BOOKWATCH
Lend an ear
BY ANITA JOSHUA
|
Whom to Tell My Tale: An Autobiography, K.S. Duggal, National Book Trust, Rs. 65.
|
FOR the poor editing — rather, the lack of any attempt to clean up the manuscript — K.S. Duggal's autobiography may get ignored; if not trashed. To do so would be akin to sending an innocent man to the gallows. Ignore the English — a tall order — and it will not take long for even those unfamiliar with Duggal's writings to realise the power of his word.
The title — Whom To Tell My Tale — itself is a draw, reflective of a wizened man's realisation that there may be few takers for his story. Who will have the patience in this day and age for the ramblings of a 90-year-old is his lament. But, the narrative does not reflect the pessimism that the title suggests.
Spanning much of the past century, Duggal's autobiography dispels the myths perpetuated by jingoism about life on the other side of the border pre-Partition. Giving details about the lengths the Muslim community in his village went to respect the sensitivities of the minorities living in the area, his narrative explains why his generation — which bore the brunt of Partition and its blood bath — still has fond memories of those days.
Involved as Duggal was with All India Radio, he enjoyed a ringside view of events as they unfolded and some of this comes through in his autobiography as does the dynamics of the world of letters. Another fledgling organisation that finds mention in some detail is the National Book Trust (NBT) — publishers of this book and an institution he headed as Director for seven years. Surely, NBT could have paid a little more attention to this publication of one of its own; that, too, in its golden jubilee year.
Renaissance man
Vikram Sarabhai: A Life, Amrita Shah, Penguin, p.264. Rs. 425.
AS far as multi-tasking goes, Vikram Sarabhai can have little competition. Everyone knows his contributions to space and atomic research, but how many realise that the "father of India's space programme" packed into his demanding scientific regimen a thriving pharmaceutical business; set up India's first textile research cooperative, ATIRA (Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association); first market research organisation, ORG (Operations Research Group); the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad); and the dance academy Darpana. Add to this, heading the Atomic Energy Commission as successor to Homi Bhabha, setting up the Physical Research Library at 28, and resisting India's move towards a nuclear explosion. Plus, two women. Phew!
Introduced to Sarabhai on the morning after his death through the newspaper at age nine, journalist Amrita Shah attempts to chronicle a manifold life in what is being billed as the first-ever full-fledged biography of Vikram Sarabhai. Though it is not an authorised biography, she got the support of his family in the endeavour. Yet, she has not tried to cover up some uncomfortable truths as is wont with most Indian biographers.
Of particular interest is the chapter about his resistance to India's first nuclear explosion and his relationship with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, including the suggestion of a degree of flirtatiousness with her. And, the book is replete with anecdotes, including the humble beginnings of India's space programme from a church building that did not have even a roof to keep the pigeons out!
War: A Poor Teacher
War Zones, Granta, Rs. 395.
THE horrors of war itself should be the most effective deterrent but such is the lust of man for power that after two World Wars and the bloodiest century, the itch for more bloodletting is still strong. In fact, ingenuous reasons are offered as justifications for war. A recent case in point being "the invasion of Iraq as a first step to peace in the Middle East".
So what if people do not buy these arguments. Governments — driven by the agenda of powerful lobbies — continue to bay for blood and device ever new ways to wage wars. So much so that wars seem to have become an end in themselves.
Granta — the magazine of new writing — has dedicated its Winter 2006 edition to war zones. Predominantly a collection of fiction and non-fiction writing on the battlefield — including a real-life account by a survivor of the Hamburg firestorm after Operation Gomorrah during WWII — the war zones include the courtroom, domestic spaces and the sheer process of existence.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Literary Review
