A book in Punjabi and a book on Parenting - Book Reviews

What happens when one meets or talks to one's mother after a long, a really long gap?

The warmth, comfort and the familiarity of the relationship is there, but it isn't easy to explain the neglect on one's part.

At the start of the year, when I was finalizing my reading goals, I had also decided that I will read at least one book in Punjabi (my mother tongue) this year. And it is a sheer coincidence that my mother gifted me two Punjabi books, few months back. While reading the Punjabi book, it felt like my vocabulary has shrunk. I hadn't read in Punjabi since school. So it took some time getting used to reading a book in the language of my childhood dreams. 

Before I share my views on Raseedi Ticket (The Revenue Stamp) by Amrita Pritam, here is an interesting anecdote about the title of the book, which I had read online, much before I got the book in my hands.

"Khushwant Singh (an eminent Indian author) once told Amrita Pritam that the story of her life was so inconsequential and tiny that it could be written at the back of a revenue stamp. Keeping this joke in mind, Amrita Pritam penned her autobiography and titled it 'Raseedi Ticket', or The Revenue Stamp."

Amrita Pritam is an intense writer, whose writing is seeped in the world history, tragedy, unrequited love and deep philosophy. So expecting a conventional autobiography from her is foolish. Yes! She gives the reader some key details of her life and some milestones etched in the years which she truly lived. But it is her work and craft; her muses and inspirations; her dreams and concerns that she talks about in extraordinary detail. She also shares several extracts of her work and reproduce several poems & short stories, in the book which helped me as a reader to understand her state of mind at different stages of her life. Her world-view will tug at your heart. 

A very small anecdote, very early in the book, about religious segregation at her childhood home (separate utensils for people from a particular community) and her love affair with some one from that community when she grew up, sets the tone for this autobiography. Irony is one of the dominant themes in her life it seems. 

Another place in the book, where she narrates her visit to Sahir Ludhianvi's (an Indian poet) home in Mumbai, in the form of a short story about the roads that never meet, I found her depth as an author really amazing. 

She has also included her travel diaries from places across the world. These stories are interesting not because of the countries she visited, but because of her ability to connect with like minded people there through her work. Also interesting in these travel diaries is her deep understanding of the history of those places and how she is able to link that with the present situations. As one reaches the end of the book, she also talks about her Rajya Sabha (upper house in Indian Parliament) stint, but largely about the questions she asked on the floor of the house. It seems that as a person she was highly organized as she had documented almost every aspect of her life.

There is a section where she briefly touches upon her relationship with Imroz (artist & writer; Amrita's partner) and his personality. In this section also, she avoids conventional and mundane details. She compares Imroz to a saint in folklore and talks about his malleability and his unflinching devotion towards her.

There is another section in the book which talks about 'documentation of history'. This section is based on her time and work with Osho. An interesting perspective emerges. Western civilization was better in documenting history because Indians considered 'History' a useless fact. Our documents or Puranas focused on the 'True Meaning'.  The book ends with her last poem - Main Tenu Pher Milangi (I will meet you again). You might have heard it in the film Manmarziyan (The Heart's Wish). The poem captures her pathos and the essence of her free spirit. And I think that is the essence of her life and this book too. 

The Parent's Tao Te Ching ~A New Interpretation ~ Ancient Advice for Modern Parents by William Martin is a book I re-read this year. As I became a first time parent few years back, someone recommended this book to me. It is a fresh interpretation of Tao Te Ching / Tao seen through the prism of parenting. The book is easy to read (with simple, micro-sized chapters, that are written in free verse) but demands reader's time to reflect on each and every line one reads. There are just 140 pages, across 81 chapters that talk about parenting. But I must warn you, it is not an assured guide towards parenting. It is not a self-help book. It doesn't provide you tips or cheat codes. It is not a book which you read once and then it goes on to your bookshelf.

The book is about the way of life, the way of parenting. It talks about the philosophy, which should guide the way we live or the way we approach parenting or do anything else in our lives. It is a book which I will go back to every time I have doubts. Every time one reads it , one is bound to reflect on one's actions and may be discover something new. My words will never be good enough to capture the essence of this book and hence I am reproducing a quote from the book below. May be it will encourage you to read this one.

“Believe this difficult truth. Showing respect in the face of disrespect, love in the face of hate, trust in the face of betrayal, and serenity in the face of turmoil, will teach your children more than all the moral lectures by all the preachers since the dawn of time.”

Wish-list Books

In July, I picked up two books which were on my wish-list for years. The first one took a long time to finish and the second one was really fast paced. But both consumed me, while I was reading them. This year has been great in terms of my reading goals - 14 books so far and lot of genres. Also I was committed to write about each book I read this year. So, here are my views on the two books I read in July.

Book 1: Maximum City - Bombay lost & found by Suketu Mehta (Non Fiction)

I think I was quite late in reading this one. It was originally published in 2004. I stayed in Mumbai for 12 years from 2005 to 2017. I share with the author certain traits - flirting with the edgy and shady parts of Mumbai; and an eye for detail. The author here describes Bombay the way a foreigner sees it. Its politics, its depravity, its poverty, its crime and its hypocrisy. The book spends some time and few pages on the resilience and spirit of the city and its inhabitants as well. But I felt there is a deliberate attempt to make it appealing to foreign audiences who love certain stereotypes about India. There is an overt Hindu bashing and justification of atrocities committed by minorities; while both sides are equally to be blamed for everything communal. 

Also some aspects described in vivid detail are now dated. 

The underworld and its nature has changed. I have read few Hussain Zaidi books and watched Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday in last few years, which give  far more nuanced accounts of riots, underworld and bomb-blasts. These are the subjects which Suketu spends a lot of time on, though from a human psyche perspective, but I was constantly getting the 'been there done that' feel. The extreme politics of hatred in Mumbai has failed to take off in last few years, which the author explores and the dance bars and associated social fabric has disintegrated since this book was written. Also if one has seen Madhur Bhandarkar's Chandni Bar, one would realize that while the film was poignant, the author in this book largely tries to titillate. 

The author shines in the parts where he describes immigrants and their dreams or where he mocks the film industry and its style of operations. This book is surely a good compilation on the city of dreams but it falls short of being a definite and defining chronicle of Bombay / Mumbai, as it ignores the large working middle class and its struggle. 

Book 2: Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh (Fiction)

Though originally published in 1956 it is highly relevant even today, because nothing has changed. This book looks at the partition of India and Pakistan not from political point of view (local village politics described in the book exactly mirrors the national politics of that time though) but from human and social point of view. Khushwant Singh localizes the issue to one village and builds a heart breaking tale of love, betrayal and redemption of one of its key protagonists. The book delves deep into frailties of human beings and describes the levels of moral corruption and wickedness we are capable of. 

As an author Khushwant Singh has an excellent writing style. Brevity and right choice of words are hallmark of this book. He is incisive, displays great sense of dark humor and his economy with words, makes this book a fast read. Also by the end of the book, your ideas about bravery and heroism; idealism and action will be tested. You would think about these things days after you would have put the book back onto the bookshelf.

Interestingly, Maximum City takes sides while describing riots and Train to Pakistan doesn't. The former is non-fiction which doesn't always ring true and the latter is fiction which feels like a true account.