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Sunday, February 12, 2012 www.sakaaltimes.com

READING ROOM 3
FICTION

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Anyone who knows Tagores poems in their original Bengali cannot feel satisfied with any of the translations (made with or without Yeatss help). Even the translations of his prose works suer, to some extent, from distortion. E M Forster noted [of] The Home and the World [that] the theme is so beautiful, but the charms have vanished in translation... n Amartya Sen in Tagore and His India

NON FICTION
1. The Best Thing About You is You! Anupam Kher..............Rs 399 2. Ashoka, Charles Allen...................................................................Rs 750 3. Currency Wars, James Rickards................................................Rs 799 4. Inside Apple, Adam Lashinsky...................................................Rs 499 5. The Beauty Diet, Shonali Sabherwal.......................................Rs 250
(Bestsellers list courtesy: Crossword Bookstore)

1. The Templar Cross, Paul Christopher...................................Rs 299 2. Overwinter, Ratika Kapur........................................................Rs 495 3. Micro, Michael Crichton............................................................Rs 299 4. The Adventures of Rusty, Ruskin Bond.............................Rs 299 5. The Extra, Kiran Nagarkar........................................................Rs 599

conversation
Rabindranath Tagore was a sceptical man due to the lack of support for his ideals, discovered biographer and academician Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. He explains a few facets of the iconic personality to Biswadip Mitra

littrateur, philosopher, educationalist and humanist. With these multiple facets, Rabindranath Tagore is an icon for us, the Indians. The stature comes with the hallow that often makes him god-like. Biographies of Rabindranath too cast him in that aura. But Dr Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, former vice-chancellor of the VisvaBharati University wanted to try and understand what Rabindranath called his inner life or the life of the mind. Moreover, as a professional historian, Bhattacharya wanted to situate Tagore in his historical context, global and national. Plus, he felt a need to demystify Tagore... to save him from mindless commentators who have iconised him. All of that led Bhattacharya to come up with the recent

His inner life A

biography, Rabindranath Tagore: An Interpretation. Apart from the fact that there are only two substantial source-based biographies of Tagore in English, both written a fairly long time back, I also felt the need for a new one because none of the biographies, in English or Bengali, address the main task I address, which is to write an intellectual biography of Tagore, Bhattacharya says when asked about the existing biographies. So, this biography is not yet another piece of adulation. It is enough to read Tagores original writings to realise how untrue to life the adulatory commentators are, he says. However, objectivity is a debated matter today, since we have lost the innocence of Positivism, the biographer adds. As a subject, Rabindranath oers a vast expanse. How easy or dicult was it to stitch together the

Rabindranaths hand-written patriotic poem, with doodles to cover the changes

He evolved from staunch nationalism towards a position of humanist universalism. At the same time, he was unrelenting in attacking aggression and domination of one country over another
Sabyasachi Bhattacharya

dierent aspects of the great man? Bhattacharya says that the dierent aspects of Rabindranath are, after all, dierent facets of one mind. Therefore, if you try to trace the evolution of the mind and the ideas driving that mind, the inner unity of the dierent aspects should be accessible. The aim was to write an intellectual biography. So, I decided to omit the details of his quotidian life... much about his numerous relatives, his earnings, his travels, people he met, speeches and messages, informs Bhattacharya. And what we get are the unknown sides of Rabindranath: a sceptical person, who was tormented by the lack of support for his ideals. He felt that the public celebration of his winning the Nobel Prize for Literature was momentary. Moreover, he was a lonely person who went through phases of depression. In January 1915 Tagore again speaks of a breakdown, deep depression, but in February he claimed to have been healed in the solitude of the boat he inhabited on the banks of the Padma (river) in north Bengal, writes Bhattacharya in the book. As the vice-chancellor of VisvaBharati, between the years 1991 and 1995, Bhattacharya had an inkling of his role as an institution builder. As a reader, he had some notion of the quality and range of his writings. But he knew little of his inner life and conflicts within. It was his researches that oered the

biographer a better understanding. I ask Bhattacharya whether his personal views about Rabindranath changed over the course of writing this book. There are dierent roles being played in dierent domains, but the man is the same, the noted scholar replies. There may be, as I have argued, occasional role conflict, but at the core there is one mind at work. The most striking thing about Rabindranath, he says, is how

creative he was and how his thoughts evolved over time. Bhattacharya elucidates his point through Rabindranths worldview. He evolved from staunch nationalism towards a position of humanist universalism. At the same time, he was unrelenting in attacking aggression and domination of one country over another, the biographer says as his final take on the great soul.

The genuine cinematic horror

Arnab Ray, aka the Greatbong explains what inspired him to write his latest book, The Mine
n SHALAKA NALAWADE features@sakaaltimes.com

Pic: Parag Jadhav

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rnab Rays second book, The Mine, takes a complete somersault as far as his genre of writing is concerned. While his blog and his first book, May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss, is a non-fictional satire on Indian idiosyncrasies, The Mine claws at horror. Its my attempt at genuine horror. I think horror should not be just about monsters, vampires, werewolves or the supernatural. Even most of the horror movies we see is not really about horror, they are more comedy dressed up as horror, he says. Why are we so uncomfortable with the genre of horror? I dont know. But going by the law of large numbers there ought to be a lot of people interested in genuine horror. I am one of them. Thats how this book was born. My motivation behind books is

writing something that I would like to read, Ray explains. He was in town for the launch of the book. He already had the idea of writing this book in 2004. This book was a dicult one to pen down. Partly written in Noir fiction style, The Mine is almost cinematic because I have a huge cinematic influence on me, Ray adds. More of a horror and psychological thriller, this book tells a gory tale of terrifying walking nightmares, as Ray calls them. It isnt your usual kind of book with a happy ending. It has a very depressing storyline which isnt generally published in India. Plotwise, it is about a fathers search for his daughter, but at a deeper level, it is rumination on what it is that makes us evil, he adds. If you were to read the book, you would know what evil he is talking about. The book is full of barbaric scenes. Ray turns serious as he elaborates

on it. None of the acts that I have described in my book come from my imagination. They have essentially happened in India since we got our independence, he says. Claiming that he is not a fan of slasher movies, Ray places his inspiration in psychological thrillers like Se7en and series like the X

Files. As adults, we are afraid of the supernatural zombie like monsters. We are more scared of the things that creep us. For example, if a black cat passes by me and a few seconds later another replica of the black cat passes by me, it will creep me. For me thats horror, Ray adds before getting busy with the event.

eading science can be interesting and fun. Be it fact or fiction. But what about judging a science book? Thats what the Royal Society in the UK wants young people, up to the age of 14, to do: judge the science books and decide winner for this years Royal Society Young Peoples Book Prize. The Society, as you know, is the UKs natioanl academy of science. So how can one get about it? Well, young people will have to form a group and then read the books, discuss them and then recommend a winner. Of course, the recommendation needs to be justified as to why that book should be awarded the prize. Sounds like fun, isnt it? If a particular group is chosen to be on the judging panel, then the Royal Society will post a complete set of six books shortlisted for the prize. So who selects the shortlist? Well, that is being done by adult judges who read and choose the six books. And then these books are handed over to the youngsters. The application from the youth groups to be on the judging panel will be accepted till April 30. In total, 75 groups will be on the young judges panel, thanks to the publishers who dont mind giving away free books to the young readers. Each judging panel will then choose its own Chair and then get into the act. But, the Royal Society wants that a responsible adult look after the young judges. We guess, the Society doesnt want any cat fight or bull fight or tantrums that often mars the adult judging panels of book awards. features@sakaaltimes.com

Judging SCIENCE

quick review

Of three assignments

Letters of literary world

Raylan By: Elmore Leonard Publisher: HarperCollins Pages: 263

gentle, well-behaved US marshall. Not someone youd get to see these days. But, Raylan Givens is just like that: nice manners, a sense of humour and a sharpshooter under his cowboy hat, as we see him again in Elmore Leonards recent thriller, Raylan. In this novel, Raylan goes through three assignments: he deals with a dope dealer and the organ tracking in Miami. Then he is entrusted with the security of a mining company executive, named Carol Conlan. But Conlan and her driver were involved with the shooting of an angry ex-miner, a murder Givens is also investigating. The third assignment requires the search of a student, Jackie Nevada, whos also a suspect in a series of bank robberies. Interestingly, the three antagonists in the three assignments are female. And they seem to be having a thing for Givens. After all, who wouldnt love a nice, tough guy. As one reads the thriller, it becomes clear that the author is not keen to follow the usual mode of plot and consequences pattern. He allows the characters to move in and out, without caring to lead to the final outcome, as in the case of the second assignment. That makes one think that this is actually three novellas that have been loosely strung together. Also, crime writers are at times astute social novelists, concerned as much with the countrys ills as they are with sensational homicides. This thriller shows that, as Leonard deals with several issues from climate change to ill eects of mining. Overall, it is a good read.

Rub Out the Words Edited by: Bill Morgan Publisher: HarperCollins Pages: 444

his is a collection of letters that the Beat Generation writer William S Burroughs wrote between 1959 and 1974. They begin with the phase when Burroughs was living in Paris at a place that later became to be known as the Beat Hotel. It was also the time when he was collaborating with British artist Brion Gysin on dierent experimental procedures. All of that and much more are included in this volume of letters, Rub Out the Words: The Letters of William S Burroughs (1959 1974), and the reader is oered the arguments that Burroughs put forward about his creations and often those of the others. The book includes rare two dozen letters of poet Allen Ginsberg, another Beat figure. They make for an interesting read. But more insightful could be how Burroughs had to deal with the people over issues related to money. His battle with drug addiction too figures prominently in the book. While his letters to people, who were interested in Burroughss works, had a literary aura, those to his parents were less literary. But they are moving and sincere, though it is known that Burroughs was not a saint. He was known for his flare-ups and jibes at his peers. You have betrayed and sold out the talent that was granted... Enjoy your dirty money... he once wrote to Truman Capote. Overall, the collection shows that Burroughss letters were more entwined with his literary world than it would be for other writers. features@sakaaltimes.com

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