Book Review: Between The Great Divide

Between The Great Divide - A Journey into Pakistan-Administered Kashmir
-- Anam Zakaria

As the title hints, the book has something to do with Kashmir, the very word that attracts attention of a lot of people in India and Pakistan, and also makes them take some or other side with or without enough rationale. Given the current state of affairs, some of them (irrespective of the side they take) may pounce on the author, just after reading the title itself. For many, there is no Pakistan-Administered Kashmir. It's Azad Kashmir for some, and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir for some. Similarly, there is no Indian-Administered Kashmir for some. It's Jammu and Kashmir state, which is part of India for some, and Indian-Occupied Kashmir for some. To avoid the confusion and controversy, the author, a Pakistani writer, spends the first few pages in clarifying the nomenclature. She would use only 2 names when the narration is by herself - There are 2 parts of Kashmir, Indian-Administered Kashmir and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir, which are on different sides of Line of Control(LoC). Rest of the names like Azad Kashmir, Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir will be used only if interviewees use them and will be put in quotes. 

The book presents apolitical perspective and the impact of Kashmir conflict on the lives of Kashmiris. It doesn't support the current view of incumbent governments (and their masters) on either side of LoC, blindly. The author traveled extensively in Pakistan-Administered Kashmir (except areas like Gilgit-Baltistan, which are restricted to even people from Pakistan and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir) and interviewed natives of that area and also people who crossed LoC from Indian-Administered Kashmir and settled on the other side. Some of the people who crossed the border were also active militants, who waged war against India.

The author's interviews bring out several interesting, thought provoking and sad tales of ordinary Kashmiris, whose decades of misery is just a collateral damage for 2 major military powers. Most of them have lived wretched lives themselves, and seen a couple of generations living similar lives. Though it's called a paradise by tourists world over, they have no access to proper education, infrastructure and healthcare. Frequent political changes on either side of LoC effect them directly, sometimes by restricting them to bunkers, often for several months at a stretch, just to keep them safe from shelling.

Pakistan considers that area as Independent Kashmir (Azad Kashmir), with an elected Government. But, it's hardly independent. A governing council from Pakistan oversees and can override anything. They don't even get the right share of their own  resources, like water and electricity produced from dams in that area. Author's interviews with local leaders in power bring out their limitations. Tacit and not-so-tacit support to militants under constant war with India make things worse (This passive and active support dates back to 1947). Civilian areas are not clearly demarcated and often see movement of infiltrators trying to cross LoC and get into Indian side. This leads to shelling from Indian side and lives restricted to bunkers. The natives even threatened once that they would hoist Indian flag, if they see militant movement close to their villages. It apparently worked for sometime.

The picture on the other side is not rosy either. The conflict got a complete religious hue, thanks to the concerted efforts by Pakistan. This made lives of Muslims on the Indian side harder. Some of them believed that the state on the other side is committed to their well-being. The attitude on the Indian side (both by the military and otherwise) only made their belief stronger. This led to a lot of LoC crossings and overcrowded refugee camps on the Pakistan side. With limited resources and lack of commitment from Pakistan, most of the refugee camps turned out to be dreaded ghettos. Initial cooperation and excitement by locals (to save people of their own religion) died down quickly, when their lives are impacted. 

With no political solution anywhere in sight, no one seems to have any hope for better days in the near future. 

Though the book doesn't suggest any solutions or advocate any of the prevalent ideologies, it gives a deep insight into Kashmir conflict and ground reality. People living totally different and comfortable lives, thousands of miles away, often express strong and emotional opinions, without being sympathetic to the people (and generations at it) whose lives are immediately effected by the outcome. Hope, the author's wish, to enlighten both Indians and Pakistanis about the lives of ignored stakeholders of the conflict, comes true!

Book Review: An Era of Darkness

An Era of Darkness
  -- Dr. Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor got the idea of this book, when his speech, in a debate at The Oxford Union (whether Britain owes reparations to her former colonies), became a sensation. The speech became so popular that honourable prime minister of India praised the author at Indian Parliament, though he belongs to the opposition party. It even created flutters in political circles that, the then invincible prime minister was sending signals, to lure him to switch his loyalties.

[The debate was, whether Britain needs to return some of its loot to her former colonies, that include India (It's funny that, even the word 'loot' itself entered into Oxford Dictionary from India). Representatives from Britain's former colonies argued that Britain does owe reparations, and some of the representatives from Britain argued against it. Some who were against it, accepted that there was a massive loot. But, they argued, the loot and the favours done by Britain to her colonies can never be quantified. So, reparations are not practical. Shashi Tharoor presented a powerful case for India, and ended his debate with a demand of just a symbolic 1 pound per year to be paid as reparations by Britain to India. Besides, he demanded a formal acceptance of wrongdoings by The Empire, the way Germany does for the Holocaust]

Apologists of The British Empire argue that, it contributed immensely to India in terms of political unification, infrastructure(railways), sowing seeds of democracy, social reforms, building strong army, industrialisation etc., The author tears down each of these claims, with facts and figures from his extensive research, and, of course, his inimitable debating style.

Let's look at political unification. I always had this question in my debates with my Hindu Nationalist, Hindutva Apologist and Chauvinist friends, "what do they mean by India, when they refer to the greatness of ancient India?". I couldn't find any reference to any dynasty/kingdom that ruled all of the current India, before 1947, in the last 3000 years. Emperor Ashoka of Maurya dynasty might have come close to it, some 2500 years back. But, even then, a large part of South India was not part of it (Cholas and Pandyas ruled it till Moghul and British invasion). Marathas ruled a large part of the current India, around 300 years back, just before the British rule. Again, majority of South India was out of it. So, I was of the opinion that, there can't be anything Indian that the whole country can claim, before 1947, in terms of ownership, knowledge, wealth etc., and 1947 Brexit was also the birth of India. But, the discussion about Indian GDP being 25% of the world's GDP, where as Britain's was around 5% or less, in 1700s, and how that attracted various European countries/companies, including East India Company, indicates that, though there was no political unification, there was this idea of India, long before the birth of modern India. That was a kind of eye-opener for me. About the British getting credit for political unification, the discussion on how partition was done, how princely states were given a choice to stay independent, and how a white man, who never visited India before, was given charge of drawing borders of India and Pakistan in 1947, throws right light on the British contribution to India's political unification.

Tall claims of the British about establishing Indian railways, for the sake of India's development, don't hold any water. Indian Railways was largely built for the transport of goods (raw material from India to Britain and products from Britain to Indian markets) and military. Apparently, per KM cost of building rail-road was the highest in India, compared to any other country at that time. This was part of the organised loot, to help the British companies. Passenger transport, that discriminated against the natives, was just an add-on. Author ends it with a simple argument, "a lot of countries built railways, without getting colonised". Period. Contribution of British Raj to industrialisation of India is no more visible than it is in the textiles. Before the entry of East India company, India's textiles were in high demand, world over. Company methodically destroyed the industry and converted India, to a mere supplier of raw material to the British manufacturers. The organised loot goes much beyond import/export from/to Britain. Heavy taxation, import of highly paid (from Indian coffers, of course) bureaucrats from Britain to govern India, handsome pension for the retired British officers, systematic destruction of one of the then best shipping industry etc., tilted the GDP balance the other way in 200 years. By the time the British left India, India' GDP went down from 25% of world GDP to a small single digit.

The British apathy and racism against Indians was evident throughout their rule. Particularly, when they were handling famines during their period, which caused starvation deaths in millions. Though India was self sufficient in terms of its agricultural production, disproportionate exports of food grains to Britain, its other colonies, and African and European conquests, left Indians starving. Instead of working on their management, they lamely quoted Malthusian Theory as escape. Unlike  the other European colonial powers, the British never mingled with Indians. They kept them at arm's length, even in the higher echelons. In their celebrated Indian Civil Service (which Nehru famously ridiculed as neither Indian, nor Civil, nor a Service), though they accepted some Indians, they limited them to a certain rank. Same goes with the judiciary.

In the last 70 years of Independence, India had overcome a large part of inheritance from the British Raj. One monster that still stands tall today, is the outcome of their Divide et Impera - Divide and Rule. The stark difference between Islamic dynasties and the British Raj is the loot. Though there are several muslim conquerors, who attacked India for its wealth, and looted India several times, their dynasties that ruled India severed their ties with their origins, sooner or later. Many married Rajputs and other Indians, and were born (many of them have Indian mothers), brought up and died in India. They built wealth, and kept it in India. Unlike them, the British never treated India on par with Britain. They imported bureaucrats, paid them well with Indian money, who retired with Indian pension in Britain. Despite that, the British managed to create more hatred in India towards their predecessors, than towards themselves. There was a lot of concerted effort behind that. In the large part of freedom struggle, Indians fought together and their religion took a backseat. In the last 30 years before 1947, Divide et Impera was used while enfranchising Indians and to break their unity, successfully. While Nehru was kept in jail for 3 years (close to 1947), Jinnah was given undue importance and free-hand (against the wishes of more popular Muslim leaders from Congress, who were against partition). The result is in front of us to see. Even after 70 years of Independence, a stupid politician can make an inflammatory comment, for/against a religion, to impress a large part of people that belong to one or the other religion.

The author did a great job of presenting hundreds of years of rule by East India Company and the British Raj, with hundreds of references for the interested to deep dive. The best thing about the book is, it's a good read, whether a reader aligns with the author's political affiliations or not. :-) 

Book Review: Homo Deus

Homo Deus - A Brief History of Tomorrow
- Yuval Noah Harari

The author concluded his Homo Sapiens (A Brief History of Mankind) with some grand questions like, whether humans have found their path to happiness, after millions of years of evolution, aided by agricultural, cognitive and scientific revolutions that shaped the world for several centuries. He continued his exploration of mankind in his next work - Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow.

Majority of the world has achieved food security, is equipped to contain/handle disease outbreak, has built political structures to reduce the probability of deaths due to wars. Historically, these 3 - famine, plague and war, had been the major troubling factors. Now, that man has handle over them, what would he go behind?

If we follow the general guiding principles for the kings/leaders, divine revelations ruled the world for some time, followed by several isms like Capitalism, Communism, Liberalism etc., In the times, when divine revelations were considered to be supreme, man and his personal choices were not at the centre. In the recent times, humanism has kept man, an individual, routinely at the centre. There is also an underlying assumption that, this individual has free-will, and is capable of choosing the right things. But, advancements in neurological studies question such assumptions. They also demonstrate that a man is not, after all, an individual. One has multiple selves inside. The experiencing self is often different from the narrating self. And, they can be manipulated through some orchestration.

Scientists also claim that everything that happens in humans is more or less a biochemical /electrical reaction. Though Human Consciousness is still out of reach of science & technology, Human Intelligence is not. Artificial Intelligence is faring better than humans in several fields, sans consciousness. Several techniques and instruments have been invented to manipulate experiencing and narrating selves of humans.

Such advancements open up a lot of new opportunities. Are there ways to use this new found knowledge for the betterment of humanity? If there are ways, how to validate which of them are really for the betterment? When individual is an illusion, who would be at the centre? Some of these technologies may make humans more productive, and some may make them redundant. While pondering about these questions, author introduces the latest ism - Dataism. Dataism uses tons of data and complex algorithms to make decisions, much faster a human, and at times, something that's impossible to a human. Powered by such Information Technology, will Homo Sapiens tune themselves and get more productive - upgrade themselves to Homo Deus, with the aid of Biotechnology? Or, will they lose control to some of their creation? Only time can answer!

There was some interesting news a few months back, that adds credibility to the perspective presented by the author. Facebook engineers brought down their AI experiments, due to some suspicious conversations among bots, in a language that's invented by bots themselves.

Though it's a long 500 page book, author's inimitable style, a great perspective, and loads of  interesting information make it a great read.

Book Review: Why I am a Hindu

Why I am a Hindu
-- Shashi Tharoor

As expected from Shashi Tharoor and the Title of the book, considering his political affiliations, the book is more about politics of a religion, than the religion itself. Despite that, he did a good job of presenting evolution of millennia of Hinduism into Hindutva of the last few decades. 

Being an irreligious person, I don't identify myself with any of the 3 types/sections of Hinduism that the author presented.  The first one being, the Hinduism that many people I know (my parents, friends and relatives) follow, which is not hostile towards any other religion and doesn't mandate them to be very serious about their religion itself. A typical example would be something like follows; A Hindu friend of mine, who is religious (strictly fasts on particular days of week, totally honours sacred thread that he wears etc.,), was surprised to know a couple of weeks back that Rama (he does worship Lord Rama) was not an incarnation of Lord Shiva, but of Lord Vishnu. They just vaguely follow what their parents passed on. Some are more intense than others.

Next type that the author discussed was, Hinduism of the great souls of Hinduism, from Adi Shanakara to Vivekananda. It includes interesting compilation/modification/re-invention/expansion done by these great souls, as they felt was good or the need of the hour in their times. Adi Shankara's Advaita, Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita, more liberal and reformist movements by Sri Narayana guru and Basava, more nationalistic movements by Vivekananda and Gandhi are some of the things that makes it a good read.

The final section takes the cake - Hindutva of Sangh Parivar. The divisive, militant and extreme religiosity proposed and promoted by Savarkar, Golwalkar, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya etc., all associated with RSS. The main criticism that the author had against the philosophy of this section of people is, coming up with random and imaginary lines in the history and evolution of society, and claim ownership of land/culture based on that, where as the land and culture themselves have borrowed and imbibed so much from different religions and cultures for thousands of years (I could totally identify myself with that line of logic).

What makes the book worth reading is, it presents a good overview of Hinduism of ancient times, Hinduism of yesteryears and today's Hinduism/Hindutva. Though some of the arguments that the author presented may sound politically motivated, there are facts and figures in the open for readers to cross-check, ponder, and make their own informed opinions. 

Book Review: Sapiens

Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind

-- Yuval Noah Harari

It's the story of thousands of years of Human evolution, from the days of fights between Homo sapiens and other species of Genus:Homo - like Home erectus and Homo neanderthalensis, till today, the day of making bionic arms that can be controlled by thought, the day of growing organs of our choice on organism of our choice, the day of playing almost The God. While telling the story, the author had maintained a constant thread in the backdrop that explores whether a particular change/progress turned out to be for the larger good - reduction of human/animal suffering! 

The author presents several turning points in human history. The first one being, the day sapiens figured out that "a large number of strangers can cooperate successfully by believing in common myths". The myth that not all are born equal, whether the comparison is between different sapiens, or between a sapiens and a neanderthal, or between a sapiens and a Tiger. The day sapiens found the mythical glues for a group/religion, they found the way to be the masters of creation. He presents a parallel between the role of an alpha male in a group of Chimps and Catholic alpha male - The Pope.

There is an interesting take on Agricultural Revolution. Though domestication of wild animals and plants is a game-changer in several ways, author argues that it's a grave miscalculation by sapiens. As per that argument, it's not the man that domesticated wheat, but it's the wheat that domesticated man. Wheat made an extremely hardworking man out of a forager, a hoarder out of a nomad. And, sapiens fell in the trap of luxury.

Once Agricultural Revolution gave sapiens enough to eat, their hunger expanded beyond food. They started growing in numbers, as there was enough to feed more and more. They also grew in terms of density. As higher density needs more glues to hold them together, sapiens started imagining more and more orders. Imagined hierarchies were claimed to be natural. Even Aristotle argued that slaves have slavish nature. A single priest could do what a thousand soldiers couldn't, to keep peace. In the imagined order, sapiens in the upper echelons often maintained that, "There is no god. But, don’t tell my servant. He may murder me". Religions, religious missionaries and evangelism helped in spreading these imaginations. 

Sapiens needed a universal trust system to work with other sapiens from remote corners of the earth. They invented money, the only trust system created by humans that bridges almost everything. 

Scientific revolution, that followed Cognitive revolution, Agricultural revolution and Unification of Humankind, was the latest turning-point. Acceptance of ignorance opened the doors for exploration. Money facilitated the research, marriage of science and empire laid the foundation stone for scientific expeditions. Empires funded explorations, explorers paid back in terms of new lands to expand the empires, new opportunities to expand trade. This led to an even bigger alliance - The Military-Industrial-Scientific complex, that was behind the dominance of Europe during colonial period. Sapiens invented credit, and growth that's tied to credit, and in turn Capitalism.

The author ends with larger questions like, whether millions of years of evolution as community members is leading to alienated individuals? After so much of evolution and so many revolutions, have we found the path to happiness? Is delusion happiness? With the fruits of scientific revolution, whether Intelligent Design is going to be real? By man, the God!

Bhutan Diaries

Paro Valley

Wanderlust and Marathon Odyssey chose Bhutan to be the next destination. Bhutan, a mystic Himalayan kingdom that measures its progress by Gross National Happiness, instead of Gross Domestic Product, stands out in several ways.

Our visit started at Paro, the only place in Bhutan with an international airport. As the country, that's full of valleys and beautiful landscapes, doesn't have any flat-land at all, it must have been hard to find  a place for large planes to land. Paro valley is the widest among the places that we visited. Even at that width, landing and take-off were predictably turbulent. The flight from Delhi (via Kathmandu) to Bhutan gave us a chance to have a peek at some of the tallest peaks in the world - Mount Everest and Kanchenjunga.

Though the country appears to be stagnated in time, when it comes to the facilities for tourists, not much has been left to be desired. Good hotels, high-end cars, English speaking guides and drivers, make it easy and comfortable for tourists. In fact, almost all the people that we interacted with, spoke good English. The king seems to have mandated that English should be the medium of instruction in school, to make it easy for them to interact with the world. Except Indians (who are treated as special in Bhutan), foreign tourists have to pay a minimum of 200/250$ per day to visit Bhutan. This amount takes care of a minimum 3-star Hotel, a vehicle to roam around, guide and driver, permits to trek/ride/visits, all meals etc., Apparently, 1/3rd of that amount goes to social welfare schemes by the Govt. The number of tourists within the country at any point of time is controlled by the Govt. through permits.

Punakha Dzong

On the day of our arrival, we visited the Dzong in Paro. Dzong is the most prominent place in every town of Bhutan. It's a fortress with a complex structure that doubles as accommodation for monks and local administrative office (Monastic Body still holds a lot of power). The bigger the village/town/city, the grander the Dzong. Some of the areas of prominent Dzongs are off the limits for tourists and even for locals. Only Royal family and high-ranking officials can visit. They apparently believe that a monk who united Bhutan, several hundred years back, is still living in Punakha Dzong, and serve him food every day. 

Bhutan International Marathon was started 5 years back and is still a low-key event. There were 200+ runners for Marathon and a bit more Half-Marathon. The base for the event was in Punakha, a small town, 150 KM North-East of Paro. Marathon started 30 KM east of Punakha. The start point was up in hills with freezing temperatures, and Marathon course was largely down-hill from there. The course goes through some routinely beautiful hills, valleys, streams and villages. Finish-line was next to Punakha Dzong and in scorching sun.

Taktsang Monastery

We did a small trek to Taktsang Monastery close to Paro, the day after the Marathon. It's one of the most sacred buddhist sites in Bhutan. Apparently, the monk who introduced Buddhism to Bhutan had meditated at this site, several hundred years ago. It's again a complex structure, on the side of a cliff. It takes a couple of hours of good trek to get there. First half of the trek can be done using ponies as well. Despite the tired legs due to previous day's run, we decided to climb up to recover from the run. There is a cafe half-way that serves as a pit-stop. The second half of the trek is mostly steps, with some mesmerising views of cliffs and the monastery. The monastery itself doesn't have anything interesting to explore. It's like any other Dzong that we had visited. But, the trek and views were worth it.

Gross National Happiness

We were curious about this Happiness thing, and did quite a lot of chatting with our English speaking guide to understand how does that work. Population of the entire country is 750,000 (around 6% of Bangalore). Govt. seems to do a survey every year that covers each and every one of them, to know their top 3 problems and work on them. They could be access to hospital, quality of road close to the place where they live etc., Sounds quite simple and easy. They didn't have much exposure to the world, due to lack of TV/Internet (until a few years back) and lack of education to get work anywhere else in the world. Their bureaucrats, doctors and lawyers are also trained/educated in India or Sri Lanka. That's the story till now. But now, they have access to TV/Internet, and are exposed to the world. Youngsters seems to be already vulnerable to drugs. Economy, that's largely dependant on Hydel electricity (sold to India) and Tourism, doesn't seem to be flourishing. Not many things are manufactured with-in the country. With these conditions, it would be interesting to follow the progress of their Gross National Happiness project.

Book Review: Serious Men

Serious Men - Manu Joseph

Serious Men falls under one of my favourite categories of good books -  Books that can be read in transit airports and in red-eye flights (Not that I spend a lot of time in those conditions, just to emphasise that how much I despise those, and how fun those books must be). It's a debut fictional novel that won several awards for the author, who was a Journalist with New York Times and Hindustan Times.

The protagonist is a Dalit clerk who lives in Mumbai slums and works in a Brahmin dominated research institute. Emphasis on the qualifiers - Dalit/Brahmin, is of paramount importance. While the self-important and routinely casteist researchers are busy with the great questions of universe - whether there is life outside of earth, is Bing Bang Theory a Christian conspiracy to leave space for the God to create it etc., intertwined with their greater egos, the street-smart Dalit clerk silently observes them, and works his way to exploit the system to balance out the injustice (that be believes had been done to many communities), to create a genius out of his ordinary son. 

 I haven't heard about the Author before reading this book. I was watching Shut Up Ya Kunal series by stand-up comedian Kunal Karma, when I bumped into an interview with the Author to promote his latest book (Miss Laila Armed and Dangerous). I found him very witty and expected him to be great at satire, and picked up his first book. I was not disappointed. Besides the satire, I loved his attention to detail and his style of describing ordinary events with the ease of a seasoned writer. I read that this is going to be a movie soon. But, I can't tell whether I had just read a book or I had watched it in its entirety.