The Little Friend

Author – Donna Tartt

Genre - Thriller

Publisher – Vintage Contemporaries

Rating – 3/5

A book rich in prose and poise but oh.... so much anger and vengeance, I had to keep asking myself why I was reading this book.  I felt like a bystander to a road accident held in a trance by the tragedy, looking on, eyes and limbs refusing to do otherwise.

The murder of a nine year old boy in his own backyard while his family prepared for mothers day dinner shocks the town.  But while the town slowly comes to terms with the murder, the family members never do. The worst casualties as usual are the children. Robin's two sisters, grow up facing their insecurities all alone. Their mother becomes a recluse in her own house; their father takes up a job and a mistress in another town. Their grandmother and great aunts stay close and fill in for the absentee parents as much as they can. Their steady companion though is Ida, their coloured house-keeper. A presence at once warm and formidable, her stories and prejudices colour their imagination. Allison grows up to be a wish-o-wisp kind of young lady seeking refuge in sleep while Harriet is a rebel.  Harriet tries to pierce together Robin’s murder from her grandmothers who refuse to say anything, from her mother and Allison who clam up, from newspapers which offer only sketchy accounts. Only Ida speaks to Harriet on the matter. Her information though is based on personal views rather than facts. Ida blames Danny Ratliff, one of the poor whites in town for Robin’s murder.  To a child however, this straw of information is the red line, the truth at last now etched in stone. One summer, having totally convinced herself on the matter, Harriet goes out seeking revenge.

 

A tragic story of neglect of children and how the refusal of elders to face up to a tragedy can affect their young ones.  A child needs to be talked to, given colours to colour their imagination and pickets to build their boundaries. When none are provided, children turn to any source which will provide them understanding irrespective or right or wrong.

Harriet almost murders an old woman with a cobra and gets herself almost killed when she unwittingly steps into a family drug ring in her quest for revenge. As Harriet is lying in the hospital she learns from her parents that who she thought and targeted as Robin’s murderer was actually his friend!  Trigger happy, drug dealing, white trash yes, but a friend never the less!

Slow reading at times, the book touches a raw nerve especially in a young parent. How vigilant must one be with the young ones.  While it is important that the adults lead their lives, it cannot be without the young ones’ inclusion. Only providing a house, food and scholarly education is not enough, it is important to tend to them, to hear their anxieties, to ensure that they know and appreciate their protective environment and respect their boundaries for their own safety.

While the book is beautifully written, there is a typecast of charectors that is hard to miss – Coloured peoples prejuidice for poor whites, Trigger happy-domestic violence filled upbringing of poor whites, Moneyed whites preoccupation with proper behaviour in society and tight lipness of anything emotional.  The author’s message in the book is not typecasting typecasts but in giving the message, the author has unwittingly followed stereotypes herself.

The Star of Kazan

Author – Eva Ibbotson

Publisher – Pan Macmillan

Rating – 5/5

I’ve rediscovered the genre for young readers’ though I must confess thanks to J K Rowling. The simple reading and bits of grandma’s wisdom never fail to impress me.

The delicious aroma of pastries and fish wafting eloquently from the book do nothing to help one remember the time either.

Set in Vienna, this is a simple story of an orphan girl bought up lovingly by two maids – Ellie and Sigrid. A young life filled with joy at the simple pleasures of life. Annika befriends an elderly lady in the neighbourhood. “La Rodine” had led a colourful life in the theatres and bequests her belongings, some stage clothes and fake jewels to her little friend.

Throughout this rather satisfactory life however, Annika has one secret longing – that her mother, preferably a grand lady appear and swipe her off her feet in her embrace. So one day when an aristocrat Lady does appear and claim to be her mother, she does not think twice before committing all her pent up love and loyalty to her mother.  Annika leaves her doting adoptive mothers and leaves with her mother for her new home – the castle Spittal.

What follows is a roller coater ride into the world of the aristocracy. A world more subtle and dubious than Annika has encountered in her young life.

An industrious child, Annika is stuck by how slack things at Spittal are. She befriends the young stable boy who tells her that it was not so under the previous master, her mother’s father.

Of course there is a nefarious plot, a scheming mind, loyal friends, devoted mother and... a young man...  but not always where Annika thought or wanted them to be.

Annika’s gentleman mother puts her into a very strict school for young women, women who Annika discovers are not particularly wanted by their families while her brother gets to join the expensive military school.  Annika still presumes her mother has her best interest at heart.

The stable boy Zed is not so trusting. He rides to Vienna and delivers the news to Ellie and Sigrid. Torn with worry Ellie visits the school and discovers Annika stripped of her joyousness. Annika sees Ellie as if in a dream and fails to recognize her. There follows a heart warming rescue attempt and Annika is restored to her home in Vienna. However her heart is still with the mother she has yearned for since she can remember.

Her longing leads her to discover that her mother has been siphoning her inheritance from ‘La Rodine”, the jewels were real after all. But still Annika’s loyalty to her mother does not alter. It is only on discovering that the honourable Frau  Von Tannenburg is not her mother that Annika is able to look beyond her love for her mother. It is only then that Annika realises that she has been clinging on to the woman she wanted to desperately believe was her mother while her heart knew this not to be true.

The book leaves me one feeling sad – how guileless is a young ones love, how desperate can a child be for her mother. And elated – Ah.... she realises that the woman is not her mother that her real mother is the one who has loved her since she was little, who brought her up and continues to look out for her.

The Sign. The shroud of Turin and the secret of resurrection

Author – Thomas De Wesselow

Genre – Art and History

Publisher – Viking, Penguin group

Rating – 4/5

After the success of “The Da Vinci Code” loads of books on Christian conspiracy theories have made their way to the mainstream market.  Most deal with Templar conspiracy theories, Mary Magdalene or Grail quests. “The Sign” is based on the supposed Shroud which was used to wrap the dead Jesus and placed in the tomb.

The shroud of Turin is widely believed to be a clever artefact of the middle ages.   While Welleslow attempts to establish that the Shroud is a genuine relic and was used to wrap Jesus, the going is fine. Arguments on how the image of a crucified person was transferred on the cloth is based on scientific research – though widely argued.  Though I’m still unconvinced how such a clear imprint of a person could come on a cloth which was used to wrap the dead crucified person at the base of the cross, transferred to a stretcher and then deposited in the tomb. Such movement should have caused smudging where the body was handled wrapped in the cloth. Plus, the clear framing of the face by hair. How can shoulder- length hair frame the face when a person is lying down?

Further arguments on this crucified person being Jesus based on historical evidence is believable albeit a few gaps. Chief among them is the shroud carbon dating result which shows that the shroud material is from the middle ages.  However since the carbon dating result was not concurred with a second test result and historical evidence points otherwise, it is possible to give the shroud the benefit of doubt.

However, Welleslow’s further claims are more hypothesis and have little or no historical or scientific evidence. He recounts the story of the burial and resurrection of Jesus.  The body of Jesus was taken down from the cross, rigor mortis had set in. It was washed carefully at the site of crucification i.e. at the base of the cross, wrapped in the Shroud in question, carried to the tomb in the shroud  and laid to rest there still covered in the shroud. (How could such a complex ritual as cleansing of a dead body be done at such a dusty place as the base of the cross?) Since it was the Sabbath the next day, the body could not be embalmed that day as the Jewish rituals. The body was not touched on the Sabbath. The next day, a contingent of women headed by Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to complete the embalming of the body. The woman however discovered that stone to the entrance of the tomb lay rolled away and an angel of the Lord (Mathew 28;2); a young man in while robes (Mark 16;5); two men in dazzling white (Luke 24;4), appeared and proclaimed to them that Jesus was no longer in the tomb but had risen from the dead. The women were to go back and proclaim this good news to the disciples. Only in John 20;1, Mary Magdalene sees the tomb stone rolled away, does not see any heavenly visitors but is frightened and runs to tell Peter and the disciples that the body of Jesus is no longer in the tomb. In all these appearance stories, only John clearly mentions Mary Magdalene saying that the body of Christ was not in the tomb though it does not mention her going into the tomb at all. However both Luke(24;12)  and John(20;6) mention that Peter entered the tomb and found it empty of the body of Jesus and instead saw the linen shroud. He wondered when he saw the cloth.

Welleslow now recreates the story of the resurrection taking the shroud into account. The impression of Jesus’ body had already come on the shroud when the woman went into the tomb. Although how the women made out the dim outline of the body on the shroud in the candle or lamplight of the cave/tomb in the dim early morning glow is a big question. Thereafter Welleslow argues that what the gospels refer to as “angel”, “a young man”, “two young men”,” Jesus” was the shroud. The impression of Jesus on the shroud was taken by the disciples as the sign of Jesus’s spiritual resurrection. Thus began the proclamation of the good news that Jesus had risen. This theory, given the ancients penchant for story telling and myth creation is far more believable to the reasoning mind than a flesh and blood resurrection theory or the Jesus being in a live but comatose state after being taken down from the cross and being revivified after 2 days in the tomb theory.  However, to claim that the strangely marked shroud of Jesus was the basis of the resurrection stories sounds too far fetched. After all the disciples who preached Christianity were so convinced of Jesus’ and their own resurrection that they did not even fear death.  However miraculous the strange markings on the shroud may have seemed, was it enough to transform frightened fishermen into bold missionaries of a radically different religion in alien lands?  If the shroud with the imprint of Jesus was seen as his spiritual resurrected self, were the disciples also hoping to be transformed thus?

Yes, there is a mystery to be solved and the Christian emphasis on faith and belief in miracles does not satisfy Christians today. How else can one account for the large number of Christian conspiracy theory books making it to the best seller lists?  I see other books authored by Indian writers which try and explain in socio-political and sometimes scientific terms the mythology of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The world then in asking for rational answers to their faith. It is looking for a more solid footing than fantabulous myths of miracles.    

Asura. Tale of the vanquished. The story of Ravana and his people.

Author – Anand Neelakantan

Genre – Historical fiction

Publisher – Platinum series

Rating – 4/5

I bought this book with loads of expectations and curiosity. I had always wanted to know the ten headed monster’s story.  The one overwhelming emotion in the entire book is ANGER. There is pent up anger of a civilization being destroyed by invading barbarians and being labelled demons for living according to their culture and striking back at the invading hordes.

Ravana, the first son of a Brahmin and a tribal woman is passionate, arrogant and brilliant. Leaving Lanka to seek their fortune, the brothers Ravana,  Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana learn under Brahma, the scion of the Brahma family specialising in arts, crafts and music under the protection of Mahabali,  the once powerful king of the Asuras now hiding in the jungles in Central India. In his last lesson Mahabali attempts to instil values of self control and sacrifice in Ravana who mocks these and proclaims his preference for the base emotions which make a MAN rather than the higher values which make a GOD. Ravana then returns to Lanka with high ideals of returning the Asura empire and civilisation to its former glory.

While the book is not named after Bhadra, an asura commoner, he is one of the main protagonists of the story. A sword of rage and revenge against the marauding conquerors who proclaim themselves Gods and seek not only to conquer lands and allegiances but destroy an entire people and their culture.

Ravana the king and Bhadra the commoner make a formidable team as they establish the Asura kingdom in Central and South India with their Golden capital in Sri Lanka.

Then comes the nemesis of the mighty Asura empire – Sita or rather is brought in by Ravana himself.  Ravana claims that Sita is his long lost daughter who he brought back to protect her from the male dominated barbaric Deva culture. In war Ravana’s actions are very much like so many mighty kings who believed themselves invincible. Rama’s actions very like a commander directing his band of soldiers in guerrilla warfare.  There is the constant theme of Rama’s double standards – he does not hesitate to strike from behind or use guile while portraying himself as the epitome of Dharma. He constantly plays into the hands of Brahmins to prove himself a righteous king.

While soldiers view the actions of the other army as despicable and not in accordance with the honoured rules of warfare, war has it’s atrocities, atrocities which have not changed over the ages. So comes the fall of the last bastion of the great Asura empire and the winner takes the spoils including history and culture.

However personal loss follows Rama even in his victory. Questioned by a citizen of his kingdom on accepting Sita as his wife and queen after she has been in Lanka for so long, Rama decides to banish Sita from his side even though she had undergone the “Agnipariksha” – test by fire at Lanka before the victorious soldiers to prove her chastity. Even when Ram is re-united with Sita after twelve long years through the valor of his twin sons Luv and Kush, Ram again asks Sita to go through a test of fire to prove her chastity. Tired by the constant demands to prove her virtue by her husband, Sita enters the Earth. While Ram returns with his sons to Ayodhya to a just rule. However, Ram is never happy and at last enters the river Sarayu and gives up his life.

“Asura” personifies two opposing  cultures into the person of Ram and Ravana. While both cultures had a social pecking order as per economic status, the vedic culture introduced the concept of birth linked with a man’s profession. Resulting in generations staying in the same social class. While Ravana had the courage to accept Mandodari as his wife and queen even after she was gangraped by the Vanara soilders, Rama repeatedly asks Sita to prove her chastity and banishes a chaste and pregnant Sita from his side.  While one culture was about doing one’s duty the other was hedonistic.

By raising these differences, Neelakantan questions why an entire civilization and it’s king was termed demonic and another culture and it’s king in-spite of prejudices and shortcoming applauded as Dharma and Lord.  

A Fine Balance

Author – Rohinton Mistry

Genre – Historical drama

Publisher – Vintage International

Rating – 5/5

A book on the search for dignity and happiness, fate and loss. Sounds morose?.... the telling has been dealt with such poignancy, poise, pride and prose that the tale flows through the pages.

Set in Mumbai  “A Fine Balance” follows the lives of four people from different walks of life looking at bettering their lot. The Book begins with the meeting of two tailors, Ishwar Darji, Omprakash Darji come looking for work and Maneck Kohlah, a student come looking for a bright future in the city of dreams, Mumbai. Their lives are inextricably joined with Dina Dayal, a middle aged widow trying hard to preserve her independence. She takes in Maneck as her paying guest and the two tailors in her employment to fulfil orders of a textile export house.

The tale spills effortlessly between the past and the present; Ishwar and Om’s, filled with oppression of the higher castes that destroyed their family because they dared to change their profession from cobblers to tailors and better their social standing.  Of Maneck of the paradise hills, sprawling property  and loving family destroyed first by the partition line which rendered most of their property on the wrong side of the border and then by the influx of modernisation. Of Dina Dayal’s oppression by her brother – Nusswan, after the death of her father and her struggle to stay independent after her husband’s death.

The Emergency brings all of them under one roof – Dina Dayal’s. Slowly mistrust, social and economic barriers are replaced by empathy and a semblance of a family.  The four find the love and laughter that has been missing from their lives for so long and dare to start dreaming again.

While Manek heads for a ‘secure’ future in the Middle East, Omprakash and Ishwar get the worst of upper class prejudice and inhuman Government policies during the Emergency. They are evacuated from their shanty, then sold to a labour camp, then made to go through vasectomy from which one emerges castrated and the other with an amputated leg. Dina Dayal looses her contract with the textile company and has to face the indignity of moving in again with her brother.

 However the latter three remain in touch and Dina keeps the defiance of her brother alive by offering tea to Omprakash and Ishwar who are now beggars in cups meant for Nusswan and his wife.

However it is Manek who has lead a comparatively sheltered life who gets disheartened by events and takes his life.

Rohinton Mistry spins a larger than life, multi starrer, mega budget tale which is still simple, heart wrenching, warm and humane in it’s telling.