Some more succulents for you!

 Some more Succulents for you!

Surprise, surprise! Do you know what an 'Entremet' is?  

It is my friend Manvi who demystified the term 'entremet ' to me as a word that stands for a confectionary! She should know as she runs a successful Pattiserie brand called called Peony.

An entremet is a complex, multi-layered dessert that is often served at special occasions. The word "entremet" comes from the French word meaning "between courses". Referred to as little treats served in between dishes as a palate cleanser or intermediary dish during a formal meal in earlier times. But now they are being served as stand alone desserts as well,

appreciated for their intricate construction and harmonious flavour combinations. 

What is the difference between a cake and an entremet, you might well ask.

The main difference between a cake and an entremet lies in its composition, construction, and presentation.

An entremet is a sophisticated dessert where every texture serves a vital role in enhancing the flavours of its ingredients. 

So the next time you are in a confectionary shop ask for an 'Entermet', see how they react!!

Book Review- ‘Madam Sir’ by Manjari Jaruhar, IPS (retd)

 Book Review- ‘Madam Sir’ by Manjari Jaruhar, IPS (retd)

Title: Madam Sir

Author: Manjari Jaruhar IPS, retd.

Publisher: Penguin 

Pages 237

Manjari Jaruhar’s book, ‘Madam Sir’ is a story of triumph despite many setbacks both on the personal and professional fronts. It is a stirring memoir where the author’s quiet strength of conviction shines through. The exemplary quality of head and heart which the book is steeped in wins the reader over without any effort. It is both heart-warming and poignant  as she narrates, ‘frankly and honestly’. 

If there is one element that connects the reader to the extremely engaging narrative, it is the authenticity of the voice that narrates. Jaruhar is able to imbue her life story of ordinary and extraordinary events into a narrative that is clear and matter of fact. She does not set herself up to be impressive at all. She allows us a look into how she grew up in a typical middle class but scholarly family of Bihar without having any real ambition in life. She was made to go to a convent school in Patna and brought up to be able marry well into a higher placed family. Imagine a well-placed family bringing up three delicate daughters as eligible matches in the marriage market! In retrospect she marvels at how decidedly submissive she had been in those years to her family’s inherent wish to settle their girls well. 

But a serious, shattering setback in her life makes her transition into a woman who claims her agency and refuses to let go of it ever! She decides to come to Delhi and prepare for the civil services exam. For a girl who had been groomed to be an ideal wife, she takes her life by the horns to slog and qualify for a career, refusing to return to the cocoon like family which wants her to go back. After qualifying for the Indian Police Service (IPS) she recounts in great detail the hardships she had to undergo to measure up to the physical fitness regimen required for the job. While her body was breaking under the stress and rigour of training, her steely resolve remained intact. She was determined to live life on her own terms!

The next phase of her life when she is posted to Bihar as an IPS officer reveals the deep patriarchal society she is up against which abhors women in uniform and authority. Her travails under her first boss who dismisses her as more of a liability because of her being a woman is a recurring theme as she has to work doubly hard to prove herself. Of course her determination wins the day as the then Chief Minister Lalu Yadav and later Police Commissioner Julio Rebeiro repose immense faith in her to handle sensitive and difficult job profiles. Jaruhar mentions some of the prominent cases she had to deal with in her illustrious career. Of special interest is Operation Gangajal about which film maker Prakash Jha had later on made into a film by the same name.

I would recommend the book as being a motivational story for all concerned. It would be beneficial to college students to read such first hand accounts of a lady who had the courage of her convictions in the face of  immense challenges. The book is also a master class on how an author can connect with her readers by an honest narration that leaves a lasting impression on the mind and the heart!

I would give it 4 out 5 stars

This is part of #BlogchatterHalfMarathon 2024

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 Vanishing gardens and my winter Oriental lilies 

Most home gardeners like me have been in despair the last couple of years. Well tended and deeply loved gardens have been going astray not due to any fault of theirs’ or of the poor flora and fauna! It is as if the doom’s day of climate change has arrived in such an alarming fashion that most are left guessing as to what will hit them next! Severe heat, incessant rains or freezing winters! Gardens are in shock! The stable weather that the gardeners and their gardens knew and trusted has been missing to be replaced by erratic and unimaginable degrees of weather that have frozen or burnt away their plants with the unusual patterns of heat, rain and cold!

There was a time when all of us worked to a calendar of dates and months when we planted seeds and saplings, with very little variance. And Mother Nature would reward us with blooms and bounties of vegetables and fruits without fail. It seems that those comforting times when one was sure of the produce are gone forever!

Take the last two years for instance. The rains came as late as August when it is usually the time for them to recede. So intense heat that preceded the monsoon, burnt most plants. It was pathetic to see heathy plants with singed leaves and flowers.  No matter how hard one tried by sheltering them the temperatures and the humidity destroyed most prized plants. The worst hit were the hybrids who in any case are more complex to cultivate.

The other face of gardening is to take losses of plants one has grown to tenderly care and love in one’s stride and carry on valiantly. But this year’s summer was worse. Leave alone the poor plants, even human beings were finding it hard to carry on. The intensity of the heat , close to 50 degrees Celsius became a nightmare! It is in those low periods that I gaze at my collection of pictures of my garden in happier times!

I am sharing some snaps of my Oriental lilies here from a couple of winters ago! They do well in early and receding winter. Exotic and pretty they command pride of place in any garden or vase. They delight the senses with their fragrance and beautiful resplendent petals. Surely a thing of joy that lasts forever, even in memory. For one is now hesitant to get ambitious and aspire to having them in the garden. With unpredictable weather, they are fit to only be flown in to places like Delhi from cooler, more stable climates to decorate vases, not to be grown. Till we meet again, my beauties! 

This blog is part of #BlogchatterHalfMarathon challenge 2024

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Athangudi tiles of Chettinad

 Athangudi tiles of Chettinad 

Karaikudi is a nice getaway from the bustling temple city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. A few hours’ drive on excellent roads brings you to Chettinad in the Sivaganga district. It is the land of the Chettiyars of yore, one of the prominent trading communities of the state. Palatial bungalows, made with imported teak and full of artefacts, busy weaving looms producing reams of material and stunning antiques are the first things that you encounter as you drive around. You will see a curious mix of the signs of the affluence of its old glory and its fall from grace as most original residents have moved away to bigger places and left their legacy heritage with caretakers. Of which a few have been converted into hotels and tourist homes, like The Bangala. 

Chettinad is also known for its distinctive Attangudi tiles, which have been around for more than a hundred years. Local artisans have been making them from generations as a source of  livelihood. Named after the village of Attangudi, the tiles are  handmade floor tiles that reflect the rich heritage of Chettinad’s affluent trading history.  European influences show in their classic colours and designs. The combinations reveal the Victorian styles of the United Kingdom. Italy and Germany along with native sensibilities.  To quote from the ‘Aura of Attangudi Tiles’, “Originally tiles from Germany, England and Italy made their way into affluent homes, but when the tiles aged with wear and tear, fixing them again was cumbersome. That was when the enterprising people of the area learnt the art of tile-making and having a trademark of their own in Athangudi.”       

The tiles are ecofriendly and sustainable as they are made from locally available materials like river sand, naturally found oxides and cement. The local artisans produce an eclectic range of designs that marry local influences with the imported ones. So you could find “Kolum” (rangoli) designs, free styles along with exotic flowers  blooming on them. Since they are all handmade, they are artisanal in the true sense of the word. Small variations are part of their distinctive features. If they have a downside, they are heavy to transport and not advised for use in wet areas. But their distinctive beauty makes them an attractive addition to any home!

This post is part of #BlogchatterHalfMarathon

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Controversy over IndiGo’s 'women-friendly' seats

IndiGo’s pilot project to introduce special ‘women friendly’ seats on their airlines has created a controversy of sorts specially on social media. What are these ‘woman friendly’ seats supposed to be? Indigo thinks it is giving the women segment of its passengers a value-added service by providing them the choice to pick seats that are next to women so that they are spared any kind of possible discomfort if they were sitting next to men. This has led to divided opinions both from women and men, with women being a large part of those who are vociferously against it!

Here are a few responses from social media that will reveal which way the responses are drifting:

• ‘I think it's retrograde. Male mindsets are the problem and no one is addressing that......!’

• ‘Absolutely. Token measures such as this change, nothing on the ground!’

• ‘I personally like the idea of having that choice.’

• ‘No doubt about that. I definitely like to make my own choice- whether to sit with a woman co-passenger or with anyone!’

• ‘I am also okay with this. I definitely prefer sitting next to a woman on a flight. The male mindset isn’t going to change overnight. I’d rather spend my couple of hours on the flight comfortably, without having to worry about my elbow touching someone’s next to me! And moreover, it’s an option, it hasn’t been made mandatory.’

• ‘Exactly. It’s a personal choice. To each her own.’ 

• ‘I try and avoid bawling kids. Which honestly there’s no way to avoid:)). I’m all for separate flights for parents with kids who bring the roof down!’

• ‘The plan has its plus and minus. There are obvious reasons why we would all like it but it could also be a case of signaling a default position of women not opting for it being available for nudging and groping. There are enough bull-headed desperados out there who would read it as such!’ 

• ‘I think it is a retrograde step as it is treating the problem, not the root of it which is patriarchal and objectifying of women! We need to demand equality every which way and a defaulter should be publicly shamed for it. Why should we cage (restrict) ourselves when it is the animals who need to be caged? Don’t you think it is like travelling in a metaphorical purdah?’ 

• ‘I agree. Just two bits from me. Firstly, any potential groper should be delivered a ringing punch/slap across his face as self defence. We are NOT delicate, and can do this. No need to get deluded that it is not ‘lady like’! Secondly, by opting for women co-seaters, we may get some cramped seats at the middle or the back, and I would rather have the choice of being in more comfortable seats.’

• ‘I think, a choice to have 2 hours of tension free time is easier, not preferable but easier.’

• ‘Speaking for myself, I agree it's a good move since I do a lot of solo travel, and altho’ I ensure I get the front row aisle/ window, it's really uncomfortable if a man sits on the next seat.  2 or more hours of hassle-free travel is so comforting! At the same time, very rarely, but it has happened, some very courteous boys/ men have been co passengers too!’

• I agree... The feeling of entitlement is visible during outings, dinner etc when a woman even though earning expects her male friend, spouse to take care of the bills... Not all women do it though!’

• ‘I feel the need is to encourage integration of women more seamlessly into the fabric of society where both the male and female of the same species are treated the same. Segregation is the problem. We cannot and must not, live in two separate worlds but share this space so that we can appreciate each others’ unique strengths and capabilities; support each others’ unique frailities. All this conflict is because women are stepping out of their segregated spaces to make a place for themselves in the larger world. I hope this is a stage of friction that will settle down.

• ‘This is what needs to be understood and internalized - a woman is the same species as a man… only then will there ever be empathy, sensitivity and pain for her!’

• We all know that societies which practice segregation have more crime and abuse rates. And also, the cynic in me suspects that such a gesture coming from Indigo could be a hidden ploy to charge extra for those seats!’

• ‘Personally, as long as I have a clean, no body-odours, and a person with whom I can strike a conversation, I’m fine. But if one is feels uncomfortable with the next  passenger especially male (the basic womanly instincts are never wrong), then the choice of change should be given.’

• ‘I think it's a very negative step, and will probably just be used to monetise seats.’

The jury is still out there as the raging controversy is still being debated! What do you think?

This is part of #BlogchatterHalfMarathon2024 campaign

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 Is astrology making a big comeback in our lives today?

In contemporary times, most people’s familiarity with astrology has been limited to reading monthly or weekly forecasts in newspapers and magazines. It was not so in the past when it played an important role in the fixing of coordinates of significant milestones in people’s lives like marriages, birth and funeral rituals. Astrology was a prominent feature of state craft as rulers of yore had official astrologers appointed in their courts. Experts in it were revered and consulted with great deliberation to arrive at auspicious times and to avoid the inauspicious ones to perform pujas. The astrologer had the last word in fixing things, with people following his words in letter and spirit. No doubt some of those astrologers were masters in the subject and deserving of such veneration. 

At the same time, blind faith in it by the people has encouraged quacks to don the mantle of astrologers and try to fool or scare without any basis or scholarship. That is how, astrology as a science took a hit and widespread scepticism about it took root in society. Its importance started waning during the colonial period. Western education added to the alienation people felt about it as they started equating it with a whole lot of mumbo jumbo. It became a light hearted ‘time pass’ rather than a source that could provide a serious input into managing lives. 

If you remember, there was a best-selling astrologer-author Bejan Daruwalla whose pocket sized books on all the zodiac signs were a hot favourite , more as a part time dalliance than any kind of serious consideration. And people generally consumed those generic forecasts with a generous pinch of salt. One’s hopes were raised by positive predictions and one generally ignored the negative ones as some make-believe stories, to be read and forgotten. Then there was Linda Goodman who was a worldwide phenomenon at one point in time with her successful books, “Sun Signs” and “Love Signs” becoming best sellers. The net result was that they were good conversation cues and everyone had an opinion on something or the other! Science and technology were making huge strides and the relevance of astrology was being questioned. 

Till the pandemic happened and the world was riddled with uncertainty and doubt. People started to look for answers to puzzling questions and viewed astrology afresh, as a source for those answers. Would that mean that astrology could really predict the future and also mitigate imminent dangers? Could the stars be influenced to be more benevolent, could major catastrophes be deflected? Legitimate scholars with years of study and practice started speaking up and offering rational explanations and deductions. Astrology, as a result, started coming into its own, not as an esoteric and dodgy pursuit but one embedded in serious enquiries to test hypotheses and draw conclusions. 

More and more people are planning ceremonial events around the stars. The 'Saya' months are very heavily booked everywhere as far as venues, pandits, decorators, caterers and musicians are concerned. It becomes a completely seller-driven market with clients running around to book events, much in advance. So great is the rush that invited guests, both domestic and overseas are having to book travel tickets months in advance to get better fares! Surge pricing rules as the stars have decreed the most auspicious days astrologically!

There is a new understanding of astrology being a rational and accurate prediction of the future, when applied by a trained and knowledgeable practitioner. Riddhi Bahl’s new book “Astrology Simplified” demystifies astrology for the lay reader with evidence to show how it is actually based on scientific calculations. She is a practicing astrologer and Vastu expert having spent many years in serious study.  She happens to be the great granddaughter of the former royal astrologer of the royal house of Jaipur Shri Madhusudan Ojha. She is also involved in research in her subject for the contemporary context. Why is that necessary, you may ask. Her answer is simple! The astrology that was being practiced earlier was for a different world, different from the complex one today, impacted deeply as it is by things like climate change, a pervasive geo-politics that threatens to blow up the world any moment, pandemics that lurk around corners, man’s increasing greed and the earth’s inability to feed it unconditionally and the consequent tinkering with the constellations that is jeopardising life on earth. Called Mundane astrology, one of Riddhi's interest lies in connecting the dots on the big picture as it emerges in the times to come. 

#BlogchatterHalfMarathon

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Succulents – born to arrest your attention

A few years ago, on one of my longish trips to the hills in Uttarakhand, I chanced upon an abundance of very attractive but minimalist looking plants, potted in solitary or bunched splendour in the local nurseries. Largely small, with fleshy petals or leaves, they came in various shapes, sizes and formations. Mostly in shades of green with a few varieties in crackling red or purple, they were eye catching and elegant. Thus began my love affair with succulents! 

I read up on the literature about them, took advice from experienced gardeners and brought back a cart load to the plains. They became my prized possessions as they were given vantage points in the home and garden. Their clean lines were a great contrast to the other plants in the garden which needed regular care and pruning and  trimming to remove untidy appendages of wilting leaves and drooping flowers etc. These plants seemed low maintenance and were statement pieces when displayed. They were born to make you marvel at the exquisite symmetry of petals and leaves and how well they were put together!  

The word succulent is derived from the Latin word ‘sucus’, which means "juice" or "sap". These plants stay engorged with water, to remain juicy and fleshy to cope with the harsh weather conditions of their naturally occurring  habitats. They need the sun and dry weather to thrive. Along with absorbing  energy from the sun, their storing of water, allows them to continue to survive and even thrive over long, dry stretches. This characteristic of succulents makes them popular in Feng shui, as they are viewed metaphorically as plants that attract and create abundance in homes and offices and are able to protect us from negative energies. They were said to be perennials. But sadly, the minute there was moisture in the air, they start to disintegrate and decay. I learnt that lesson the hard way.  Initially I was thrilled to see them prosper in the conducive weather of the Delhi region,  remaining picture perfect for months. Then the humidity and pollution of the city got to them such that it became impossible to save them. They could not survive the vagaries of the weather in the plains! It was painful to see them looking jaded as the months of muggy heat continued relentlessly. Only a few varieties like the Agave and Snake plant etc have remained resilient and thrive with little care and minimal watering. But they are not the ornamental variety that can be gifted or placed tastefully on tables and shelves as elegant showpieces!

Succulents are known for their air cleansing features. They are said to release oxygen and also do well by us by enhancing our moods. NASA research is supposed to have surmised that ‘succulents can remove up to 90% of certain toxins from a space within 24 hours. They can also remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are found in cigarette smoke, rugs, books, ink, and grocery bags.’ So much so that interior decorators and home makers make a beeline for them in terms of décor and functionality when designing homes. Social media is rife with advice on how to use them indoors in living spaces like drawing, bed and bath rooms!

Can you name any one succulent that most likely everyone has heard of? It is the Aloevera, which has become one of the most touted panacea for health issues in the modern world. And then there are mindboggling varieties of succulents, some with tongue twisting biological names! Let’s look at some of their popular names that are literal and also quite amusing! Burro’s tail, Baby’s toe, Elephant’s feet, Hen’s and chicks, Ox Tongue, Pig’s Ear, Snake Plant, Spider Wort, Starfish Plant, Plover Eggs, Zanzibar or Zee Zee, Ice plant,  Astroverthia, Echevaria, Kalanchoe, Coral plant, Opalina, Purslane, Stone plant, Stone Crops, String of Hearts, Zebra Cactus and the list goes on! Today my love for  succulents remains, but it is long distance as I now don't have the heart to be disappointed again!

‘This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon’ https://www.theblogchatter.com 

TEBACC session on Bhakti Women Poet- Saints

 TEBACC session on Bhakti Movement’s Five Women Saint Poets                                               

The Eclectic Books, Art and Culture Club (TEBACC) that I founded held an engrossing Lec-dem of poetry and devotional songs of five women saints of the Bhakti movement of medieval India- Andal, Akka Mahadevi, Mirabai, Soyrabai and Lalleshwari Devi by Rama Sundar Ranganathan. 

She is an accomplished exponent of the Indore gharana gayiki of Hindustani Shastriya Sangeet. A ganda-bandh shagird of Pandit Tejpal Singhji, the oldest living disciple of the legendary Ustad Amir Khan Sahab, she is also pursuing her PhD on the subject under the renowned musician Shri L Subramaniam. A former MBA from London, she has long since turned to music as her career specialization and professional pursuit.

Her engrossing rendition was more like a taster session for the packed audience who partook of the uplifting spirituality embedded in the outpourings of those truly gifted Bhakti women saints who walked this earth on their own terms, defying the prevalent patriarchal oppression of their times.

The session began with my contextualizing the concept and practice of Bhakti in historical and social terms. According to scholars there are many kinds of Bhakti even though we speak of it in the singular.  Its fluid definition can be seen in that there is Bhakti focused on Shiva, Vishnu or the Devi, bhakti by men and by women, Bhakti from the South or Bhakti from the North, early Bhakti or late Bhakti, Bhakti for the pantheon of Gods and Bhakti for the Supreme Power or a very personal God. Each form is different from one another but comes under the same overarching umbrella of the Bhakti movement. As H.S. Shivaprakash says, it is the first and greatest pan Indian literary and cultural movement which travelled across languages and regional barriers after originating in what we now know as Tamil Nadu.

With the backdrop of the legends of the three Sangam literature festivals, the Bhakti movement originated through a group of saint-poets, known as the Nayanmars and the Alwars. It saw the emergence of saints who were also poets. These saint-poets created a new idiom for devotional poetry of great literary achievement. It was an unorthodox, radical movement that tried to reform religious beliefs, transform social attitudes and shape literary expressions. It grew between the seventh and the seventeenth centuries in different parts of India.

Bhakti literature is a mix of the religious and the aesthetic. A Bhakti poem is both a visionary offering in a religious framework and an artistic creation in its own right. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Bhakti spread like wild fire, uniting the country as various voices were heard and revered. At the core of all Bhakti is the intensely personal, mystic consciousness mediated by the Bhakt with the chosen Power. 

The movement symbolised a powerful grassroot challenge to the Brahminical Hindu order with its prescriptive caste system. It was energised by ordinary people like weavers, housewives, young girls, potters, artisans, dhobis, traders and servants who led it or followed it.  Another significant  feature of the Bhakti movement was the creation of a rich and extensive literature in the vernacular languages. The Bhakti hymns in local languages had begun to be sung in the temples in place of Sanskrit ones. It was a non-Sanskritic and a non-Brahminical religious literature with reformative zeal and zest that countered  Brahmin orthodoxy. As A.K.Ramanujan says of Bhakti, "a great, many-sided shift occurred in Hindu culture and sensibility---------.”

It is in this context that Rama Sundar Ranganathan’s recital situated five women saints who excelled in their professing of Bhakti for their individual gods while becoming social reformers  championing equality amongst human beings. These exceptional iconoclastic five women saints were:

• Andal nee Kothai Naachiyaar of Tamil Nadu is the only female Alwar saint and an avatar of Bhoomi Devi 

• Akka Mahadevi of Karnataka of the Lingayat Shaiva community

• Mirabaiof Rajasthan  is the mystic poet devoted to Krishna 

• Soyrabai of Maharashtra in her Abhangs complains to god about untouchability and the restrictive caste system

• Lalleshwari Devi or Lal Ded of Kashmir wrote her poetry in Vakhs 

@tebaccofficial

‘This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon’ https://www.theblogchatter.com 

Book Review- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

BOOK REVIEW                                              

Book Title: Tom Lake                                                     

Author: Ann Patchett 
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing 
Number of Pages: 265 
ISBN: HB: 978-1-5266-6427-3            
Date Published: 2023 
Price: INR 799/- 

Ann Patchett’s latest book, ‘Tom Lake’, published in 2023, has been widely read and commented upon. A favourite choice with many women subscribed book clubs, the story is imbued with an overt feminine sensibility as the protagonist Lara (nee Laura), begins a retelling of her story from her staid school days when she becomes an accidental theatre and film actress, a trajectory that takes her on a roller coaster of fleeting fame and success along with a rip roaring love affair with a heart throb of an actor all the way to a subdued but deeply contented life in New Hampshire with her husband Joe and three grown up daughters, Emily, Maisie and Nell who are home with their parents in a pandemic ridden world. 

So is the story about surviving Covid? Not quite. As Patchett says in her interview with Waterstone, “I think of Covid as what a person comes down with and the pandemic as something we lived through, so this was a pandemic story and not a Covid story, insofar as none of the characters are sick.” What is more, the pandemic becomes the catalyst for why the three girls are back home, in a ‘lockdown state’ to help with the massive cherry picking exercise that the parents, the Nelsons, are having to finish as their regular work force has to be kept away. The pandemic is therefore a benign unifying feature in the story, almost a cocoon for the main characters to come together and quite a far cry from the sinister form it has been known for. In that sense, ‘Tom Lake” becomes one of the first works from a major writer on how the pandemic effected some lives in our recent past. 

It is during those long, hard working, cherry picking days that the daughters, on learning from their amiable father that their mother had dated the heart throb of an actor who had recently died, that Lara begins to tell her back story to her avidly curious daughters. The daughters prod, conjecture and judge as she picks and chooses details of the story she wants to share with them. As she says, “This is a story about Peter Duke who went on to be a famous actor. This is a story about falling in love with Peter Duke who wasn’t famous at all. It’s about falling so wildly in love with him—the way one will at twenty-four—that it felt like jumping off a roof at midnight. There was no way to foresee the mess it would come to in the end, nor did it occur to me to care. I have long been at peace with Duke the famous actor, but my feelings for the person who walked into my bedroom that first day at Tom Lake are more complicated. I’ve made a point never to think of him at all, except that now I am thinking of him. I am making one part of my life into a story for my daughters, and even though they are grown women and very forward thinking, let’s just assume I leave out every mention of the bed, even the two sheets of paper that are resting there on top of the covers.” (page 74) 

Patchett’s narrative style is a clever mix of recounting of the present days being spent in the cherry orchards along with vivid flashbacks from Lara about her work and love life before her marriage. It is in Tom Lake (fashioned after the beautiful Traverse city in Michigan) that Lara finds wings on the back of her intense affair with Peter Duke. The account of the foursome of Peter, his brother Sebastian, Pallace and her having an idyllic life with love and work seamlessly intertwined, breezy and carefree is almost utopian. Only to have it all go awry! 

The story raises questions about whether some people you meet in life  are destined to return in one way or another to stay with you even if they had gone away.  As Peter does and as the Michigan cherry orchards beckon to the Nelson girls and the Duke brothers to come back and be one with the community of one’s origins. There is almost a pull they all feel in coming to rest in the same community or  cemetery, as though the dead retain their rights to home in, even if they had gone away. As Peter Duke does and as Sebastian is also invited to? It seems that cemeteries are homely places for the living society and a link with the dead is cherished, as Wilder shows in ‘Our Town’ and Patchett in ‘Tom Lake.” 

As for the characters in the story, Joe, the solid rock of a husband to Lara is poorly etched. While the other male characters like Peter, Sebastian and even Ripley are delineated clearly, Joe Nelson for all the eulogies about him from Lara, remains a shadowy figure on the fringes of the story. He had more of an assertive role as Nelson the director. But when he is made to morph into good old Joe, almost like a farm hand, he becomes a background figure. The novel is also a study of sibling relations with the three Nelson sisters and the two Duke brothers in compare and contrast mode. 

Even though Lara dominates the story, she does not emerge as a strongly etched character. She remains rather vaguely defined with little agency on how things develop in her life. The question of destiny and free will come up in her context. The fact that she is happy to give up her starry dreams despite the success of her film ‘Singularity’ and settle down to life of contented domesticity seems questionable. Who is she? The Lara of Tom Lake or the one in the cherry orchards?

Beginning as an assistant seamstress to her grandmother, a quirk of fate makes her flower into a sought after actress who arrives in Tom Lake for an acting project to play the role of Emily Gibbs in Thornton Wilder’s much acclaimed play, 'Our Town'. In her acknowledgement Patchett thanks “Thornton Wilder, who wrote the play that has been an enduring comfort, guide and inspiration throughout my life. If this novel has a goal, it is to turn the reader back to Our Town, and to all of Wilder’s work. Therein lies the joy.” 

For anyone interested, the movie “Our Town” is available on You Tube and worth a watch. What strikes one immediately is the gentle and harmonious life and times that Wilder portrays in his work which Patchett is so wistful about. These people are normal and reassuring with ordinary preoccupations and worries but with extraordinary reserves of compassion and fellow feeling. Almost like the world in Robert Browning’s Pippa’s Song: 

The year's at the spring,/ And day's at the morn;/ Morning's at seven;/ The hill-side's dew-pearl'd;/ The lark's on the wing; / The snail's on the thorn;/ God's in His heaven,/ All's right with the world! 

The novel ends with a sense of redemption as all is forgiven and all is right with the world, making it an example of “literature of hope especially at a time when news headlines are dire and bleak.” 

‘This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon’ https://www.theblogchatter.com 

   

Part of the Blogchatter Book Review program https://www.theblogchatter.com/ https://amzn.in/d/0daN1GQT

                                                      

BOOK  REVIEW

Book Title: The Black Orphan

Author: S. Hussain Zaidi

Publisher: HarperCollins India

Number of Pages: 248

ISBN: 978-9354899973

Date Published: May 8, 2024

Price: INR 258

I must state at the outset that The Black Orphan is the first book of S. Hussain Zaidi’s  that I have read. I came to it with expectations based on his credentials of having been a journalist and an author who has had some of his previous books adapted to the screen by leading film makers. The catchy blurb on the back cover was enticing, besides  which his declaration in the Author’s Note was also quite persuasive - “ For this book----I owe a debt of gratitude to the biggest source of inspiration for my fiction- fact.” 

Zaidi’s plot has some skilful stirring of real events from recent history into a heady mix of conjecture and chase by senior cops (DIG, Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Police), terrorists, spies and detectives. The death of Osama Bin Laden gets ingeniously connected to developments post India’s successful nuclear initiative and the  ensuing conspiracy theories around three of India’s leading nuclear scientists of the time being found dead. The unravelling of murder or suicide theories reel in bigger circles of intrigue and caprice!  There is some more flavour added to the brewing concoction - that of ‘honey traps’  that have traditionally been the undoing of many an extra smart operator! All very plausible and believable! 

The main protagonist, DIG Ajay Rajvardhan is the quintessential hero – good looking, bright and on the ball. Well regarded by his boss the Commissioner Neeraj Kumar and his own colleagues, Ajay displays a sharp mind and physical prowess in dealing with challenges he is up against. There is an equally gifted female character Asiya Khan, whose beauty catches his interest even though she is a passionate defence lawyer out to defend a suspected terrorist. Sparks fly, there are whiffs of romance as the action and intrigue picks up momentum, with unexpected twists and turns, to race to an exciting climax.  

Zaidi mounts this gripping plot on a canvas that spans the  workings of the Indian Atomic Research Center (IARC),  the Indian Police Service (IPS), the National Investigative Agency (NIA), the CIA, R and AW agencies and the mysterious worlds of terrorism, crime and cyber warfare. He then colours the canvas with a tinge of patriotism or the lack of it as the reader gets drawn into the fast pace of the story telling. The tussle between the good guys and the rotten ones pivots on the fluid understanding of what is ethical and what is not. The deft world building gives the reader insights into how these well known but little understood conglomerates handle real crime like hacking, hawala, crypto worms, code words, AI and cyber weapons. 

While Zaidi’s riveting plot is vivid, his delineation of characters is not! One does not get to know them well enough to be actually invested in them as real people. Except perhaps at the climax when all defences are down and the fight becomes a question of survival, the brush strokes are broad but not detailed enough for us to get personally involved with them. Just like “shoulder surfing”, the reader is somewhat only looking in instead of biting his/her nails right through. 

The book is closer in that sense to a screenplay as the focus is more on the action, almost like scene units, with little by way of tonality of shades of characterisation in the players! All in all, a book that will lend itself well to a screen adaptation.  

 

BOOK REVIEW: Like Being Alive Twice by Dharini Bhaskar

Genre: Dystopian/speculative

Publisher: Penguin Viking

Pages: 324

Price: Rs 599/-

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Netflix's Bhakshak -- a promising start that loses steam midway!

 

Bhakshak - the latest on Netflix, produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and directed by Pulkit- Review

A promising thriller which begins well but somehow runs out of steam midway and limps to a rather didactic end!  

Why is it promising? 

For it starts off with all the ingredients of a riveting  story!  Vaishali Singh, a spunky local level journalist in Bihar who runs a one women show of a news channel along with an old partner who also is her cameraman and assistant. It is a story of unequal opponents- a young jounalist finding herself pitted against the unseeing eyes of the state and the open threats from hard core, seasoned  criminals. 

Why spunky? 

For she dreams of making it big on the national scene and never gives up even when the menacing danger of criminals targeting her family members loom large. She begins to pursue a case of heinous sexual abuse and exploitation of minors and and girls at the local Munawwerpur Girls Shelter Home, being run under the aegis of the Government. And true to form, when there is government funding, there are many in the food chain, namely the director of the Home, Bansi Sahoo, a local politician with immense clout and his lewd staff. 

Loosely based on the Muzafferpur Shelter Home scandal, which was brought to light by the report submitted by Tata Institute of Social  Sciences (TISS) in 2018,  Bhakshak has the protagonist Vaishali take on an uneven battle with the well entrenched exploiters' gang. The plot revolves around how Vaishali manages to switch between her bouts of courage to press on regardless of the threats  from the seasoned degenerate criminals, pressures from a perplexed husband and extended family to become the ideal home-bound wife and give up, moments of frustration and self doubt, and her dogged persistence to carry on in spite of all the odds.  

The worst is when she finds her belief in a fair system shaken, specially when there is a silver lining to the dark cloud when a sympathetic lady SSP of Police is posted to the region but who also expresses the limitations of the system that demands due diligence before the culprits are apprehended.  Vaishali's high hopes crumble in her face when the SSP tells her that it'll have to be she , herself who can bring justice to the voiceless victims!

Literally clutching at straws, Vaishali manages to turn the tide and the story which had distinct spikes of excitement, horror and hopelessness takes wing!

But that is where one has to criticise the director for taking the easy way out of leaving many questions unresolved and hastily closing the case. The connect with Sudha is introduced as a wild card, the actions and attitude of the SSP goes unquestioned, Sudha's escape from the home goes without comment, the behaviour of the convicted criminals especially the don Bansi will have you raise your eyebrows! Last but not the least is the didactic sermon that Vaishali hands out to the viewers for being Bhakshaks themselves. If leaving a moral was so important , maybe having a character voice it in the narrative would have been a better idea than having the protagonist's telling you, the viewer, off!

As for performances, Bhumi Pednekar checks in with a creditable performance but a little bit of spirit in her demeanour would have lifted her character to an inspiring level. Sanjay Mishra as the assistant to her is underplayed and maybe a little too controlled. Sai Tamhankar shines even though her role had its limitations. But it is Aditya Srivastava as Bansi Sahoo who delivers a convincing portrayal of a crafty,  lecherous and exploitative villain who leaves a mark with his portrayal. He should be making it big soon!

Rating: 3.5/5