January 2018

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January 28, 2018

Politics Bookshelf

Karachi Halwa by Prabhu Dayal
On Nationalism by Romila Thapar, A. G. Noorani and Sadanand Menon
The End of India by Khushwant Singh
The Good, the Bad and the Ridiculous by Khushwant Singh
The Anatomy of Hate by Revati Laul

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The End of India by Khushwant Singh

Book Review of The End of India by Khushwant Singh

Khushwant Singh, in his book The End of India, foretold the rise of Hindu fundamentalists to power. This he said would be the beginning of the decline of a nation. We can see by the natural order of things that most of his predictions had already come true. The grim future that he showed would be the inevitable result of allowing religion into the arena of national politics. There’d be a time, Singh remarks, when all our secular values would be thrown out of the window. The present state of the Islamic countries, where religion was once allowed to take control of politics, should serve as a good warning to us. These nations remained backward and largely undemocratic. There is little or no freedom of speech. Women are treated like properties. A voice of dissent is first declared blasphemy and then hushed up with extreme cruelty. The eminent leaders in Europe foresaw this grim future. They summoned all the forces they had to wrestle away the political control from the church, just in time.

Some people are of the opinion that it was the British who sowed the seeds of communalism into our land. Such things only came out of our efforts of denying our own diversity. The culture of ours was never a perfect monolith. There were divisions based on castes, creeds and even on linguistic levels.

To be perfectly honest, we were hardly ever united. The communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims became more pronounced during the Mughal era. The British were mostly indifferent of these things as long as they didn’t interfere with the administration.

The British followed a policy of divide and rule, but in India it was never difficult to divide. There were Hindu-Muslim riots every now and then and that suited the British fine as long as there was no threat to their empire.

After the Independence, the communal politics only turned more intense. The more conspicuous it became, the more we threw ourselves in denial. Pt. Nehru knew that the real threat to India’s secular democracy would be the resurgence of fundamentalism among Hindus who formed more than 80 percent of the population. He was able to oppose it as long as he lived.

... when Dr. Rajendra Prasad agreed to inaugurate the newly rebuilt temple at Somnath, Nehru sent a strong note protesting that the President of a secular State had no business to involve himself in religious matters.

Nehru never encouraged sants, mullahs or priests to enter into mainstream politics. The post-Nehruvian politicians were not so scrupulous.

The slide began with his daughter Indira Gandhi. With her, people like Dhirendra Brahmachari became formidable figures. Astrologers and tantrics were included in decision-making circles.

Today we blame organizations like Vishwa Hindu Parisad, RSS, Bajrang Dal, Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena for radicalising our youths. But the so called ‘secular’ Congress missed no opportunities to exploit the communalism in Indian politics. These leaders were never interested in nation building. These politicians ensured that Muslims and Dalits remained poor and uneducated so that they may be fooled and used conveniently when it suited them.

Khushwant Singh, a witness to several major incidents in history, had been a reliable narrator. In his book The End of India he remembers the Partition, the Gujrat riot and the assassination of Indira Gandhi. All these were blots of shame in our history with some communal colours attached to each of them. During Partition innocent bloods have been spilled on both sides of the border. In his book, Terrorism: History and Facts in the Worldand in India, N. S. Saksena, a retired Director General of Police, wrote about the anti-Sikh riots that broke out after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Most of these riots were led by Congress leaders. ‘The police in Delhi, Kanpur, Gaziabad, etc,’ he said, ‘was under the impression that anti-Sikh riots had the approval of the government.’

Ninety-nine percent of the accused charged with these unbailable offences were released on bail and they terrorized relatives of the very people they killed and molested from giving evidence against them.

Saksena, in his book, remarks, ‘terrorism has largely been a public sector enterprise.’ Instead of condemning it, the then prime minister commented, ‘When a big tree falls, the earth about it shakes’ referring to the assassination of Indira Gandhi. In the election campaign that followed its posters came with rhetoric of hatred – ‘Do you feel safe in a taxi driven by a member of another community?’ The reference to Sikhs was unmistakable. In Amethi the slogan that the Congress party chanted was: Beti hai Sardar ki, qaum hai ghaddar ki – she is the daughter of a Sikh, she belongs to a community of traitors. This referred to Rajiv’s Sikh sister-in-law Maneka. Surprisingly, this anti-Sikh sentiment actually worked for them. The Congress Party had a landslide victory.

So, when BJP took over the political climate was already communally charged. The Congress had been immensely successful in estranging Muslims from the mainstream society. They have closed their minds and withdrew into their social ghettos, just like a tortoise withdrawing into its shell.

We did not do enough after 1947 to rehabilitate them in the national mainstream. The non-Muslim has always had it deeply embedded in his mind that Muslims are bigots, fanatics and treacherous.

Khushwant Singh observed, ‘All our heroes were non-Muslims who had fought Muslims.’ Even Akbar was a token figure in our text books. The gist of these texts was modified to suit the need of our leaders. All that the Muslims rulers ever did, we were told, was to desecrate our temples and to impose humiliating taxes on non-Muslims. Our nation was already rife with such prejudices that the Hindutva elements capitalised to their political needs. In fact, they took a policy akin to that of the British, to rule over us. This helped the fundamentalists to sell their lies to us. This also helped them to distract us from more important socio-economic problems that they miserably failed to solve. They were also quick to place the ‘anti-national’, ‘communist’, and ‘pseudo-secular’ tag to anyone who protested. This was quite a popular method among politicians to mobilise public support. Any violence therefore is justified as long it is buttressed by the state and the majority of its people. This sentiment was so strong that under its influence we could conveniently ignore the facts and figures that went against our beliefs.

Judge Madon’s report, delivered after the Bhiwandi riots when the Congress was in power at the Centre and in Maharashtra. Although the Muslims were the victims (of 121 killed, well over 100 were Muslims; of the property destroyed or looted, ninety percent belonged to the Muslims), the vast majority of those arrested were Muslims.

During this time even the Maharashtra police showed pro-Hindu bias as they beat Muslims prisoners and deprived them of food and water. Even in the Home Ministry circular that comprised of instructions on how to deal with communal riots, the assumption was that it was the Muslims who were behind the riots.

The rapidly increasing number of uneducated and unemployed youths, observed Khushwant Singh, adds to the problem. In absence of sense of direction, they are easily caught up in the wave of propagandas, communalism and hatred. It is important to understand that we, the Hindus are as foreigners as the Muslims. It is the adivasis who are actually the indigenous people of India. Them, we have successfully pushed towards extinction. We, the disillusioned and dissatisfied lots, are made to believe that it is the ‘other’ people and not our incompetent leaders behind all this. The media had been playing crucial role by continuously thumping the common man with propaganda materials. Today they serve no other purpose than to put the clock of scientific progress backwards.

Khushwant Singh in his book, The End of India, painted a portrait of India that we have been pushing into our subconscious mind with a pious denial. The future indeed looks grim. The freedom of speech curtailed, the words ‘Hindutva’ and ‘Nationalism’ becoming synonymous, mobs lynching men with impunity, and the state and its legal machinery playing the roles of mute spectators – all these indicate in which direction the nation is moving. Khushwant Singh, an author whom we greatly respected for his uncompromising honesty, minces no words to predict the fate. And I couldn’t help but agree with him. It probably is the beginning of The End of India.

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January 26, 2018

True Crime Bookshelf

Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution by T. J. English

ISIS Sex Slavery: Interviews with the Sex Slaves and War Brides of ISIS Militants by Nicolas Lucont

Killers: The Most Barbaric Murderers of Our Time by Nigel Cawthrone

The Girls of Murder City – Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry

Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of Informers by J. Dey

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The Girls of Murder City Beautiful Killers Douglas Perry

Book Review of The Girls of Murder City Fame, Lust and Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry

The Girls of Murder City – Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry is about the infamous and widely debated trials of some of the inmates of Cook County Jail and the Tribune reporter who covered the stories. Before we move to the core of this book let me tell you a bit about the backdrop. In 1920, thorough a Constitutional Amendment, women’s right to vote was nationally acknowledged. It came as a result of a nation-wide suffrage movement that went on for more than a century. So 20s was a decade of asserting rights, of freedom. The nation was still vibrating in post-suffragist thrill. It was just the beginning of a big change.

However, there was also a sudden rise in number of inmates in what was called the Murderess’ Row of Cook County Jail. Katherine Baluk, Belva Gaertner, and most important of all Beulah May Annan – they were the most discussed personalities in newspapers. Katherine Malm or Kitty and his boyfriend, in an attempt to robbery had shot a security guard. Belva Gaertner, then thirty-eight years old, double-divorcee and the ex-wife of millionaire William Gaertner, had shot her boyfriend in her own sedan. Beulah, who mesmerised the entire Chicago with her ethereal beauty, had shot her lover in her apartment when her husband Al was at work.

Some started hinting that women were overwhelmed by their newfound freedom. There were too many things to do. Too many choices. The law dealt with the accused with Victorian gallantry. It became a rare thing to punish a woman unless she’s unattractive or black. The jury that consisted entirely of men frequently gave verdict that resulted in acquittal of defendants. This happened particularly when the defendants were pretty and there was already a public opinion in their favour.

Times may have been changing, but the Victorian feminine ideal still loomed large in the typical juryman’s psyche. He couldn’t help but be disposed toward demure ladies with pretty figures and good pedigrees.

The newspapers, overzealous and competitive, published stories loaded with prejudice that often shaped the public opinion and even the verdict. Court proceedings were turned into farcical performances, while justice took a backseat.

But things didn’t go as smoothly for poor, uneducated girls like Kitty Malm. The newspapers roared with disapproval of her character. She was labelled physically and mentally contaminated. Even the social activist Belle Moskowitz declared that Kitty was beyond the bounds of salvation. She had neither the charms of Beulah, nor the styles of Belva.

Katherine was given a life sentence.

And it came as no shock. However, this raised an important question,

Was everything different now because of Katherine Malm? Were juries now willing to convict women of murder, after years of refusing to do so?

The state’s attorney’s office answered in affirmative. From now on murderous women would receive the same treatment as men did. But as we read along, we find that it’s far from the truth. As for the public opinion, little had actually changed. The newspapers told their readers,

A woman prone to crime and violence had a “broad nose and cheekbones, full chin and lips, contracted upper frontal skull development and prominent bulging development of the forehead just over the eyes and nose.

That is, in simpler words, women who aren’t attractive or at least classy are more likely to have a criminal mindset. In a state where people are bombarded with that kind of information, little sympathy can be expected for the likes of Kitty Malm or Sabella Nitti. After all they were not like ordinary, decent women.

Meanwhile, Murderess’ Row got its new member, Beulah Annan a perfect personification of beauty. The thin straight nose, the high cheekbones, the gorgeous red hair – indeed, she was the prettiest murderess of Cook County. And she seemed to be aware of it too. She didn’t miss an opportunity to pose for the news photographers. She was showered with fan mails and flowers. The world went crazy about her.

Time and again Beulah Annan was described as if she were a work of art: her hair was not simply red but “Titian,” her coy smile that of a “Sphinx” withholding a thrilling riddle.

She attracted everyone towards her. Even the male reporters loaded their opinion in her favour. The Post called her a butterfly on a wheel. A damsel in distress, she seemed to have gained a lot of public sympathy over a very brief period of time. But would it wash out the blood from her hands? Would her beauty be a deciding factor in the verdict? The evidences were against her. In her final statement she claimed she killed in self-defence. But how Harry, who had approached her with intent of assault, took the bullet on his back? On one side there were incriminating evidences against her. On the other, were her beauty and charm. What would the jury say? The answers are all in The Girls of Murder City – Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry. Fate of some other inmates like Belva Gaertner and Sabella Nitti, would be revealed.

Although the title of the book may make you think otherwise, the focal point of The Girls of Murder City was Maurine Watkins, the reporter of Chicago Tribune. Before coming to Chicago she was a pupil in prestigious playwriting workshop of George Pierce Baker, a professor in the English department at Harvard University. Baker believed that newspaper work was excellent training for a writer. The case of Beulah Annan came as an assignment – her first real engagement as a crime reporter. With her experience of the trial, she would later write a play The Brave Little Women, that would later be renamed as Chicago.

The Brave Little Woman focused on the criminal-justice system, “sensation journalism,” and the stupidity of old-fashioned notions of chivalry in an era of pretty young women wielding guns and sex to get what they wanted.

In her play Beulah Annan became Roxie Hart, Belva became Velma. However in its movie adaptation a few things were changed. The main character Roxie Hart was depicted as innocent, thus it took away the essential humour from Maurine’s original play. Needless to say, Maurine wasn’t particularly pleased about it. Her satire questioned, for the first time, the legitimacy of having an all-male jury. The proposals were made on having women among the jury.

The book The Girls of Murder City Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago by Douglass Perry, however, raises an important question: whether a truly unbiased justice is possible? Today we have laws that set ethical standards, and a legal system to control the digressions. But doesn’t it ultimately come down to a human being judging another human being and meting out punishments based on that judgement? I believe we are not supposed to take into account age, sex or race but only the circumstances under which the crime has taken place. But every time we make a decision, don’t we make, as a basis to that decision, all our prior experiences, our individual morality and awareness?

This question, however, I leave upon the reader to decide and debate over.

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January 22, 2018

Krishna's Secret by Devdutt Pattanaik

Book Review of Krishna's Secret by Devdutt Pattanaik

Krishna’s Secret by Devdutt Pattanaik is actually extracted from 7 Secrets of Vishnu by the same author. The primary sources of life story of Krishna are the epics Bhagavata and Mahabharata. The former refers to his childhood whereas the latter mostly deal with his adulthood. These two when combined – says the author – create the purna-avatar, the most wholesome manifestation of God. There are various illustrations of Krishna and author’s interpretations are written on them. First of all, we have to remember that Krishna's Secret is no history book. There are no secrets revealed, and it tells you nothing that you don't know already. It is the gist of all the references that are available in our scriptures and epics, plus Devdutt Pattanaik's own explanations.

Krishna's Secret begins with Devdutt Pattanaik explaining the meaning of the word ‘Krishna’. Also how Krishna, as a Hindu God is different from other Hindu Gods is clarified. According to Hindu mythology, an ancestor of Krishna named Yayati was cursed for his lewdness to become old and impotent. During that time, there must have been a system of transferring such burdens to someone else - a tradition still followed in some of our Government offices. Yayati begs his sons to suffer the curse on his behalf. Yadu the eldest son saw through his father’s schemes and bluntly refused. The youngest son Puru, however agrees. This gives promiscuous Yayati immeasurable joy. He blesses Puru heartily. Yayati declares Puru his heir and continues with his wantonness. Krishna was a descendant of Yadu. Though kingship was right under his nose, it was fairly unachievable. The throne passes on to Puru’s descendants, the Pandavas and Kauravas.

The author reproduces the origin and life story of Krishna that we’ve probably read in thousand places, with thousands of different interpretations and told and retold to us by the grandmas and grandpas a zillion times. But none of those stories came with the disclaimer – Mythologies are not to be taken literally. Neither does this book. According to the author every miraculous incident is symbolic. Even Krishna’s multiplying himself to make love with all his wives at the same time is symbolic and not improbable. With this clever mechanism the book steers clear of controversies.

When Pandavas, having lost at gambling, were sent to exile for thirteen years, Krishna asked them to leave. They had given words, he says, so they have to keep it. The same Krishna thinks Bhishma was punishable as the latter stayed loyal to his words all his life. When Draupadi was being disrobed before the elders, nobody came to save their daughter-in-law and Krishna aptly disapproves of it. But when Karna decided to keep his word of honor and joined Duryadhona in battle, Krishna concluded, he deserved punishment. All these contradictions were addressed and justified in this book.

Krishna knew it beforehand that Ashwatthama would attack the Pandava’s camp at night and would kill all the five children of Draupadi. Krishna knew it BECAUSE HE WAS A GOD, yet he did nothing to prevent it, because he wanted to Pandavas to learn that there’s a consequence of every war. Since Krishna himself motivated them to fight this war, the conclusion is somewhat like this: God punishes us for following God’s instructions of punishing those who don’t follow God’s instructions.

In the final chapter of the Mahabharata, Yudhishtira finds the Kauravas – that is the dead Kauravas – in heaven. He naturally freaks out and asks,

‘How can they – the cause of so much suffering – be given a place in heaven?’

To which Krishna rebukes him and says,

‘You killed them in battle and ruled their lands and still you hate them? You claim to have renounced the world but you have not renounced your rage. How then can you stake a claim to heaven?’

That is the typical case of a teacher who, in her embarrassment of not knowing the answer of a certain question, retorts and admonishes the pupil for making a nuisance of himself. However, I am sure the ardent believers of mythologies will come up with a thousand or more justifications for Yudhishtira’s question and also an explanation for Krishna evasiveness.

It becomes evident that Devdutt Pattanaik had done a thorough research on this. He had minutely observed all the traditions and rituals to their cores. In the subject of mythology his knowledge is encyclopedic. The compactness of Krishna’s Secret is notable. But that is just one of his fortes. Nothing – not even a single word – mentioned in this book is irrelevant. Also it is written in a style that makes it feel like one’s reading one of those fascinating book of fiction. All the painstaking research work is cloaked in his remarkable style of story-telling.

January 21, 2018

Religion Bookshelf

Atheism: Why God Does Not Exist, Atheism Explained by Dan Steel
E. V. Ramaswamy Periyar: Philosophy and Ideals
Krishna's Secret by Devdutt Pattanaik
The Anatomy of Hate by Revati Laul
Reiki: Faith Healing or Science - A Study

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Atheism Why God Does Not Exist by Dan Steel

Book Review of Atheism Why God Does Not Exist Atheism Explained by Dan Steel

Why God Does Not Exist by Dan Steel isn’t a book to promote Atheism. Its purpose is not to shatter your faith and turn you into an atheist overnight. Atheism: Why God Does Not Exist by Dan Steel explains the common myths and misconceptions on Atheism also explaining the fallacy of faith. Some people are of the opinion that Atheists are Satan-worshippers. Some believe they are foul-mouthed people who never leave a chance to criticise God. Some even believe that Atheists are depressed sort of people who have a negative evaluation of anything and everything. The aim of this book is to dispel those myths and to place before you Atheism as it actually is. Some are of the opinion, remarks Dan Steel, that Atheism is itself a belief. Well, it’s not. It’s rather an absence of belief, a refusal to take anything for granted as long as some hard evidence proves it otherwise. The existence of God is just one among the various issues that are widely debated among atheists. Whereas theists may believe that anything, even a miracle is possible if one has faith, the atheists argue that this notion is not practical. The basis of any religion is faith, whereas the foundation of atheism is logic.

In his book Atheism: Why God Does Not Exist, Dan Steel explains how in his childhood he started praying. He did it mostly because everyone else did it. Most of us grew up in the same way, learning about God from others, believing in our religion because the society around us disapproved not doing so. We adhered to the tradition without asking questions. However, gradually as we grow into adults we begin to notice the discrepancies. We are asked to pray and were told that our ‘earnest’ prayers will always be answered. But the hole in this argument was in the word ‘earnest’. How can you define earnestness? Can you measure earnestness by any known scale? Does it depend on for how long you pray? Or, does it depend on the strength of words in your prayer?

When we pray for a sick person and the person dies, it leaves us in doubt. We ask the believers, and they justify it by saying that perhaps our prayers were not earnest enough and blame it all on our lack of faith. Sometimes when all logic seem unconvincing, they simply say that the deceased is now in safe hands and that God will take care of him. Atheists find this method of explanation hollow.

They ultimately believe the events that happen to them in their lives are random and that there is no divine purpose in their own life.

Dan Steel also explains various types of atheists – the agnostics, the activists etc. It is not that atheists are not open to the possibility of God’s existence. It’s just that there’s not enough evidence to prove it. For this the theists may argue that just because there’s no evidence to prove it, doesn’t conclude that it is not true. It is same as saying – ‘There is no proof that life forms does not exist in Mars, therefore there is life in Mars’. It is hard to believe that such vapid logic are still presented in debates.

Some raise the question of morality, which they believe is an essential ingredient of religion. It is hardly necessary to provide logic against that, because the daily newspapers give ample examples to refute it. Even the pages of history are bloodied with so many wars fought over religion. You’ll hardly find a religion that doesn’t have blood in its hands. Some religious leaders argue that the words of atheists incite riots. But even a quick analysis of the incidents will prove otherwise. There was a recent incident where in a certain area where Hindus were in majority, all the mosques were asked to paint their outer walls with saffron. Did atheists do the bullying? No, theists did.

To the atheists, morality should come from within and not from intimidation of God. The key to morality is empathy, and religion isn’t at all necessary for that.

After all, we all know that killing, assaulting, stealing and raping is wrong. You don’t need to join a church to figure these things out.

Apart from persecuting atheists and infidels there are other harms caused by religion. Though it is pretty hard to swallow but there still are people who believe God will save them when they fall sick. They even react to their children’s illness with same callousness. Atheists are driven mainly by common sense and a general awareness of things going on around them. If you fall sick, you need to see a doctor. An atheist’s logic is as simple as that.

Atheism: Why God Does Not Exist, Atheism Explained by Dan Steel is a good book and one can learn a lot from it, provided one is willing to put aside one’s religious and political prejudices while reading it. I have not read a book that so briefly yet conclusively puts down all the fundamentals of atheism. Even as a casual reader you’ll enjoy the method of logic employed to explain most of the issues that are debated by atheists.