Books read in 2011

Read in 2011 (91 = 55 + 36; NF 19) 

ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS -- FICTION (17): (Ramayana by William Buck), Shankuntala by Kalidasa (translated by Arthur W. Ryder), (Mrichchakatika), Palace Walk by Naquib Mahfouz, Possessed by Dostoevsky (translated by Constance Garnett), The Charterhouse of Parma by Strendahl, If on a Winter Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, Arabian Nights, The Tale of the Unknown Island by Jose Saramago (translated by Margaret Jull Costa), Cain by Jose Saramago, Ladies Paradise by Emile Zola, (Confessions by Saint Augustine), Children of Gebelwaki by Naquib Mahfouz, Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac, (The Trial by Franz Kafka), The Wife and other stories by Anton Chekov, Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata, 

NOVEL / FICTION IN ENGLISH (16): Europeans by Henry James, Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie, Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, Down and out in Paris and London by George Orwell, Boy  by Roald Dahl, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Dork by Sidin Vadukut, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe, Chef  by Jaspreet Singh, Palm Wine Drinkard by Amos Tuttola, Rain and Other Southern Sea Stories by W. S. Maugham, Fox by D. H. Lawrence, Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass, Flappers and Philosophers by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Life's Handicap by Rudyard Kipling.

NON-FICTION (8): Hindoo Holiday by J. R. Ackerley, Imaginary Homelands by Salman Rushdie, (November Boughs by Walt Witman), The Agricola and The Germania by Tacitus, (Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter), Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays by Chinua Achebe, Travels of Marco Polo.

ENGLISH POETRY (28): Birdsong by Rumi (translated by  Coleman Barks), Meghaduta by Kalidasa (translated by Arthur W. Ryder), Aeneid by Virgil (translated by C Day Lewis), Gilgamesh (translated by David Ferry), Dropping the bow: Poems from Ancient India  by Andrew Schelling, Ritusamhaar by Kalidasa (translated by Chandra Raman), Red Suitcase by Naomi Shihab Nye, One Handed Basket Weaving by Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks), Intimations by Anna Akhmatova, The Pupil by WS Merwin, Possibility of Being  by Rainer Maria Rilke, The Theban Plays by Sophocles (translated by EF Watling), Poems of Nizam Hikmet (trans. by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk Blasing), Teahouse of the Almighty by Patricia Smith, Collected Poems by Jorge Luis Borges, Dancing in Odessa by Ilya Kaminsky, The Bacchae, Medea and Hippolytus by Euripides (translated by Phillip Vellacot), Jejuri by Arun Kolatkar, Tulip in the Desert: A Selection of the Poetry of Muhammad Iqbal (translated and edited by Mustansir Mir), Don Juan by Lord Byron, Songs of Kabir (translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra), Here there was once a Country by Venus Khoury-Ghata (trans. by Marilyn Hacker), The River of Heaven: The Haiku Poetry of Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki (translated by Robert Aitken), Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty by Tony Hoagland, The Garden of Heaven: Poems of Hafiz by Hafiz (trans. by Getrude Bell), Shikwa aur Jawab-i-Shikwa by Mohammad Iqbal (trans. by Khushwant Singh).

Hindi / Urdu / Sanskrit/ Punjabi (3+7): Gaban by Munshi Premchand,  Pratinidhi Kavitayein & Meri Shresht Kavitayen  by Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Rashmirathi &; Urvashi by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Raghuvansh by Kalidasa (Hindi prose translation), Madhushala and Kya Bhoolon Kya Yaad Karun by Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Iqbal ki kavitayein, Umar Khayyam ki Rubaiyan by Harivansh Rai Bachchan,

PHILOSOPHY / RELIGION / MYTHOLOGY  (0+1+6): A Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, King Jesus  by Robert Graves, (Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda), Exhortation to the Greeks (trans. W. Wilson), The Rich Man's Salvation (trans. P. M. Barnard) and To the newly baptized (a fragment) (trans. J. Patrick) by Clement of Alexandria, The Panchatantra (trans by Patrick Olivelle).

MAHABHARATA (by Mahrishi Ved Vyas; tr. by Kisari Mohun Ganguly) (0/18): 

POPULAR SCIENCE / ECONOMICS (5): (In the blink of an eye by Andrew Parker), The Worldly Philosophers by Robert L. Heilbroner, (Why Marx was Right by Terry Eagleton), Economics Explained by Robert L. Heilbroner and Lester Thurow, The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher by Lewis Thomas.

Favorite reads of the year (Fiction / Novels /Short Stories/ Non-fiction)
1) Palace Walk and Children of Gebelwaki by Naquib Mahfouz
2) Possessed by Dostoevsky (translated by Constance Garnett)
3) Arabian Nights
4)  Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell  
5) Rain and Other Southern Sea Stories by W. S. Maugham
6) Imaginary Homelands by Salman Rushdie and  

7)  Poems of Nizam Hikmet (trans. by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk Blasing)
8) Pratinidhi Kavitayein, Meri Shresht Kavitayen, Madhushala, Kya Bhoolon Kya Yaad Karun  
     and Umar Khayyam ki Rubaiyan by Harivansh Rai Bachchan,
9) Rashmirathi & Urvashi by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, 
10)  The Worldly Philosophers by Robert L. Heilbroner
11) Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays by Chinua Achebe
12) Life's Handicap by Rudyard Kipling 

(If I am through more  than 50% of the book, it goes into 2010 category, otherwise, it appears in the next year. See here for the books read in 2010, with the selection of favorite ten!)

Hindi Kavita: Dilli

दिल्ली 

फिर के आये जहाँ फिर आये कहाँ दिल्ली,

तुझसे दिल लगाये वो जाये कहाँ दिल्ली?

एक लत है, हर कश में जहर भरती है, 

पर चेहरे से हटाये कैसे धुंध-धुंआ दिल्ली ?

धमनियों में रेंगते हुए जीवाणु हैं या विषाणु हैं?

करोड़ों धर्मी-अधर्मी बसाए कैसे यहाँ दिल्ली?

होकर खाख फ़िर शाख, फ़िर ईमारत बना देती है,

कैसे बेबसी भुला बीहड़ में उगाये गुलिस्तान दिल्ली?

हर युग में प्यासा फिरा कोई ग़ालिब, मीर तेरी गली,

क्यूँ अमृत या मह न पिलाए, यमुना, धौला कुआं दिल्ली?

जहाँ अहम् से ऊंचा क़ुतुब मीनार, खून-सा लाल किला है,   

वहीँ कैसे पीरों, मीरों, फकीरों को दिलाये जुबान दिल्ली?

ठोकरों के हिस्से में भी इतिहास के जहाँ रोड़े है,

कल की कोखों में कैसे कमल-कल्पना पनापाये वहाँ दिल्ली ?

वेश्याओं की पान्जेबों में कितनी गृहस्थियाँ खनके,

क्यूँ आताताइयों के आगे घुटने टिकाये बेजुबान दिल्ली? 

चांदनी चौक से शौक शुरू कर, और जा जमुना पुल पार,

घाम-गाँव गँवा आशाएं रिक्शा में घुमाएं शहंशाह दिल्ली!

अदना है तो अदब देख, सरगना है तो लहू का सबक देख,

हर हुक्के में अदा या विपदा का फलसफा सुलगाये वेवफा दिल्ली |

भूखा रहा न कोई यहाँ, ना यहाँ भर पेट भी कोई खा पाया है,

हसरतें ज़र्रे-ज़र्रे में बड़ी-छोटी छुपाये लुभाए जानेजहाँ दिल्ली |

मुल्क की मल्लिका है, पर क्यूँ दागी, अभागी है, धोखेबाज़ है?

क्यूँ विरासत की सियासत से हुई है बेदर्दी, बेईमान दिल्ली?

अर्जी पढ़ मेरी, एक सूफी सुर में सुरूर में फिर खुद को डूबा,

भूल जा कि है तेरी खूनी हिन्दू-मुसलमानी दास्ताँ दिल्ली | 

किस तरकीब से जागेगी तेरे जहन में पाकीज़ा प्रेम की धुनी?

और कितनी मस्जिदें, दरगाहें, मंदिर, बनायें तेरे यहाँ दिल्ली?

विवेक से पूछो तो कहता है तेरे मिट-मिट के उठ जाने में सबक है,

यूँ तलवार, अहंकार माटी में मिलाये-उगाये तुझसा कोई कहाँ दिल्ली ?

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel opens with a line "Henry's second novel, written, like his first, under a pen name had done well". The prophecy, in the terms of sales receipts and author advance, may hold true for the author of the celebrated, award winning Life of Pi. But in this review, we'll examine if this novella would enter a reader's world as "had done well" and since the author banks on our familiarity with Life of Pi, we'll like to know if both books can be placed on the same bookshelf? To read every book as a stand alone piece of work is always my attempt as a reader. The pleasure in reading multiple books from great writers lies in the possibility of entering a different world through every successive novel. The great pleasure in writing lies in chartering characters and casting scenes that live on the page irrespective of what you had created once or will create later in life. Yet in equal measure, we love books when they evoke or stir emotion and intellect through images and words. Yann Martel has skills with words, many pages reaffirm his ability in weaving pretty sentences, but as far as the story goes, Martel fails to deliver a masterpiece expected from his desk. 

Life of Pi is a delightful read, as the voyage of a boy with three animals, including a tiger, presents endless situations and scenes that surprise, scare, excite, amuse, educate us. Animals play an important part in Beatrice and Virgil as well, but the mere presence of animals in a story does not always make the allegories effective. In search for a story that would be as gripping as his former novel, Yann Martel wanders into a taxidermist's shop, and creates a feature full of stuffed animals and stinted humans. The holocaust angle in the story is perhaps the weakest plot device used by the author, for it leaves the reader dissatisfied with the whole series of events and dialogues chartered in the book. In the first chapter, the author shows the protagonist (who is an author too) grappling with the idea of writing about holocaust "in a non-literal and compact way." Later, when publishers wish to know what the book is all about, the protagonist says: "My book is about representations of the Holocaust. The event is gone; we are left with stories about it. My book is about a new choice of stories." Perhaps Martel's protagonist expresses the author's own intentions quite well, and while one cannot doubt the intentions of the novelist here, the final piece lacks the harmony and humanity he wished to capture and portray. Martel within the novel as well as as an author raises the expectations that he fails to meet! Sorry Yann, I will quote by paraphrasing from your book again: "as it stands now the novel lacks drive and unity."

Hindi Kavita: dost lai

दोस्त लई

तू फ़िक्र कोई न करियो दोस्त, न घबराइयो न डरियो दोस्त,

उम्र दा मामला है, तू जलदबाज़ी में कदम न धरियो दोस्त |

दूर से कुछ और लगती है, करीब से देखो कुछ और निकलती है,

यह माया से भरी गलियां हैं, तू आँखें खुल्ली रखियो दोस्त |

पिच्छे क्या छुटया, क्या करना? तू तेरे आँखें आगे देखें, तू आगे बड़ना,

किवाड़ जो बंद कर आया, उनके चौखट पे सर न पटकियो दोस्त |

हुआ कुछ भी न गर साल, चार साल, या लात, हड्डी, पसली टूटी,

घाव भर जानगे, फसलां उग जानगी, तू क्लेश न करियो दोस्त |

चाव कर कितना भी, जो पाया-गंवाया यहीं रह जाना है,

तू लकड़-पत्थर-लश्कारे लई, कर्म फोड़, जन्मां दा ह्रास न कर बैठियो दोस्त |

चिल्लर लेकर चलने वाले बैठे हैं भिखारी गली-गली, भ्रष्टाचारी महल-महल,   

तू मयंक है, कौवा नहीं हंस है, तू अम्बर की ऊँचाइयाँ पर रहियो दोस्त |

बंद कर मुट्ठी, दे सर पे चोट, जान है अर्थ क्या, व्यर्थ क्या, सिद्दार्थ क्या,

कर ईमान बुलंद, उठ कर आँख खुली, हौंसले और विवेक दा दामन न छडियो दोस्त |

(Written in a very colloquial tone, perhaps in the tone and style of conversations in my Chandigarh hostel: while listening to the audio, imagine two friends sitting in a room, and one giving advice to the other.)

Breadwinner

Down the hill, over pebbles and rocks,
we chase after him, he after the stream,
and rush into an old stone-slate hut.

Out comes the gush of his laughter.
We are panting a chorus now. Our hands
on our knees, and cheeks, city-red.

Now he, my father, is a little boy
flaunting his 'phoren' toy, while we, 
twenty-first-century camera kids,
witness the wooden chakra,
and the chant of the millstones. 

He unites with his fourteen-year-old
fatherless self, carrying a sack of wheat 
or corn for three miles. His voice 
cues our lips into smiles, till
dew descends into my eyes
wishing to embrace 
his fifty-year-old feet.

He has shouldered three 
generations—his mother, 
siblings, our mama and us,
and he is still humming like the stream,
like the grindstone. 

                           He is the wheat,
the watermill, the roti in my mouth.


Previously published in The Cortland Review, with Audio

Devout your lips

Trek through ravines, deserts, hills to scout your lips,
Or compose one song, you'd wish, was about your lips.

I'll believe any book, bow to any deity, become an atheist.
If you let me taste, just once, devout your lips.

Forgo father's religion, mother's language, brother's territory,
if you swim upstream for me, like a trout your lips.

Make armies kneel, poets duel, turn a boor into Kalidas,
Enchant Gods, who take avatars to admire you pout your lips.

You're like an idol, like a corpse... and we lament for you,
Let our festivities begin. Let a smile mount your lips.

Jehangiri flowers – your upper lip, chocolate jelly fish – lower lip,
Seasons, rebirths, music, love, the good and evil bout – your lips.

If I lust for you, let me lust O Menaka, O Urvashi for your Estella heart,
I'll rather exhaust my divinity, turn into a human, than doubt your lips.

My culture disapproves of my verses that unveil your kaamuk lips,
I praise like the Sufis. How can anyone suggest that I tout your lips?

Your search, my anguish, our earthly anxieties will all disappear,
If on hearing Vivek's words, songs, amor, OM, Amen spout your lips.


**
Appeared first in Nefarious Bellarina Issue 4.3