‘Foucault’s Pendulum’ Tuesday, Jul 10 2007

This engrossing novel by Italian writer, historian, and philosopher Umberto Eco has been described as the “thinking man’s ‘Da Vinci Code’ “. Having read both, I must say I have felt quite distinct feelings after reading the two novels. Whereas ‘The Da Vinci Code’ read like yet another thriller, albeit with a controversial theme, ‘Foucault’s Pendulum’ reads like a scholarly work. It is almost a reference book on Western occult and secret societies.

Although the novel has liberal doses of occult, religion (mainly Judaism and Christianity), and medieval history, the real theme is psychological. It is about how people believe outlandish conspiracy theories that, though internally consistent, may be entirely imaginary explanations of history or the real world.

Jacopo Belbo, Diotallevi, and Casaubon are three editors at Garamond Press, a small publishing firm in Milan, Italy. Casaubon, the narrator of the story, is a PhD student specializing in the history of the ever-fascinating Knights Templar. In publishing a series on occult literature, satirically named ‘Isis Unveiled’, they review dozens of occult texts written by several authors, whom they term ‘the Diabolicals’, in jest. From one such encounter with an author, they get an idea to formulate a ‘Plan’ of their own, based on all kinds of obscure occult, religious and historical texts that would give a new interpretation of the great secret of the Knights Templar and the few dozen secret societies that have been associated with the Templars over the centuries. They immerse themselves in the task wholeheartedly, initially aware of the purely fictional nature of their work. Their effort is meant to be a satire on the work of the Diabolicals. But, as they actually use all their knowledge and references to create a Plan that is remarkably consistent in all its details, they begin to suspect that it might really be the truth. Belbo and Diotallevi are particularly consumed by this thought, while Casaubon is very proud of their creation.

And then, as the summary on the back cover of the book says, ‘the Plan begins to take over’. Diotallevi dies of cancer, but attributes his death to their attempt to flout Jewish Kabbalistic norms and rewrite history. Certain people with deep occultist interests and beliefs, including some Diabolicals, get wind of the Plan, and they believe in it without question. They come to think that there is a secret which the three editors know, and which, despite their being members of obscure secret societies, they don’t. So they lure Belbo into a trap where he perhaps meets his end. The novel ends with Casaubon being anxious about his own end at the hands of the occultists, although the reader may never be completely certain that there are indeed such conspirators pursuing Casaubon.

(The plot and background of the novel can be found in some detail on this Wikipedia page.)

That is the beauty of the novel. By the end, fiction has got so mixed up with reality that one doesn’t know what to believe. That is the power of conspiracy theories with supposedly deep, earth-shaking secrets.

This is not a fast-paced thriller, and the pace quickens a bit only towards the end. Nearly two-thirds of the novel is a leisurely development of the plot, a few sub-plots, the Plan and the characters. It is full of (at times, exhaustingly full of) arcane religious rituals, secret societies, historical figures that supposedly were involved in the grand plan of the Templars. Indeed, the Plan is so carefully woven by the author that at times, it really seems true.

The book’s structure is also based on Jewish Kabbalah – divided into ten parts that are based on the ten Sefirot in the Kabbalah. In Kabbalah, a seeker gains incremental knowledge of the universe and of God by mastering each succeeding Sefirah. Similarly, with each succeeding part in the novel, the reader knows something more about what is really happening. Each chapter starts with a quote (mostly from really obscure, esoteric texts) that is appropriate to the advancement of the story in that chapter.

And finally, you wonder how one man could conceptualize a creation so complex, and yet so simple. As one of the blurbs on the book says, it is ‘endlessly diverting’. It has thrown up a huge number of leads in terms of further ‘research’ for me – occult, the fascinating world of secret societies, Western theology and history.

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‘Saraswatichandra’ – experiencing a supernovel – Part III Monday, Jul 3 2006

Part One – Buddhidhan’s ministership (‘Buddhidhan no kaarbhaar’)
In terms of the plot, the first part starts with Saraswatichandra arriving in Suvarnapur after renouncing home (although the reader does not know it initially), coming into contact with Buddhidhan and his family (including Kumudsundari, who is married into the family), and swiftly gaining favour in the family. He offers advice and acts as an ‘executive assistant’ to Buddhidhan while he plots political triumph for himself and his friend Bhoopsinh. Both Kumud and Saraswatichandra undergo tumultuous emotions during the period, each trying his/her best to restrain ‘impure’ thoughts from invading their minds, but not quite able to do so. Kumud’s husband, Pramadadhan’s looseness of character fuels the fire in Kumud’s heart further. Finally, Saraswatichandra decides he can take no more, and on the day Buddhidhan is appointed prime minister of Suvarnapur, he leaves with no particular destination in mind. Ultimately, he turns towards the small town of Manoharpuri in a bullock cart. Coincidentally, Kumud also leaves for Manoharpuri a little later in a palanquin to meet her mother Gunasundari. Saraswatichandra’s bullock cart is attacked by bandits and he is left faint and bleeding in the forest near Manoharpuri, his finger-ring stolen by his fellow-traveller, Arthadas. The bandits’ real target is Kumud’s entourage, for they want to settle scores with Ratnanagari’s king Maniraj and his prime minister (and Kumud’s father) Vidyachatur. When the story of bandits lurking on Kumud’s path is brought to Vidyachatur’s house in Manoharpuri by his informants, Kumud’s grandfather Maanchatur takes it upon himself to bring Kumud in safely. He plots the bandits’ downfall and leaves with several men to meet Kumud’s entourage. Success greets them, and after a thrilling showdown in a plain on the banks of the river Subhadra, they achieve safety for Kumud. Kumud, meanwhile, has been thought of as disloyal to her husband because of a vicious story spread by a bugbear named Krushnakalika (who does this to hide her own relationship to Pramadadhan). In despair, Kumud throws herself into the waters of the Subhadra, where she is assaulted by a stray bandit. The bandit is killed by Maanchatur’s men, but they cannot retrieve Kumud. Extremely distraught, the party returns and the first part ends.

Two aspects stand out in this part. The lesser one is the description of the highly opportunistic and no-holds-barred politics that Buddhidhan employs to dethrone Jadsinh, and more importantly, to send the prime minister, Shatharai, and the police commissioner, Dushtarai, into political oblivion. These two officials had done dirty deeds in their time, and had insulted Buddhidhan’s family when he was invalid in his younger days. Through a complex series of manoeuvres, he achieves success. A new regime takes over the reins of Suvarnapur. Saraswatichandra, the idealist, watches this practical demonstration of the real world with great interest, as a valuable education.

The most notable aspect of this part, as Gandhiji noted, is the character development. Each character remains etched in your mind. Some are more stereotypical (like Shatharai, the dirty politician, and Bhoopsinh, the king who is tactically challenged but has his heart in the right place). Buddhidhan is a politician aspiring to be a statesman. While he nurtures ideals on the nature of the kingdom, the relationship to the British, and the nature of his own duties, he deals with different people differently, employing different means against different people based on the ethics of those people.

Alakakishori, Buddhidhan’s daughter, is a strong character as well. Feisty and autocratic, she has strong likes and dislikes. She fawns over her sister-in-law, Kumud, and is pliant only in front of her. Her marriage is not a happy one, for she behaves in the same autocratic manner with her husband. Saraswatichandra briefly fuels infatuation in her, particularly since he gets injured while saving her from a rapacious goon in their house. After the tragedies of Kumud and Pramad hit her family, she grows more mellow and sets her house in order.

Maanchatur is the brave patriarch. Although a Brahmin, he is well-versed with his weapons, as he showed in the showdown with bandits. He is the physical protector of his family. He also dictates matters in the house. When Vidyachatur’s wife Gunasundari is exploited by her joint family since she has some excellent qualities of adjustment and a hardworking nature, he wages a war against his own family and plots a separation plan to stop their parasitic behaviour. He is also not as perturbed as the women in his family when they hear of Kumud having stayed on Sundargiri with Saraswatichandra (this comes later) and when Kusum is infatuated with the idea of not marrying.

(continued…)

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‘When Genius Failed’ – Part II Friday, Jun 30 2006

The Fall

Finally, they also undertook a directional trade (purely speculative), betting on the Russian currency not getting devalued despite the trouble Russia was having in servicing its external debt. After four years of majestic performance, the chain reaction started by the Russian government finally defaulting on its external debt and the Russian currency getting devalued earned the fund its first loss. Shock waves of this event were felt in all markets and asset classes that the fund had invested in, and the finely tuned risk measures went haywire as all their trades seemed to be perfectly correlated. Losses started spiralling for the fund in each and every trade it held. The traders were increasingly dazed and stupefied by their strategies backfiring so badly. The high leverage to start with, combined with the diminishing equity of the fund on account of the losses, led to the leverage climbing, at its worst, to 100:1. The fund was close to bankruptcy in the span of five weeks. News of LTCM’s difficulties trickled out and traders, being a heartless tribe, started taking opposite positions in LTCM’s trades, hammering the fund further.

Thus, so suddenly, the time had come to save the fund from bankruptcy. Even though its equity was hammered, the assets measured upto $130 billion or so, and the size of the derivatives book was many times larger. It is incredible how, with so much pressure on him, Meriwether remained outwardly calm and set about the task of raising equity for the fund in earnest. The top investment banks’ exposures to the fund were enormous, although not on the same scale. Saving the fund in some way was imperative. However, Wall Street is a ruthlessly competitive place, and any proposal that involved many investment banks coming together to launch a joint rescue effort would be extremely difficult to devise. Goldman Sachs, in particular, played hardball and milked LTCM by invading their offices and downloading their trades in the name of auditing their books. LTCM, the highly secretive outfit, was out in the open now.

In the climax, the US Federal Reserve had to reluctantly intervene and play a facilitating part in bringing the bankers together and asking them to thrash out a rescue plan. While Herb Allison of Merrill Lynch was the chief architect of the plan, his job was made vastly more difficult by the recalcitrant attitude of the 25 top investment bankers invited. The description of these last few days’ activities sets your pulse racing. A joint rescue plan did materialize, and the powers of LTCM’s freewheeling, arrogant traders were cut drastically. Infusion of new equity, however, did not stop the fund from making losses, even as the erstwhile partners were under pressure to pair the earlier trades, an extremely difficult job with 60,000 trades!

It was inevitable that the traders, bound hand and foot, and not used to such an experience, quickly upped and left. But what was a bit more surprising was Meriwether, Hilibrand and Rosenfeld actually started a new hedge fund! So much for this harrowing experience. As for the Nobel laureates, Scholes was employed as a risk consultant to a Wall Street firm and Merton went back to academics.

Conclusion

The book has two clear tracks, the one enjoyable and the other informative and instructive. One track is the pacy narrative, and the thrilling climax. The other track gives valuable insights into money management and trading, including operational details of repo financing, road shows, fund management vis-a-vis investors, aggregated risk measurement across all the fund’s trades, negotiations in a complex rescue plan, etc. Perhaps, the addition of a technical appendix outlining some basic strategies of the fund with complete hypothetical examples, from spotting an opportunity to devising the trade to financing it to executing it and monitoring risk, would make the book more complete and more valuable, especially to the student of finance.

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‘When Genius Failed’ – Part I Friday, Jun 30 2006

Background

While I was at IIM Lucknow, especially during the second year, I always wanted to read this book, but could never lay my hands on it since it was much in demand. By a stroke of luck, I did manage to get the book now and enjoyed reading it immensely. The book, by Roger Lowenstein (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2001) is about the meteoric rise and precipitous fall of an American hedge fund called Long-Term Capital Management during the 1990’s.

The book is both greatly interesting, being written like a thriller and gaining more and more pace toward the end, and very instructive for those who have some background in finance and economics. Lowenstein manages to capture the magnitude of the events surrounding this hedge fund perfectly.

The Rise

Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) was a hedge fund management company (the hedge fund itself was called LTCP or Long-Term Capital Portfolio) started by the famous bond trader John Meriwether, ex-employee of Salomon Brothers. Along with some of his best friends and Salomon colleagues Larry Hilibrand, Eric Rosenfeld and Victor Haghani (among others), he pulled off a coup when he roped in Myron Scholes and Robert Merton, two greats of modern finance, known best for the Black-Scholes-Merton differential equation and the Black-Scholes formula for pricing options (Fischer Black had already passed away when the fund began in 1994). During their stint at LTCM, Scholes and Merton were to reach the pinnacle of their profession, receiving the Nobel Prize for Economics. Gathering together a stupendous team of people, Meriwether, in his reticent but firm and confident style, began the fund, which would have no more than one hundred investors at any time during its life.

The primary strategy that the fund set for itself was that of arbitrage, continuing the work that Meriwether’s Arbitrage Unit at Salomon Brothers used to do, but in a more scientific way (thus Meriwether hoped). The mispricing of any asset in an asset class with respect to another asset in the same asset class (say, two bonds of different maturity, two stocks, etc.) was presumably detected using models developed by the core team led by the finance professors. While undertaking any trade, care was also taken to calculate the fund’s overall risk exposure using financial models so as not to have trades which have high positive correlations with existing trades. Thus, arbitrage in various asset classes accompanied by continuous risk measurement and monitoring was the strategy on which the fund was built. A third element completed the strategy, and that was leverage, or using borrowed money to trade, which would increase the magnitude of any profits as well as any losses.

Meriwether and his colleagues, particularly Hilibrand and Haghani, milked their basic competitive advantage – their A-team of financial gurus to the limit. Using the sheer clout that came from having people who had taught many of the Wall Street traders and top bosses their finance, they created an aura of invincibility right at the inception of the fund. Everyone believed the fund would be like the Titanic – unsinkable. Thus, all the big names in investment banking on Wall Street were falling over themselves to provide financing to and work with this hedge fund. Merrill Lynch did the job of running the initial road show that launched the fund. The fund was flush with capital after the exercise. On most trades thereafter, traders leveraged highly, particularly Hilibrand and Haghani again. Moreover, they just refused to have a haircut on the collateral they put up for the financing. The investment banks, eager to increase their hedge fund business, couldn’t get a better client than this, and agreed to their terms. Numerous other such terms were made to be accepted by banks, including a warrant to protect LTCM, the management company, and hence the capital of the partners themselves.

For four years, the traders undertook various arbitrage trades as suggested by their models. For the most part of this time, the trades were in bonds, mortgage-backed securities, interest rate swaps and the like, across US and European countries, as well as some Asian markets. The fund met with stupendous success, as measured by annual returns, for these four years. Awe felt by the investment banking industry led to imitation and many banks set up arbitrage trading desks with strategies similar to those of LTCM, although the exact trades of the latter were kept extremely secret. This increased competition for LTCM traders, and they found it increasingly difficult to act upon the mispricing they found, because the arbitrage opportunity would vanish before they could act. THis led Hilibrand and Haghani, the most aggressive traders, to look to riskier trades in different asset classes. For example, they took major bets on stocks – merger arbitrage (betting on the gap between a target’s stock price and the offer price by the acquirer closing), the difference between prices of two classes of a stock closing, and so on. Everywhere, their outlook was based on a belief that markets can only become more efficient in the future than they were at present, leading to the arbitrage opportunity.
(continued…)

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‘Saraswatichandra’ – experiencing a supernovel – II Tuesday, May 30 2006

Plot

Finally, to the basic plot itself. The focus of the novel is on two Gujarati Brahmin families. The family of Lakshminandan is settled in Bombay, has a roaring business, and is very wealthy. Saraswatichandra, the brilliant scholar-to-be, is born to Lakshminandan and Chandralakshmi. He has a dazzling career to look forward to as he is steeped in Sanskrit and English classics, is a barrister by qualification and has tried his hand successfully at his father's business. The other family is that of Vidyachatur, the highly knowledgeable prime minister of the court of King Maniraj of (the fictional) kingdom of Ratnanagari. To him and his wife, Gunasundari, the lady of tremendous qualities, are born two daughters, Kumudsundari (the elder) and Kusumsundari. Saraswatichandra's mother dies, and Lakshminandan remarries. The step-mother, Guman, is a typical specimen, and treats her step-son with suspicion and dislike. Meanwhile, Saraswatichandra and Kumudsundari are engaged to be married, subsequent to which they exchange letters and fall in love without having seen each other; he, charmed with Kumud's tenderness and similar likes and she, taken in by his vast knowledge and excellent qualities.

Things reach a head in Saraswatichandra's home when he realizes that even his father suspects him of having an interest only in the family wealth and he decides to renounce his home. His best friend, Chandrakant, tries his best to use every argument he can think of to prevent his friend from carrying out this terrible vow. But Saraswatichandra is not amenable to argument, and he leaves, thus not only renouncing home and wealth, but also leaving young Kumud in the lurch. He proceeds by sea to (the fictional) Suvarnapur. By the time he reaches there, Kumud has already been married off to Pramad-dhan, the wayward son of Buddhidhan, the man who is slated to become prime minister of Suvarnapur.

And thus, we come to the third family. Buddhidhan is a Bania (vaaNiyaa) and has a sharp intelligence and political sense, by which he manages to overturn the reign of Suvarnapur's ruler, Jadsinh, and his administrators, Dushtrai and Shathrai. His own Rajput friend, Bhoopsinh, becomes king and Buddhidhan, his prime minister. Saraswatichandra stays at Buddhidhan's place calling himself Navinchandra, and watches all this political activity with interest. Inevitably, he comes into contact a few times with Kumud, the daughter-in-law of the house. Love for each other ignites again, and a lowly companion of the daughter of the house takes advantage of this and incites Pramad-dhan against his wife.

On the day Buddhidhan gets the prime minister's post, Saraswatichandra leaves his house due to the tensions that contact with Kumud is causing them both and leaves without a destination in mind. He steps into a cart going towards Manoharpuri in Ratnanagari. Meanwhile, Kumud is also on her way in a palanquin and accompanied by guards, to see her mother in Manoharpuri. Saraswatichandra's is attacked by bandits and they leave him injured in a forest. An attack on Kumud is also planned by the bandits, and knowing this, Kumud's grandfather, Maanchatur, leads a team to counter the bandits. They manage to foil the bandits' plans, capture their leader, but then, Kumud, fearing shame and infamy, tries to commit suicide by jumping into the Subhadra river. Despairing for her life, Maanchatur returns and everybody assumes her dead.

Saraswatichandra, meanwhile, is rescued by a group of ascetics and taken to their ashram on the nearby mountains of Sundargiri. Here, Saraswatichandra impresses the head monk, Vishnudas, by his breadth of knowledge and eventually makes him name him as his successor to the post of head monk. Kumud also survives and her unconscious body is caught by a lady ascetic, Chandraavali, and her companions. This group takes Kumud to Vishnudas' ashram and both she and Saraswatichandra come to know of each other's presence there.

The ashram ascetics realize the facts of the past life of these two, and try their best to reunite them. In this attempt, they take them both to an isolated cave on the peak of Chiranjeevshrung. Here, spending four days and nights together, they undergo a mystical experience which convinces them to reunite. The major impediment is how the society will view this reunion. This is a complex problem, and they think of three different alternatives.

All this time, Lakshminandan has almost lost his mind in his son's absence, and Chandrakant vows to find his friend and is lodged at Vidyachatur's place for a long time. Ratnanagari's police and detectives find out where Saraswatichandra and Kumud are, and eventually, his entire family, as well as Lakshminandan and Guman, decide to visit Sundargiri, talk to Vishnudas about getting the two 'back into the world', and convince the two about the same. However, there is no consensus on the marriage of Kumud to Saraswatichandra. Ultimately, the only alternative possible without anyone getting outcast by society is this: Saraswatichandra must marry Kusum, Kumud's younger sister, Kumud must live an ascetic life with Chandraavali, although while visiting her relatives often, and Saraswatichandra must return to Bombay and manage his family business again.

This is the plot of the novel described in the briefest possible manner, without conveying even an iota of the emotions, the tension, the idealism of some characters and the pragmatism of others, the sheer vicissitudes of life in these three families after Saraswatichandra renounced home.
(continued…)

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‘Saraswatichandra’ – experiencing a supernovel – I Tuesday, May 30 2006

Background

I fulfilled a long-standing dream of mine when I completed a reading of ‘Saraswatichandra’, the great Gujarati supernovel (mahaanaval) written by Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi (popularly known as Go.Ma.Tri.) a month ago. It took me twenty-odd days to read through its four volumes, totalling more than 1,350 pages.

The supernovel was written over a period of 15 years, with the first volume being published in 1887 and the fourth one in 1902. The author, a lawyer by qualification, dedicated his later life to the service of literature, and the service of the lay people through literature. GoMaTri had scholarly command of Gujarati, Sanskrit as well as English, as is evident from the frequent use of the latter two languages in the work. He was also very well-versed in the Sanskrit classics and English poetry, both of which he freely quotes from throughout the work.

In terms of its place in world literature, ‘Saraswatichandra’ has been compared with such other supernovels as Goethe’s ‘Wilhelm Meister’ and Hugo’s ‘Les Miserables’. Another great Gujarati literatteur and philosopher, Manubhai Pancholi, has said that the two greatest contributions by Gujarat to the festival that is India are, one, Mahatma Gandhi, and two, this gem among books, ‘Saraswatichandra’.

‘Mission statement’

With this background, let us proceed to see what the novel is all about. In an introduction to the first volume, the author states that he has a mission to accomplish through the book, that of addressing the burning social issues of the day as well as bringing to light long-standing social evils and comparing them to modern ideas that have come in thanks to the interaction with the British. Throughout the novel, incidents involving conflicts between tradition and modernity in thought and action, as well as in social interaction, occur continually. The author’s aim of sowing the seeds of change by educating people of the necessity of change is conveyed by such situations. That the novel succeeded in achieving its aim to a large extent is conveyed by the tremendous response to it in Gujarat and the great influence it had on social life, according to the great Gujarati poet Umashankar Joshi.

The author’s methodical approach is borne out by the fact that he starts out with a preface to the first volume defining what a novel is, and is not. Much like a marketer, he segments the readers of a novel based on their aim: just reading a good and ‘interesting’ story; enjoying the literary finesse of the author and the form of the novel; or, gaining psychological insight into the human mind through the novel’s characters. The author is careful to state that his ultimate target audience is of the third kind mentioned above, while those of the second kind will also have a lot to enjoy.

The author paints a huge canvas, which goes beyond just revolving around the protagonist – Saraswatichandra. As well as being the story of Saraswatichandra’s life, it is also a story of changing family and social life in Gujarat, changing political life with the establishment of the British Raj, and the traditions of the Hindu way of life. It is also about philosophy, worldliness vs. renunciation, about how best a person can utilise his abilities and resources for the good of society, etc. So how can one summarise the essence of the novel? It is really difficult. Mahatma Gandhi himself attempted it, in parts, when he said: “the character development in the first volume is unparalleled, the second describes the Hindu household very well, in the third, his (the author’s) art went deep, and in writing the fourth, he thought, whatever I have to give to this world, why not give it all in this very volume?” And this is why I have said that I experienced the novel, and did not simply read it.

(continued…)

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‘Aaranyak’ & ‘Samudraantike’ Monday, May 22 2006

About a month ago, I read two books in succession which were quite similar to each other. The first one was a Gujarati translation by Chandrakant Mehta of the Bengali work 'Aaranyak' by the great Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay and the second was 'Samudraantike', a Gujarati work by author Dhruv Bhatt.

The 'plots' are extremely similar, with only the backdrop and the characters different. The term 'plots' is inappropriate, however, since neither book is a novel. Both works are fictional, but have arisen from some personal experiences that the respective authors have had, Bibhutibhushan in the forests near Purnea in Bihar, and Dhruv Bhatt on the south Gujarat coastline. Both are a series of vignettes and incidents that take place in the life of protagonists who have accepted jobs in wild environs, in the former case, as a forest manager for a Calcutta-based zamindar in Luvtulia Baihar near Purnea in Bihar, and in the latter case, in an unnamed coastal village on the shores of the Arabian Sea in south Gujarat.

I found 'Aaranyak' more compelling because of its nearly equal emphasis on two 'players' -Nature and the human characters, while 'Samudraantike's emphasis was slightly more on the human aspect. The protagonist in 'Aaranyak' – Satyacharan (incidentally, his name is mentioned only once in the entire book) – overcomes his initial apprehensions and comes to love riding the horse given to him through numerous jungle tracks. He describes, in the first person, various characters indigenous to the region as well as those nomadic ones who travel from place to place to work as labourers during the harvest seasons. All the characters make an impression, due to the sheer simplicity and non-ambition of one, or of the single-mindedness of purpose of another, or of the stoicism and quiet resilience of yet another, or of the simple affection of yet another. Nature makes an equal impression, with its rich plant life and flora, its fauna (and stories related to them), its nighttime beauty, its ponds and lakes. Incident after incident makes the protagonist belong more and more to that place and less and less a Calcuttan. Yet, ironically, the very aim behind his appointment is to 'develop' the place by allocating the vast tracts of land to various farmers, thus increasing the landlord's income by way of tax collections. Despite himself, he does it, and after years of eventful existence in the forests, leaves the place a non-forest, teeming with people when once it teemed with great trees, beautiful flowers and wild animals. The tension between his love for the forest and his duty becomes very palpable near the end.

'Samudraantike' is a hundred pages shorter, and consequently, this tension is not quite conveyed as well there. Also, although several characters abound in this sea-side story, a lot of focus gets centred on a mystery woman called Aval, who is quiet and stoic at most times, yet firm and determined when the need arises. The protagonist puts the pieces of her story together as his stay progresses. Unlike Satyacharan, he does not stay till his beloved area is settled in. He creates a feasibility report for setting up a chemical industrial zone there, and leaves. Some parts are described exhilaratingly, though, including when an expert sailor dives into the sea leaving the steering of his boat to the novice protagonist, the stories associated with a certain island in the sea, the coming of the storm in the sea, and so on. For me, the book fell just a little bit short in that I could not feel as empathetic toward the protagonist here as much as toward Satyacharan.

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‘Thank you, Mr. Glad!’ Tuesday, Apr 11 2006

I read a Gujarati translation by Vasudha Inamdar of a Marathi novella by Anil Barve. Apparently, Barve became a celebrated Marathi author by this opening work of his. Unfortunately, he passed away in his 32nd year.

The story is such that a translation gives you enough fuel for thought and emotion. It is set in the original Naxalite movement era. A doctor-turned-Naxalite, Virbhushan Patnaik, is handed the capital punishment for killing several policemen. He is to be lodged in Rajahmundry Central Jail for a year before he is hanged.

The jail Superintendent is a Britisher, Mr. Glad, who has lived in India since the end of WW II. He lost his Jewish wife Miriam to the Nazi gas chambers. He had fallen to the feet of the Nazi soldiers who were dragging his wife away, only to be reprimanded by his strong wife to be a man. Their little daughter, Jennifer, had survived the Holocaust and since had grown into a young woman, happily married in England.

Mr. Glad is as cruel and emotionless towards his prisoners as can be, using his stick, belt and shoes as often as he can on them. He drinks a lot of whiskey every night and returns to belt some prisoner or the other the next day. It is in this setting that Virbhushan Patnaik arrives, and instantly disarms Mr. Glad by his polite but firm retorts, clearly showing that he is not just another prisoner.

Through the year, the process of transformation of Mr. Glad on his interaction with the Naxalite continues. So changed a man does he become, he spends entire days without thinking of hitting anyone, insists on the Naxalite signing a mercy petition to the President of India (which he doesn't), gives all help to the visiting wife of the Naxalite, tries to read Marx, Lenin and Mao (but is frustrated by his lack of understanding), and finally, brings his visiting pregnant daughter Jenny to meet Patnaik. The daughter is equally favourably influenced by Patnaik's courage, strength of character and his appreciation of poetry. She requests her father not to hang Patnaik, but to give him a death more fitting of a revolutionary.

The end is deeply moving as the lack of all medical help on a stormy, rainy night, forces Mr. Glad to ask Dr. Patnaik to perform a Caesarean section on his daughter. Breaking all jail rules, Mr. Glad does this, and Patnaik performs the delivery successfully. Just as he is about to enter the jeep which would take him to his death by hanging in a few hours, Mr. Glad calls him 'Comrade' and shoots him in the chest, tearfully clarifying that he had not shot him in the back. Thus, the Naxalite dies a hero's death and Mr. Glad becomes a prisoner in his own jail.

The author does not push any ideology here. The novella is not about any 'ism', but about the play of circumstances and their influence on human behaviour. Its style is appropriate, with short sentences and short and pithy dialogue. It leaves a lasting impression on the reader's mind.

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‘Charitraheen’ Wednesday, Apr 5 2006

I read a Hindi translation of this Bengali novel by Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay recently. It is a very finely etched story, too fine, in fact, for me. The emotions depicted in the novel are very fine, and I, whose emotions are too gross in comparison, could not relate with any definiteness to the story and the characters.

The novel is set in Bengali society of the early 1900's. The story has four main women characters – two major, Savitri and Kiranmayi, and two minor, Surbala and Sarojini. The former two are the ones on whom the accusation of being charitraheen (of loose character) is made. It is most interesting that all four characters are totally different. Savitri is born a Brahmin, but poverty has forced her to become a servant, doing tasks appropriate only for a 'lower caste'. She is, and remains, pure of character, and devoted to the man she loves – Satish. Surbala is Upendranath's wife. She is young, pure in character, pious to the point of blind faith in religious texts. Sarojini is educated in the Western style, and is forward-thinking, but hampered by familial circumstances and a forceful mother. She does get to marry Satish in the end, though. Finally, Kiranmayi is the most striking character of the novel. Young and extremely beautiful, she is also very intelligent and argumentative. Her emotions and desires have, however, always been repressed by a husband more intent on learning and on teaching her than on conjugal matters, and by a nagging mother-in-law. She surprises and impresses all the three main men in the novel – Satish, Upendra and Diwakar – but her life is ultimately reduced to a shambles by these unthinking men.

The three men play very important roles in the lives of the four women, but most of the time, their actions are detrimental to the women. They are orthodox, unthinking, and not in control of their emotions. Satish brings about Savitri's downfall and acts strangely with Sarojini till the end, when he brings about a final reunion of sorts on Upendra's deathbed. Upendra helps Kiranmayi a lot initially, but thinks the worst of her relationship with Diwakar, and actually causes Kiranmayi's compulsive elopement with Diwakar. Diwakar is weak-kneed and immature. An orphan, he is delighted by Kiranmayi treating him as her brother, and eventually shirks education. He acts totally irresponsibly after his elopement with Kiranmayi.

There is a redemption of all the women in the end, Savitri being considered a devii, Kiranmayi's compulsions understood somewhat and her ill-treatment regretted implicitly, Sarojini getting to marry Satish, and Surbala dying a natural death. But one feels that this redemption has come too late. Wrong done to the women cannot be righted just like that, even if the women themselves feel so.

The depiction of orthodox Hindu society in conflict with Western thoughts brought in by British rule is good. The character sketches are the best part, and their emotions, swinging from one end of the spectrum to the other, make for thoughtful reading.

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‘Nirmala’ Saturday, Apr 1 2006

This Munshi Premchand novel has always been associated in my mind with the Doordarshan TV serial based on the novel that was telecast in DD's Golden Age of the 1980's and early 90's. However, I was too young to remember the exact story, and so I took up reading this novel.

Premchand's typical style, word & idiom usage continues here, in describing the feckless Nirmala's life. Her life has no real cheer in it, right from her early childhood when her marriage is first fixed upto her death. Forced to marry a once-married lawyer, Totaram, 20 years older to her, she finds herself in strange circumstances. Her father's sudden death changed her life this way, and she suddenly has to mind a household which has three young boys from the earlier marriage of her husband, the eldest son being a year older to her.

From then on, whatever she touched, turned out to have adverse consequences. Her husband's sister is cruel to her right from the beginning, though her attitude softens and becomes much more sympathetic toward the end. Her husband tries a lot of different things, from the noble to the ridiculous, to please her and to assuage his own feeling of guilt, but Nirmala sees through him and remains cool toward him, although serving him faithfully on a day-to-day basis. Her attempt to win over the children results in a terrible misunderstanding about her relation with the eldest son, Mansaram, and this ultimately leads to splits in the family and ultimate ruin. She even, unwittingly and by sheer chance, plays a role in the destruction of her friend Sudha's family. It's not a cheerful story to read.

What Premchand excels in is in exposing the social evils of the day, most of which continue to this day. The custom of dowry is the real turning point in the life of the child Nirmala, when her greedy in-laws-to-be refuse to marry their son to her after her father's death. In orthodox India, all morality comes down to the nature of the male-female relationship, which plays the central role here in the destruction – physical & mental – of not just Nirmala, but her entire family. Nirmala's character is, however, kept flawless throughout the novel – her desires never being allowed to come to the surface, her sense of duty, service and sacrifice always coming to the fore. Her thorough goodness is understood only in the end by her husband, foster sons and her sister-in-law, by when it is too late to remedy anything.

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