Shikhandi and Other Stories They Don't Tell You - Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik

Shikhandi and Other Stories They Don't Tell You by Devdutt Pattanaik
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A friend recently told me that he had read Dr. Pattanaik's "Jaya" and had found it quite interesting. I had been meaning to read it for some time and found myself browsing through the shelves of the bookstore at Jaipur airport for the book. Of course they had it, but another book caught my eye. "Shikhandi and Other Stories They Don't Tell You" seemed to be quite interesting so I got it instead. "Jaya" would have to wait for another time.

I was immensely impressed by Devdutt Pattanaik's "myth=mithya". He seemed to be one of those sensible mythologists who seek out the history in mythology. This book tried to justify the LGBT movements that India saw recently in terms of Hindu religion and mythology. Dr. Pattanaik uses the word queer to refer to any sexuality that is not sanctioned by the major religions. Though the usage of the word might seem a bit ironic, especially when the author is arguing that the queer are just as natural as the non-queer, but if you rid the word of all the negative connotations that it has gathered over time, it is just another word. The book looks into all the twisted stories from various mythological sources of Hindu cultures across India and tries to establish that diversity in genders and sexuality are not only present from times immemorial but are also accepted and celebrated by the pantheon of Hindu gods.

The book talks about gods and men who find themselves in a position to do many of the acts that modern religions (including modern Hinduism) find inappropriate and unnatural. These include acts of changing gender, same sex love, cross dressing, castration to fit a role and many such acts that seem outrageous to our trained minds. All these acts are either done out of volition or as a result of a curse or boon. But never are the subjects of such action frowned upon or outlawed in these stories. Dr. Pattanaik also tells how and why such stories have been suppressed from popular mythology or modified to more suitable forms.

The short read was quite impressive in terms of showing how stories are forgotten when the popular culture does not support them. It was also quite interesting from a point of view of curiosity as it shows the diversity that the Hindu folk lore contain. However, reading the book I felt that Dr. Pattanaik is not an unbiased observer. He is rather someone who holds Hinduism in a higher esteem than other ways of life. Not that there is anything wrong with it, especially when it is being used to bring about a change in the uptight style of living that the monastic order has made popular. But this attitude also tends to distort the interpretation of mythology and things get modified in translation.

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The Glass Palace - Amitav Ghosh

The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I thought I had sworn off Ghosh for good. But an uncle (the same one who had lent me his copy of "In An Antique Land") told me to pick this book since I was about to go to Burma. With a rather divided mind I eventually got a kindle version of this book and started reading it a few days prior to my departure to the "Land of Gold". The reading continued well into the trip and I finally finished during a train journey to the northern state of Kachin.

This is definitely one of Ghosh's better works. It tells the rags-to-riches-and-back story of a certain Indian boy who made it big in Burma. It was partially in line with Haley's Roots. The exile of the last king and queen of Burma was worked in quite well. The trouble : there was a lack of something pivotal in the story. The protagonist lost center stage at times and while other characters tried gaining focus, they were pushed back into obscurity before they could make their presence felt. It seemed a rather hastened narration of fictionalized history. All this rendered the book rather dry and, had the purpose been so, didactic. Ghosh could have done much better with this story. His research is very evident and the way he has managed to make a story of all the historical events is also very impressive. If only the story-telling had been up to the mark, this book would have been a delight. For me, however, the history of Queen Supayalat and King Thibaw and their palace in Mandalay was a delightful knowledge when I actually saw their effigies in the Mandalay Palace. In a certain way I could relate to the palace through Ghosh's words, for which I shall ever remain thankful.

Rajkumar Raha, the protagonist of the story, is a young boy who finds himself in Mandalay when the English defeat the Burmese kingdom and make it a part of the Empire. While the king and queen are being exiled, he sees a strikingly beautiful girl, Dolly, in the queen's entourage and falls in love with her. Years later Rajkumar is wiser and has made a fortune for himself in the Burmese wood industry. He seeks out Dolly in Ratnagiri, asks for her hand in marriage and takes her back to Yangon. The story follows their lives and the lives of the next two generations of their family and the ones closely associated with theirs. In the background take place the Great War and the age of rubber plantations, World War II, Japanese invasion of Malaya and Burma, the struggle for independence of India and Burma, and even the modern usurping of power by the military junta and the struggle for democracy by Aung San Suu Kyi.

I am not sure whether I enjoyed this book or not. Apart from it's dryness I cannot really find any fault in this one (as opposed to "The Calcutta Chromosome"). Ghosh's forte remains his research. I still find his storytelling not compatible with my palate. Unless there is another strong recommendation, I would not bother picking up Ghosh's work proactively.

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