In a strange room

‘In a strange room’ written by Damon Galgut was written in 2003 and was a finalist for the man booker prize. The book is divided into three sections, “The Follower”, “The Lover” and “The Guardian”.

The protagonist of the book is Damon, the narrator, who refers to himself in the first and third person at his own whim, and sometimes simultaneously makes for an interesting writing style.

“But memory has its own distance, in part he is me, in part he is a stranger I am watching”

“Happy and unhappy, he falls asleep in the end, and dreams about, no, I don’t remember his dreams.”

It may also be the reason why the author decided to shun all the question and quotation marks. The first story is set in 1993, and the last one just a few years ago, and as we go from the first story to the last, the presence of “I’ increases ; the memories are clearer than of the first story, or as a review stated “the person describing experiencing the events is closer to the person recalling them”.

The title of each section defines the role Damon needs to play in that part of the story. In the first section “The Follower”, we are introduced to our protagonist Damon, a trekker in Greece from South Africa. During one of his trek, he runs into a German by the name of Reiner. Though not heading in the same direction, when they meet, Damon follows Reiner to Lesotho, where he is headed for climbing. The German is bold and proud sometimes but is uncordial others “He will not speak either, but in him silence is power. Unlike me, unlike me.” Although both of them are travelling for totally different reasons, one for more existential reasons and the other wants to make some life decisions, Damon perceives a charge of eroticism between them. The eloquent prose employed here has an undertow of homo-eroticism between the two men in their conversation.

“Would you like some, he says, holding out an apple, I found this in my bag. The two of them pass it between them, solemnly biting and chewing, the one lying propped up on an elbow, the other sitting with his knees drawn up, all it will take is a tiny movement from one of them, a hand extended, or the edge of the sleeping bag lifted, would you like to get in, but neither makes the move, one is too scared and the other too proud...”

Damon recalls a line from Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying that is possible the inspiration for the name of the novel

“In a strange room you must empty yourself for sleep. And before you are emptied for sleep, what are you. And when you are emptied for sleep, you are not. And when you are filled with sleep, you never were.”

In the very next line he sums up what all these journeys are about for Damon with all the different roles and alternative prose.

“I don't know what I am. I don't know if I am or not.”

In the second story “The lover” he casts doubt over his ability to love things or places or people or most of all the person, place and thing that he is. He agrees to the fact that “Without love nothing has value,nothing can be made to matter very much”. As he travels across Africa he meets disparate group of people while he explores themes of remorse and hypocrisy of the Western tourist. It is in this story he meets a fellow traveler Jerome, who holds a fascination for Damon, the two of them not sharing a common language communicating by the means of looks. Although the story is titles “The Lover”, it is much more about how far these two people, Damon and Jerome are, and how they are still able to form a connection, rather than a physical union. For me this was a very interesting [art of the book for the fact when Damon reflects upon the fine line that separates memory and portrayal.

“Jerome, if I can’t make you live in words … it’s not because I don’t remember, no, the opposite is true, you are remembered in me as an endless stirring and turning. But it’s for this precisely that you must forgive me, because in every story of obsession there is only one character, only one plot. I am writing about myself alone, it’s all I know, and for this reason I have always failed in every love, which is to say at the very heart of my life.”

The third story “The Guardian” entails Damon travelling to India and taking care of her friend Anna. Damon describes Anna as person with “a future full of impressive possibilities” but is plagued by depression and personality disorder which results in her “losing the plot, living in fast motion, speeding along.” The story is about how Damon struggles in dealing with “this thing that’s taken up station inside her, driving along with so much fury and power”. Continuing in this story is the trend of Damon not having full control of the situation from the outset. Anna drinks when she has vowed to avoid it, she talks about betraying her lover and she is continuously testing Damon’s vow to look after her.

“It's begun to feel as if a stranger has taken up residence in her, somebody dark and restless that he doesn't trust, who wants to consume Anna completely. This stranger is still cautious, still biding her time. Meanwhile the person that he knows is visible, and sometimes in the ascendant...But the dark stranger always appears again, peering slyly over her shoulder...”

Each story in the book is kind of insight into a different kind of relationship and how in each case Damon is unable to satisfy the role but also that both parties fail to connect properly.

How late it was, How late

‘How late it was, how late’ written by James Kelman was the booker prize winner for the year 1994. This was a very controversial booker prize winner where Simon Jenkins, a member of the committee going out and saying “ Kelman had done nothing more than to transcribe the rambling thoughts of a blind Glaswegian drunk”, another member calling it “literary vandalism”, one of the person on committee threatened to quit the committee if this book won and many other cases of dissent being shown against this book. It winning the award was not as rapturous either; columnist counted the number of times “fucks” and “cunts” were there in the book. But the motivation for me reading this book was that someone said “British won’t give a booker to a Scot just for nothing”.

At the heart of the novel is the unvanquished passion for equality and justice for the lowest of the lowest. The book is about Sammy Samuels an unlikely hero, cantankerous, unrepentant ex-con(“all in all he had done eleven years. They rolled off the tongue”) and a permanent job seeker. The reader need not like Sammy but it is impossible to not to be able to identify with him. A lot of things in Sammy’s life go awfully wrong, starting with the disastrous rife with his live in girlfriend Helen which lead to her disappearing followed by the beating he takes which result him having presumably permanent problems in lungs, spinal cord and eyes. Even after all this he is back in jail in a bed bunk which is uncomfortable to him to the highest degree. But Sammy’s response to all these problems is of courage, dignity and fierce optimism. As the tile goes ‘How late it was, How late’ the question is whether there is still time for Sammy to do anything that will help his fortunes or is now too late.

'These things are sent to try ye,' Sammy shrugs. 'Life; life is sent to try ye.' But still and all, to take realistic stock: 'There was things out his control. There was things in his control but there were other things out, they were out his control, he had put them out his control.'

'These wee victories,' Sammy says, heading for the pub, 'ye've got to celebrate them, otherwise ye ferget ye've won them.'

“How late it was, how late” had a very uncomplicated plot, with the simplest of actions being explained in minute detail. This may be due to the fact that maybe the author James Kelman wanted the reader to share the affliction of Sammy’s sudden blindness. After the onset of his blindness, which maybe permanent, all the new characters are described by their attitude and demeanor rather than their physical characteristics. Similar is the case with locations described in the book, they are identified by the mere belief that Sammy is where he is supposed to be. But most important of all are Sammy’s decisions. Even though Sammy’s thoughts on the present situation are very clear to the reader his final decision seem to happen on the fly, where though he aims to do one thing he could very well had taken the other option. Like, for instance a simple act of buying lunch is an ordeal for Sammy partially due to his blindness and sense of direction. It is as if the writer is trying to make the reader feel blind.

This is also true for the end of the novel .When the novel ends in a very similar fashion in which it started the reader is left to contemplate whether it would work out for him or not.

Kelman while maintaining the account of difficulties faced due to blindness keeps talking about things of much more importance such as reality, existence and whatnot.

“Waiting rooms. Ye go into this room where ye wait. Hoping’s the same. One of these days the cunts’ll build entire fucking buildings just for that. Official hoping rooms, where ye just go in and hope for whatever the fuck ye feel like hoping for. One on every corner. Course they had them already – boozers. Ye go in to hope and they sell ye a drink to help pass the time. Ye see these cunts sitting there. What’re they there for? They’re hoping. They’re hoping for something. The telly’s rotten. So they go out hoping for something better. I’m just away out for a pint, hen, be back in an hour. You hoping the football’ll come on soon? Aye. I hope ye’ll no be too long”

There are a lot of unanswered question strewn across the whole novel, Why and when did the police give him a horrific beating that he has come to find himself blind? Why is the medic at the clinic so intent of justifying that Sammy’s sight loss is temporary rather than permanent? Why did Helen disappear and how is that she is not working where she is supposed to? What happened during the binge drinking? Why do police keep telling Sammy that he is in deep political trouble?

The blindness in itself is also strange. It is never plausibly explained throughout the course of the book. This made it clear even though the book is based in a social down to earth Glaswegian setting, is far from a realistic work of fiction as it could be.The central theme though interesting does become somewhat tiring, as the story is concerned with only one character played out inside Sammy's head, it becomes a tad bit repetitive. Further more memory and repetition become and inseparable part of Sammy's effort to deal with his blindness. What further enrages the reader is Sammy's erratic switch from resilience to despair and his being totally unaware about this problem of his.

The Midnight's Children

The novel is a narrative of Saleem Sinai, who is narrating his personal story to his friend & companion Padma. The Novel starts with the introduction of Saleem Sinai, who is a child born on the exact moment of India’s Independence , after that the story jumps back into the past to his grandfather describing the year 1915, when his grandfather came to Kashmir after completing his Medical degree. There he treats Naseem, his future wife, never actually looking her completely but through a sheet of cloth in which a hole has been made to show the doctor the infectious part of her body. Aadam (Saleem’s grandfather) fall in love with Naseem. After this the couple shifts from Kashmir to Agra. Aadam and Naseem are having three girls named Alia, Mumtaj, Emerald and two sons Mustapha and Hanif. Aadam is very much inspired by the social activist Mian Abdullah, whose anti-partition stands becomes the cause of his assassination. As a result of this, Nadir Khan, Mian’s frightened assistant take shelter in the basement of Aadam’s house for which Aadam agrees despite the resistance of his wife. Soon, Nadir and Mumtaz fall in love and get married. Due to jealousy Emerald informs Major Zulfikar about the hideout of Nadir after which Nadir is sent running for his life. Left by her husband, Mumtaz agrees to marry Ahmad Sinai, and change her name to Amina Sinai. Amina and Ahmad shifts to Delhi but due to burning of Ahmad’s factory by a terrorist group they finally settle in Bombay. Amina get pregnant, and at the very moment of Indian independence Amina gave birth to Saleem Sinai. At Saleem’s birth a nurse (Mary Pereira) switches him with some other infant born at the same moment (i.e. Saleem is not the real child of Amina) to give the poor child a life of luxuries and the other child a life of miseries. Suffering from guilt the nurse becomes the 'aayah' for Saleem. Because of the exact moment of Indian Independence Saleem soon get famous. Slowly Saleem discovers that he has the ability of telepathy, and eventually he begins to hear the thoughts of the children born during the first hour of Independence. There were 1001 children who were born in the first hour of Independence and their number have been reduced to 581 by their tenth birthday-all of them have magical powers, the strength of the power depends on how close to independence they were born. Saleem discovers the boy (Shiva) with whom he was switched. Shiva has a very special gift for combat. Sooner, Saleem accidently loses his finger and that's how Ahmad finds out that Saleem is not the real son of him, because of the blood type mismatch. Ahmad become alcoholic and force Amina to go to Pakistan with Saleem and the Brass monkey (Saleem’s younger sister) to live with Emerald where Emerald’s husband, General Zulfikar stages a coup against Pakistani Government. After 4 years, Ahmad suffers from a heart failure, Amina returns to Bombay with her children. Due to the congestion in Saleem’s nose, he undergoes a surgery after which he lost his telepathic powers but in returns he gains a great sense of smell with which he can detect emotions. This is the time when India goes to war with China. After India’s defeat to China, whole of Saleem’s family moves to Pakistan and his younger sister becomes the most famous singer of Pakistan known as Jamila. Finally all of Saleem’s family get killed in the India Pakistan war except him and Jamila. Saleem gets hit by his grandfather’s spittoon in his head and lost his memory. Taking advantage of this the Pakistani military uses him as a perfect tracker because of his great sense of smell. After viewing a number of atrocities he finally flew into the jungle. Then he left the jungle and found Parvati (a witch) (one of the midnight’s children) who reminds him of his name and helps him to escape back to India. In India, he lives with her and the magicians’ cult. Disappointed with Saleem, that he will not marry her, Parvati moves to Shiva who has become a famous war hero. Things didn’t get right for between Parvati and Shiva, and she finally returns to the cult, pregnant and unmarried, to which the cult refuses to accept her until Saleem marries her. Meanwhile, threatened from the midnight’s children, the government of Indira Gandhi begins a sterilization campaign. Soon after the birth of Parvati’s son the govt destroys the magicians’ cult, Parvati dies there and Saleem is captured by Shiva and brought to a sterilization camp. Saleem deciphers the names of the midnight’s children one by one and they get sterilized to shun the generations eventually the powers of the midnight’s children. However, Indira Gandhi loses her first elections and the midnight’s children are set free. Saleem now set free tries to find Parvati’s son. He finds him and moved to Bombay where he finds his aayah who has become an owner of a grand chutney factory and his friend Padma. Finally He marries Padma thus bringing an end to the story.

According to my thoughts, the novel is a very lengthy one with much sophisticated language. Salman Rushdie has given all the characters a detailed description in the novel. The novel is trying to club the Indian independence with common people. He is trying to bring a magical reality into the novel by bringing the magical powers of the midnight’s children, where the children are trying to get their lives normal, all of them are suppressed by the govt of India. It contains much diversified description of stories, for once it is the story of the house of Aadam Aziz and at another point of time it’s the politics of a huge nation like India. But finally the overall story ends is a positive tone when Saleem weds Padma.

‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ – A Review

Why don’t you take my seat ma’am? You prefer to stand you say. I too prefer standing to sitting when on the Metro. I love the sense of motion, as this superbly modern train streaks through space; close to the surface of Delhi - at times just above it, at times just below. Ah, but as chance would have it, the gentleman next to me has vacated his seat. I believe this is his stop, Rajiv Chowk. Allow me to hold your shopping bags for you as you make yourself comfortable. There, that’s better. As I was saying, you find me seated instead because I am trying to finish this book I have. This is my second reading. I have to write a review on it. Which book you ask? It’s ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsin Hamid. Have you read it? No? It’s a good book; it takes a holistic approach towards (what Kiran Desai calls) ‘the most recent episode of distrust between East and West’: 9/11; and its aftermath – not on world politics, but on the individual.

Coincidentally, it was during another train journey that I first read this book. I was travelling back from Kottayam to New Delhi. I spent most of 2½ day journey on the upper birth, with this book. I had never heard of Mohsin Hamid before. I gathered, from a brief bio of the author, that he grew up in Lahore, Pakistan, and that he attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School. As I went through the first pages of the book, I was mildly surprised by the fact that the main protagonist (Changez) too was of Pakistani origin, and a graduate from Princeton. The novel opens at a café in Lahore where the protagonist meets an American, a complete stranger (apparently), and strikes up a conversation with him. We know very little about this American stranger. Changez’s astute observations tell us that he is a man who is physically of an imposing figure. He has short cropped hair (an ex-army man?). And he is wearing a suit. Sounds very much like a conventional novel, doesn’t it… where a new character’s appearance and physicality is described? But here I must tell you about one of the first traits of Modernism that this novel has. After turning through the 184 pages of the book, there is very little one can add to the above description of the American. The last page is turned, and we still don’t know why this person was sitting at that café table in Lahore. Or, more importantly, what the nature of his ‘business’ was, with the protagonist. The stranger remains a stranger (to us).

But we’re in the real world, so to speak, and there is no need for you to remain a stranger. You are an Anthropology student, you say. From JNU? We’re neighbours after all! But I sense a hint of impatience in your voice. Let’s move on with a brief outline of the plot.

Through most of the novel, the two characters sit at this café table, and the protagonist narrates the story of his life. He talks of his earlier life in America, and how he finally came about to be a college professor at a University in Lahore.

If you ever happen to browse through the 9/11 videos on Youtube, you will be moved by the number of ‘Oh my God!’s in those amateur videos of the twin tower attacks. The spontaneous exclamations of the people who were close to the towers are heart-rending. In the novel, the WTC attacks act as a turning point in the protagonist’s life. Although we are given hints, in the first part of the novel, to some of the doubts he already had concerning his identity in the world – 9/11 certainly acts as a catalyst and transforms those mere doubts into a significant internal conflict. But we’re never explicitly given a portrait of the protagonist as a hardened fundamentalist. He is a reluctant fundamentalist. The most direct and naked expression of the inner workings of his mind comes through, through the protagonist’s own response to videos of the 9/11 attacks being played out (live) on television: He smiles.

The self-defence is quick. The protagonist assures us that he is ‘not a sociopath.’ But the damage is done. And the narrative falls back into its ‘dual’ nature – which, incidentally, is what I most loved about this book. Your expression is quizzical. Let me explain.

Most aspects about this book – its form, its structure, its content – are moulded in such a way by the author, so as to try and explain the inner conflict in the protagonist. I mentioned the ‘dual’ nature. Kiran Desai’s comment (printed on the back cover of the book) can perhaps provide a clearer picture. In reference to the writing, she talks of a ‘spooky restraint.’ It is the significance of this restraint that my monologue is gestating towards. We see this restraint in the very content of the novel. So, if at one moment we are given the slightest of hints that the American stranger is carrying a gun underneath his jacket, the next moment the protagonist himself remarks that the ‘glint of metal’ was perhaps from a pen holder in the American’s pocket. You smile. We are never given definitive details in the novel, but the manner in which these snippets of information are presented to us, gives us a picture which might seem distorted at first, but later becomes clear. At face value, the facts presented in the novel may not seem to reveal much. I hope it doesn’t sound too arbitrary if I say that the ‘spooky restraint’ manages to reveal more than it hides. It helps paint a more complete picture of a reluctant fundamentalist.

Your puzzled expression remains. I guess that is what differentiates a good writer from the bad. He is able to convey in a few words, what I have not been able to convey in the last five minutes.

Although the protagonist does show signs of (negative) fundamentalism, we must try and understand why he is a reluctant fundamentalist. Changez tells us about how his company used to ask him and his colleagues to ‘focus on the fundamentals.’ We are shown the protagonist’s love for America and his admiration for the professionalism and efficiency of its people. Later in the novel, we see how this love slowly changes into something else; as he realizes that the country’s success comes at the cost of the misery of people in other parts of the world. He is a graduate from Princeton and was placed in a very good company. He perhaps feels guilty for not using his talents for his own country, Pakistan, which was in dire need of it. His confused sense of identity in the world makes this transformation a very painful one. The agony he goes through is evident in his lack of interest in his (well paying) job towards the end of the novel. The protagonist undergoes an internal conflict. Like Darth Vader, you ask? Yes… somewhat like him.

(In fact, the novel has a direct reference to the character of Anakin Skywalker, of Star Wars.)

Changez, who earlier took pride in the fact that he could blend in with the American society, despite being a Pakistani, decides to grow a beard - much to the discomfort of his American colleagues. Allow me to show you the cover page of this book - it's an interesting one; the interpretation is left to us, the readers.

We get a deeper understanding of this conflict through the character of Erica (the protagonist’s lover). She was in love with someone else for a long time, but that person died of cancer. In a strange way she is still in love with him, even after his death, but she also feels attracted towards the protagonist. Her conflict is of a slightly different nature, but she too is never able to come out of the confusion and agony of her inner tumult. In a sense, both these characters’ experiences together gives us a better understanding of what each individual character is going through. We are shown an Erica, who simultaneously enjoys the company of people while at the same time (perhaps unintentionally) remains a bit detached from them. Through these descriptions of Erica, we are better equipped to understand the main protagonist's own inner turmoil.

“The-next-station-is-Jor-Bagh. Agla-station-Jor-Bagh-hai.”

The book is written in the second person; but it is not of the usual kind. You are perhaps familiar with stories written in the second person … in ‘Goosebumps?’ No? Well, let’s just say that the style is different in this novel. The reader is addressed as ‘you’, and embodies a character of the novel (the American stranger). Changez and the American stranger are sitting at a coffee table during the entire length of the novel. Imagine a microphone kept at this table, and you are listening in. And for some reason you can hear only Changez’s voice. That’s what reading the novel feels like.

As is often the case with good literature, this style of writing is there not simply to ‘entertain’ but also to give the author an additional tool to voice certain opinions. There is an instance in the novel when Changez says (to the American, but also, indirectly, to the reader) – ‘allow me to direct your gaze [to those girls wearing jeans]’ – indirectly directing the reader’s gaze (or attention) to some detail. There are more instances in the novel, where Changez breaks away from his recounting to bring our attention to some detail of the surrounding (the mouth watering cuisine of the dhaba; the metamorphosis of the streets of Lahore at night time) or some aspect of Lahore society. The effect was somewhat similar to having a ‘Padma’ to distract the reader’s attention; revive his interest. In reference to the ‘girls wearing jeans,’ the effect was also to point out the slowly changing character of an (earlier) conservative society.

“The-next-station-is-Hauz-Khas. Agla-station-Hauz-Khas-hai.”

As we vacate our seats for these two gentlemen who have been waiting patiently for a chance to sit down, I must thank you for your patience. I plan to write the review in a certain way. I acknowledge that this ‘certain way’ is not original. I simply intend it to be a sort of tribute to the brilliant way in which the novel itself is written. I do realize, however, that my own version of it will be childish; immature. And what is that you say; good luck with my review? Why, thank you! I will certainly send you a copy once it’s finished. Why don't you give me your Email-ID.

The Troubles by JG Farrell

It’s a strange book, unconventional perhaps, charming at points boringly dull at others. The narrative is dense, an unseemly mixture of sarcasm, destruction, sexual desire and comic humor. It is a brilliant portrayal of the upheavals in Ireland during the 1920s and the ensuing disintegration of the British Empire. Inspite of all its qualities, the booker prize seems unwarranted. The narrative is inconsistent and lacks the vision necessary for the work to be categorized as a great historic novel; at best it is not the best work of a wonderfully talented writer.

"In those days the Majestic was still standing in Kilnalough at the very end of a slim peninsula covered with dead pines leaning here and there at odd angles. At that time there were probably yachts there too during the summer since the hotel held a regatta every July. As for the regatta, for some reason it was discontinued years ago, before the Spencers took over the management of the place. And a few years later still the Majestic itself followed the boats and preceded the pines into oblivion by burning to the ground — but by that time, of course, the place was in such a state of disrepair that it hardly mattered."

The narrative revolves around a Hotel and its occupants, in rural Ireland, as they undergo the vicissitudes of life in a country struggling for its identity. The Hotel- pointedly named The Majestic serves as a metaphor; its fall from its once regal avatar to its present dilapidated state is a reflection of the degradation of Irish society and in turn of the empire. The inhabitants of Majestic- the Spencers and the few old ladies serve as the last reminders of the fading aristocratic older generation. In the midst of undulations, these residents are a reminder of changing times- times where the old order is fading away to make way for a radically new one. The author brilliantly portrays the rapidly changing and violent social environment of Ireland throughout the almost claustrophobic, frozen life of the occupants. This combination of dynamic flux with stasis is one of the greatest achievements of the author and one that distinguishes this book from others in its genre.

The landscape of the country is broken into divisions and conflicts. There are ethnic conflicts between the rural and urban Irish, there are religious conflicts between the catholic and Protestants, there are conflicts among the unionists and Sinn Fein, then of course there is the small matter of the break-up of the British empire. Amidst this hoopla, Major Brendan Archer serves as a silent observer in the novel. It is the major who provides a sense of calm and reality to the condition of rural Ireland. Interestingly, the time-line of the novel is anchored to the major and not the violent environs; that is the novel follows happening at the pace of major’s life and not the other way round. So, in some sense the author’s focus is not Ireland but the effect of Ireland on the major and residents of the Majestic.

The major serving as the silent observer of the novel provides perhaps the most disconnected view of the happenings in Ireland. While the residents portray Englishmen living in their crumbling ivory towers and the English refer to the irish as extremists, the character of the major is the great balancing act. His stumbling through corridors after corridors of the Majestic as his stumbling through life in search of unknown people and unknown feelings lends a degree of fatalism to the novel. This fatalism abetted with almost claustrophobic feel of the story makes the narrative almost eerie; almost like the eerie calm before the advent of battle. Clearly, the character of the Major is one that the narrator has reserved for himself.

As events heat up, the Major finds it impossible to leave, obsessed with his love for Sarah. It is this fleeting love story, barely a courtship, which continues to baffle me. While on the one hand we have a sweaty half naked major spending his nights closeted in a storeroom, on the other we have a flighty temptress flirting her way with the dominant male characters in the novel. In some ways Sarah represents the modern Irish woman; no longer bound by aristocratic men. But there are ambiguities nonetheless. One could hypothesize that the character of Sarah perhaps serve as a placeholder for a real life acquaintance of the author. In contrast to the stifled advances of the major is the maturing of the twins into women; much more open with their sexuality as opposed to the gentry. Thus change pervades the novel- through the broken façade of the Majestic, the debates over religion and politics but most of all from the radical departure of the newer generations from the ideas of the old. The crumbling of the Majestic is in resonance with the changing conditions of the Irish society.

The only constant in the novel is the author’s attention to detail. From Angela’s letters to Edward’s suit, each and every aspect of the characters is painstakingly detailed. When Edward finds his beloved pigs hacked to death their blood oozes through the ‘eyelets of his shoes’. Be it the golf course, Sarah’s house or the grounds of the majestic, Farrell is the master of detail. The re-creation of Irish life and times is not the result of external happenings or crimes but rather prevalent through the nitty-gritties of the life of the characters. We know that something is amiss not by tales of murder or manslaughter but rather because the roof of the majestic has broken in a spot. This stitching together of a narrative, by piecing together detail after detail is trademark Farrell. Another innovation on the part of the author is the ingenious blending of the civil strife in Ireland with the happenings across the rest of British Empire. Historical snippets (primarily news clippings) from disparate parts of the globe serve to augment the growing disillusion of British monarchy’s subjects. An exemplary illustration of the attention to detail, are the letters sent by Angela to the Major. Each letter is full of details enabling the major to piece together a world he has never seen.

The end of the novel, akin to the end of the empire is brutal; perhaps a little too brutal for the rather quaint tone the rest of the novel adopts. The ending is sudden, incomplete and leaves much to be desired. Major and Sarah’s love story is left broken, so is the life of other minor characters. In my view, the sudden ending is not a shortfall but rather another facet of author’s construct. The majestic is burned down, the residents leave; the major is almost killed – all in order to portray the rapid pace at which Ireland was changing. Whatever it may be, the sudden ending does not do justice to the scope of the novel. In some ways, The Troubles is a peculiar historic novel. For it lacks the scale and breadth often found in such pieces; instead it chooses to take a different pathway- so must the reader if he wishes to enjoy this particular piece.

Irrational: Life of pi

Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.

-From Mr. Okamoto’s report, in the book itself

Gruesome and beautiful, that is how I would like to describe this book.

It is the story, as you will have deduced from its final sentence printed above, of a boy and a tiger, and, what you had not deduced, religion and philosophy, surviving on a lifeboat after a shipwreck. You have intestines being cut out, skin and flesh being torn away (from a living body, of course), bloodshed and murder and violence at its best (mostly towards animals, though).

It is not for the vegetarians, definitely.

And then you have life lessons, revelations, and philosophical and religious thoughts, all mangled into the fabric of the novel. These objects generally tend to make the narrative heavy and uninteresting, and it did get so at times. But I had faith in Martel, and he didn’t disappoint. After moving into a sufficient depth, the story gets gripping, and Martel wins; primarily my attention, and also, arguably of similar importance, the Booker.

Despite the controversy regarding plagiarism; I would say that the essence of the work is quite original, and Martel has been able to present me with a sufficient amount of new knowledge, and has persuaded me to look at life and sloths in a different way. (Okay, the life thing was a lie, but definitely the sloths, and also alpha and omega and flying fishes)

Anyway …

Now, whatisinthisbook?

It starts off with a monologue from the author, about how he travelled to India to write a story. He travelled to Pondicherry, and met the man who was the mama of Piscine Molitor Patel. He tells him that he has a story that will “make you believe in God.”

So the author meets Mr. Patel in Toronto, who agrees to tell him his story. Mr. Patel then becomes the main narrator. Initially he narrates the events in India, which led up to his families boarding of the ‘Tsimtsum’, the ship which was to drown.

He talks about his naming, ‘Piscine’ after a swimming pool in France, which, due to the love of friends, turned to ‘Pissing’. Pissing Patel – a nice name; but somehow, he wasn’t satisfied, and he took care in promoting his new irrational name, Pi Patel.

Religion came into his life at a very young age. A Hindu by birth, he was baptized after being introduced to the Christian faith at the age of fourteen; and also converted to Islam after coming in touch with Mr. Kumar. He practices all the three with equal ease and devotion, till he is finally rounded up by a chance meeting with all his three religious gurus, who fight over him, and announce that he must choose one religion only.

“Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God,”: was how Pi replied (very tactful of Martel…very tactful).

When Indira Gandhi declares emergency, Pi’s father decides, enough is enough, and they head for Canada, after selling the animals in their zoo. On their way to Winnipeg, the ship, along with the cargo of animals, and Pi’s family, sinks.

And the real story begins: (trumpets!!)

Pi, the only survivor, is stranded on a lifeboat with a zebra with a visibly broken leg (bone jutting out), and a hyena. He saves, unknowingly, a tiger, a royal Bengal one, four hundred pounds of ferocious flesh, who had previously, erroneously and funnily enough, been named Richard Parker, after his captor. Somehow, an orangutan also comes up to the boat, seated over floating bananas (!!).

Then, in the next few days, as casually as I write it, the hyena devoured all the vegetarians on the boat except Pi (the goriness in the text is quite detailed), and then Mr. Parker dined on the hyena.

With him and Richard left on the lifeboat, the brave boy flees to another raft, tethered to the bigger and more stable lifeboat, and begins his heroic taming of the beast, armed with determination, a whistle, and sea-food. They don’t get enough food (mostly raw fish and fresh turtle meat, and also turtle blood), and in time, darkness descends upon their health and eyes.

Then, in mid pacific, they come across a blind Frenchman, who befriends the blind Pi, and gets on the boat to kill and eat him (probably); but is instead (serveshimright) eaten by Mr. Parker.

They then come across an island of algae, where Pi, who eats the algae, and the tiger, who eats the meerkats on the island, restore their health, upto the time when Pi finds a human tooth, and realizes that the island is, apparently, carnivorous.

They float for some more time, and finally find themselves on the coast of Mexico. Richard Parker quickly disembarks, and runs off into the jungle, without (and can you believe it?) even saying ‘bye’ to his fellow lifeboatmate of 227 days. Pi, quite naturally, becomes upset at this behavior.

Pi, finally then, is on land again.

In the last part, we find two comical investigators of the Tsimtsum’s shipping company. They, after providing a patient audience to his story, with utmost courtesy, remark:

“Mr. Patel, we don’t believe your story.”

“Well, misters, I don’t care”, I would have said, but anyway, Pi is not able to share my philosophy, and so he goes on to narrate another story, but this time without using animals and floating islands with meerkats, i.e. without any of the fantastical elements.

In that tale, Pi plays Pi himself, the zebra is a sailor with a broken leg, the hyena is a French cook, the orangutan is, wait for it, Pi’s mother, who gets butchered by the cook; but only after he eats the sailor. He is finally killed by Pi.

Which one (to believe)? Pi poses the open question to them, and also to the readers. (The officials chose the former in their report.)

“It doesn’t matter,” Pi would say, “their outcomes are the same.”

(...and I am reminded of something in my quantum physics course)

Again, this was very tactful of Martel ; the book would not have been what it is, if not for this last twist.

Turbulence in the Hills ..

        Set in the backdrop of the separatist Gorkhaland movement that took place in Kalimpong and other towns of the hills in the 1980s, Inheritance of Loss explores complicated issues like globalization, illegal immigration,  economic inequalities, fundamentalism and love in times of turmoil. These different agendas are woven together into an interesting tale with intricate characters having several shades of grey. The central characters of the book are a retired judge who lives in an dilapidated lodge in Kalimpong with his faithful cook and granddaughter Sai and a young Nepali tutor - Gyan, who falls in love with Sai. There is also the cook's son Biju , who is trying to make a living as a cook in the United States and struggling for the elusive green card.  

           A majority of the characters in the tale are afflicted by the same blight, namely the western influence and the tendency of the Indian society to ape the west and glorify the lifestyle of the west, without pausing to reflect upon its merits and the demerits. The judge starts out as a brilliant Indian student from a humble family and after studying law in England is transformed into a snob who is ashamed of his own people and culture. On his return to India, he finds the Indian society too filthy for justice.  He tries to "anglicize" his wife, but in vain and his callous attitude and wife beating attitude causes her to separate from him. He finds solace in his exotic pedigree dog Mutt whom he pampers like anything and he wants to spend the rest of his life in peace in the hills eating good food. However, fate does not allow him to do that. The seed that he implanted in his wife, created a new existence, a daughter whom he never got to know , who married a space scientist and died early in an accident ,leaving behind his granddaughter Sai. Sai , who had been brought up in a boarding school, suddenly found herself in Kalimpong , in company of people much older than herself , and without any access to formal education. In a sense ,both the protagonists Sai and Gyan are inheritors of the loss that was accumulated by their ancestors. Sai was brought up without a mother with a western education and fancy western food. Ironically , the woman whom the judge had rejected had been the genesis of Sai who was similar to the Judge in her tastes. Thus Sai had to inherit the debt of loneliness and loss of ethos that plagued the judge. Gyan, on the other hand, came from an impoverished family that belonged to a lineage of Nepali soldiers or Gorkhas, for whom the government had failed to provide  economic development post-independence.Their love is more a product of mutual curiosity as a consequence of loss of contact with the opposite sex.  

Their innocent romance falls victim to the ugly consequences of their inherited debt that manifest themselves in the form of a Separatist movement by the Gorkhas for the creation of Gorkhaland a separate state with its government that would address the grievance of the Gorkhas and give them their share of development . Gyan finds himself compelled to join this movement in a quest to acquire prestige and to  rebel against  his modest upbringing. But in the process, he has to abandon his love Sai, who is shattered as her only means of escape from her drudgery existence is lost.  . In the latter part of the novel, after much debate with Sai over the principles of the Gorkhaland movement and the western way of life he finally gives up his "higher cause" and tries to return to a normal life , as a student and tutor and the subject of Sai's attention.

          Biju is in another universe altogether, switching jobs as a cook in the United States and becomes  a part of the large community of illegal immigrants  who come to the states with shining eyes, only to end up doing menial jobs and struggling to find their identities. For Biju , the cultural shock is all the more shocking and he fails to come to terms with Indians shedding inhibitions set by  their religion and culture. There is one particular instance where he sees Indian bankers eating beef at the restraint where he is working and he is so repelled at the thought of the cow considered so sacred to Hindus being eaten that he decides not to work anywhere where beef was being consumed. He is of the belief that one should not give up his religion nor the principles that one is taught from birth for the sake of earning money. He is confused about nationality , race and religion and finds it difficult to befriend immigrants from different countries across the world, chiefly from post colonial Africa and Asia. His story is not isolated. There is also Harish-Harry an Indian who runs Gandhi Cafe in the states. He covertly hates the Americans and their culture and is afraid of his daughter discarding all Indian cultural restrictions and embracing the shameless American freedom. 

    The only  force driving  him to live in America is the money , all of which is in dollars. Such is the magic of the American Dream that hordes of Indians are waiting to get their tourist visas to the US, just to get a chance to immigrate illegally and get jobs in America. A few of them, such as Biju's Muslim friend Saeed from Dar in Africa are smart enough to deal with the American life and are able to intermingle with the Americans and be succesful.Nevertheless, it is made obvious to the readers that the "Great American Dream" has fallen flat for Biju and in the end, all he wants to do is return to India and live with his father. In many passages of the story, he reminisces about his former life in India and is filled with nostalgia. In the end , he arrives home after losing every one crumb of the American pie - his clothes, his electronic gifts , his dollars are all robbed from him by young rebellious Gorkhas on his way back to Kalimpong.

         There are some characters like Lola , Noni , Mrs Sen and Uncle Potty , all of whom belong to the same class of modern English educated inhabitants of Kalimpong. They love reading English literature, eating cheese and drinking wine and discussing about their daughters who are working as journalists in the states. They scoff at the "Neps" whom they think to be simpletons and are also afraid of being attacked by them for money. All of them have to suffer when the revolution breaks out for the hills are shut down and all business , traffic and activities cease to exist. Their houses are ransacked by Gorkhas for food and their properties are encroached upon. They realize the worth of the ham rolls, the chocolates and the liquor that they had taken for granted, in a country of rice and dal eaters.

        Desai sticks to a third person narrative style throughout the length of the book. Flashbacks from the judge's past , Sai's revels and despondencies in love, Biju's exploits in the states, Lola and Noni's hoity-toitiness are all hashed in small doses of passages to make an interesting read. The story starts on a negative note with an incident of betrayal - that of Gyan revealing the existence of weapons in the judges house that leads to the Gorkhas plundering of the house where Sai lived. Then we are taken on a journey that tells us about the judge's troubled past and Sai's upbringing and her romance with Gyan. At the same time the separatist movement keeps on progressing and at a point it grabs the narrative by its neck and wreaks havoc in the life of all the characters. While on the streets there are curfews and riots, the judge is more concerned about his darling Mutt who is kidnapped by  some vagabonds looking for quick money. Sai is frustrated and mops around the house because of her unrequited love. The cook is anxious about his son Biju and wonders if he will ever see him again. For all that , Desai chooses to end on a positive note, Gyan coming back for Sai, Biju for the cook and Mutt for the judge. Thus the lasting image from the novel is that of gain and not loss.