘superior’ elites had con- institutions in Malabar. trolled the political authority of the Mappila community in Malabar region. Discussing the Call for Papers native representation in the Municipal Board in Kozhikode, she argues, ‘What is significant Indian Association of International Studies is that the Muslim seats in the Municipal (IAIS) isholding its 1st Annual Convention Board were being filled by wealthy Mappilla in collaboration with the Institute for landlords and merchants’ (p.134). Even before Research on India and International Studies Independence and after that, the ultimate (IRIIS) on 10-12 December 2012 at the leadership and authority of the Muslim India International Centre, New Delhi. League, one of the major political parties in IAIS invites papers for the Annual Conven- the region, has been in the hands of the tion on the theme: The Dawning of the Thangals. They claim to be the descendants of ‘Asian Century’: Emerging Challenges before the Prophet and are therefore granted a Theory and Practices of IR in India. superior status in the hierarchal social order. The book makes for an interesting read, Proposals for papers and panels are invited giving an overall understanding of the Mappila on the following sub-theme: community from colonial time to the present. 1. Pedagogy of IR in India. One weakness of the book is that, it is too 2. Peace and Conflict Studies descriptive and it generalizes some aspects of 3. Resurgence of Asia, Global Governance the community like the family structure, and IR Theory religious conversion and status of the women 4. Indian IR Engagement with IR Theory in the community by analysing a few select 5. Political Geography and Geo--Politics sections and groups of Muslims in the Malabar 6. India and its Neighbours region. For instance, she argues, ‘women are 7. India and the Great Powers as always, highly respected in Mappilla society’ 8. South East Asia: New Neighbours (p.162). However, in many parts of Malabar, 9. Ethnicity, Nationalism and Violence dowry and child marriage still pose serious 10. Gender Studies and IR threats to women’s progress in education and 11. Political Economy social development. As the book makes it clear 12. History and IR while analysing education, family and social 13. Domestic Politics and IR structure, there is a lack of homogeneity 14. IR Theory and the War on Terror among the different sections of the communi- 15. Changing Conceptions of Security/ ty. It is a well-researched work, quite informa- Sovereignty tive and meaty too but it fails to impress a 16. Sustainable Development and Climate native reader as the book abounds in mistakes Change and fails to give an alternative to the dominant 17. India’s Strategic Thought/Praxis views. This book will be useful for sociologists 18. Political Theory and IR Thought and historians, as well as scholars working on 19. Non--Western Perspectives on IR religious studies. Deadline for Submission of Proposals: June 15, 2012 Muhammed Haneefa is Research Scholar at the All proposals should be submitted Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal online at: [email protected] Nehru University, New Delhi.

The Book Review / June 2012 / 17 Strategic Relationship

Rahul Mukherji

THE EAGLE AND THE ELEPHANT: STRATEGIC ASPECTS OF US-INDIA ECONOMIC ENGAGEMENT By Raymond Vickery, Jr. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2010, pp. 352, `695.00

he Eagle and the Elephant is the best between American and Indian companies may book on Indo-US relations written by have restrained India from taking an aggres- T an insider in the US administration. sive posture in the aftermath of the terrorist Vickery holds a bipartisan American view attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001. The largely sympathetic to Indian concerns. It sur- US Government travel advisories and pressure passes Denis Kux’s magisterial book—Estranged from General Electric considerably reduced Democracies. There is a remarkable commit- the prospect of Indian aggression. Second, ment to historical detail to buttress the argu- outsourcing created cooperative possibilities ment that Indo-US economic relations after among Indian and American companies. This 1991 were pivotal for its strategic relations. political economy has secured service trade, Positive economic inducements rather than despite many attacks on the American H1-B sanctions or military considerations will be the visa by the US Congress. harbinger of friendly ties between the two coun- Third, both India and the US are depen- tries. The relationship between the world’s two dent on imported oil. While they differ on the populous democracies of considerable econo- propriety sanctions on Iran—the nuclear deal mic significance will be the most significant may have played a role in scuttling the Iran- rative suggests that the world is coming around one for the US in the twenty-first century. Pakistan-India pipeline project. The Indo-US to the Indian view regarding the rapacious The chapter on civil nuclear cooperation nuclear deal was clearly delinked from specific nature of the WTO patent regime. is central to the argument about economic and Indian foreign policy commitments with res- Indo-US cooperation in energy and agri- strategic relations. India’s nuclear tests in 1998, pect to Iran. But civilian nuclear power was to culture face significant challenges. Neither like the one in 1974, should have brought the be the substitute for dependence on oil. Could could project on clean energy and power take- relationship to a new low. But the 1998 sanc- the nuclear deal have discouraged the Indian off after substantial investments had been tions were reversed quickly. The United States Government from pursuing the pipeline? This made nor did the two countries share a com- India Business Council (USIBC), the Confede- case study fails to analyse other reasons for mon approach on climate change. And, the ration of Indian Industry (CII) and the Federa- rejecting the pipeline. second Indian green revolution is not likely to tion of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Fourth, Indo-US cooperation on multi- be an easy transition. The first one in the late Industry (FICCI) and the Indian American lateral economic issues did not receive a sig- 1960s is a saga of substantial Indo-US coope- Forum for Political Education (IAFPE) led by nificant boost till the WTO’s Information ration. Rural distress in India continues to Swadesh Chatterjee played a stellar role in Technology Agreement (1996). The Indian pose a development challenge. Indian Agricul- turning conflict into cooperation. This was software industry and American hardware ture supports more than half the population on reflected in the Joint Statement made by manufacturers overcame opposition from 14 percent of the GDP. And agricultural GDP Manmohan Singh and George Bush in July Indian hardware manufacturers to forge a co- is growing less than 3 percent per annum when 2005 and the final passage of the bill acknow- operative front during the Singapore trade the economy grows at 7 to 8 percent. Rural up- ledging India as a nuclear power in October ministerial. Thereafter, lackluster cooperation lift demands cooperation between Indian and 2008. The chapter provides a graphic account ensued till Prime Minister Manmohan Singh American companies. It is imperative to de- of how commercial interests helped trump supported President Obama’s stimulus package control the foodgrain distribution system in political opposition. This agreement laid the in the G-20 forum. Indian and American app- India. These are politically challenging tasks. foundation for robust Indo-US relations. Civi- roaches to dealing with the financial crisis Companies like Pepsi and Wal-Mart are never- lian nuclear cooperation since 1959 has been have found resonance—a factor that affected theless making a small difference by bringing signifier of trust between the two countries. the tenor of Obama administration’s approach the farmer closer to the market in India. The Indo-US economic engagement has to India. This is not a well known insight. Overall, the book presents India as a far-reaching ramifications. First, sixty percent Fifth, India’s transition from a process country whose interests have veered closer to of the fortune five hundred companies out- patent to a product patent regime is a signi- that of the US after its tryst with globalization source their work to India. Commercial ties ficant evolution of cooperation heralded by the and deregulation since 1991. Cooperation has rise of Indian companies like Ranbaxy, Dr. replaced conflict in many areas. The US Reddy, CIPLA and Sun. These companies Government needs to accord greater priority ...the book presents India as a developed ties with their American counter- to positive economic engagement and policy parts in the early 1990s. But the Indian patent coordination. Indo-US relations have been “ country whose interests have law drafted in 2005 did not satisfy American portrayed as an emerging and powerful rela- veered closer to that of the US companies. To make matters worse, Indian tionship among two large independent minded companies like CIPLA defied the WTO countries that can work together without after its tryst with globalization regime and supplied cheap AIDS drugs to becoming allies. and deregulation since 1991. South Africa on public health grounds. Over Cooperation has replaced time, these bold actions received support from Rahul Mukherji is Associate Professor in the South the US Government, non-governmental organi- Asian Studies Programme at the National Univer- conflict in many areas. ” zations and American foundations. This nar- sity of Singapore. 18 / The Book Review / June 2012 Role of Civil Societies and Its Limitations

Manjrika Sewak

CONFLICT SOCIETY AND PEACEBUILDING: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES Edited by Raffaele Marchetti and Nathalie Tocci Routledge, New Delhi, 2011, pp. 321, `795.00

onflict Society and Peacebuilding: the purpose and functions of a civil society Comparative Perspectives is an edited organization, which is rooted in that society? C volume of eleven essays, which Thematically, the chapters fall into three explores the linkages between civil society, categories. The first category titled ‘Theore- conflict and peace, drawing on empirical tical Reflections’ engages with the composition studies from regions in Asia, Africa, Latin of civil society in the context of peace and America and Europe. The book opens with the conflict processes. Civil society constitutes the recognition that civil society plays a significant space between the state, the family, and the role in building sustainable peace and security market—interacting with these sectors, influ- in contexts of armed conflict, particularly encing them, and being influenced by them. those driven by identity and located within The term civil society refers to a complex web states. The central space that it has come to of actors who employ myriad strategies and occupy in peacebuilding discourse is based on play diverse roles at different stages of con- the fact that individuals and groups, from a flict escalation and de-escalation. It includes · funding (foundations, individual variety of backgrounds, have demonstrated actors who initiate short-term and long-term philanthropists); and their skills and expertise in this area. It is processes, ranging from humanitarian assis- · communication (media operators) now recognized that official, government-to- tance and ceasefire negotiations to the more government interactions between instructed long-term efforts of conciliation, relationship- They state that the ability of civil society representatives of states are insufficient in building, peace education, nonviolence to influence peacebuilding depends on the themselves to build sustainable peace in divi- training, conflict-sensitive development, and context—social, cultural, economic, and ded societies. In this context, the book seeks restorative processes for justice and recon- political—within which it works. This, along to delve deeper into how civil society and ciliation. A key strength of this book is the with the identities and frameworks of action of government actors can partner with one an- attention that the authors draw to how con- CoSOs and the political opportunity structure other to increase the efficacy of peace inter- flict shapes the identity and actions of civil in which they operate mix together to deter- ventions and to initiate long-term processes society organizations. They define them as mine whether these groups contribute to of conflict transformation. constituting a ‘conflict society’ and label them conflict exacerbation or conflict transforma- The editors, Raffaele Marchetti and as ‘conflict society organizations’ (CoSOs). In tion. In fact, Neera Chandhoke in the chapter Nathalie Tocci, note that while there is this definition, local civic organizations as titled ‘What Are the Preconditions for Civil sufficient evidence to point to the positive well as third-country, international and trans- Society?’ states that such organizations can act contributions of civil society, what has perhaps national civil organizations involved in the as a positive force in peacebuilding ‘only if received less attention is the ability of such conflict in question are included. Adapting exclusionary identity-producing processes are groups to also work towards entrenching in- the Multi-Track Diplomacy model, originally mediated outside the boundaries of civil equitable status quos and, worse still, exacer- conceptualized by John McDonald and society, and if the State possesses rigorous bating conflict in already tense and fragile Louise Diamond of the Institute for Multi- control over the means and the use of violence situations. The civil society space is not always Track Diplomacy in Washington DC, Mar- and does not define itself through any parti- filled with progressive politics, and collective chetti and Tocci list the following actors in cular identity’. As a first precondition, she action is not always directed towards the com- their definition of CoSOs: points to the significant role that social inter- mon good. Civil society can also be a space · professional conflict resolution action in mixed neighbourhoods (comprising that fuels discord and it can be captured by specialists (including technical experts members of different communities) can play in vested interests. Thus, on the one hand some and consultants); building solidarity among members of civil groups voice dissent to make democracy real · business groups (including trade society groups. Related to this is also the and substantive, but on the other hand, some unions and organized crime existence of robust workplace and trade union might work towards the subversion of demo- networks); politics, which can forge unity among people cratic and pluralistic ideals. The authors ad- · individual citizens, families and divided by religion. ‘The second precondition vance the theory that the influence of civil diasporas (acting on their own); for civil society is that religious identities society in a conflict situation depends on cer- · research, training and education should not become a constitutive aspect of a tain variables. The first is the context within (academia, special interest research State-making project. The State should grant which a civil society organization operates. For centres, think tanks, universities); equality and freedom to all citizens irrespective instance, how does the larger political context · activism (NGOs, lobby groups, of their religion, favour none, and discrimi- of authoritarian rule, ethnic nationalism, under- grassroots social movements, nate against no one’, writes Chandhoke. In development, overbearing international pres- nonviolence trainers, human rights this context, she cites the case study of ence, or a failed state affect the function and groups, combatant groups); Ahmedabad in Gujarat whose Muslim role of civil society groups? Further, how do · religion (spiritual communities, inhabitants were the victims of gruesome, prevailing cultural and societal beliefs influence charities, religious movements); mass violence in 2002 in what has been

The Book Review / June 2012 / 19 organizations have featured both in processes democratic culture and protect human rights ... while there is sufficient of policy formulation and policy implementa- within a context rife with human rights viola- “ evidence to point to the tion. ‘They are engaged, through consultations, tions and torn apart by ethno-sectarian con- positive contributions of civil in the definition, affirmation and dissemi- flict. The study on civil society in Turkey titled nation of the principle of the “responsibility to ‘The AKP, Civil Society and Turkey’s Kurdish society, what has perhaps protect”.’ Question’ by Ekrem Eddy Guzeldere establish- received less attention is the The third section of the book analyses the es the link between democratization and the role of local civil society within specific con- ability of civil society to play a constructive ability of such groups to also flict areas. Through analyses of civil society role, highlighting the importance of the poli- work towards entrenching participation in regions as diverse as Kashmir, tical, social and cultural context in shaping the Bosnia, Turkey, Colombia and South Africa, nature and impact of CoSOs in the country. inequitable status quos and, the chapters bring out with deep clarity the Also included in this volume is an worse still, exacerbating con- distinctions between international civil society interesting article on the ‘Role of the Associa- flict in already tense and fragile organizations and local, grassroots civil society tions of the Victims and Relatives of Missing groups. While the latter have a more nuanced Persons in Bosnia-Herzegovina’ in the years situations. The civil society understanding of the conflict as well as a big- following the signature of the Dayton Accords space is not always filled with ger stake in its peaceful transformation, they (by Valentina Gentile). The contributions of can also serve as a potent seed for aggressive these civil society associations are analysed in progressive politics, and collec- group mobilization, which in turn could create the context of their common pursuit for jus- tive action is not always direc- the necessary ‘opportunity’ for conflict tice and truth. The study explores the diversity escalation. of approaches as also the tensions between the ted towards the common good. This section opens with a journey to different associations, and brings to the fore a Civil society can also be a space Colombia where the author Miguel Barreto different understanding of ‘civil society’— that fuels discord and it can be Henriques examines the practices and impact which is understood as a civilian, non-military of ‘peace laboratories’ in the violence-ravaged society, reflecting a unique form of pluralism captured by vested interests. Latin American country. The ‘peace labora- and tolerance. tories’ represent an innovative and grassroots Looking at how civil society reinvents ” approach to peacebuilding that traces alter- itself in a post-conflict context, Veronique described as a ‘near pogrom’. Most civil native paths of promoting peace at the micro Dudouet, in ‘Surviving the Peace? The Impact society organizations either participated in the and regional levels. Based on a participatory of War-to-Democracy Transitions on Human violence or remained silent. With a few methodology and working with the historically Rights Organizations in South Africa’, poses a exceptions, the institutions that represent civil excluded sectors of the Colombian population pertinent question: ‘In view of the importance society took no action at all, with some actively (such as peasants, indigenous peoples and of conflict in determining the nature of civil participating in the violence against the Mus- women), the peace laboratories seek to trans- society, when a conflict transits from one stage lims. Chandhoke notes that even though some form political, socioeconomic and cultural to another, what are the implications for civil civil society organizations mobilized legal, exclusion, which lie at the roots of the conflict. society?’ In other words, ‘what happens to psychological and material aid for the victims, Moving to the conflict in Jammu and organizations striving for peace and democracy they did not protest against the violence or the Kashmir, Ayesha Ray in the chapter titled ‘The after they have achieved their goals? How do failure of the government to protect its citizens. Politics and Identity of Kashmiri Women’s they react and reinvent themselves?’ Through In this context, she poses the following ques- Organizations’ examines the nature and the interviews with local South African human tions: What shape do civil society organiza- role of the Kashmiri women’s movement in rights activists, Dudouet concludes that struc- tions take if their members ‘think and act in India. While there is no doubt about the tural changes towards greater institutionali- terms of their primary identities rather than as disproportionate impact of the conflict on the zation and professionalization have been bearers of individual rights’; or, if they emerge lives and livelihoods of Kashmiri women, this observed, as also relational shifts whereby as ‘closed ascriptive groups rather than inclu- study cautions against essentialist generaliza- previously adversarial civic actions, such as sive and voluntary social associations; or if the tions about women and peace or the existence public mobilization against authoritarian and state codifies the aspiration of one ethnic of a sisterhood that transcends the markers of violent state practices, have given way to col- group…?’ religion, ethnicity and language. The politici- laboration with, and at times even cooption The second section of the book explores zation and divisions within a good number of by, the government. the role of international civil society in pro- Kashmiri women’s groups that sought to come This edited volume provides rich insights cesses of peace and conflict. Laura Zanotti in together in the first decade of the 21st century into the diverse purposes, functions and con- the essay titled ‘Protecting Humans, Govern- mirrored the inherent contradictions of tributions of CoSOs in countries experiencing ing International Disorder: Integrated UN Kashmiri society. This has resulted in a frag- violent conflict. While generalizations are Peacekeeping and NGOs’ looks at how the mented women’s movement, which is yet to difficult, what is clear is that local political and reformulation of the problematique of security grow beyond the Kashmir Valley to include the cultural contexts influence civil society organi- and the concomitant changes in the strategy of voices of women from Jammu and Ladakh, or zations. They impact the identities of indivi- UN Peacekeeping towards ‘integrated missions’ those of displaced Kashmiri Pandit women. dual members of these organizations who are has created not only a regulatory script for Problematizing the assumption that civil stakeholders to the conflict as well. These in NGOs but also a new space for earning visi- society plays a vital role in the promotion of turn determine the motivation and ability of bility as well as increasing opportunities for democracy and human rights, the chapter the organizations to work towards pluralism, manipulation and contestation. The second titled ‘Civil Society and Human Rights Protec- inclusivity and the greater common good. essay in this section by Daniela Irrera titled tion in Iraq since 2003’ by Melek Saral points ‘The Roles of NGOs in Humanitarian Inter- to the detrimental impact of unstable state Manjrika Sewak is a Consultant with WISCOMP ventions and the Peace Support Operation in institutions and a divided society on the ability (Women in Security, Conflict Management and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’, of civil society to play a constructive role. Peace), an initiative of the Foundation for Universal notes that international non-governmental Iraqi CoSOs have been unable to foster a Responsibility of HH The Dalai Lama, New Delhi.

20 / The Book Review / June 2012 Population Management: A Political Issue?

J. Devika

MARKETS AND MALTHUS: POPULATION, GENDER, AND HEALTH IN NEO-LIBERAL TIMES Edited by Mohan Rao and Sarah Sexton Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2010, pp. 350, `795.00

n 2004, I went around the research insti- public health triggered off by neo-liberal wel- tution where I work in search of a dis- fare reform, and the transformation of the Icussant for a paper on the historical feminist discourse of reproductive rights in a shaping of public consent for family planning world under neo-liberal hegemony. Some of in 20th century Kerala. This was interdiscip- them look back critically at a much-celebrated linary work which reexamined some of the moment of feminist ‘victory’, the Cairo Con- received wisdom of demography pertaining to sensus of 1994, which is supposed to have Kerala from a critical historical perspective. decisively altered the course of population Many senior colleagues skimmed the title, and policy globally, setting it away from demo- finding ‘family planning’ in it, suggested, ‘Find graphically-driven population management a demographer’! So I sought out demogra- imperatives towards women’s empowerment phers, who read snatches from the paper and and reproductive rights. The argument that the stared at me in disbelief, as if it was blasphe- neo-liberal destruction of public health systems my to historicize hallowed ideas such as the in poor countries and the intensification of and economic justice are inseparable from ‘demographic transition’. their exploitation through structural adjust- reproductive rights (p. 97). It is readily apparent that the authors who ment have effectively rendered the promises of Fried’s essay also speaks to Rachel Simon- have contributed to the volume under review Cairo defunct is now common—and power- Kumar’s analysis of neo-liberal development do not subscribe to such piety. Therefore, to fully demonstrated by Meredeth Turshen’s and reproductive health in India, which too me, it represents more congenial company. essay on health in Africa after Cairo in this poses hard questions to positions that glibly Academic research on population management volume. However, the volume goes beyond assume that feminist political goals around had travelled, even in 2004, far from the once- that insight and probes deeper into the multi- reproduction are attainable through neo-liberal unshakeable statist, quantitative, Eurocentric ple ramifications of contemporary biopolitics. states and within neo-liberal frameworks. truths, but large sections of the academia are The three essays by Sarah Sexton and From the Indian experience, Kumar demon- yet to acknowledge this shift. This volume is Sumati Nair, Betsy Hartmann, and Marlene strates that while market-oriented economic indeed capable of forcing a rethinking, as it Fried are especially important in the current policy has been proceeding apace, and though reveals the advantage to be reaped by critical context in which the Cairo Consensus is India’s commitment to the ICPD process is scholarship from adopting interdisciplinary severely threatened by both the rise of funda- now evident in its population programme perspectives and methodological and theore- mentalisms around the world and the intensi- strategies which emphasize reproductive health, tical pluralism. Many essays in the volume fication of neoliberal depredation of public these do not seem to have dislodged the interrogate global discourses of population health—as Hartmann remarks, this is a time imperative of population control. Both Fried management dominant within currently- when ‘there is a tendency to remember only and Kumar critique the ‘choice framework’ hegemonic neo-liberal conceptions of develop- the positive aspects of Cairo and to forget the which plays too easily into the neo-liberal ment; others focus on specific countries in the negative’ (p. 53). Both reveal how, despite tall rhetoric of individual responsibility and re- South to reveal the complexities of the un- claims, neo-Malthusianism was never unseat- mains blind to inequalities and the dangers of folding of the new population management ed; in fact, feminist concerns were reframed the unregulated market-place of reproductive agenda. The methods used range from statis- within its terms, with grievous effect. Hart- technologies. tical analysis to textual analysis and anthropo- mann’s essay throws interesting light on the The essays by Martha Rosenberg and logical fieldwork. Most essays do not stay shrewd deployment by actors and interests in Suzanne Schultz represent two key positions in within conventional disciplinary boundaries. the US of theories of ‘environmental conflict’, the feminist debate about the waning of the And each offers useful insight into the ways in which rested on neo-Malthusian assumptions promise of Cairo. Rosenberg argues that Latin which many of the familiar certainties of and furthered US security interests, in ways American feminists, who often had to confront population management have not only con- that drew in both environmental and feminist pro-natalist population policies, did make tinued to stay entrenched within national and actors. Fried’s essay focuses on abortion poli- significant gains through the Programme of global policy, but also how they now inform tics in the US, with special attention to the Action that emerged through the ICPD; but the discourse of radical social movements— internal fractures within feminism, between this does not mean that there is consensus specifically, feminism. feminists who emphasize reproductive ‘choice’ about working with the neo-liberal state among The volume includes eleven essays con- and women of colour, who uphold reproduc- feminists there. However, the destruction of nected by a common focus on the unfolding of tive ‘justice’. The latter offer an implicit criti- livelihood and state welfare in the wake of neo- contemporary global biopolitics, besides the que of the Cairo Consensus framework’s sub- liberal policies in countries of the region has introduction which discusses the significance servience to neo-liberalism, and hence aim at considerably limited the actualization of the of critical inquiry into the complex links ‘achieving the broad set of conditions neces- promises of the ICPD. Schultz, however, between the stubbornly-persistent imperatives sary for reproductive and sexual freedom and argues that the problem is deeper: while the of population management, the global crisis in health’, which would mean that human rights march of the neo-liberal economic order is

The Book Review / June 2012 / 21 significant, equally important is the march of ning, which supposedly produces a ‘lean family’, Leninist biopolitics to neo-liberal biopolitics in the neo-liberal political order. As she points is considered the natural concomitant of the China. Besides the fascinating detail, what the out, the problem is that ‘the mainstream dis- neo-liberal ‘lean state’. The ‘civil society’ of essay powerfully brings out is the futility of course of gender NGOs has become tied to an family planning NGOs is fully complicit with large-scale and coercive social engineering, or analysis that no longer refuses biopolitical State the latter and their efforts are perceived by the the vital significance of its unintended conse- intervention in general’ (p.191). Therefore poor as a form of violence. Their anger is quences. Also, it demonstrates the complexity their critique of the world economic order is often couched in the language of Islam—in a of the cultural entanglements of family plan- necessary but not sufficient. Schultz, import- context where simplistic media representations ning when deployed as an instrument of State antly, alerts us to the fact that in the post-Cairo continue to attribute Islamic fundamentalism, power—the strange sight of a ‘hard-edged, variety of neo-Malthusianism, the ‘population terrorism, and immigration to ‘overpopulation’. competitive, Chinese modernity’ (p. 326) problem’ is reframed less aggressively in terms A particularly interesting essay in the produced through the exacerbation of tradi- of ‘biopolitical racism’, a fact that remains volume is Lisa Ann Richey’s analysis of the tional forms of misogyny. undisturbed by the acknowledgement of intersecting of the biopolitics of population and The only critical observation I wish to gender sensitivity in the Progamme of Action. that of HIV/AIDS in Uganda and Tanzania. She make is a minor one. While the introduction Other ramifications of this expanding shows how entrenched gender-constructions does offer a detailed and careful overview of biopolitics are brought to the fore in Mohan that strictly separate ‘lover’ from ‘mother’ con- the chapters and the context, it may have been Rao’s and Kamran Asdar Ali’s essays which tinue to underlie the HIV/AIDS programme useful to also include some discussion on the explore population politics and fundamental- from the family planning programme, which methodological and theoretical pluralism that isms in times of neo-liberal welfarism in India compete rather than collaborate. However, it employs so effectively. It might have also and Egypt respectively. As Rao demonstrates, unlike in the population programme, AIDS has been useful to draw more closely into the drawing on contemporary communal politics forced questions of sexuality and gender into introduction some of the theoretical formula- and discourse in India, neo-Malthusianism discussions of the problem—which may also be tions that have informed the most insightful offers dangerously simplistic explanations to a reason for the success of Uganda’s HIV/AIDS essays in the volume—specifically, those which discomfiting social changes, which in turn policy in contrast to the dismal state of re- focus on the unfolding of a renewed regime of leads to virulent, majoritarian communal productive health there. There seems little biopolitics through post-Cairo population biopolitics, which is almost invariably miso- reason to doubt that despite the international policies. This would have definitely streng- gynist as well. Ali’s essay, which uses material commitment to reproductive health that Cairo thened the single biggest insight of the volume: from anthropological fieldwork, explores how aimed at, the fate of reproductive health is still that population management is primarily a ‘impotence’, widely feared by the Egyptian strongly linked to priorities and perceptions of political issue and must be analysed as such. poor, is more importantly an effect of the particular states—even though they might have deprivations and structural inequalities which endorsed the ICPD goals, like Uganda. the structural-adjustment dictated privatization The volume ends, fittingly, I think, with J. Devika is with the Centre for Development Stud- policies have deepened. Indeed, family plan- Susan Greenhalgh’s essay on the shift from ies, Thiruvananthapuram.

Colonialism, most scholars The Cult of Masculinity “ wearily admit, cannot simply be expunged from India’s post- Anjali Arondekar Independence history; rather MASCULINITY, ASCETICISM, HINDUISM: PAST AND PRESENT IMAGININGS OF INDIA we must ceaselessly work to By Chandrima Chakraborty Permanent Black, Delhi, 2011, pp. 263, `695.00 recognize colonialism’s role in constructing that very history. his book highlights a conceptual and rescue Indian religious practices and beliefs political impasse that is at the heart of from the flattening and/or pathologizing lega- conflated, she writes, with Hinduism) plays” a Tthe most recent postcolonial scholar- cies of British colonialism, such efforts have to central role in the British imperial imagina- ship on India. On the one hand, much effort be equally weighted alongside an emergent and tion. Ascetics are seen as paradoxical exemp- is expended at exposing the contradictions and virulent form of postcolonial and masculinist lars of a failed and detached Indian masculi- limits of British colonial rule (scholars tend to Hindu nationalism. nity that is wilful, mendacious and overall mostly ignore the Portuguese colonial presence!) It is thus timely that the linkage between dangerous to the ‘humane’, civilizing mission and its reliance on orientalist epistemologies of gender and religion founds the conceptual of the British empire. As figures who ‘wander’ rule. On the other hand, such a deconstruc- focus of Chandrima Chakraborty’s book under aimlessly and without practical purpose, Indian tive move is equally countered by a scholarly review. For Chakraborty, any understanding of ascetics are reduced to bodies that escape desire to recover those very epistemologies for India’s past and present historical and political colonial technologies of mapping and surveil- evidence of India’s (lost) past and (found) landscape necessitates a closer look at the lance. Stripped of their spiritual significance, present. Colonialism, most scholars wearily interconnectedness between religion, mas- the Indian ascetics of the colonial imaginary admit, cannot simply be expunged from India’s culinity and asceticism, or what she calls emerged as shadowy robed figures, capable of post-Independence history; rather we must ‘the conjunctural alignment of ascetics and murder, crime and worst of all, political unrest ceaselessly work to recognize colonialism’s role masculinity in Indian political history.’ More and revolution. Chakraborty is quick to point in constructing that very history. No two is- specifically, she argues that representations of out that such a damning iconography of the sues are more central to our recuperative pro- masculinity and Hindu asceticism have been Indian ascetic is shared by the Indian agrarian jects than the thorny questions of gender and and continue to be instrumentalized for cul- elite of the colonial period who saw the ascetic religion, marked repeatedly as potential spaces tural and political purposes. Within the colo- as actively engaged in resisting feudal oppres- of peril and possibility. Even as one needs to nial period, Indian male asceticism (falsely sion (pace Sri Aurobindo and Swami Viveka-

22 / The Book Review / June 2012 caste, gender, to name a select few issues. on ‘Hindutva’s “Angry Hindu” and the Rewri- What interests her more is the exploration of ting of Histories,’ is by far the book’s most ascetic masculinity as a productive site of ambitious and reflective section. Here, the tension in the continued articulation of Indian author engages deftly with Hindu Right pro- nationalism from the colonial to the post- paganda that centers the muscular Hindu male colonial moment. Chakraborty focuses, for body as the repository of the Hindu com- example, on the spectacular ascendancy of the munity-nation. Through such readings, Hindu Right (or the Sangh Parivar) and ad- Chakraborty draws her reader’s attention to dresses its concerted revival of public ascetic the ‘epistemological methodology’ of the Pari- figures who are seen as moral and corporeal var that allows it to routinely borrow, rewrite stalwarts of the body-politic. As is well-docu- and plunder historical archives at will to serve mented, the success of such revivals of public the interests of the Hindutva project. While ascetic figures has aroused considerable con- many historians have warned us about the cern among the Indian left that often views the Hindu Right’s predilection for historical participation of any religiously affiliated body reconstruction, few scholars have attended to (individual or collective) as a source of shame, the specific nuances of gender and religion as fear and even atavism. For Chakraborty, such a nexus of historical authority. negative readings of contemporary ascetic That said, the book’s theoretical ambition figures (while partially warranted) refuse the (in the best sense of the word) is both its variegated historical and political genealogies strength and its weakness. In one of the most of the male ascetic as a figure of anti-colonial telling sections of the book, Chakraborty possibility and change. To cede this colonial writes that her main contribution to current history of dissidence and protest to the current discussions of gender and masculinity is prin- hegemonic mobilization of Hindu male asce- cipally a theoretical one. By proposing to tics as religious bigots and jingoists is to pre- deepen what she calls the under-theorized field nanda), even as a small number of Indians cisely miss the point. Chakraborty’s insistence of colonial/postcolonial masculinity studies continued to revere the Indian ascetic as a on a history of India that grapples with its own through the grid of religion and asceticism, Hindu sannyasi working towards self-liberation fraught relationship to a gendered ascetic past she hopes to extend the question of how ‘ideas and enlightenment. is by far her most incisive and politic interven- of nationhood inscribe themselves onto speci- Refusing such western/colonial notions of tion. In so doing, Chakraborty forces a much- fic gendered bodies.’ Yet even as the referen- Indian ascetic practices, Chakraborty advoca- needed and difficult dialectic between the stra- ces to the ‘crisis in masculinity’ and the emer- tes a more heterogenous understanding of the tegies of the Hindu Right and those of the gence of multiple ‘masculinities’ abound in the religious figure of the male Hindu ascetic that nationalist struggle (Simona Sawhney’s wonder- text, the representations of masculinities re- bypasses our commonsensical understanding ful book, The Modernity of Sanskrit, makes a main ensconced in a relatively crisis-free of Hindu ascetics as a monolithic group similar argument about the complex legacies of mono-gendered framework. In other words, marked by their renunciation of worldly Sanskrit that are erased by its current over- the reader is presented with a wide array of practices. Instead, she calls for a renewed privileged attachment to the Hindu Right). representations of ascetic masculinity yet most attentiveness to how colonial ascetic masculi- In order to trace the variegated history of cleave firmly to the norm of heterosexuality. nity transformed itself into a strident symbol ascetic masculinities and their multiple repre- Surely to say that a theoretical approach to of Indian nationalism, providing us with a sentations, Chakraborty reflects on four key ascetic masculinity brings to light ‘the crisis of nuanced ‘telos of selfhood and nationhood.’ By moments in Indian nationalist history: anti- masculinity’ seems limited as that would be a erasing the opposition between nationalism colonialism, swadeshi nationalism, Gandhian claim that most cultural studies scholars work- and religion, ‘ascetic nationalist masculinities’ nationalism, and Hindutva. Each chapter (by ing on any aspect of gender in India would emerged more as spaces of negotiation, con- the author’s own admission) focuses on elite equally make. For example, the book’s con- testation and advocacy for preachers, the male figures, from Bankim Chattopadhyay, clusion clearly grapples with the gender trouble literati and nationalist leaders who ‘sought to Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Raja that ascetic masculinities unravel (specifically contest and alter colonialist views of Hindu Rao, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalker and Vinayak in the author’s excellent reading of Swami masculinity and religion as weak and degene- Damodar Savarkar, and tracks the mobiliza- Ramdev’s success). Chakraborty exhorts the rate.’ Rather than see ascetic renunciation, tion of ascetic masculinity as a means for reader to attend to the ‘anxieties’ underwriting celibacy and restrictions in diet as evidence of recovering and/or igniting nationalist senti- national/nationalist productions of masculinity, an effete Hindu male body, Indian nationalists ment. In the case of Chattopadhyay and only to end with a bland call for masculinity as celebrated such traits as indicative of the colo- Tagore, the failed Bengali babu is revitalized social construct, eschewing more complex nized male subject’s self-control, courage and through his linkages with an asceticized mar- theorizations of gender and sexuality. independence. In doing so, Indian nationa- tial and revolutionary masculinity, emblemati- Overall, Masculinity, Asceticism, Hinduism lists, the book argues quite persuasively, cized, for example through representations of is an engaging and inventive book, and there is broadened the category of Hinduism and the Swadeshi struggle. Gandhi provides ample much to learn from its pages. It will appeal not religion in general to a divergent (and often fodder here for the brandishment of the male only to scholars of South Asia, but also to his- contradictory) landscape where the traditional ascetic body as the site, par excellence, of torians, anthropologists and literary scholars notion of religion as unchanging often clashed corporeal excess and containment. Chakra- working within postcolonial cultural studies. with a more secularized version of religion as borty covers an admirable range of sources, mutable and flexible. ranging from literary texts, speeches and auto- However, Chakraborty cautions against biographies, to provide us with a rich and Anjali Arondekar is Associate Professor of Femi- any facile celebratory revival of a nationalist often dizzying analysis of how and why ascetic nist Studies at the University of California, Santa ascetic masculinity, especially as the concept of masculinity assumes the kind of critical Cruz. She is the author of For the Record: On Sexu- nation in postcolonial India clashes with a importance it does, from the colonial to the ality and the Colonial Archive in India (Orient differentiated understanding of sexuality, class, postcolonial moment. The book’s last chapter Blackswan: New Delhi, 2010).

The Book Review / June 2012 / 23 Book News Book News Book News Book News Book News

AUTOBIOGRAPHY Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and West Matters of Discretion: An Autobiogrphy by I.K. Bengal—and other stove programmes around the Gujral is his life story penned in a forthright and globe. It discusses India’s best improved biomass candid manner. He entered the political fray as a stove programmes and suggests policies and freedom fighter in the British era and after the practical ways to promote the use of cleaner tumultuous events that rocked the Indian subconti- burning, energy efficient and affordable stoves. nent in the wake of Partition crossed over from Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2012, pp. 170, Pakistan to India, where he had to begin life from `595.00 scratch. Hay House, New Delhi, 2011, pp.19, `795.00 FICTION Bali and the Ocean of Milk by Nilanjan P. Choudhury A Shot At History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold by Abhinav reimagines the eternal conflict between the gods and Bindra with Rohit Brijnath is the story of a man who fought valiantly to the asuras in a whacky thriller littered with bad jokes make his own history and with it, his nation’s. and corpses. HarperCollins, New Delhi, 2011, pp. 229, `399.00 HarperCollins, New Delhi, 2011, pp. 306, `199.00

A Drop in the Ocean: An Autobiography by Padma Opening Night by Diksha Basu is the story of Naiya Sachdev, translated by Uma Vasudev and Jyotsna Singh Kapur, a Princeton University graduate who comes is a bitter journey of a Dogra girl of Jammu who to Mumbai to chase his big Indian dream— fought with the orthodox and men-oriented society. Bollywood. She lived in an era in which women were subjected to HarperCollins, New Delhi, 2012, pp. 279, `250.00 suspicion and torture. Despite a number of turns and twists that came her way she achieved success by her Sorrow of the Snows by Upendra Nath Ashk, translated dedication and love for people. from the Hindi by Jai Ratan is a satirical yet compas- National Book Trust, New Delhi, 2011, pp. 347, sionate account of the penury and deprivation that `180.00 began setting in in Kashmir after Independence. It is also the larger story of every farmer in India who rests BIOGRAPHY the responsibility of his happiness and sorrows on Betrayed by Latifa Ali with Richard Shears is a God’s shoulders. terrifying true story of a young woman dragged back Harper Perinnial, New Delhi, 2011, pp. 118, `250.00 to Iraq by her parents to live under threat of death from ancient family customs. MANAGEMENT Mehta Publishing House, Mumbai, 2011, pp. 257 Parenting the Office by Doris S. Davidoff, Philip G. `400.00 Davidoff, Donald M. Davidoff, and Douglas G. Davidoff provides realistic solutions to management The Kiss of Saddam: Fascinating, Heartbreaking, and (and parenting!). In this book the authors have done Above All, a Story of Courage by Michelle McDonald a wonderful job of weaving the similarities between is based on the life and experiences of Selma Mas- home and office together. It is a modern guide to son. Her memory of events, and takes the reader on an incredible understanding and implementing proven parenting journey, drawing an evocative picture of life in Iraq. It shows just what principles in your office to increase your personal one woman will do to save the people she loves. and your organization’s success. Mehta Publishing House, Mumbai, 2012, pp. 243, `350.00 Mehta Publishing House, Mumbai, 2011, pp. 228, `350.00 Nirad C. Chaudhuri: Many Shades, Many Frames by Dhruva N. Chaudhuri covers Nirad Chaudhuri’s Brick by Red Brick: Ravi Matthai and the Making of IIM Ahmedabad by early years, his struggle to find work, his stint at All T.T. Ram Mohan tells the story of how IIMA was conceived, its India Radio, and goes on to highlight his years in distinctive governance structure, its unique culture and how a highly Oxford, where he died at the age of one hundred gifted manager created the conditions for its enduring success. and one. Rupa & Co., New Delhi, 2011, pp. 281, `495.00 Niyogi Books, Delhi, 2011, pp. 180, price not stated. MEMOIR Confessions of a Serial Dieter: Secrets from 43 Diets My Father Baliah by Y.B. Satyanarayana is a detailed delineation of the and Workouts that Took Me from 100 to 60 by Kalli different facets of the unique world of untouchables—the inviolable Purie demystifies the process of living a healthy, fit societal boundaries and attitudes, the social, economic and cultural and fulfilling life. The book will make you believe landscapes, the norms and patterns of intercommunity and interper- you can do it whether it is losing stubborn weight sonal relationships. or chasing your dream. HarperCollins, Delhi, 2011, pp. 211, `299.00 HarperCollins, New Delhi,2012, pp. 225, `250.00

ENVIRONMENT POETRY Cleaner Hearths, Better Homes: New Stoves for India and the Developing The Jewel That is Best: Collected Brief Poems by Rabindranath Tagore, World by Douglas F. Barnes, Priti Kumar and Keith Openshaw draws translated by William Radice comprises three voloumes of Tagore’s on case studies from six Indian States—Maharashtra, Haryana, poetry, ‘Particles’ (Kanika), ‘Jottings’ (Lekban) and ‘Sparks’ (Sphulinga).

24 / The Book Review / June 2012 Book News Book News Book News Book News Book News

The poems are quiet, philosophical observations Lama is an essential statement from the Dalai that carry as much meaning as mystery, as much Lama, a blueprint for all those who may choose sensitivity as objectivity. not to identify with a religious tradition, yet still Penguin, New Delhi, 2011, pp. 203, `250.00 yearn for a life of spiritual fulfilment as they work for a better world. Seven Leaves, One Autumn: Poems edited by HarperCollins, New Delhi, 2011, pp. 188, Sukrita Paul Kumar and Savita Singh have `399.00 collaborated in creating a symphony of diverse voices. Each poem is rooted in its own milieu; The Mystery of the Last Supper: Reconstructing the and yet, these poems easily cross linguistic and Final Days of Jesus by Colin J. Humphreys poses an national divides to call out to the reader any- intriguing detective story. The author lays out where in the world. clearly the apparent contradiction in the description of Holy Week Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi, 2011, pp. 159, `195.00 events as given in the Gospel of John versus the Synoptic Gospels, and he proposes his own solution to what he believes is no longer a contra- POLITICS diction. Anna: 13 Days that Awakened India by Ashutosh, Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2011, pp. 244, `395.00 demanding the enactment of a strong Lokpal Bill, was a watershed moment in post-Independence India. SPORTS Coming soon after a slew of corruption exposes, the Out of the Blue: Rajasthan’s Road to the Ranji Trophy movement galvanized an increasingly disenchanted by Aakash Chopra is the inspiring true story of the middle-class like nothing had in decades. players’ motivation, their passion for cricket and of a HarperCollins, New Delhi, 2012, pp. 226, `199.00 cricket association that changed the rules of how domestic cricketers are groomed in India. Portraits from Ayodhya: Living India’s Contradictions HarperCollins, New Delhi, pp. 262, `299.00 by Scharada Dubey which studies the barricaded Ram Janmabhoomi site, travels through temple alleyways, visits the TRAVEL residents, ordinary and prominent of a town that has known no peace, Hot Tea Across India by Rishad Saam Mehta is the story of honey-and is a startling compilation of oral history, a mighty jigsaw puzzle of saffron-infused tea shared with a shepherd in Kashmir and a strong voices from across the town. brew that revives the author after almost getting lynched by an irate Tranquebar, Chennai, 2012, pp. 272, `295.00 mob in Kerala, Rishad takes you across the length and breadth of India from Manali to Munnar, from the Rann of Kutch to Khajuraho, with RELIGION wit, sensitivity and insight. Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World by His Holiness The Dalai Tranquebar, Chennai, 2011, pp. 191, `195.00

THE BOOK REVIEW GOES ONLINE

Name......

Address......

Cheque/DD/M.O. No......

Amount......

All Cheques/Drafts/M.O. should be made payable to “The Book Review Literary Trust” 239, Vasant Enclave, New Delhi 110057

Subscription Rates for 2012(Print Edition)*: Subscription Rates for 2012(Web Edition)*: Single issue : Rs. 80.00 Individuals : `1000.00 / £35.00 / $50.00 Annual Subscription (12 issues) Institutions : `1500.00 / £50.00 / $75.00 Individual : `1000.00 / $ 50.00 / £ 35.00 Subscription Rates for 2012(Web + Print Edition)*: Institutions : `1500.00 / $ 75.00 / £ 50.00 Individuals : `1500.00 / £50.00 / $100.00 Life Donors : `10,000.00 and above Institutions : `5000.00 / £100.00 / $200.00

* Log on to our website www.thebookreviewindia.org to subscribe online.

The Book Review / June 2012 / 25 A Non-Take on Kannada Cinema

Chandan Gowda

BIPOLAR IDENTITY: REGION, NATION, AND THE KANNADA LANGUAGE FILM By M.K. Raghavendra Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011, pp. 209, `695.00

n 2002, the Government of Karnataka trends in the newly unified State explain the prohibited the sales of a massive two- shifts in Kannada film conventions. And, Ivolume history of Kannada cinema publi- throughout this process, Kannada cinema shed by Hampi University Press. It apparently managed to retain its local identity vis-á-vis the had factual errors and, more importantly, had ideology of the Indian nation. A parallel point misrepresented Dr. Rajkumar, the Kannada to note is that Kannada films have all along film superstar. The prohibition still holds. And, been ambivalent about Bangalore’s status as a well-documented work on Kannada cinema Kannada city since it was initially identified continues to be unavailable. A scholarly book more with the British than with Mysore and on Kannada cinema, therefore, would normally later became home to many central govern- be an occasion for cheer. ment public sector enterprises. A dominant tendency within film studies Bipolar Identity never clarifies whether the has been to track the effects of social power Kannada films themselves strove to manage and ideology in cinematic texts. Here, the their regional self-identity within a national emphasis is less on the aesthetic properties of frame. Retaining Kannada cinema’s distinctive- cinematic images and sound and more on ness and autonomy appear to be ever-present they came ‘from a space relatively insulated their institutional coordinates in social space. motivations for the Kannada film makers. A from the colonial encounter’ (p. xxxii). Bipolar Identity, too, intends to explain Kan- few historical facts should complicate such a The sociological factors Raghavendra nada films as texts reflective of and engaging view. Two Bombay-based producers set up the holds relevant for understanding Kannada film with local socio-political realities of their time. Surya Film Studio, the first studio in Banga- conventions are not convincing. Caste endo- More specifically, its author, M.K. Raghaven- lore, in 1928; and, their Surya Film Company gamy obtained in most parts of India and was dra, notes: ‘This is an inquiry into how local/ produced numerous silent films in Kannada. not unique to Mysore. Further, by examining regional identity is addressed in regional Indeed, many of the landmark films of the caste through the enumerative logic of census language cinema and also whether regional talkie era were directed by non-Kannada in cinema, he misses out on the powerful work identity can conflict with the national identity/ speaking persons from outside Mysore. Sati of caste in the aesthetics of representation. other identities’ (p. xii). A few pages later, he Sulochana (1934), the first Kannada talkie film, His thin understanding of caste allows him to says: ‘. . . the purpose (of the book) is to chart was directed by Chamanlal Dongagi, a conclude, incorrectly, that caste hierarchy out the way Kannada cinema responds to both Marwari. And, Jeevana Nataka (1942), a weakens in Kannada cinema after 1980 (p. 95- the region and the nation, or, to phrase it dif- popular ‘social’ film, was directed by Wahab 96). A scrutiny of the metaphysics of caste ferently, how it negotiates the space between Kashmiri, a native of Kashmir. Until the early underlying the cinematic assemblage of image the two’ (p. xivii). He does not consider 1960s, most Kannada films were made in and sound can better explain the imbrication ‘Kannada art cinema’ relevant for his discus- studios in Madras. In other words, myriad of Kannada cinema with local caste realities. sion since it was closer (especially after the late non-local elements have mediated the making Regarding the stricter embrace of dharma in 1970s) to the ‘pan-Indian art film’ promoted by of Kannada cinema. Raghavendra simply Kannada films, I wish that the book also the National Film Development Corporation, presumes that the identity of Kannada cinema explained how that became manifest in ‘a non- and free from the compulsions of addressing a derived from the chief features of Mysore Brahmin Kannada cinema’. geographically circumscribed audience, and culture without showing how that might have Raghavendra’s attempts to read Kannada had ‘little local appeal’ (p. xii). been achieved within the complex field of film films as an index of ongoing socio-political A brief summary of the book’s argument: production. events stay tenuous. A sample illustration Since the Mysore State was not directly ruled What are the ‘constituent elements’, to use should suffice. After noting that women’s by the British, it experienced colonial rule Raghavendra’s phrase, of Mysore society that dignity was not always secure in films in the differently than British India. It was a ‘Hindu’ made Kannada film conventions unique? 1990s, he explains: kingdom. And, science and modernity came First, the widespread practice of endogamy in . . . the demeaning of women in the to Mysore much before Nehru introduced it Mysore society, whereby same-caste marital Kannada films in the 1990s was caused by in India after Independence (I am only sum- alliances were sought within geographically a lowering of the self-image of the Kan- marizing the book here). All of these account delimited areas, explains the presence of nadiga, which also reflects in the lowering for the differences in ‘film conventions’ (and arranged marriages in Kannada cinema plots. of the language. The lowering of the self- ‘not form’) in Kannada and Hindi cinema in Second, ‘early Kannada cinema is a non- image may have been the result of local the pre-Independence era (p. xv). In the deca- Brahmin cinema’, wherein the identities of politics in which politicians openly dis- des following the unification of Mysore State non-brahmin characters are used to suggest graced themselves without being made (later Karnataka) in 1956, the strong symbolic their vocation whereas the figure of the accountable to the constituents of the association of Kannada films with Mysore brahmin symbolizes caste hierarchy itself. region, who remained helpless. This per- society began to wear off, especially post-1980. Third, Kannada film narratives adhere to haps led to public cynicism over whether The changing economic, social and political dharma more strictly than Hindi films since the political choices that the public was

26 / The Book Review / June 2012 vassal the Mysore state. Another illustrative categories such as ‘caste’, ‘nation’, ‘region’ and A dominant tendency within excerpt: ‘modern’. Despite its consideration of a wide The metaphysical agent rewarding virtue range of Kannada films, its aim of showing “ film studies has been to track in early Kannada cinema was god—in how the history, politics and culture of Mysore the effects of social power and mythological films like Harishchandra and /Karnataka mattered for Kannada cinema is Bedara Kannappa. If ‘king’ was a way of not backed by careful research and analysis. ideology in cinematic texts. representing Mysore, then ‘god’ became a For instance, in order to understand how Here, the emphasis is less on the way of allegorizing the Indian nation after Kannada film conventions evolved, Raghaven- 1947 (p. 19). dra chooses Harishchandra (1943) and aesthetic properties of cine- Gunasagari (1953), which he thinks ‘may’ share Just how did the nation take the place of in common ‘features characteristic of early matic images and sound and god? We will never know from this book. Kannada cinema’ and then adds another film, more on their institutional Most conclusions in Bipolar Identity are Vasanthasena (1941) to this list (p. xxi). For not self-assured: ‘Early Kannada cinema... him, these films also explain why early coordinates in social space. appears a largely Shaivite cinema perhaps Kannada cinema was a ‘non-brahmin cinema’: Bipolar Identity, too, intends to because (sic) of the dominant influence of Gunasagari appears to have no place for a Veerashaivas in Mysore’ (p. xxxv). Again: ‘The brahmin character, although there are explain Kannada films as texts motif of Bangalore gaining importance is caste indicators and the protagonist’s reflective of and engaging with perhaps because (sic) of the city’s position as family can be identified as Veerashaivas. the state capital and not due to any develop- In Vasanthasena, although Charudatta is a local socio-political realities of ments within the city’ (p. 33). (The very many brahmin the film plays down this aspect— grammatical and typographical errors in the although his comic friend Maithreya is their time. book show the publisher’s editorial indiffer- often vocal about being a ‘poor brahmin’ ence). Yet again: ‘Many heroines today are (pp. xxxi-xxxii). making in the” region had any significance from Punjab, Gujarat, or Bengal, as though the at all. Was their characteristic tolerance constituents of the region have an indetermi- Referring to Harishchandra, the only film such a good thing, they may have won- nate identity’ (p. 158; emphasis mine). among his chosen films which depicts a dered, or were they merely pliant’ (p. 109; An important claim in Bipolar Identity brahmin as an evil person, Raghavendra offers emphases mine). pertains to how the single-party rule by the an incredible suggestion: ‘Considering that the Congress in Mysore and the absence of a director of the film R. Nagendra Rao was How and why popular disgust with state strong anti-brahmin movement (like the one himself a brahmin, the wicked or comic corruption translates into popular self-loathing, seen in Tamil Nadu), which did not polarize brahmin was perhaps a convention of early which then necessitates the negative portrayal any other political constituency, help explain Kannada cinema’ (p. xxxii). of women in films is not explained. the iconic distinctiveness of Dr. Rajkumar, the Indeed, there is an exciting story to tell Again, speaking of Kannada films in post- superstar of Kannada cinema. Noting that the about the formation of Kannada cinematic 1990 era, Raghavendra notes that ‘the state is superstar became the ‘voice of conscience’ in identity. An engagement with Kannada cine- perceived to be withdrawing from the public the late 1960s, Raghavendra writes: ‘. . . his ma that allows the intellectual problematic to space’ (p. 135). This conclusion does not hold. adversaries are not identifiable as traders, emerge from within it, as it were, can help Beginning with Om (1995), many of the landowners, the upper castes, or servants of ensure it will be worth listening to. biggest commercial hits in the subsequent the state, etc. (which are all political catego- Raghavendra’s bibliography consists almost fifteen years have belonged to the genre of ries) but simply as “bad people”, who do entirely of publications in English. The exci- extremely violent films. Most of the violent things that are not legally and ethically correct’ ting archive of Kannada film magazines and youth heroes (or anti-heroes) of these films are (p. 38). This line of reasoning, which could the memoirs and biographies of Kannada film arrested after enjoying a free hand at violence found a valuable argument, remains, however, industry personalities might have enabled a against the evil-doers. In other words, the under-elaborated. satisfying engagement with the issue of Kan- narratives of virtuous young men’s violent Bipolar Identity is silent on how the issue nada identity. confrontation with systemic evil close with an of Kannada identity was managed in film affirmation of faith in state-sanctioned law. music. Kannada music directors have smug- Another feature of these violent films is their gled in sounds from Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Chandan Gowda is Professor of Sociology, Azim high-decibel symbolic designations of Banga- Hollywood films and brought newness to the Premji University, Bengaluru. lore (and Karnataka) as a Kannada space, local soundscape without overwhelming the which should qualify the book’s view that integrity of the latter. Moreover, popular Kannada films have never been certain of the playback singers in Kannada films like P. Su- Book News Book News linguistic status of Bangalore. sheela, S. Janaki, L.R. Eswari, S.P. Balasubra- Identifying allegorical connections bet- maniam and Yesudas, to name a few, are from ween cinema and society is another mode of neighbouring states. Notwithstanding their historicism seen in Bipolar Identity. None of occasional mispronunciations, Sonu Nigam Highway 39: Journeys Through a Fractured those allegories seemed plausible. For instance, and Shreya Goshal are singing sensations in Land by Sudeep Chakravarti attempts to the relation between Krishnadevaraya, the ruler contemporary Kannada cinema. All of this is unravel the brutal history of Nagaland and of Vijayanagar, and his vassal in Vijayanagara- public knowledge. Since music and voice are Manipur, their violent and restive present, da Veeraputra (1961), we are told, allegorizes, important authenticating signs of identity, their uncertain and yet desperately hopeful respectively, the relations between India and examining the film-makers’ cultural diplomacy future. The author’s journey introduces the Mysore, wherein ‘the Indian nation... deserves vis-á-vis Kannada identity in their movie readers to stories that chill, anger and offer more loyalty’ (p. 17). It is difficult to imagine soundtracks would have been valuable. uneasy reflection. how Krishnadevaraya, a major Kannada icon, Bipolar Identity has been ill-served by its Fourth Estate, New Delhi, 2012, pp. 388, could represent the ‘Indian nation’ and his ready resort to de-contextualized analytical `450.00

The Book Review / June 2012 / 27 Pluralism and Diversity in Social Traditions

Arshia Sattar

KSHEMENDRA: THREE SATIRES FROM ANCIENT KASHMIR Translated by A.N.D. Haksar Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2012, pp.155, `250.00

KAMA SUTRA: A GUIDE TO THE ART OF PLEASURE By Vatsyayana. Translated by A.N.D. Haksar Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2012, pp.209, `450.00

N.D. Haksar, that prolific and diligent breaks through the narrative and the descrip- translator, offers us two small but tions and it is one of censure and moral con- A potent little volumes—one, the tried demnation. He judges those that he writes and tested and much translated Kama Sutra about. For example, women are all over these and the other, relatively unknown, Kshemen- stories and like everyone else, there’s not a lot dra’s satires from tenth century Kashmir. Both to recommend them—wives are promiscuous, are a pleasure to read and add to our knowl- courtesans are greedy, widows will do anything edge of the secular aspects of our literary heri- for a little sex, even ‘ . . .devotedly (placing) tage and our social traditions, reminding us of her pelvic region in the guru’s hand.’ Kshemen- a time when pluralism and diversity were com- dra’s last words for the lustful widow are thus: monplace. An interesting aspect of these texts, ‘May she give pleasure to all lechers.’ if she is going to be good at her job. When she which is subtly revealed in these translations, A perfect antidote to Kshemendra’s world needs to get rid of a lover, she might ‘talk of is the scepticism with which our ancestors re- of deceit, hypocrisy and greed is the wonder- things he knows nothing about’ or ‘want to garded human nature and behaviour. Kshe- fully idealized lifestyle presented by the Kama sleep’ when he wants to make love. Similarly, mendra seems unconvinced of any real good in Sutra. No one needs to work here, men and our gentlemen friends are guided through humans and Vatsyayana, the celibate who wrote women are equally of leisure with little to do affairs with the ‘wives of others’ and tutored in the manual on sexual behaviour, is gently mock- other than adorn themselves and develop the how best to approach both maidens, courte- ing of the practices that he himself suggests. good habits and skills that will make them at- sans and their own wives. What is particularly In Three Stories from Ancient Kashmir tractive to each other. There is no cheating or touching is how insistent Vatsyayana is about Haksar presents Kshemendra’s satires, Narma deceiving or bad feeling—even adultery is tenderness towards a virgin girl, how she must Mala, Kalavilasa and Desopadesa, all of which cheerfully permitted and the wheres and hows be eased into a sexual union over three nights, are startling in their resemblance to our con- of it are laid out in great detail. Apart from the preparing her both emotionally and physically temporary situation and our attitudes to func- material it contains, this new edition of the text for a new relationship. tionaries of the state. Although his tales are is made all the more seductive with its superb The Kama Sutra sees itself as a shastra (a littered with corrupt individuals of all profes- production—beautifully designed pages, thick compendium of knowledge and a manual of sions and persuasions, Kshemendra saves his creamy paper and a soft rose pink cover. rules written by an expert), which accounts for special venom for the bureaucrats, a breed Haksar’s lucid translation draws out the its taxonomic proclivities—classifying men singularly without redemption, in his view. As charm of this text, wrongfully famous only for and women according to the size of their Haksar points out, these stories are written its suggestions about sexual positions and genitals and working out permutations and rather baldly, with few rhetorical flourishes or options. Of course they are there: the whole of combinations on the basis of mathematical ornamentation. And that serves to highlight Book Two is devoted to what an intrepid sexual possibilities rather than any physical realities. the unsavoury characteristics of the people that explorer might do with his or her partner— But Haksar’s elegant translation reminds us Kshemendra describes with such relish. Nei- how to kiss, how to bite, how to slap, how to that the Kama Sutra is nothing so much as a ther the doctor nor the Buddhist nun are spared have intercourse and how to behave after treatise on manners—encouraging courtesy, Kshemendra’s barbs, the doctor being, ‘. . .not you’re done. And in a rare moment of equality generosity and politeness at all times and to as a remover of people’s ailments but of their from the Sanskrit universe, a woman’s pleasure many people as possible. Although restricted money . . .’ and the nun nothing less than a is as important as a man’s. That alone should to the social and sexual lives of an urban ‘procuress’. Kshemendra also lavishes details make this a text worth reading. upper class, it is remarkably free of caste and on his character’s appearances, clothes as well For me, the charm of the Kama Sutra has creed prejudice—unlike Manu’s Dharmasastra, as features, and one does get the impression always lain in the books that surround Book where everything is predicated on the potential that he is having a lot of fun when he is paint- Two—the descriptions of the daily routine of a for pollution, determining whom one can ing these word pictures. But his own voice gentleman, for example, which include spend- interact with and to what degree. It is always a ing some time teaching his parrots and mynahs pleasure to be reminded that there was a time Haksar’s lucid translation draws to talk. After which, he should take a nap. when we were less moralistic as well as less There’s also an absolutely marvellous (and prejudiced towards each other and had a sense “ out the charm of this text, surely tongue-in-cheek) section about how to of humour about ourselves. wrongfully famous only for its enhance one’s penis size involving annointing suggestions about sexual the penis and letting it hang down through the Arshia Sattar has a Ph.D from the Department of gaps in a string bed. A courtesan, too, has South Asian Languaes and Civilizations at the Uni- positions and options.” many skills and tricks that she needs to develop versity of Chicago. 28 / The Book Review / June 2012 An Editor’s Editor

Aasim Khan

LUCKNOW BOY: A MEMOIR By Vinod Mehta Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2012, pp. 325, `499.00

oet and essayist W.H. Auden once have remained just that. We can only go so far remarked that every autobiography is as to say that the story is written with maturi- Pconcerned with two characters, ‘a Don ty, the language devoid of all sentimentality, Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho Panza, the and not prosy. It would be enough to say that Self’. Vinod Mehta’s literary self-portrait Mehta tells his own story without exerting Lucknow Boy fits the description quite well. himself too much. Only that in this memoir the two characters It is in the second part of Lucknow Boy, never appear together, at least not on the same after we are through with the hors d’oeuvre of page. First we are introduced to the Self, the his personal life, that Mehta moves the menu boy from Lucknow who spends his days loaf- to contemporary politics, and serves us a ing or ganjing around Lucknow’s busy galis and delectable selection of haute politics. And it is bahut chup hain’ he asks our hero after almost bazaars, and before long he finds himself on a evident that his loyalties lie firmly with his shutting down his magazine. And in the flight to London with nothing more than a ‘BA readers, and not the ruling classes whose story middle of all this, Mehta manages to set off Pass Third Class’ degree in hand. And then he tells. In these pages he fine roasts the bold several ‘atom bombs’, a phrase he uses to this boy, the Self, disappears from the stage, and the beautiful for us, among them are some describe the explosive stories that have and we meet the Ego, the editor, who is at of his ‘friends’ from the media. His ability to scandalized and provoked the nation over home in the company of the nation’s power narrate national events as private moments in these years. elite, a good-humoured chronicler of the life the lives of real individuals sets Mehta apart as The book is also concerned with the inner and times of the metropolitan 400 of the one of the most competent political editors of life of the press, the political economy of the financial and political capitals of India. In that our times (or should one say outlook). In one news media as well as the changing ‘profession- sense, there are two books in Lucknow Boy, it episode after another, Mehta gives us a ring- al ethic’ in Indian journalism. For anyone is one part memoir, an account of the wonder side view of the political theatre of India’s interested in understanding the relationship years of Mehta’s life in Lucknow and London democracy, regaling us with tales of the between press, politics and power, both in pre- and one part political diary which covers coercive lions and cunning foxes engaged in a and post-liberalization India, Lucknow Boy is Mehta’s experiences in Bombay and Delhi as a daily battle for survival. A real heir to the recommended reading. Mehta’s trade-mark professional mediawallah. mantle held by the Khushwant Singhs, Nihal sagacity as an editor is in fact quite unique Perhaps inspired by American writer Singhs and Kuldeep Nayars of another era, and there are hints in this book that it might Ernest Hemingway’s romantic memoir of his Vinod Mehta is quite clearly tomorrow’s have something to do with the absence of a years in Paris, Mehta has quite literally laid editor’s editor! victim-complex that colours the professional out his life’s story in the form of a (moveable) In this part of Lucknow Boy there are ethic of many of his ‘Emergency years’ con- feast. And ideally it should be consumed with rough edges sure, but no hard feelings as temporaries. As he himself asks, ‘Did I a bottle of crisp Chenin Blanc in hand, one Mehta recounts his journey from being an defy the Emergency? Did I try and oppose that matches the author’s cut and dry wit. amateur chronicler of Bombay’s low-life to a Gandhi’s repressive regime? Not much.’ By Mehta begins his story by serving delicious professional diarist covering New Delhi’s high giving an honest account of his failures and canapés and amuse-bouchés from his days in politics. Reading these passages, one is re- successes in getting along with the business Lucknow and London in the 60s, giving us a minded of the classic tale of power and politics tycoons, oligarchs and upright businessmen taste of innocence of an era gone. In these serialized in the Lewis Eliot novels by the who employed him as the editor of their initial chapters of Lucknow Boy Mehta also British writer C.P. Snow. In the most celebrat- publications, Mehta has firmly put the ball in indulges his readers with revelatory personal ed novel of this thirteen book set, Corridors of the reader’s court. tales including the home-grown receipe of his Power, the main protagonist recounts a golden With much candour and sincerity Mehta ‘psuedo-secularism’ and other such admirable rule given to him by his mentor, ‘Always be on succeeds in humanizing his professional eccentricities. And if one may stretch the the spot. Never go away. Never be too proud choices ever since he entered the media as the metaphor, this fiesta is sure to leave quite a to be present.’ This, the protagonist admits, editor of Debonair in the 70s. As Mehta few, including Mehta’s multiple girlfriends, was perhaps only the second of the golden recounts how he lurched from The Post to The feeling like they have been egg-devilled! But rules, the first being ‘Keep alive’. As Mehta Independent (both now shut) to The Pioneer, this exuberance of his salad days may not suit reads straight from the pages of his secret before he managed to pull himself ‘out of the everyone’s palette, after all magazine editors diary it becomes evident that he has lived his gutter’ and ignite the atomic inaugural issue of are not public figures, at least not in the way life standing true to both these golden princi- Outlook in the mid-90s, the reader feels that he politicians, social activists, public intellectuals ples. Now he is sitting in the high offices on is in the company of a ‘decent man’. Earning and film stars are. And hence, their private Raisina Hill, then he is courting a terribly this compliment of decency, as Mehta states at lives might not be of the slightest interest to disorganized Nobel laureate. One moment he the beginning of the book, is the real purpose many, may be with the exception of the is hosting a newly crowned Miss Universe, in writing this book. At another level, the sizeable readership of the Outlook magazine. and next he is exchanging pleasantries (and singular focus that Mehta has set for himself in Commenting on this part of the book makes chocolates!) with Sonia Gandhi. Atal Behari Lucknow Boy is to prove that despite what is little sense, this is personal stuff and it could Vajpayee is bent on consoling him, ‘aaj aap often said and written about him, including on

The Book Review / June 2012 / 29 Mehta has not only established Of the Centre and the Periphery “ himself as the conscience keeper of the Indian liberal, but Kishalaya Bhattacharjee

also the man who sets the LOOKING BACK INTO THE FUTURE: IDENTITY AND INSURGENCY IN NORHEAST INDIA By M.S. Prabhakara Indian liberal outlook. Routledge, New Delhi, 2012, pp. 286, `795.00 the ‘Letters to the Editor’ pages of his own magazine, he has not allowed himself” to be co- opted by the Establishment. Incidentally, the ust when journalism in India is going term ‘Establishment’ was also coined by through a transition of sorts, when values another journalist who first used it in 1955 in Jand ethics lost in the process are being the London magazine, The Spectator, and in questioned, M.S. Prabhakara’s book Looking sociological jargon anyone who does not join Back Into The Future helps restore some faith. the Establishment is considered as ‘the outsid- The book is a collection of Prabhakara’s er’. Mehta’s insistence in calling his book dispatches over the last few decades from Lucknow Boy is perhaps to further prime his India’s North East. It is almost fashionable to own image (Quixotic?) as the quintessential tag places and situations as complex and multi- outsider in New Delhi’s corridors of power. layered particularly when the understanding of None of this is to say that the book has no that place or situation is inadequate and North omissions. In fact judging Lucknow Boy only in East India infamously wears that hat. This terms of its candid account of India’s power book breaks that ‘complexity’ down and offers elite, it can hardly match Raj Thapar’s All a window of opportunity to look back and These Years, a memoir posthumously published pick up the answers which the present and the in the early 90s. In comparison to Mehta, future will surely be asking. Thapar was herself part of Delhi’s higher circles, It is interesting that Prabhakara divides an quintessential insider who was also, though his reportage into neat sections that in his we discovered this only after her death, a meti- view follows the story of this region. I am in culous diarist. While All These Years, which agreement with him when he starts with the was published by her daughter Malavika Singh ‘politics of a script’ because language we forget two years after Raj’s death, is a completely has been a means of great political upheavals personal story, Lucknow Boy is mostly the work whether Bengali versus Urdu in East Pakistan of the Ego, the editor. This argument needs no or Bodo language in Assam. That’s where the further proof than to look at the fact that book takes off and rightfully so. Refer to the Mehta has dedicated his autobiography to his title again and the immediate future of Assam information which is explained in the context long-time paymaster at Outlook, the opening resonates in this first chapter. There is news and not left as a stand alone. page of the book reads ‘For Rajan Raheja, the that along the North Bank of the Brahmaputra From the language movements the script prince of proprietors’. preparation is underway for a renewed agita- moves to the Census of Assam, a document Early in the book Mehta tells us that ‘more tion demanding a separate Bodo state. Prab- that has had far greater impact than just a data than the Guardian, a journal that shaped my hakara had written this article in 1974 where on population. Assam’s political landscape has thinking was the New Statesman’ and adds that he ended on an ominous note; ‘It is not at all forever been the backdrop of these census ‘It was in the New Statesman that I first looked certain that the present agitation (if it ever reports. Alleged illegal migration from Bang- carefully at the nuts and bolts of political com- goes beyond the demand for a script of choice), ladesh and the ethnic and religious divide that mentary.’ Much like the New Statesman in the incipient demand for Udayachal and an drove a wedge into the social fabric of the Britain of the 60s, Outlook today sets the line Ujani Assam state and other equally frivolous State has been discussed with historical and for the silent majority among middle-class demands are not part of the whole Ne region, empirical details. Indians. And with Lucknow Boy, Mehta has weakening the constituent units into heavily However, the heart of Prabhakara’s book done a remarkable job; he has let his readers subsidized little bureaucratic empires, with an really lies in his exploration of ethnicity and know the personal context for the particular army of officers and policemen and contrac- identity, the two planks from which this editorial line that defines Outlook’s journalism. tors bloated on good things of life, keeping region’s volatility is generated. Chapters like And that is the final triumph for any editor, to things in shape and maintaining Law and ‘Reinventing Identities’ and ‘Manufacturing bring his publication’s editorial line (and also his Order. But to divide is also to multiply.’ Identities’ explain the search for ‘identity’, a proprietor’s ego) in harmony with his own Prabhakara does not merely report on the search that has decided the course of Assam personal experiences. With this book, Mehta language agitation of 1974 or the perceived and North East India over the last five de- has not only established himself as the con- hegemony of one script over another. He goes cades. This is not a discourse on identity science keeper of the Indian liberal, but also the much deeper explaining the origin of Bodos politics but it is in these articles and columns man who sets the Indian liberal outlook. And underlining the social and cultural pegs to what where the genesis of a history made out of a he validates this claim with his own life story. is emerging as Assam’s future conflict. All the quest for assertion of identity finds its first tell articles compiled in this book go much beyond tale signs. In short chapters the history of a Aasim Khan was educated at the School of Orien- the mere ground report. repressive State versus hostile ethnicities has tal and African Studies in London, Jamia Millia Academic studies on conflict in India is been captured and documented. Islamia and St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi. He woefully weak on primary sources and field I was, however, left wondering why the has worked as a broadcast journalist and a press work and books such as this can be valuable book focuses on Assam more than the other officer in South Asia and currently lives in London. with its intensive, laborious and credible States because the subtitle to the book is about

30 / The Book Review / June 2012 It is almost fashionable to tag Doyen of Delhi’s “ places and situations as Cultural Heritage complex and multi-layered particularly when the under- B.G. Verghese standing of that place or JASHN-E-KHUSRAU: A COLLECTION situation is inadequate and By Shakeel Hossain, Irfan Zuberi et.al. North East India infamously Roli Books, New Delhi, 2010, pp. 224, `1995.00 wears that hat. ven as Delhi has been celebrating the centenary of its restoration as capital of identity and insurgency ”in North East India. EIndia, a proud fragment of its built Tripura for example doesn’t even find a men- heritage and history, it is fitting that we re- tion. Manipur has been touched upon but for member the doyen of Delhi’s lived cultural a book published in 2012 I expected Manipur heritage, Amir Khusrau (1238-1325), the most Ford Foundation, the larger project also to have stood out given that it is the most loved acolyte of the great sufi divine, Hazrat includes restoration of Humayun’s Tomb and insurgent State in the region today. Nagaland Nizamuddin Auliya who, like his master, lies gardens and revival of Sunder Nursery, which has been the driver of insurgent movements buried in Nizamuddin. was established in 1911, and urban renewal of across the region but the book surprisingly Sufi origins go back to Persia and the the Basti. pushes that aside with its focus directly on tradition was established at Ajmer Sharif in However, the focus is on the poetry and Assam. Though a section of the book dwells India by Moinuddin Chisti whose lineage is music of Amir Khusrau and the evolution of on Nagaland and Manipur it comes much later traced back to the Holy Prophet. The fourth in the Qawwali. Variants and innovation are and departs without the erudition and analysis his sinsila or spiritual family was Nizamuddin bound to creep into any tradition over time. which Prabhakara is known for. At least I for Auliya, following Bakhtiyar Kaki and Baba Qawwali was no exception. Lighter music one would await another volume from him Farid. Sufi humanism found supreme expres- began to intrude into the classical ragas and which sees the region from the end of the sion in poetry and music, finding ecstasy in talas to be followed later by the introduction of spectrum rather than from Assam. Manipur is the imagery of the beloved. This was greatly popular foreshortened versions of qawwali in certainly one of the mistakes of history that popularized in the Rubaiyats or quatrains of Bombay cinema and still later, by the introduc- explains the assertion and aggression of a sus- the Persian polymath and mystical poet, Omar tion of newer electronic instruments such as tained armed movement. All the parameters Khayyam. If Firdaus, Rumi, Nizami and other the synthesizer. Qawwali was introduced to used to explain the region’s predicament Persian masters gave the world a range of film in 1944 with ‘Zeenat’ and, with subse- echoes in Manipur. poetic metre, Khusrau exploited the conflu- quent developments, now follows the market. I am not sure what the author’s views on ence of Persian and Hindavi (the Hindi Howsoever this be, the veneration and the concept of a ‘North East India’ is but I spoken around Delhi) literary styles to break reverence in which Hazrat Nizamuddin and would like to assume that he sees it as separate new ground with ghazals and, in musical form, Amir Khusrau were held has remained. entities rather than a ‘patchwork quilt’, a phrase qawwalis, a mix of lyricism and love in a Successive monarchs and noblemen embel- he himself uses to describe the Indian State’s yearning to unite with the divine. lished the mausoleum. The music lives on not policy towards the region. So while the Naga Khusrau was court poet to the Khilji and only in the annual urs but in regular invoca- insurgency set the tone and tenor for insurgen- Tughlak rulers and is said to have given a brush tions and supplications at the dargah every cies across the States, each one actually has a off to a curt summons from Mubarak Shah, Thursday and on other special occasions. The different story which must be told. So if you among the last of the Khiljis, with the remark institution is managed by twin branches of the are looking for an exhaustive account of the ‘Dilli durast’. After a celebrated life he was laid family, the Sajjadanishin and the Pirzadagan, ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) in to rest near the mazhar of his spiritual master, rival claimants to representing the true line of this book then you may be disappointed but Hazarat Nizamudidin. Nearly 750 years later, succession. They maintain the shrine and the leads, linkages and context of militancy in the shrine and basti around it still resound to receive the nazrana and other offerings and Assam are provided meticulously and in a his undying qawwali compositions. Qawwali distribute this among the Qawwali Bachche manner which is easy to make sense. verses were transmitted down the generations and other biradari numbering some 550 to In the Epilogue the author presents the by oral tradition through descendants of the 700 members spread over different venues. idea of a nation in its ‘birth-throes’ and sub- original family known collectively as Qawwali- Amir Khusrau and the inclusive, humanis- national assertions (or in other words insur- Bachche. Though mostly congregated around tic sufi tradition of divine love he represents as gencies) as churnings of a national State trying Ajmer and Delhi they are scattered elsewhere a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya remains rele- to sync with its own self. But like a true jour- too. vant for our times when more radical, funda- nalist he refuses to take any one side in this The history of this great tradition is well mentalist forces seek to impose their will and nation versus identity debate. But is sitting on told and, more so, splendidly illustrated and ideology on all. The refurbishing of his memory the fence a dangerous course? If answers to the even recorded on three DVDs, in this fine through his verses and music provides nour- future can be found looking back as it were volume sponsored by the Aga Khan Trust for ishment to our plural society. The present then the book provides footnotes to one of the Culture. The publication is part of a larger volume and the larger project behind it consti- most tumultuous times in the formation of this project to restore and conserve both the built tute a valuable contribution to that cause. nation which is still grappling with the centre and cultural heritage of Hazrat Nizamuddin as well as the periphery. and the Basti around it, a warren of fascinating B.G. Verghese, a columnist and Visiting Professor monuments and resting places of so many of at the Centre for Policy Research, was a former edi- Kishalaya Bhattacharjee is Bureau Chief (North- those that breathed life into Delhi over cen- tor of The Hindustan Times and Indian Express and East India) NDTV. turies, Ghalib among them. Supported by the Information Adviser to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The Book Review / June 2012 / 31 Pleasures and Profundity of Food

Sucharita Sengupta

THE WRITER’S FEAST: FOOD AND THE CULTURES OF REPRESENTATION Edited by Supriya Chaudhuri and Rimi B. Chatterjee Orient Black Swan, New Delhi, 2011, pp xvi + 238, ` 525.00

s summer looms upon us, a Gujarati unholy, clean and unclean, and therefore per- friend living in Calcutta becomes more missible or non-permissible were received Aand more disgruntled. Her plaint is the mostly through religious texts, and played lack of kesri ker no ras (aam ras or mango pulp) themselves out through the medium of food, in her city. Upon a suggestion that she pur- sharpening social cleavages, particularly those chase mangoes and make it at home, came a of religion and caste in the Indian context. most painful shriek: you don’t understand! In Some myths are dispelled too. For instance, Gujarat right now, everyone is talking mango, there is a tendency to stereotype Muslims as buying mango, selling mango, cooking mango. voracious meat-consumers, perhaps a legacy of It’s the ambience! In another part of the coun- Mughal rule in India. But Sufi Islam explicitly try a while ago, students hold a Beef Festival encourages vegetarianism. on a university campus to assert their right to A refreshing perspective of the political make dietary choices, and intertwined with economy of the early spice trade between the that, assert their distinctive identities. There is East and the West forces us to think about a lot of food for thought here, and The Writer’s how the gastronomic desires of western gentry consumption, by female protagonists, of for- Feast, edited by Supriya Chaudhuri and Rimi ‘drove shiploads of desperate men to sail right bidden food items. B. Chatterjee, open up the reader to both the round a continent and found an empire’. The engagement of the diaspora with cui- pleasures and profundity of food (the two not Italian nationalism is interrogated though sine is explored at length. The migrant’s sense being mutually exclusive). culinary cultures. The pizza, a favourite food of loss and nostalgia for the homeland is most Food is so central to our existence and worldwide today and an instant marker of acutely expressed through the food that he or society that when one picks up the book, the Italian identity, was looked down upon within she is accustomed to, that was available with first thought is: why was a book like this not the country as a confused gastronomical ease and abundance. The memoirs of the dias- written any earlier? The Writer’s Feast negotiates experience associated with the dirty south of pora and novels based on diasporic life repre- the culinary terrain through a variety of texts Italy. On the other hand, an enterprising sent the life gone by as one of prosperity and and an equally rich set of perspectives. Al- writer travelled the length and breadth of Italy, affluence. The present, with its limited food though the book is organized into four seg- compiling recipes and projecting the final options, comes with the trauma of pauperiza- ments, one each dealing with culture, gender, result as a symbol of the unification of the tion, of loss of stature. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s diaspora and the lack/ limits of food, the ideas country. works, the female protagonist ends up hurting discussed in one part often segue into and The book presents an excellent gendered herself physically in a bid to recreate the enrich other parts, creating a delightfully un- reading of food. From a discussion of the wri- Bengali kitchen in the United States. The male bounded reading experience. tings of food columnists in early 20th century protagonist heaps indignities upon his Ameri- Food represents as well as constitutes cul- Malayali magazine, it appears that at the time can wife by forcing her to recreate Bengali ture. So do literary tropes. The book dis- when matrilineal family norms prevailed cuisine to perfection. Acquiring a taste for cusses the interactions between food and strongly in Kerala, women led free lives and foreign cuisine, as we see through Salman literature under the rubric of culture. A very were getting educated, columnists attempted to Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, is no guarantor interesting take is how the written-recipe or circumscribe their roles and duties as under- of acceptance in foreign society. While the the cookbook is the most basic textual repre- stood under patriarchy by doling out advice on migrant’s travails are genuine, there is another, sentation of food. Given how elaborate food how it is a woman’s duty to cook, and take more positive process going on simultaneously. rituals are in India, the written recipe was a care of her husband and household. These When migrants monetize their cuisine by fairly late entrant. Recipe books not only norms become rigid over time, and we also setting up restaurants, it enriches the culinary preserve knowledge and techniques of cook- note how such norms are not the preserve of culture of the host state. The question then ing, but also signify the riches and wealth of Indian society. Through an analysis of novelist arises is, is this celebration of food cosmopoli- those who could afford food made out of exo- Anita Desai’s Fasting, Feasting, and the works tanism or culinary multiculturalism genuine? tic, expensive ingredients, and hence, those of William Faulkner, we understand that not There is a danger of assuming that the mere who were at the pinnacle of power. We get a only was the act of cooking the responsibility presence or enjoyment of various cuisines, or sneak peek into how Indian women were in- of women, but the burden of maintaining in case of the specific example from the book, corporating the cuisine of the colonizers into social relations fell upon them. Men were in a the enjoyment of Asian cuisines by white their own cuisine, an inevitable fallout of the position of dominance by dint of ‘bringing Australians, may be a genuine sign of appreci- mixing of cultures, and of the hard fact that home the bacon’, as also because greater ation of hitherto undervalued cultures. It could the colonizers had the upper hand. attention was paid to the nutritional needs of merely be the objectification of such cuisine Cuisines are markers of identity, but what the male child. Even when men took to cook- so that the badge of cosmopolitanism can be the writers here explore is how diets become ing, it was mostly for outdoor cooking such as proudly worn. articles of faith to the extent that they can barbecue, which required the use of heavy So far, we have discussed a scenario where cause a fair bit of conflict. Notions of holy and equipment. Rebellion comes through the food, irrespective of preference, is available.

32 / The Book Review / June 2012 Vanished Days Never Come Back “ Food is so central to our existence and society that when Rakhshanda Jalil one picks up the book, the first thought is: why was a book like BLACK ICE By Mahmudul Haque. Translated by Mahmud Rahman this not written any earlier? The Harper Perennial, New Delhi, 2012, pp. 123, `199.00

Writer’s Feast negotiates the verything becomes a story one day.’ culinary terrain through a So begins the PS section of this Ban- variety of texts and an equally ‘E gladeshi contemporary classic. Its writer, Mahmudul Haque, is credited with rich set of perspectives. fashioning a new idiom and a distinctly modern sensibility in the post-1947 writing coming out from what was once East Pakistan ” and is now Bangladesh. Haque (1941-2008) belonged to the ‘twice-born generation’, those, that is, who experienced the trauma of birth- ing a new nation not once but twice over. What happens when the individual encounters Moving from Barasat on the outskirts of Cal- limits on access to food? Certain 19th century cutta to Dhaka as a small boy, he was assailed medical manuals, written from Bengal, played by not only new sights and sounds, but an al- a role in prescribing diets, linking them to together new sensibility. Being slapped by a masculinity, community and, if one reads school teacher for failing to wear the Jinnah between the lines, the nation. These manuals cap, he struggled to find meaning in an irrevo- made a case for general physical debility or cably changed world. Later, during the siege ‘weakness’ (as opposed to widespread disease) and fall of Dhaka in March 1971, he wit- among Bengali males and prescribed dietary nessed the looting, killing and destruction that codes to overcome this condition. These diets preceded the birth of a new nation that was were also pitched as markers of civility, since expected to rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes it excluded what the lower-castes ate. In this of the old. Each event, each new phase in his case, the restrictions were man-made. But life and his country’s, each new milestone what if nature were to impose restrictions, and spurred him to write. Everything became a force one to adhere to certain foods? In an story one day. Vanished days never come back and time exploration of how food is not a matter of Black Ice, first published as Kalo Borof in past is forever. While Khaleq, and perhaps choice but a question of survival for humans, 1977, is quite evidently the work of a child of Mahmudul Haque himself might acknowledge this question is explored. Accounts of moun- Partition. It carries the scars of leaving behind this, everywhere in Black Ice, the past hangs taineers reveal that even when their body did people and places once so dear and familiar heavy, threatening to overwhelm the present. not desire food or water, they had to keep but now accessible only in dreams. The relent- Why is this so? The answer is provided partly eating and drinking, in order to fulfil their goal less nostalgia of its protagonist, Abdul Khaleq, by Mahmudul Haque himself in an interview of reaching the summit. However, imposing brings to mind another young man, Zakir, with the young Bangladeshi writer, Ahmad such a tough test of endurance was, in the who too had to leave his home in India in Mostofa Kamal, appended at the end of the ultimate analysis, a choice that the mountain- search of a new one across the border in novel in the PS section. The writer’s mother, eers made when they decided to climb. Famine, Intizar Husain’s seminal work, Basti (written in he confesses, had not wanted to leave her on the other hand, affords no such luxury. 1979 but set in 1971 when the war clouds home outside Calcutta to come to Pakistan; There is endurance without dignity, as we read loomed large over the subcontinent). But she had, in fact, even begun to build a new fiction based around the Bengal Famine of Mahmudul Haque is not Intizar Husain and house in West Bengal. Her (two previous) 1942-43. Literature poses the tough question: Black Ice is not Basti. Despite the detachment visits to Dhaka had led her to conclude that why did people starve if there is food before of the protagonists, the tone of quiet aloofness only barbarians lived there, for she had seen them? Added to the injustice was the fact that of the narrator, the dream-like motifs, the no women moving about in public and, in her the weaker the people became, the lower were ceaseless journeying into the past, the invoking opinion, a place where women were not allow- the chances that they would be able to find of an innocent childhood free from bias and ed to move freely could only be inhabited by recourse. fear and the sullying of that innocence, Basti barbarians. Yet, the communal tensions grew Many of the themes touched upon in this and Black Ice are as unlike as apples and to such an extent and it became difficult to volume will resonate with what we see around oranges. Black Ice has none of the allegorical even step out of her home that she was forced us even today. Literature succeeds in gleaning richness that leavens Intezar Hussains narra- to move to the new Muslim homeland with her the politics, history, sociology and economics tive, nor the directness but haunting simplicity children, leaving a part of their being behind. of food, shorn or jargon, allowing the reader of Husain’s elegant prose. Possibly, there is Decades later, while ostensibly claiming that to think and interpret freely. This book is something about Husain’s prose itself that there can be no love for ‘a birthplace that highly recommended. remains intact and unharmed by translation. forces its children to leave’, Haque breaks Not having read Haque in Bangla, I cannot down and his voice ‘cracks with anguish’. The Sucharita Sengupta teaches in the Department tell, but I am struck by the comparison and hurt, evidently, is too deep. In Intezar Hus- of Political Science, Indraprastha College, Delhi. the fact that it is an unfavourable one. sain, there is no hurt; just a bewilderment that

The Book Review / June 2012 / 33 who loved Chhobi Di and had left, taking with cious meals, meeting people who travelled Vanished days never come back him her ribbon as a keepsake, promising to from one house to another by boat, as well as “ return but never did. Khaleq remembers, also, the lush green forested hamlets beside the river and time past is forever. While leaving his home in West Bengal, taking a soon became a recurring motif in his novels. Khaleq, and perhaps Mahmudul ferry, setting off on a hijrat to a new land when In Black Ice, the area around Ichapura appears life became impossibly fraught in the old one. as a fantasy world, an escape from the rigours Haque himself might acknow- Years later, travelling with his wife deep of a humdrum meaningless life. The doctor into the countryside, he revisits Louhojong, with whom he took some of these boat trips, ledge this, everywhere in Black the spot where he had boarded the ferry and is appears as Doctor Narhari, the conscientious, Ice, the past hangs heavy... reminded yet again of that fateful night of hard-working country doctor, an idealized yet migration: human figure. ” Everything becomes a story one day. Khaleq is able to find intellectual compan- Louhojong, Louhojong! For the first time ionship in his adult life; the emotional connec- something as grotesque as Partition happened. in his life, that cry had pierced his ears in tion with people and places, however, seems to Round and round, like a kite with a cut string, the deep of the night. Beside him stood be missing. The generosity and wisdom, the Husain’s story drifts and soars, backwards and Moni Bhaijaan, in his pocket a ribbon, on freedom and innocence, the pluralism and syn- forwards, flitting between then and now but the ribbon the fragrance of hair, in the cretism of his childhood was destroyed, for- with no trace of bitterness. fragrance such sorrow, in the sorrow so ever, by Partition. What came in its place — Khaleq, a teacher in a mofussil town, finds much love, in the love so much of their aloofness and rootlessness—is the only legacy time hanging heavy on his hands as he copes childhood. for these midnight’s children. Boat rides on the with the ennui of living in the backwaters and river allow an occasional escape but not a coping with the harangues of a demanding In the PS section, Haque recalls how return; there is no going back, at least not wife. He sits down to write about his life, Bikrampur, beside the Buriganga, fascinated forever. The only certainty, Black Ice seems to especially his childhood. He remembers Puti, him. When the monsoons flooded the low- be suggesting, is hopelessness and alienation. the girl who spoke to fish and birds, his lying plains and the river became a vast ex- friends Jhumi and Pachu, the vendors who panse of glimmering water, he would take long Rakhshanda Jalil is working on a book-length came by selling shonpapri and dalpapri, the boat trips down the river, exploring nooks and study of Dr Rashid Jahan, communist, doctor, writer Hindu neighbour who bought him roshmonjori cranies of the lush countryside. His friendship and founder-member of the progressive writers’ and pantua, his elder brother Moni Bhaijaan with boatmen, sharing their simple but deli- movement.

The Dark Underbelly Of Shining India

Abdullah Khan

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY: STORIES FROM ANOTHER INDIA By Syeda Hameed and Gunjan Veda HarperCollins, New Delhi, 2012, pp. 365, `399.00

n the cover of this elegantly written nary spirit inspired the author duo, Syeda reportage-cum-travelogue is a shab- Hameed and Gunjan Veda to write this book. Obily dressed teenage girl holding a Beautiful Country chronicles the journey toddler. In the background we see the thatched undertaken by Syeda Hameed, the social houses and many tell-tale signs of extreme activist and member of Planning Commission, poverty. From the cover photograph itself you and Gunjan Veda, journalist, to that another have a fair idea what this book is all about. At India, the India of villages and small towns. the top of the cover it reads Beautiful Country: And what they observed during their visits was Stories from Another India. The title is apt quite disconcerting. From a river island of because the stories here are, of course, from Assam to the tribal areas of Andaman Nico- another India; an India which is different from bar, from the freezing valleys of Ladakh to the the India portrayed by the worshippers of backwaters of Alleppy in Kerala, they criss- duced to Maimun Nisa and her son. And it mindless consumerism and votaries of crony crossed the entire country taking notes of the goes like this: ‘Thin face, sunken eyes, hollow capitalism. This India doesn’t shine and re- daily lives of the people living away from the cheeks, a frayed light pink dupatta covered her mains unaffected by the impact of double digit glitz and glamour of the big cities. During head. Her son, Imran, was tiny and had the growth. This is, in fact, the dark underbelly of their voyage they encountered the people and face of an old man—shrivelled and shrunk. one of the world’s fastest growing economies visited the places which rarely appear in the His feet were so thin that we wondered if he where majority of Indian citizens live. They mainstream media. would ever be able to walk. His head seemed are ‘resilient and courageous women and men Somewhere in this book the authors take too big for his small frail body’. These lines of India whose ordinary lives and extraordi- us to Daniyalpur, Varanasi, and we are intro- speak volumes about the so-called growth that

34 / The Book Review / June 2012 have Sanjoy Hazarika, a former New York accept the reality and try to brush the truth What strikes me most in this Times correspondent who is managing trustee under the carpet of statistical data. “ of the Centre for North East Studies and Poli- About this book, Khushwant Singh says, book is the tone of the prose cy Research (C-NES). C-NES is the agency ‘The truth about India’s development, as told which is laced with empathy behind the idea of boat clinics which reach out by those who know it, makes for a compelling to thousands of people living on the dif-ferent read.’ I can’t agree more but would like to add and honesty. islands of the Brahmaputra River. Then, there that it also makes for a disturbing read. At the are a group of doctors who have left their end of this review I would like to quote four our country has witnessed” during the last two lucrative jobs and comfortable lives in the lines from Allama Iqbal’s Bal-e-Jibrail (Gabriel’s decades. Clearly, much applauded Manmoha- metros to serve the poor tribals of Chhattis- Wing) which the authors have quoted at the nomics has failed to bring any noteworthy garh. Syeda and Gunjan tell us about many beginning of the book. change in the lives of the people on the such courageous men and women who, in Khol ankh zamin dekh falak dekh fiza dekh margins. Across the country there are many their own small ways, are making a difference. Mashriq se ubhartey huey suraj ko zara dekh Daniyalpurs, there are many Maimun Nisas What strikes me most in this book is the Iss jalwa-e-beparda ko pardon mein chhupa and many Imrans. If we move further, we see tone of the prose which is laced with empathy dekh a school being run under the open sky in and honesty. The authors don’t hesitate to Ayyam-e-judai ke sitam dekh jafa dekh Kashmir, thousands of people going untreated accept that as a nation we have failed to take on the river islands in Assam, the men and care of our people on the margins. This fact is Open your eyes, look at the earth and the women working on handlooms from dawn to generally not acknowledged by our politicians sky dusk for meagre salaries in Malegaon, women and bureaucrats. For example, in the foreword Look at the sun rising gloriously in the East and children dying in the tribal areas of Maha- to this book, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Look at its unveiled glory hidden behind rashtra and elsewhere for want of basic Chairman of Planning Commission, lauds veils medical facilities. Go further and more stories Syeda and Gunjan for their remarkable work Suffer the pain and torture of days of of misery and deprivation will pour in. but at the same time he is reluctant to accept deprivation. Are we, as responsible citizens of this that the bureaucracy has failed when it comes country, doing our bit for our less privileged to taking governance to the downtrodden and This offering, undoubtedly, is going to be fellow Indians? Or at least are we giving voice poor people. At the very end of the foreword, an eye opener for those who have not seen the to their concerns? Perhaps not. But, there are he attempts discreetly to dilute the seriousness real India, yet. many individuals whose selfless services are of the book. This has been the biggest problem changing the lives of the millions. In Assam we with our bureaucratic set up that they never Abdullah Khan is with Axis Bank Ltd., New Delhi.

Book Talk

Nita Berry

LIGHTHOUSE IN THE STORM : A COLLECTION OF 24 SHORT STORIES By members of the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children (AWIC/ Indian section of IBBY: International Board on Books for Young People). Cover design and illustrations by Jagdish Joshi. Translated from Hindi by Toofan Mein Jyoti. Ponytale Books, Kolkata, 2012, pp. 256, `225.00

SEARCH FOR THE SACRED GEM By Nilima Sinha Ponytale Books, Kolkata, 2012, pp. 183, `175.00

Deadly gases that fill the night air...a killer don, one wonders—when life was an endless wave that washes away all...parents who go playground and all was right with the world? away, sometimes forever...the shadow of guns Maybe those wonder years never really and suicide bombers...earthquakes, sickness existed, after all. Personal and domestic and riots—heartbreaking tragedies, when a turmoil, unrest in the neighbourhood, every- child’s worst nightmares come true, turning day stresses in school and the world beyond his world upside down… have almost always shadowed the lives of the and societal worries. young, in one way or the other. What is more, Stories have proved to be a time-tested ere are two dozen heartwarming terror and conflict today along with natural way to help children cope, heal and adjust to stories on love and loss, disaster and and man-made disasters everywhere, seem to adverse situations. It was with this in mind Hpersonal grief, abuse and aggression, have put childhood on the fast forward track that AWIC launched its Book Therapy Project, sensitively written by well-known children’s towards adulthood. These sensitive years that which believes in the potential of literature to authors. oscillate between childhood and maturity soothe traumatized young minds and radi- Whatever happened to those idyllic child- beyond one’s years, can be lonely and unsure, ate hope. Some of the stories in this collec- hood years of innocence and carefree aban- and are often devastated by physical, mental tion, Lighthouse in the Storm, were developed

The Book Review / June 2012 / 35 initially at a creative workshop on Book The cover design and stories of Lighthouse Therapy conducted by Manorama Jafa, the in the Storm have been illustrated by Jagdish Secretary General of AWIC. Subsequently, Joshi, one of India’s foremost illustrators. His more AWIC author members picked on a endearing figures and exquisite pen and ink variety of themes reflecting turmoil and trau- sketches give the book a new dimension. Well ma in young lives to weave their stories around. produced by Ponytale Books, Kolkata, with This collection of stories—written in an array clear fonts and printing on good paper, this is of engaging styles, is a result of that effort. clearly a book for every thinking child. Every story strikes a chord somewhere, to Search for the Sacred Gem has been pen- make the young reader reflect. ned by Nilima Sinha after a long sabbatical The turmoil of young years, as with the from writing full length fiction for children. A breakup of the traditional family unit, the loss seasoned writer of adventure and mystery of a beloved parent, suicide, sickness, AIDS, stories set in Indian locales, apart from short child abuse, disability, death—all subjects once stories, historical fiction, plays and picture taboo in children’s stories, find a place in this books, her published fiction includes well- book. These are all stories of sadness, of loss loved prize winners like The Chandipur Jewels, and despair. Yet they bring with them hope Vanishing Trick at Chandipur, SOS from and recovery too as new dimensions open, Munia, Adventure on the Golden Lake, Mystery opportunities come by, and the threads of life of the Falling Mountains etc. Therefore, one are picked up again. was naturally curious whether she had retained The suicide bomber changes Shabir’s her mastery over gripping mysteries and world forever, but he finds an unexpected new exciting adventure trails. Search for the Sacred friend. Ashis Mittal’s American twang makes Gem does not disappoint. Indeed, one is school in India an ordeal—till his prize- gratified to find all this and more in this racy winning pictures make his class proud of him. adventure story. was peeping shyly above the horizon. Dawn The killer fumes wipe away Taabish’s family, An intriguing Prologue set far back in the was about to break. Whiffs of clouds were but he finds a new mother and together they past dramatically introduces the mystery that is gathering together in the still grey sky, vow to make a thousand smiling suns. Gauri to follow. The story is set in medieval India of heralding rain…’ History comes alive for the realizes to her dismay that she is adopted—a the eighteenth century, at a time when the young reader as he reads of English and ‘Hanuman Baby’, but her mother’s deep love once great Mughal emperors ruled Delhi. French traders in medieval India, political wipes away her trauma. Smaller nawabs, zamindars and rajas controlled rivalries and vendettas, and pitched battles, We meet Shankar who is lame and the the peripheral states and the firangees or where the children are often caught in the butt of ridicule, but he uses his crutches in the goras—the European traders, vied with each crossfire. In this uncertain period of struggle flood to emerge a true hero. The Latur earth- other for political and material gains in a and strife in the country, when the central quake buries Amit’s family, but a helpless or- climate of strife and uncertainty. Mughal authority was weakening and Euro- phan exorcises him of his nightmares. And the Shankar, the protagonist is a gutsy and peans were struggling to gain a political and new brick wall that divides Neera’s family brings compassionate youngster who stumbles upon a economic foothold, it was easy for bandits and her world down, but eventually the children curious stone tablet following a devastating criminals to roam the countryside. Therefore knock sense into their elders. flood, when the course of River Ganga any search for the sacred gem by the children We also witness how the creative arts changes. This tablet has a mysterious message was a daunting task indeed. The mystical effectively diminish trauma in some children. etched on it, which can only be deciphered by revelations that appear to Shankar give the Amit is gravely ill, but he transcends his monks at the Buddhist monastery in Patlipu- book an added spiritual depth as he realizes suffering through his poetic creations. And tra, written as it is in the ancient Pali language the truth about himself, his past life and Sunil’s father was brutally killed by Naxals of ‘the days when the Enlightened One roamed destiny. before his very eyes, but the young boy finds the earth’... At a time when Indian urban children his catharsis in art. His drawings incidentally, Years ago a learned one today are devouring a diet of western literature also help to track down the killer. Spoke of a stone known to none. replete with macabre plots that often border When it is dark enough you can see the A beautiful hue, on adult fiction, action-packed fantasy, un- stars, it has been said. This book was put to- A tinge of blue, familiar myths and values—this book, set so gether in the hope that the young victims of More valuable than eternal life… firmly in Indian tradition and ways of life various traumatic situations could identify with comes as a breath of fresh air. It gives our some of the characters in this book. And find And so a quest for the precious gem children something they can instinctively relate courage and hope through these different stories begins as Shankar and his friends embark on a to—culturally, historically and spiritually, all —to find answers, and weather their own storms. thrilling adventure trail. Travelling by foot, through an enthralling adventure story. horseback and even steamer, the plucky five Well produced by Ponytale Books, an up- Book News Book News encounter grave dangers as they are shadowed coming publisher based in Kolkata, one sin- by thugs and villains down the river to distant cerely hopes that Search for the Sacred Gem The Bogoli Phut Days: Pitki’s Adventures in Assam lands. Shankar is helped in his quest by mys- will find its way to many school library shelves. by Tara Goswami is a book for children of all tical revelations from the past that appear to ages—to read alone or to read along with their him from time to timein a strange darkness, Nita Berry writes short stories, picture and activity parents and grandparents. Children from Assam when bright stars seem to explode in his head. books, historical biographies and full length non- will find a new way to connect to their cultural These messages illuminate his way—till he fiction for children of all ages. She has won many heritage and children from other places will find stumbles upon the amazing truth finally. awards including Shankar’s Medal for The Story of themselves introduced to a compelling and rich Racy and action-packed, the book is an Time (CBT). She was part of NCERT’s textbook team world. enjoyable, well written read, dotted with poetic for the development of the ‘Marigold’ English text- HarperCollins, 2012, pp. 60, `299.00 descriptions, e.g., ‘The golden orb of the sun books for primary classes.

36 / The Book Review / June 2012 The Book Review / June 2012 / 37