Book Review - The Word for the World is Forest

 

The Word for the World is Forest

By Ursulla LeGuinn

A short novel. Ursulla LeGuin writes a story on a new planetary colonization by humans. This new planet, New Tahiti, is 27 years away from Earth. This new planet has a human-like folks who have learnt to live in harmony with nature. They do not kill each other, and when they get angry, they sing. Societies are ruled by woman because they excel in politics while men excel in intellect. The best part is that they can dream while being awake and there is something called dream-time and real-time. They are surrounded by trees and in their language, the term used to describe the world is 'forest'

LeGuin's takes us into this world where such abstract concepts and imagery is brought to light in an easing manner. I wanted to visit this place, learn how to dream while being awake, live among these people for a while. They were content folks. Until the colonizers came. 

The colonizers are cliche-like brutal except one person who is a do-gooder. Earth beings, or yumens, as they are called by the natives, are cruel to the natives, use them as slaves and hunt them for pleasure. Classic tropes are done to create this duality of good vs evil. I am more familiar with this trope from the movie Avatar but as it usually is, Ursulla did it first :) 

It is a good over evil story, so native species win. In that manner, it is a positive ending. But along the way, they learn something from humans - the ability to kill each other. LeGuin leaves the question hanging on how this would change them but hints it enough that it will change them. 

Overall, a short and good read. 3.5/5

We made a beautiful bouquet - Breaking down the romantic movie genre

 We made a beautiful bouquet - Movie review

What makes a really good romantic movie? 

Yes, it is a generic question and there are many aspects but there is one which is undisputed. There are a lot of romantic movies our there - Netflix is now the new Hallmark (unpopular opinion of yours truly) with a lot of mushy mushy shows,  there is classic romcom genre, there is teenage first-love romance trope, and there is the Bollywood style urban-rich trope with some parental issues etc. These are all one-time watchable but you do not care for them after watching. You do not remember their names or anything later, like episodes of Law and Order :)

In past, as part of Silver Linings Playbook review, I wrote that how romantic films have to go into niche spaces to make it truly work and stand out.  Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind is just genius to the power of infinity, a movie which is my all time best yet I have never written about it because it is that great, yet it is a romantic movie at its core. Perhaps the best that ever will be :)

While romantic movies made with niche genres are really awesome, the traditional and classic romantic films are hugely enjoyable when done well. I am talking about You've got mail, Sleepless in Seattle kind.  The familiarity of the structure, execution done well, good actors are needed but it is so rare to find. When was the last time you watched a traditional romantic movie and said - I love it. Think about it. 

At-least for me it has been ages. This made me thinking - why most of these are forgotten the next day?  aka what makes a good romantic film? 

And I found my answer in We made a beautiful bouquet - a cute Japanese film (saw this part of Japanese film festival Bangalore, 2023) with a highly classic traditional romcom structure. And I loved it. Just adored it . And wondered, why are there no more movies like this one? 

As I was thinking, the answer came to me - a really good romantic film is when the audience, that is me, feels that the two people should be together. It does not matter if they see it or not but I see it, I feel it . If a movie is able to convince you, makes you care for them, then it is a really good film. It could be because they share the same interests - same books, same authors, same shoes, they discover each other by luck and their chemistry lights up the screen. I as an audience member is rooting for them to be together.  It then transforms into the sports movie where you are the underdog waiting for this relationship to happen against the conflict, whatever the film thinks of.  A great romantic movie convinces you of this underdog feeling.  

See the Before-* movies, absolutely convinced. We just can not fathom that they will not hook up after what we have seen. 

Once - Two gentle souls, chance discover each other on the streets of Dublin, their mutual interest in music, their collaboration leads to an awesome album. You just want them to be together and do more. This, their being in the studio, her on piano, him on guitar, that is the happy space. 

Most romantic films fail to do so. Take for example the insanely hit romantic film - Hum Aapke hain Koun and if I ask you - why do you think Madhuri and Salman's characters should be together? The movies has done zilch to make us root for them in terms of character development, other than just put the pieces in a way that we should care. Ditto goes for SRK/Kajol flick DDLJ - Yes, Simran is being forced into a bad relationship, anyone like Raj will be better but why should it be Raj only? Most Bolly films just tell you and then build things around it to fit this. It is for this reason, HAHK is totally unwatchable now as a movie, other than the pure nostalgia that it provides. 

We made a beautiful bouquet is that classic romantic film that I have not seen in a long time but I would rewatch it anyday. Beautifully acted. The title has the ending written in it - 'made' is a past tense verb. So, along the whole film, I was rooting to prove the title wrong. Yet, it is inevitable. It is painful in a good way - leaves an ache in the heart. The conflict is also not contrived - it is everyday life, it is money/job - means to sustain,  a job - not even a glamorous job but an average job. It is such a simple movie about everyday life that it transcends it. 

And then there is a scene that just fills my heart with joy. (Spoilers ahead) At the climax, you know that they are there to break-up. The beautiful bouquet is now going to wilt. The girl sees it more clearly, women often do so. We have heard the boy speak so far and we know it is not working. It is the turn of the girl to share her side. You know what she opens with  - it is a feeling that is there in almost all romantic movies which leads to a breakup but never uttered once. Not even in Before-* movies. It is so obvious. She says - Thank you! Five years in a relationship and she has gratitude for the good times. Mind blown.!  You accept this movie also with the same feeling - gratitude. Thank you for showing such a nice romantic film even though it has this ending that you told us about. Plus the movie takes the breakup too maturely - not only they remain friends but they stay together for 3 months after breakup so that she can find an apartment. They do rock-paper-scissors for their cat. (Yes, there has to be a cat in every Japanese movie.) 

It is my kind of movie. If there are other romantic movies, let them be like this one. 

It is 4/5 

Ted Lasso - Masterclass of Show Don't Tell

 Ted Lasso review

Ted Lasso - the three season, multiple Emmy winning, sports-show set in England with a US coach is a masterclass in Show-Don't-Tell writing. 

It is also so evident that even I can spot it  :) 

Take the above clip - the famous Roy Kent interview. If you have not seen it yet, go on and see it. Then read the comments. Then watch the video again and look at the camera close-ups. 

The context is simple - the captain of their team was given a red card earlier in the game because he went and argued with one of the spectators who had heckled him earlier. Now, Roy has been sent to give the post match press conference where he is asked this as the first question.  Roy's character is shown to be terrible in people interactions and in general avoids such questions. So, for him to be a coach, he has to learn this skill and put himself out there. This arc has been going on and as you can see in the scene, he volunteers to take this conference. 

In the press conference, this is the first question that is asked and he starts off like in his typical mode to swear and belittle the interviewer. But, the reporter follows through and asks the reason for such an action. Roy smirks, but then he realizes that it is not enough and there needs to be a decent answer here. Because the answer is simple  - it is none of his business. But that is the 'tell' without the 'show'. How do you 'show' something here?  Pause for a moment and think how would you explain 'none of your business' ? It is damn difficult. 

This is where Ted Lasso is a masterclass in writing. Roy sits straight and then pushes himself back, this is to get support and be comfortable, and then he gives a story to contextualize the answer. The story is the 'show', it has got nothing to do with the current incident except that it provides an analogy for folks to understand. The camera work is brilliant and when you have good actors, their expressions, act as subtle hints to land the story. See Rebecca, Keeley and the press-woman's closeups. They are there for a reason.  

This technique is used many times in the series. 

(Big Spoilter alert) Or this one where all Coach Beard wants to communicate to Nate is - I forgive you. But, see how he says it - 

Ted Lasso is not perfect. There are many things that do not go well. In Season 3, the Zava character was just bad. Total Football strategy in mid-season is fairy-tale impractical. Season 2 had those Christmas episode or Beard after hrs that just fell out of place. 

But, there are just many many things that work here. The whole show's constant banter on pop-culture. Example - Rupert Mannion says that he had dinner with friends and calls them the Slacklers (the Purdue Pharma guys) - it is just one way of building context that Rupert is pure evil . Onkly few people caught it but when you do, it is just pure class. And there are many. 

The other awesome bit about Ted Lasso is the use of puns - and they are just amazing. 

Example - 

Or this one -  I loved Once so much that I saw it twice  and more . There is so much here that there are groups called lassoism.com and TedLassoIsLife  

Ted Lasso personifies the American culture that I love. It it the Stephen Colbert of the Comedy Show Central, the Steve Carell correspondent in the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It is a light hearted show about some serious topics but done in a goofy manner that just lightens your heart. If shows gives you feelings then this is a show that just goes straight to the heart. Not heart warming but heart gratifying, heart soothing. I end this with perhaps is the best scene of the show - 

Good Omens - Book and TV Series Review

Good Omens
By Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Two words review - Its ineffable.

There is an angel and there is a demon, both assigned on Earth.  The world is going to end, an armageddon is coming. This war is the reason why the world was created. The god's army is preparing a war with the satan's army. Both sides believe they will win. This war will happen on Earth and will destroy the planet. And along with the angel's antique book store and all the Sushi. So will go the Queen's soundtrack and nice Bentley cars obsessed by our demon. Together, they decide to take matter on to their own hands and save Earth.

Goofy, hilarious and very very clever is what Good omens is. In the hands of two people who would become masters of world building and story craft in future from the time book was written,  Good Omens is a prescient foreboding of it all. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, living in different continents would exchange floppy drives with new passages thrown in between.  Good Omens is filled with insane creativity and imagination.

Crowley, our demon, is duty-bound to mess up humanity's existence. While other demons will tempt humans with greed or lust, our Crowley will architect a highway that will cause future traffic jams (and incalculable human pain) while it exists.  The demon is bit more fascinating than the angel, they always are for people like me.  This demon wears shades all the times, even while driving and especially during night, you know why? because it is cool.

The book of Job takes new meaning as the technical work documentation for jobs of angels and demons. Pages are riddles with hilarity, reminding so much of Hitchhiker's guide. The lens to view the world changes after reading this book.  Local surrounding actions can be deemed as the work of either Aziraphale or Crowley.

But at the heart of it all, there is a bit of bad-ass in our angel and our Crowley is also a wee bit do-gooder. In times of armageddon, it is their friendship that wins the hearts of everyone.  This armageddon itself was predicted down to its last detail in the prophecies of Agnes Nutter. There is also an anti-christ, a hellhound who takes the form of a dog whose name is also Dog. The four horseman are now riding bikes and one of them is replaced by a new sin, called Pollution, more suitable to our times. God Omens take known things around us and offers a never thought before Biblical angle that even God did not intend. For all it does, who knows, it may be part of God's plan :)

------

Good Omens TV series
Written by Neil Gaiman
with Michael Sheen as Aziraphale and David Tennant as Crowley

It is good that TV series was written by Gaiman himself. This protects the essence of the series. Gaiman understands this medium enough to tailor it. The story is timeless as ever, recent events since the time novel was published adds more flavor. Using Queen's songs as soundtrack provides an excellent background score, makes the book things more visceral. But the best part of the TV series is the casting of Aziraphale and Crowley as Michael Sheen and David Tennant respectively.

I would have watched this show for Michael Sheen even if everything else is removed. But David Tennant, as menacing as he was in Jessica Jones season one, is as Crowley as Crowley could ever be. Both David and Michael nail their respective characters and add more flavor to it.   While Aziraphale's expressions and style of delivery is definitely angel-like, David's walk and mannerisms like a drunk, rich, reveling in the use of modern conveniences and luxuries makes him a likeable devil. David Tennant portrays as if the Crowley was written for himself only.

This TV series is not the greatest ever but it is something that does enough justice to the book and more. Book is more rewarding but viewers of TV series will be content. TV series so far have not been able to do justice to bizarre hilarious books. Tragedy and violence is the primary medium of TV, it comes naturally with all the action and gore. Next to that, it is the drama with sombre mood building and nihilistic characters that is the recent phase. But goofiness and hilarity is difficult to portray. When TV does it in direct manners, the wit is lost and when it is under a symbolic gesture, people fail to grasp it.  Also, wit that comes from wordplay comes more alive in books that verbal utterance.

Take the scene where Crowley is threatening its plants to perform (that is grow fast and be green) else there will be consequences. It works, David pulls it off very well. But in the pages, it is peak hilarity. In the TV series it comes at an odd time, establishes some humor and goes. In the book, it is begins with a natural section, describing the Crowley's home where Hastur is about to come for him. It all seems connected.

But the TV series shines in characterization and soft expressions with the background of music. Michael Sheen must win an award for this.  Just look at this video -







-----
After the book and the series, there is one more things to be done. Find all other works of Gaiman and Pratchett and devour them

The Science of Well Being - A Summary

Course - The Science of Well Being (Link)
Teacher - Laurie Santos


NYTimes had this article on how a happiness course in Yale is the most popular course in campus and how it is available on coursera as well. Immediately, I was hooked. My motivation was not that I am unhappy but the following - 

• I wanted to understand what makes us happy. If there is a science behind it, I definitely wanted to know.
• If in the process of learning, I can become happier, then why not? 

With this, I immediately enrolled in the course and finished it last week. Overall, I think the course is very well structured and covers both theoretical aspects with practical activities to really make one happy. I will admit that I did not follow the practical activities (called rewirements) to the dot. However, although Dr. Santos claims that "Knowing is not half the battle", it is definitely non-zero and my attempts to get better on them continues on.  

The course is structured in two parts. Every week, we go over some of the theoretical aspects of the science. At the same time, there are exercises such as make more social connections, or meditate for 10 mins. These exercise are designed to bring us more happiness as there is enough evidence to suggest that they really do. In this post, I will summarize the theoretical aspects of this course. 

Warning - This will be a long post.

--------

What makes us happy? (or  Misconceptions about happiness)

This is a good question to begin this exercise. Here are some common responses and before starting the course, I would also agree to few of them 

• Good Job
• Money
• True Love
• Awesome stuff (car, big tv etc)
• Good Body
• Perfect grades (for those in school/college)

But in reality, none of the above actually makes us happy. There are studies that have shown over and over that we believe that the above make us happy but actually they do not. 

The only exception is money. Money in the initial phase does make us happy, as in, there is a threshold. If your money increases towards that threshold, it indeed gives us happiness but beyond that any increase in money does not increase in happiness.  This threshold exists to take care of our existential needs, better health care, access to clean water, air, house etc.  But once we start earning more than threshold and even if we continue to increase our earning, it makes no difference in our happiness. 

Summary - We are putting our efforts in wrong things, we are prioritizing misleading goals. We believe that such things will make us happy but they do not. 

Reference reading - The How of happiness by Sonja Lyubomomirsky

Why we prioritize wrong happiness goals? Why are our expectations so bad?

This is a very good question as we truly believed that good jobs, money, good body will bring us happiness but they do not. Why is that? The answer lies in Miswanting.

Miswanting - This act of being mistaken about what and how much you're going to like these things in the future.

(Term coined by Tim Wilson and Dan Gilbert)

To really understand miswanting, we need to understand that our mind has certain annoying features. These features distract us from prioritizing things correctly. They mislead us to what will make us happy. 

Annoying feature #1 - Mind's strongest intuitions are often totally wrong.

There are various visual illusions out there, example Muller-Lyer illusion and Shepard tables, where mind tricks us to believe that what is opposite of the real thing. We do not realize because our mind's convictions are really strong about these. 

Annoying feature #2 - Minds do not think in terms of absolutes.

This is really important as our mind always think in comparative reference point.  

• Study - A nice study shows that for every rise of a dollar in income, our mind's perception on what is required to be happy goes up by 1.4$.  
• Study - Social Media : Facebook use leads to low self esteem. 
• Another experiment, two control options
• Option 1 - You get 50K$, others get 25K$ 
• Option 2 - You get 100k$, others get 250K
• 56% prefer option 1.
• Study - TV: TV makes you assume that average wealth of people around you is higher.  More TV watching leads to more happiness.
• Study - TV: Each extra hr of TV makes you spend 4$ higher more than average. 

Our minds are always comparing our worth with other people or other reference points. TV, social media makes these comparisons very easy. 

Annoying feature #3 - Our minds are built to get used to stuff 

Also known as Perceptual Adaptation or Hedonic Adaptation.

Hedonic adaptation - The process of getting accustomed to positive and /or to negative stimuli such that over time, we get used to it.

As we get better job, higher salaries, with time, once they stick around, it becomes the new normal. Our mind adapts to it.  Hence, they no longer give us the same feeling of happiness as we thought they would give us. 

Wonderful things wanes with repetition - Dan Gilbert

Annoying feature #4 - We don't realize that our minds are built to get used to stuff.

This is really the worse one because we don't even realize this self evident truth. When we strive towards a goal, we expect that once achieved, it will have a positive impact on our happiness.  But our minds suffer from Impact Bias, namely - 

• Intensity of impact: We overestimate the overall increase in happiness once we achieve the goal.
• Duration of impact: We overestimate how long will the impact lead to increase in happiness.

In addition,  more experience of impact bias, that is same event happening again and again, does not make it any better.  That is, our minds is blind to this bias and hence there is no learning either. Example, as our salaries improve, it does not mean that we become happier.  The fact that when it increased last time did not lead to increment in happiness does not make us any wiser, we strongly believe that this next increment will make us happier. 

What leads to this impact bias? 

Focalism - When we think about the event, we only focus on that event, but not everything else. This results in the bias.

Adaptability - Our brains are very adaptable. Hence, when events happen, say bad events, we tend to cope up with them. It is a human intrinsic quality.

Reference reading - Stumbling on Happiness by Dan Gilbert

How to get out of Hedonic adaptation? What are strategies to reset our expectations?

From last section, we realize that we need to prevent the mind from tricking us into miswanting. In this section, we discuss certain ways to thwart the Hedonic adaption.

1. Savoring - The act of stepping out of an experience to review and to appreciate it. 
2. Negative visualization - Visualize the scenario of what will happen if the goal is not met. How bad will it be? Yes, you will be upset for some time but it is not really the end of this world. Is the present really that bad? This helps break the mind out of the Hedonic adaptation.
3. Make this day your last day - This is not necessarily the last day of your life but let's say the last day of the present. Example - last day of this job. 
4. Gratitude - the quality of being thankful and a tendency to show appreciation of what one has. It has shown that merely writing down 5 things that one is grateful for once a week makes people happy.

Reference Point - Reference point is a salient and often irrelevant standard against which all subsequent information is compared.

Reference point impact our happiness as our brain is comparing our state to this point to deduce happiness. We do not realize how much impact this does on our happiness. We need to constantly recalibrate this point to realize our true happiness. 

• Concretely re-experience: Try to to back to a place (physically) where you were some time ago. Example - go back to a previous job's office. Remember your state when you where there and what your expectations were at that point of time. Compare this to present and how much it meant at that point of time.
• Concretely observe: Say, you want to visit a place or get to a point. Actually go and visit that place and see if really matches with your expectation. Grass is always greener on the other side. We think that it will make us very happy once we reach a place X but in reality, it may not be true. So, actually, trying out that X for some time calibrates this expectation.
• Avoid Social comparisons: This is more important in today's world than ever. There are few techniques to realize this - 
• Stop Technique - Whenever you realize that your mind is comparing to others, just tell yourself to stop it. One has to be little vigilant for this.
• Gratitude also helps a lot in stopping social comparison. If mind is in a state of gratitude, it does less comparison.
• Get rid of social media accounts :)
• Interrupt your consumption/comparison: When one listens to a favorite song in a loop, one starts to enjoy it less with every repetition. Same goes with favorite dish. If you like something, take it intermittently, give some gap between occurrences.  
• Interesting corollary to above point is that, if you do not like something, do all of it one go instead of in piece-meals. 
• Add variety to your consumption: Variety brings new experiences. Also, vary the time between your favorite activity, say having donuts. Make things dynamic.

What stuff really increase our happiness?

Primarily, we can divide the stuff into two categories - 

1. Better Wanting - Wanting the right parts of what we already want.
2. Wanting things that we do not want - could be both known or unknown to us.

Category 1: Better Wanting

#1 Signature Strengths - Get a job that make use of your signature strengths. 

Signature strengths are strengths that (a) you are really good at and (b) Recognized by others as well.

#2 Flow - Find things/activities/jobs that give you a Flow.

Flow - The mental state in which a person performing an activity fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment.

The main features of Flow are - 

• Challenging but attainable goals.
• Strong focussed concentration.
• Activity is intrinsically rewarding.
• Feeling of serenity.
• Loss of self conscious.
• Lack of any physical needs

How to achieve flow -

Flow is achieved when we set out to accomplish voluntarily that is difficult and worthwhile. Typically, it does not distinguish between leisure and work. Since it is voluntary, it takes both one and the same. 

Intrinsic motivation - Engaging in a behavior because you enjoy the activity itself. 

Extrinsic motivation can undermine intrinsic motivation Focus on grades (external) undermines learning (intrinsic). 

Activities that has intrinsic motivation helps with in achieving flow. 

#3 Growth mindset 

Growth Mindset - The belief that intelligence can be trained, basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.

As opposed to fixed mindset which says that intelligence and traits are fixed traits. In fixed mindset, difficult tasks do not lead to change with time. In growth mindset, performance increases over time. One can learn to get to a growth mindset. 

Category 2: Wanting the stuff that we don't realize

#1 Kindness

Opportunities to be more kind to others. Studies show that happy people are more motivated to be kind. Consequently, happy people also act more kindly towards others. 

#2 Social connection

Happy people have strong close friends, strong family ties, better romantic ties. How much time you spend alone vs with friends/family/lover. Happy people spend more time in socializing. 

Also, social connections works with strangers too. Random talks with strangers increase happiness.  In general act of being with somebody leads to happiness.

#3 Time Affluence

Time Affluence = Feeling like you have enough time for doing things that you would like to do. 

Prioritizing time over money makes people happier. We should invest in time affluence. 

#4 Mind Control

Mind rarely sticks on the task that we are working on. Known as mind wandering.  Wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Meditation helps in controlling mind wandering.  Studies show that meditation helps in making brain tissue. Meditation makes us happier.

#5 Healthy Practices

- Exercise

- Sleep

This is largely self explanatory. 

How to put strategies into practice?

How to focus our energies to increase Kindness, Social Connection, Time Affluence, Mind Control and Healthy Practices. 

Strategy - Situation Support

• Fix bad environment - Get rid of stuff that is tempting to you. Clean your workplace. Throw out the sugary stuff that you don't really need.
• Promote healthy environment - Have fruits visible and open. Have a social group to share positive things. Start a meditation group.

Strategy - Goal Setting

• Goal Specificity -  The degree of quantitative precision with which a goal is specified. Create goals that are very specific. 
• Goal Visualization - Visualize the end of the goal. Use mental contrasting. Mental contrasting = A visualization technique involving first thinking of a positive future outcome followed by thinking of obstacles. 
• Goal planning - Implementation intention = A self regulatory strategy in the form of an "if-then" plan that can lead to better goal attainment

Strategy -  WOOP = Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan 

• Wish - Think about your Wish. What is the most important wish in life for today/next 4 weeks/this year? Isolate one important wish. Search for it. What is it that I want?
• Outcome -  What is the best outcome if I fulfill my wish? Search for this best outcome. Imagine and experience this best outcome. 
• Obstacle - Potential Obstacles that can hamper your accomplishment of goal. What stops me from this experience? What is my main inner obstacle? Can be a bad habit, inner behavior etc. Imagine the obstacle, experience it
•  Plan - Your If/Then Plan.  Muscle memory actions. Once you identify the obstacle, what can I do to overcome the obstacle. Go to details of this obstacle and create a plan for this, when you get to that obstacle.

Why WOOP works - 

• Cognitive : Links the future with the obstacle. And then the obstacle with the plan to overcome the obstacle. WOOP allows to trigger these non-cognitive response. Recognizing the obstacle is very important. and plan makes the implicit obstacle to explicit, 
• Motivational : It creates motivation which drives energy. 
• Feedback : Negative feedback (when you are not able to work towards the outcome) is not a threat, it s a mechanism to identify more obstacles and then put into a plan

Do WOOP every morning - 5 minutes uninterrupted and you will start to see the difference over time. 

Reference reading - Rethinking positive thinking by Gabriele Oettingen

----------

The psychological triggers of happiness are very different than the materialistic aspirations that we have. The course first deconstructs these materialistic views which we believe will give us happiness but in reality it is the opposite. The soft aspects such as exercise, gratitude, meditation are the real triggers for happiness. Once told, it appears to be evident. 

The challenge lies in how we orient ourselves to optimize for these latent aspects. WOOP is one such framework for it. Fixing situations, setting right goals are all methods to achieve happiness. While knowing is not half the battle, atleast with knowing and acknowledging, one can take steps in the right direction. 

The above is a cheat sheet. I would recommend everyone to take the course and go over the process on their own. It is worth it. 

Book Review - A feast of vultures by Josy Joseph

A Feast of Vultures : The hidden business of democracy in India
By Josy Joseph


A Feast of Vultures is a brutal and honest reporting of not-so-hidden nexus between politics and business in India. The first chapter of A Feast of Vultures sets the tone for what is to come - a one man's struggle to get a road that will connect his village to the nearest highway. It is humiliating to be poor in this country. People are cold, rude, obnoxious, devoid of any human empathy in this country. The system works only if you know the right person and it requires money for the right person to do that work for you.

Josy Jospeh starts the book in a small village but soon moves on to bigger pastures. Be it defense or aviation industry, the structure is the same, the nexus is the same. In village it is the local MP/MLA/Panchayat, in center it is the main govt., Rajya Shabha MPs, cabinet ministers etc. There are fixers who will fix it when the price is right. There is a conflict of interest at every level but it is easily swept under the rug. The nexus is independent of which party is in power - be it at state level or at central level.

Josy spends its middle overs talking about the birth of aviation industry in India and how in pre-liberalization era worked, anything could have worked only if the business was in cahoots with the govt. There was hope that post-liberalization, it will be a level playing field. But the case is not only the opposite but the scale has gone bigger. The latter part of the book talks about the recent scandals such as the telecom one, coal scams, kingfisher airlines etc

This is a grim read. Not difficult one - the prose is very smooth. The writing flows and there are enough facts added to provide context. But this book sucks out the joy of life, crashes the dream of living in a country where honesty is rewarded. All morality lectures - all talk of dharma is just a facade to hide the underbelly. It took me over 4 months to finish this book. After I finished the first chapter, I did not pick it up for another month. I read the next two chapters in a week and then again went on a two week hiatus. The process continued until today when I had to finally finish before the year was over.

It is not that the book talks about something that is not known. But no one has told so boldly that the emperor has no clothes as this one. It is like watching the real world of matrix - dark, full of steel, machines and no trees, no nature, no sun. Yet it is a book that should be read, forwarded to friends, discussed over dinners. As Josy says, he wrote this books for the next generation. The least we can do is to ensure that we can make them aware of their country.

Finally, all that I can think of is that when there is a revolution in this country, one day, this book will be discussed on how we got here.

Books in 2018 - #1

2018 is going to be a year of books. At-least far higher than previous years. I had made a resolution to read about Indian authors / books about India. But that is not the only thing that I am going to read. Here is a brief summary about what I have read so far -


Miss Laila armed and Dangerous by Manu Joseph
Review here - http://arvindbatra.blogspot.com/2018/03/book-review-miss-laila-armed-and.html


Aap & Down by Mayank Gandhi
Review - A decent book to give a glimpse on what went behind the journey of AAP - both its rise and subsequnt downfall, as told from the first hand experience of Mayank Gandhi. I liked all Mayank explains the AAP chapter when it comes to dealing with Anna Hazare, and sums up his experiences of working with Anna before. This information is something that not everyone has been pricy to and is a delightful read.
However, I have many misgivings about Mayank's role in the AAP saga during its downfall. He should have spoken more eloquently and atleast resigned much earlier. Even in the book, those chapters needed more details, more information should have been made transparent. But it fails to do so. In addition, Mayank has some spiritual philosophies which are difficult to digest. However, given that Mayank is doing some wonderful work now in Parli, it is difficult to have any misgivings about him.
Overall, this is a fine book, written in easy English and is a good accompaniment for what may be the best political struggle of my time yet.



The Dreamers by Snigdha Poona
Review - A must read. The idea behind reading about Indian author or books about India is to know and learn about India up close. From the position of privilege that I have, from this bubble that I live in, it has often been hard to understand why India is behaving the way it is. Deep down, I like to believe that people are rational, sensible beings and they truly want what is the best for the nation. Yet, given that, the choices they make are sometimes difficult to rationalize with. 
The Dreamers by Snigdha Poonam goes to the heart of my conundrum by focussing on folks from all walks of life and trying to make sense of the idea of India through their aspirations. While at one end are individual stories, witty, delightful, full of interesting people and their colorful experiences, hard work and sometimes scary as well. But where the Dreamers shine is when Ms. Poonam is able to find the common emotion across these diverse narratives - that of challenging the status quo and an intrinsic nature to stand apart from your surrounding milieu and fighting very hard to win the respect of your local peers. This drive is the one that pulls India ahead and it is this drive due to which folks are able to look past the trashy environment and plow to build a secure and rich future for themselves.
I would highly recommend the chapter on Richa Singh - who for the first time became the President of University of Allahabad and the one which involves a Gau Rakshak.



Sahir Ludhianvi - The People's poet by Akshay Manwani
Review - My fascination with Sahir Ludhianvi's lyrics has been in the background for quite sometime. In numerous cases I had marvelled at the quality of lyrics of songs and upon research I had found that they were penned by Sahir saab. In addition, his zidd to have the name of lyricist announced on radio is something that i deeply respected. The newer radio stations do not follow this and I hate them for it. In March, I saw a play Ek Mulaqat featuring Deepti Naval and Shekhar Suman as Amirta Pritam and Sahir Ludhianvi respectively that touched about their stories. While the play was alright, the next day I had ordered this biography and I finished it during my Munnar trip.
On the biography itself, Manwani does a good job in covering the childhood and young days of Mr. Ludhianvi. It is his roots from his earlier days, his association with the leftist, the people's movement that has shaped Sahir views and his poems are mere reflection of his conscience. Manwani talks about his struggles and then the first breakthrough and from there on documents his journey. This journey documentation becomes little non-interesting as it is devoid of much anecdotes. Manwani shows glimpse of various eccentricities of Sahir, example - his fear of lifts but does not go into its manifestations. Sahir was also very arrogant and had taken fights with everyone, Manwani documents these instances but feels incomplete in certain ways. However, the first part of Sahir's life, his pre-Bombay life comes across very nicely in the book. 'Bada artist banoonga' - Sahir's claim to become successful and awareness that he is very good put against a backdrop of partition, bad father and a family to take care of. The other great part of the book is that it is filled with his lyrics along with their English translation. 
Definitely a good read for fans of Sahir Ludhianvi.


The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Review - I had always longed to read novels about people, the kind which are frequently adapted and made into movies such as Fault in Our Stars. But I have always been confused on which one to pick up. This dilemma was solved when Parul had recommended this book.  With this weird title, I thought to first check its reviews and was surprised that it was loved so much. So, I immediately picked it up, ahead of my this year's reading list.
TGLPPPS is worthy of all its praise and probably more. It is truly a delightful read, written with wittiness and a tone of utmost candidness and genuine caring and warmth. Set in post-world war II UK, it is a story of an author living in London where half of the city is in ruins. She starts to communicate with residents of a island under the United Kingdom which was under the German occupation, these residents had created the TGLPPPPS. Narration unfolds in the form of letters that flow from its characters. In the backdrop of a literary society, casualties of a world war, an island with beautiful landscape, it is an unlikely love story but very fulfilling read.
I highly recommend this book, infact I have already gifted three copies of this book,


Foundation 2 & Foundation 3 by Asimov
What a joy to have finished the ultimate Sci-fi series of all time. I would rate Foundation 1 > Foundation 3 > Foundation 2. I did not like that much of Mule storylines. Also, Foundation 3 ending finale reveal felt forced as well but other than that, books are awesome to read. Truly inspirational in their scope from beginning, what I loved about these books is that Asimov continues to add mysteries and unravels them masterfully in subsequent chapters. With such a premise, the options are numerous and many will not work. It is truly Asimov's skill that he binds these instance in a coherent manner while keeping the literary thrills intact.


Its been 7 books so far and one that is 65% over. More about that one in next edition.

Book Review - Miss Laila Armed and Dangerous

Manu Joseph's Miss Laila Armed and Dangerous punches way over its height and only because of its author's ingenuity, it is able to hit more than miss.

MLAD has three sets of action unfolding in parallel. In the first, it is a straightforward case of Miss Akhila Iyer, a journalist lands up at the debris of a collapsed building due to an earthquake. As actions unfold, she becomes a primary messenger between an man stuck under the debris and the army outside. This man becomes a crucial person of interest as he mumbles about a terrorist plot and sets a sequence of events which includes national security advisors, a sangh like organization with no actual official position but a lot of political capita and finally a Damodhar Bhai, a fictional take on you-know-who.

The second set piece is the actual Miss Laila a muslim person suspected of a terrorist plot being chased by officers from a fictional IB unit. MLAD switches between the story lines of Miss Laila and the police officers trying to capture her along with his male colleague, also a suspect.

The third arc of the book, unarguably the best part, is the part where Manu takes down both the right wing and left wing individuals and ideologies. Under the guise of giving background to Miss Iyer, we see her taking down of top left leaning individuals such as Arundhuti Roy. How Feminist Men Have Sex - is a video of Miss Iyer, where in he brutally takes down the pseudo liberal thought.

Timing-wise, Manu places this action right after the victory of DaMo, and then fills various chapters on what it means for the country through various characters. This becomes his canvas to poke fun at the right ideology - from Koran burning lawyers to Gau rakshaks.

Frankly, the first and second story lines exist just just because Manu wanted to have that fictional cloak to unwrap the intellectual sham that exists around us. The fiction exists just to provide the existential cover for his inner frustrations of the present political milieu. Following Manu on Twitter and through his recent articles, you can see that these are truly his views and not a stab at fiction. And when Manu vents, it is his usual no-holds-barred takedown.


What also makes MLAD a treat to read is that Manu packs some of his amazing observational wit in his writing as well. For example read this para -

Or consider this one - The legends of men are the proof that they overestimate the beauty of their own lies.  MLAD is filled with such rich nuanced nuggets that it is a page turner not from a story point of view but to get to the next nugget.


MLAD is definitely a one time read but to make it worthy of your time, spend some time to know more about the author. It is definitely an extension to his non-fiction articles. It is also becomes a challenge because at many places Manu's ideology and mine are at odds but what makes him so good is that many a times, he definitely asks the right questions and sometimes is also able to change my position in the process.

Book review: Cuckold

Everyone knows about Mirabai. You read the word Mirabai and automatically mind conjures this image - a lady wearing white sari, holding a tanpura in one hand, and singing devotional love songs all day, all night in praise of her lover - Lord Krishna. Mira's bhajans are widely popular, i think even my parents owned a cassette back in the days. The thing about Mirabai is that she is not a mythical character from some mythological story, she really existed sometime in sixteenth century. But did you know that she was married and that her husband was none other than the prince of Mewar, first in line to get throne when the king retired. Kiran Nagarkar's Cuckold is a historical fiction book that describes life and times from this prince's perspective.

In terms of genre, historical fiction enjoys the same tingling feeling as is typical in magical realism. As in magical realism, it is difficult to distinguish the boundaries of magic and reality, likewise, Cuckold keeps us guessing between what really happened and where all the author has taken the liberty to make things up. The book opens up as the prince, Maharaj Kumar, is discussing town planning initiatives such as sewers, and sanitation facilities. Did the royal line in sixteenth century was indeed worrying about how shit flows? At one end i am glad that they did, but in the other end, is it fictional or is it real. George R R Martin in his yet to be finished epic series - A song of ice and fire wrote how royal servants talked about town planning including sewers. The fact that Kiran Nagarkar had also written about it, not only fascinated me, but made me proud.

Cuckold keeps us very close to this thin line of historical accuracy. Pages flip one after another. With such a raunchy title, the book is bold but it never stoops down to Fifty shades of grey level. Rather, Nagarkar is in complete control over its characters and for those like me, who are unfamiliar with out historical past, every bit comes off as believable.  Meerabai's character gets a human treatment which is a refreshing change from her saintly reputation. Cuckold shines in its depth of analysis of war tactics, information gathering networks using spies and political strategies.

Amidst all the battles and political stratagems, there lies the social conflict of what is a king supposed to do with his wife who herself acknowledges to have a lover and her lover is none other than God himself. When seen from a distance, it is a social farce of Shakesperian proportions. Nagarkar bends this to his advantage by discussing its political and social ramifications.  Later, Nagarkar adds more flavors as he imagines relationship between Meerabai and Maharaj Kumar's second wife.

Cuckold won the Sahitya Akademi award in its year of publication and deservedly so. It is one of the finest books that i have read by an Indian who is still living in India. (The last clause was added to rule out Rushdie ) . However, having read GRRM and having briefly touched upon Hillary Mantel's works, it does seem that one book may not be an enough. India is so ripe for historical fiction, or even historical non-ficiton for that matter. Even after the book ends, we are still left with a longing of what happened in the Babur era and what preceded the Maharaja Sangha era. Maybe Baburnama has some answers.

TV Series Review: The Wire

I would have never read To the Lighthouse beyond 30 pages or Catcher in the Rye beyond 20. I would have not sat through Goddard's films or American History X beyond its opening sequence. Along the same lines, I would have never finished Homer's Odyssey or Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali,.  There are some things you do because people tell that it is worth doing so. People vouch their sanity, sometimes even their existence to such works. The Wire is one such instance. In the medium of TV series, it stands  at the peak.


It takes time to warm up to the Wire. The first three minutes of the very first episode did not made any sense to me. But I went back to it after finishing the first season and  realized how it was just a cog in one giant wheel.  It even gets time to get used to various subtle accents. I preferred watching with subtitles on. But once you get the hang of the show, understand what it is trying to say, then what comes off is a magic. The same feeling that you get after reading through the first 40 pages of To The Lighthouse.  The writing flows. Stream of consciousness flows through you. You are eager to learn the next train of thought or imagination. You dig it. With The Wire, it is about 4-5 episodes. Interestingly, when The Wire asked critics to review episodes, it did not sent then one episode at a time, as it was the norm, they sent the entire season.

Once in a dinner conversation, a friend of a friend remarked that The Wire is discussed as a Homerian Odyssey work. Having read Odyssey, I had wondered how it would compare. I would still agree that the comparison is still a stretch but The Wire, with its grandiose scale and imagination,  has come the closest to its goal.


What is The Wire?
The Wire is a realistic portrayal of dysfunctional life in the city of Baltimore. It is a nuanced analysis of a system gone wrong and how it effects different people. It highlights the majestic design built into the system that hides its ills under a carpet and how all of us are fooled by it. The first season focusses largely focusses on the interplay of cops and drug sellers. It shows hierarchy in both the systems and it takes time to realize that the drug lords are much more organized than Police Commissioners and Majors. It is not that cops are good and drug sellers are bad. Cops beat people unnecessarily, they lie, sometimes steal and for the most part are not willing to do their jobs. And how can you hate drug sellers who are mostly small early teenagers, hope to be doctors, pilots or whatever will make them rich and are kind to their own people. There is no right or wrong in The Wire. There is only fact. This is what happens. Judging characters in Wire is akin to judging ourselves, our society and it is highly disconcerting.

The second season expands its scope by going one step up on the ladder of drug distribution, aka drug sourcing. We now look at life of people in shipping docks who are involved in smuggling trade in to Baltimore. The docks are dying, running off technology that is decades old and realizing that their skills  are not required in the new world. The next generation of dock children are lost looking for a future for themselves. We go more into the personal lives of our cops, or the lack of it.

The beauty of Wire is that it keeps on introducing new characters and yet each one fits the system. Season 3 goes back to the streets where there is a new attempt to legalize drugs in order to keep streets crime free. This season of The Wire starts going more into the political angles of the city, how police is controlled by corrupt mayors and how political players manipulate the system for their own good.

Many call the fourth season of The Wire as its greatest. One reason is that by third season, we are totally invested into this world,  we are comfortable being in it. We want to know what happens to our friends and what's new in store. The Wire does not disappoint. In the fourth season, The Wire takes on the education system by focussing on how our schools are failing. Reality is grim. It drains you all your energy by mere thinking about it. The system is fucked up that it is beyond anyone to set it straight. No one knows how to set is straight. And the worst part is that no one even wants to talk about it. Not David Simon. It is in this season that it hits us that this is the greatest strength of the wire. To take the ugly ,the broken, the untouchable and the untalkable and bring it into our living rooms, make it palatable although with huge gulps, to start conversations, to make us understand that the cocoon in which we live in is not the only world that is out there. Fourth season can be enjoyed on its own but to see it as a continuation of first, second and third season is something else. The paining which started on a handkerchief sized canvas is now covering the entire Berlin wall.

Fifth season extends on the fourth one by going into the dying print journalism industry. It has been called a very weak season but a David Simon blog post justifies the season. He writes that it is equally important to see what is not being said as it is to see what is been told. The meta takes a whole new meaning.


The Rage
The Wire is an outcome of a rage. The rage of David Simon. On perhaps the greatest country in this Earth, the system is so screwed up that it is beyond repair. If our civilization has to be collapse and thousands of years later if one has to study what led to its collapse, Wire will be one of the best sources to study. The channeling of this rage is evident in several characters. Several shades of rage come out sometimes in rants and sometimes in silences. Every episode starts with a line on an epigraph and each episode does feel like visiting yet another graveyard. With lines like "Maybe we won" and "Don't matter how many times you get burnt, you just keep doin' the same", there are shades of resignation and comedy.