Monday, June 29, 2015

Book Review #71: Being Different by Rajiv Malhotra

Title: Being Different – An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism
Author: Rajiv Malhotra
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publishers: Harpercollins Publishers
Pages: 450+
Source: Personal Copy

Swami Vivekananda said it right… “Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true!!”

Having finished reading Breaking India by the same author an year ago, I was impressed by the sheer magnitude of information that this Rajiv Malhotra possess when it comes to Hinduism, Indian thoughts, our sacred scriptures, Indian Philosophy and so on. This book “Being Different” as cool as it sounds sets the benchmark even higher in exposing the western attacks on Indians in a more detailed and sophisticated manner. This book is not like a regular telltale of India’s glorious past or our vast knowledge of philosophy or the mastery of the language Sanskrit and so on. This book mainly focuses on the western view of India and how it has become wrong on so many levels, leave alone injecting the false doctrines. This book authoritatively asks the westerners to see the real Indian side from an Indian point of view, rather than a typical western.

This book is written really well on so many aspects – that includes details regarding monotheism vs polytheism, one sacred book vs hundreds of religious books, history-centric religion vs timeless Sanathana Dharma, Prophetic religion vs Free-to-chose type of religion i.e. Hinduism, etc… For each type of problem, Rajiv had written his argument brilliantly in order to state what is true and what is believed to be true. Several anecdotes from famous philosophers, famous theologians, and thinkers and religious scholars were discussed in details and a correct way of counter argument was given exactly that it “fits” perfectly and disqualifies those writers who wrote a western-thinking ideas about India and Hinduism.

He quotes in one of the chapters about how the western minds have been indoctrinated over several aspects and beliefs… “Dharma traditions resemble Silicon Valley innovation and freedom (whereas) Judeo-Christian religions come across like controlled, state-supplied, monopolistic products. Like the Soviets who believed in allowing only one airline, one brand of car, and one toothpaste, (…) most Christians believe in allowing only one approach to religion.”

In western Judeo-Christian traditions, revelation is initiated by one God, with the individual being a passive and submissive recipient (read it as a born sinner, whose salvation happens only when he dies). This process is highly history-centric, relies upon authority that is frozen in time, and allows for no direct experience. But this salvation does not transform man into something sublime. God always remains an external agency and that entire salvation means is that one escapes eternal condemnation to hell. These history-centric beliefs of Judeo-Christian systems also fail scientific scrutiny.

Dhārmic traditions provide a refreshing contrast. The individual is free from the guilt complexes that characterize a Christian. History has no metaphysical significance in dharma. Hindu narratives, as Śri Aurobindo states, are ever present in nature because one can experience those out of one’s own efforts. The Hindu initiate is an active participant in his quest for adhyātma vidya (knowledge of the self). Unlike Judeo-Christian systems which are fossilized, dhārmic systems dynamically evolve. As a result, the teachings of a guru are as valid as the words in a sacred text. This is precisely why one finds welcome diversity in dhārmic traditions. Most importantly, mökṣa (self-realization) is something one can actively experience here and now and is not a chimera called heaven a baptized Christian must be content with chasing post-mortem.

Rajiv Malhotra carefully puts his arguments about why these Judeo-Christian concepts fail at large and a big hindrance to the freedom. This is mainly due to the concept of sin followed in these prophetic religions. As is the case in every prophetic religion, a man/woman born is a sinner by birth, his entire life is a way towards salvation and that salvation is achieved only when you submit yourself to the God [Judgment Day]. Whereas, in Dharmic traditions, the concept of experiencing one’s false deeds and good deeds in the same birth and carry over these traits to the next birth (Punarjanma). This next birth may not be in human form, it can be either an animal, or a bird or a tree or an insect. This allows us to celebrate our individual souls, individual birth and makes us to believe that, we can make the better of ourselves in the same birth, as simply called as SAT-CHIT-ANANDA. 

Rajiv Malhotra also discusses about the ORDER AND CHAOS between Dharmic traditions and western dualism brilliantly. For instance, when it comes to the fields of music, or literature or neuroscience – good and evil are always interconnected to each other, like the Samudra Manthan (Ocean Churning), there is always good in bad and bad in good [Nectar and Poison].  This is quite opposite in the western religion, where good and evil is something which doesn’t gets connected, which results in the artificial order which is bewildered by a permanent chaos. In the Dharmic concept, this has balanced with proper Order and Chaos. The author goes on explaining this concept by taking the Indian classical music as an example. Indian classical music is a non-linear and non-normative, and as a result possesses not only the musical note but also a melodic ecosystem complexity called swara followed by the raga (which is using the swara to create a non-linear pattern of ups and downs) and this is again followed by Tala (the rhythm) which is adjusted to the ongoing raga. This concept has no equivalent in the western classical music. 

What I really liked about the book is the chapter about “Non-translatable Sanskrit Words”. There are quite a number of words or letters or phrases from Sanskrit which cannot be translated to English. For example: AUM in Sanskrit cannot be translated to AMEN as westerners tried to portray. The AUM is in itself a special word. Each letter in AUM, the A, U and M represents a different meaning altogether. He gives us the example of a dictionary called “Ekakshara Kosha” (Mono-syllable dictionary), where each letter possesses an exhaustive meaning and it simply cannot be translated. Also, from a scientific background, he explains that chanting few Sanskrit mantras at the right frequency has some desired results on the human mind.  He gives us the examples of “Bija Mantras” where each verse from the mantra should be chanted at exact frequency and tonal quality for the expected results to come. And, by this, it is certainly not possible to translate everything to English.

He further clarifies his points of reversing the gaze of westerners by pointing out the similarities and differences between the offshoot Hindu religions like Buddhism and Jainism. He goes on explaining the details from several books of Buddhism juxtaposed with the Hinduism and why it is ok to be “Being Different” in every area.

Overall he calls for a debate on the basis of Purva Mimamsa (an Indian philosophical aspect of churning for answers based on the earlier parts of Vedas than the later parts of Vedangas). He didn’t in any way belittle any western religions or ideas or beliefs. He just pointed out that, what the west thought about India is not true and he proved from this book, the reality. This sure, calls for a healthy debate among the learned scholars from among the world. He expressed his deep fear of non-availability of many Indian scholars who can actually understand and provide debatable ideas of Indian thoughts, Indian Philosophy (Darshanas), Indian Dharmic traditions and beliefs, etc…

In conclusion, none of the disagreements from the book dismisses the importance of Being Different. The most important aspects of the book are, as it reverses the gaze towards the west and evaluates it using the Dharmic paradigm. This is a well-researched, well-organized and well-documented book. It is a collector’s gem. I recommend this book to be read by everyone and must read for every Indians, which actually makes them proud of Being Different and Being Indian.


My Rating:
5/5

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Book Review #70: Ooru Bangha By Viveka Shanabagh

Title: Ooru Bangha
Author: Viveka Shanabagh
Publishers: Akshara Prakashana
Genre: General Fiction
Pages: 250+ (Paperbound)
Source: Personal Copy

There are few books where it gets popularized without a reason and when you read it, you're left with a big disappointment. This book titled “Ooru Bangha” by the well acclaimed Kannada author Viveka Shanabagh does comes under this category. This novel tries to convey a message using story inside a story concept, but failed large at the idea. I am not sure whether author was trying his best to finish this novel or he just wrote because he had to. I was totally disappointed after reading this book. This is not a contemporary styled novel, nor a philosophical novel, neither a romantic novel nor even a story oriented novel. But where do I categorize this book at the first place?

The protagonist of the novel is Manamohan, a corporate employee, a writer and a romantic person to say the least. One fine day he gets an invitation from his colleague to attend house-warming ceremony. As expected he visits his colleague’s new home and after all the party, he accidentally meets a person called Shami, a young girl who is probably in her 20’s and our hero offers her to drive home. With all the initial greetings, our hero develops an interest in this young girl and he often finds trivial reasons to meet her and wanted to spend time with her. He joins her in the morning jogging hours and due to his writing background, he created an interest in this young girl about his village story and other details. So this girl pleads him to tell all those stories. Our hero begins to narrate few stories every day.

Cutting the story back to 70’s, our hero narrates a dramatic story about his village and about a person called Lawyer Kimani and his lifestyle. The dry narration by the author couldn't make it enough for us to read this story further.  There is lot of disconnectedness as it gets boring further. This Lawyer Kimani’s story occupies almost 2nd half of the book. There was no concrete end to this story.

As the book progresses further, now our hero is much into this young girl Shami and he gets his long awaited chance of having sex with her. With no clear intentions whatsoever, they both started to make out in her house, in car, and in some stupid places. Shami, being a modern girl, never forces our hero for a 2nd marriage. This eats up the 3rd part of the book.

From nowhere, the author brings up a character called Dr. Sunkapur, a legend in our hero’s village. Author tried to connect the stories of Lawyer Kimani with this Dr. Sunkapur and failed miserably at that. Both of these stories end abruptly without a logical end.

Cutting the story to present, our hero and this young girl Shami will have some heated arguments over a trivial reason and will go apart. Our hero, guilt ridden and feeling sorry for his wife and son tries to forget this young girl. But, he couldn't get over with the charm of this young girl. He tries to meet her again. To his disappointment, he failed to do so. That’s the end.

I have omitted few parts from the book for the sake of the review. It just couldn't get any worse than these kinds of books coming to market and lure people to buying it. May be the author would’ve waited for some more time to perfect this story than to publish it unfinished.

My Rating:
2/5

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Book Review #69: 2014 The Election That Changed India By Rajdeep Sardesai

Title: 2014: The Election That Changed India
Author: Rajdeep Sardesai
Publishers: Penguin India
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 370+
Source: Personal Copy

2002 Gujarat Riots, Narendra Modi, BJP, Congress, Hinduism, RSS, VHP, Minorities, Moral Compass, etc... These are the main highlights of a book that was being titled “2014: Election that changed India”. As it may sound odd at sometimes, but, Rajdeep a debutant in book writing, has written a well-researched book. His journalistic background has given him an exclusive access to some of the insider information that was accounted in this book in a detailed manner. As one of the controversial figure in the journalists arena in India, Rajdeep has took great care while airing his opinion. At times, one may feel like he is being biased and it seems very true in few chapters. His hatred towards some section of the politician, and his love and care towards other politicians is almost evident in this book.

The book covers everything from post UPA-2 government times and of course he begins his journey with his favorite topic “2002 Gujarat Riots”. I somehow felt, this has been written out of proportion. Rajdeep doesn’t follow the rule of “forget and move on”. Anyways, that’s what made him the man today. He constantly nitpicks about Modi and his Chief ministerial day’s right from the days of 2002 till the 2012 elections where Modi scored convincing 3rd time win. He writes about his encounters during riot days and also writes his journey as a beginner journalist to his newsroom editor job.

While writing about Modi versus Rahul part, Rajdeep has shown his affinity towards the later one by being apologetic. He was constantly writing about how Rahul Gandhi missed an opportunity to conquer the vacant spot rather than writing about Rahul’s quality as a politician. He has expressed his prejudiced opinion about Narendra Modi and doesn't even care to write about the dumbness of Rahul. All he wanted to showcase was his loyal support towards a much hyped secularism at the cost of being righteous.

What was more fascinating about the book is its detailed explanation of the various strategies that was used by every political party during the 2014 elections, the mother of all elections as he puts it. He constantly reminds us about the unwillingness of Rahul Gandhi to take up the leads of his party and how he remained as a shadow and never shown up his face in the time of crisis and stuff. He goes on mentioning about the various corporate heads that turned and poured their money towards the BJP and Modi. He also writes about the amount of money being spent by each party during election without giving concrete evidence. All he writes about “a close associate from the BJP has said that” or “a senior politician from the party has told me” or “a bureaucrat has updated me on the request on anonymity” and so on. So, it’s understood that he wrote many things just by going with the information leaked. He equated the BJP as cash-rich party of 2014 and congress as a sinking ship.

The book accounts some of the greater details about each political party that has recruited some of the major advertising agencies for their campaign. This is good information from the book that can be taken away. I always suspected that, no major political party could win any election only because of their foot soldiers door to door campaign. It was proved right on the spot after reading the major advertising companies that each party has recruited and spent crores of money on ads and make over of the politicians. The BJP, The Congress and the new entrant AAP has been in this roller coaster ride of campaigning. Rajdeep even writes about the major women politicians of the country such as Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and Jayalalitha and their strategy and planning in the 2014 elections. It was a detailed, well researched story.

At the end of the book, several astonishing statistics about this 2014 elections juxtaposed with the 2009 elections is quite fascinating. Surely, this 2014 election was mother of all elections considering the preparations and execution. A simple, no nonsense book that can be read easily. However, it seemed like, Rajdeep hasn't left his one liners, mocking high profile people and their political inclinations. Anyways, a good book to learn about the 2014 elections.

My Rating:
3/5

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Book Review #68: Karma By Karanam Pavan Prasad

Title: Karma
Author: Karanam Pavan Prasad
Publishers: Conclave Media
Genre: General Fiction
Pages: 164 (Paperbound)
Source: Personal Copy


A first time debutant novelist, who took greater risk to write a novel on a subject like Death, Hindu Funeral Rituals and practices, etc… This novel is a blend of age old rituals, beliefs and traditions versus the modern cosmopolitan, scientific, questioning generation. This novel deals with a very taboo subject such as Hindu funeral practices, which is also called as KARMA, hence the title of the novel Karma. The book poses some serious questions, at the same time, gives its readers a sense of newly crafted novel. Not that, this kind of novel has ever come before, in fact, it has come at various stages and in various forms. But, the mixture of modern aspects like smartphones, IT, KFC, drinks, parties juxtaposed with that of traditions, practices, beliefs and other things is a new way.

The protagonist of this novel Surendra was responsible to carry out the last rites rituals of his father that just demised. Being working in a city as an upscale Engineer and married to an ultramodern woman Neha, he didn't seem to get adjusted to all those rituals, practices and traditions. He just toys around like a puppet listening to the head priest and following his younger brother in those rituals. During these proceedings, Surendra refuses to gets his head shaved, whereas, his brother Narahari agrees to it. (This is one of the rituals, where, the sons of the deceased person should get their head shaved in order to carry out this ritual, it’s called VAPANA). Day to day proceedings was making our protagonist lose his cool and made him act like a weirdo. He was always suspicion about his wife. He often gets these thoughts that; his wife is cheating on him with another man. This is strongly believed by him due to the past actions of his wife on numerous occasions before marriage. His wife had many partners just like him. However, his manly thoughts were not convinced to agree on such things.

The regular circumstances of those rituals have made him to come to terms with the traditions and he actually starts believing in everything. He often reaches out to head priest to understand the basics of the rituals which he finds occasionally funny. Sometimes, he indulges in serious conversations with the head priest and was asking any ritual practices so that he could father a child and so on. This kind of dilemma and regular taunts from his wife for being too orthodox has made our protagonist weak day by day. He gets mocked by his wife for conducting those ‘pointless’ rituals which was seriously offending Surendra. He also concludes that, he didn’t get a proper wife or he didn't become a good husband. This made him to get back to his last love interest ‘Vaani’ who was his Aunt’s daughter. Even here he faces serious disappointments.

As the book progresses further, we will realize many facets of these funeral rites, and this must be the take away from the book. The detailed explanation and beliefs behind each practice and tradition has explained pretty neat. There is an absolute twist at the end of the novel, which I am not including in my review. I ask people to read and savor the story.

All said and done, the novel has some weak points. Few of the characters were given little space. The entire novel could’ve been extended to about 30 pages. The background story of important characters was missing or was kept low. The Sanskrit verses and their meaning throughout the novel is a good attempt at explaining few traditional aspects.

Overall, a great attempt by the author and a fantastic rendition. He has a long way to go and this is just the beginning. I hope to see more of such amazing work by this author. Though, this book can be easily considered as a contemporary novel. It doesn't exactly belong to any specific genre. A must read novel. I recommend it for everyone.


My Rating:
5/5