Fiction that Breathes History

In my, self proclaimed, insatiable thirst for historical fiction or fiction in historical settings, i might have committed a sin today by picking up Ashwin Sanghi's 'Chanakya's Chant'. I was almost dying to read more about ancient Indian history. Somehow i have come to believe that although reading history through the lens of fiction might not be the purist’s way of doing it, it is certainly more enjoyable and sustainable( mba speak :P). So after reading a bit about the book i picked up today, which a lot many have called, just another 'dan brownish' fast paced mystery, i am trying to perform some penance by talking about some of the bests works i have read in this genre.

But before that, let me clarify that i have nothing against Dan Brown or his genre of fiction. It's just that as a history lover, i would want such works of fiction to maintain a fine balance between the truth and author's imagination. Ideally never distort truth, but only fill gaps and in the end clarify and dissect these parts in the work. Somehow all the 'Dan Browns' just do the opposite.

So let's started with the list, the names appear in my order of preference but i must tell you, all of these are great works in this genre.

1. Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children : I had a very tough time selecting between the first two novels in this list and in the end, i chose the one which delighted me more. Some people would argue that a book like Midnight's Children should not even figure on this list, with protagonists having super natural powers and author's own political views trickling down in some parts. But believe me, this novel never distorts history and somehow because the fictional parts being so fantastical, they not only delight the reader but make the demarcation from truth very obvious and clear. Midnight's children is set around events in Indian subcontinent during the 20th century. It starts in second decade of the century and ends just around the Indian emergency. Easily one of the best works of fiction by an author of Indian origin, Midnight's Children will tell you a lot many small things which you would have never read in your school History books. I can go on writing about this book, but i guess you'd find much better reviews of this book at other places on net. In this list i just hope to tell you about books which you must pick up if you love history and fiction!

2. Amitav Gosh's  Sea of Poppies :  Sea of poppies is easily the most extensively researched work of fiction i have ever come across. The book has its own chrestomathy , a diction type guide on what Gosh calls  the 'Hindoostani Sailors dialect'.  Set in 19th century Bengal, this book tells you a lot about Calcutta, the British rule in Bengal, Bengali tradition, the last of Bengali Aristocracy, the Bhojpuri proletariat and their traditions. Calling this book very rich in historical content is like calling Satyajit Ray or Akira Kurosawa just good directors. Bottom line, this book is the gateway to non-revolting 18th century India, essentially Eastern India.

3. Magaret Mitchel's Gone with the Wind : Again a choice which is highly debatable. Many would call this book the best fictional romantic and i can't dare to disagree with them. Even i have always felt it to be one of the most intriguing books with a woman protagonist.  Nevertheless, this epic drama set in 19th century USA, tells you a lot about America of those years and of course a lot about the civil war. If you are one those 'MCPs' who shy away from reading anything remotely romantic or feminist, probably this might be your reason to pick this wonderful piece of fiction. I must clarify here though, that wasn't my reason to pick this book :).

4. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of Yellow Sun : I still find it extremely difficult to pronounce the author's name correctly in one breath, but that handicap set aside, the book spells out the best of way to tell the young generation about the tough and gory times in  their country's past. Something that Adichie does mention, she set out to do. In so many ways i think this book is the literary heir of Gone with the wind :)

Set in Nigeria of late 1960s, Half of yellow sun, tells you a lot of about Nigeria, a country almost as diverse as ours and the Nigerian civil war, which was almost as gory as our partition. I am not sure if somebody has written a fictionalized account of our partition which matches Half of yellow sun in its fine balance of detail and delight! I have been searching so much for a book like this. May be Cracking India ,the book on which the movie Earth was based upon or Pinjar could come close. Although i have just seen these two movies, haven't read the novels.

5. Indu Sundaresan’s Shadow Princess: Shadow Princess is a novel which i finished very recently, although i liked it a lot, but i could only give it the last place on this list. That doesn't a take away anything from this wonderful piece of art. The novel is very well researched and lush in its description of Mughal India. Apart from that,  Indu does, exactly what i mentioned an author of this genre should do,. She lists down her research sources, clarifies which items are specifically fiction in the book and even gives logic trail of her imagination of these fictional parts. I just felt that the fictional part of this book could have been stronger and little richer. Still i would put it down as one of the best reads in Mughal fiction, a great alternative to Darlymple which requires a lot of patience and never delights at all.

I am sure there are many more in this list and i haven't added many which i didn't find worthy. All these five books are wonderful works of fiction in their own right, it's just that being set in poignant times in the World history is the icing here.

I am tagging some people i know enjoy reading history or fiction. Feel free to add any worthwhile works in the comments. So next time we are searching for an interesting work of fiction that breathes history, we don't accidentally pick up a Dan Brown

P.S I just noticed that three books in this list, have very strong woman characters or have woman protagonists. Probably Jahanara in the Shadown Princess would have been most powerful politically, but all of them - Scarlet in Gone with the wind, Olaana and Kanine in Half of yellow sun and Jahanara were very intriguing and emotionally very strong characters. I guess it is easy to accept and interesting to read intriguing woman characters! ;)

Cross posted on facebook

Civil Wars

Civil wars can also be cataclysmic in the extent of damage they cause,particularly the ones which involve secession of a small part of a country which claims its independence. The damage caused, albeit isolated to the small secessionist state, is total, wiping out almost everything. I just finished reading Half of yellow sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, centered around the events of Nigerian civil war of late 1960s. This was first novel i read that was set in Africa and the first one after i resolved to pick up of novels from different countries and continents which i haven't touched till now.

I saw Nigeria of 1960s as a country with lot of diversity,grappling with post imperialistic problems which combined with ethnic tensions actually led to the civil war. I feel had India not been partitioned after independence, we might have gone through a similar civil war which would have been even more devastating considering the size of the nations involved and it would have also ended with two separate nations. Also with this context,one might realize,how important were steps taken against Khalistan and how severe can be the Naxalist problems of our country.

Adichie's work is very humane and involving in its approach, to say the least. It is not just a compilation of events, but a thickly woven story,told from three different view points. This combined with the fact that this was an hitherto unknown part of history to me, made the novel an interesting read for me.

There are a lot of countries today that are grappling with with political instability or conflicts with neighboring countries; the world death toll due to human conflicts it seems, was never higher. An argument against this can simply be that in today's information age we are more informed about other parts of the world and hence perceive that death toll today is high. May be the 19th and 18th century were as tumultuous,but because of the communication gaps,the extent of damage at any moment was never perceived to be that big.

P.S I decided to carry on with the blog and will try to post alteast more than once a week. However, i don't expect myself to spend a lot of time posting,hence most of the posts would be short,on-moment-types and as you can read above,hardly structured.

Sacred Games

Below is a post of mine in one of the orkut communities in a thread related to Sacred games. I had initially of thought of writing this directly on my blog but thought it will be better to put it in discussion.


I have just started reading "Sacred Games" and it has been amazing till now. The central characters of the book, Ganesh Gaitonde (an underworld don) and Sartaj Singh(a police inspector) are very interesting. A distinctive point about the style is the use of Indian languages, especially local slangs, without hindrances like italics, footnotes etc. This adds an extra punch to the narrative.You can read more about the book including reviews here[http://sacredgames.typepad.com].
There's another point I’d like to raise in concern with the book, which I would like to generalize to any work of function.There is a context in the book, where a police officer(Sartaj Singh) is searching a woman's house, trying to seek out some clues as well as her black money. Here author writes and I quote,"...Hema Malini and Meena Kumari and a half-dozen other heroines had been caught with cash in their loos."
I am not in any way concerned about Meena Kumari or for that matter any heroine's image albeit I did try to verify this, at which I was unsuccessful.
The point I'd like to make is does fiction writing give the author a free hand to disparage any celebrated figure, living or dead. Also has writing something sensational or something outrightly deriding become an easy way to publicize your work. This second part doesn't concern "Sacred Games" because it was published way back in 2006,and I don't think Vikram Chandra had any such intentions.
I personally take a lot of pride in calling myself a libertarian but I do feel use of such techniques like unnecessarily maligning somebody,a little repulsive.Any thoughts on this?

The reality across the street

One of the major things I miss from my college is a group of art(read bakar) enthusiasts with whom I could discuss those sudden bolts of lightening which came while reading a good work of fiction or say a wonderful movie which I had just seen or may be plain politics. You could always reason out saying that with web 2.0 I could always use my blog or the orkut communities to discuss with like minded people,still nothing can substitute could those wonderful discussions over a single suttah.Besides I can't see myself churning out posts over every single flashes that come up with the fad of the writing skills that I possess.

So while I was reading,Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games it occurred to me with the kind of cocoon I am ensconced in, my only sources of information being the incestuous media and works of fiction /non-fiction which are spurned out of some years of ground research;I may never the know the current reality on the other side of the street,unless I accidentally happen to cross it.

Of Books and Shores

There is a wonderful feeling of happiness and satisfaction alike that arises once you start loving the book you're reading,although it has never once happened with me in succession.Mostly after reading a 'good' book I end up reading one which I label as 'bad'. But liking a book or for that matter any piece of art for me depends largely on my mood. It is like the weather on the shore that always determines whether I love the sea or not and take the plunge.

In any case Kafka on the shore is good book,go take the plunge.

If only I knew

If you would be in my shoes you would understand that most exasperating and hillarious thing in the world is to have sudden sporadic mild strokes of alzheimer's disease.Imagine staring the computer screen,rather flat computer screen after opening blogger window because you have forgotten what you wanted to write.

I wanted to tell you about ghettos,my experience with them,of why I believe ghettoism is most detrimental thing to happen to versimilary united India.

I wanted to tell you about, "The arguementative Indian" and the veritable ingenuity in Amartya Sen's approach to focus on the argumentative tradition in India in his writings on Indian culture and history, away from the banal and trite religious approach.Infact I was really suprised to read about Caravaka,the atheist school of thought in ancient India.I was absolutely ecstatic after reading this line in the book,a quote by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

"Imagine how terrible the day of your death would be,when people would go on speaking and you wouldn't be able to argue back"

And atlast about the magic Gregory David Roberts aka Shantaram can create with his literary prowess.
But I am in no mood right now,I have come to realise that just as success after hardwork can be the most beautiful thing in the world to happen to you,failure after the same can be the most bewildering thing in the world.

Money

"There's just as much money to be made in the wreck of a civilization as in upbuilding of one"

-Rhett Butler, Gone with the wind.

Absolute brilliance I must say. It all depends on your buccaneering prowess. Philosophically speaking,however grim the circumstances be,there's always a way to take advantage of the situation.

As the Gita says," All that happens ,happens for good."

Update:Rhett Butler seems to be the master of nuggets and aphorisms,here's another one

"Marry for convenience and love for pleasure."

Well quite true, because if you think logically,marriage as an institution originated mainly to set inheritance boundaries and social structure. But that does not mean that marriage is just a societal obligation. More views on subject later.

I expect more aphorisms from Rhett,as I read on.