NO FULL STOPS IN INDIA

I have been asked by some of my friends to review the books that I read, so that they can form an opinion on them and then read those. So here is the first of my reviews:

Book : No full stops in India
Author : Mark Tully
Genre : Non fiction

For an Englishman born in Calcutta and having been an 'India' correspondent for BBC for more than two decades, it wouldn't be out of place to describe Mark Tully as three quarters Indian. His writings always reveal an underlying Love for the country that even many Indians cannot manage. Though there is the odd comparision to British or western practices and customs, the book celebrates India in a way that only Mark Tully can describe. Be it the elaborate settings for the Kumbh Mela, or the torrid tales of the Amritsar and Ahmedabad riots, he weaves his writings in such a way that the reader gets a feeling of being there when it happened. What strikes most is his impartial way of putting things, be it by design or by chance. The most interesting that I found were the chapters on the Deorala Sati and the Defeat of a Congressman. In The Defeat of a Congressman, the way he describers the fall of Digvijay Singh, destined for big heights in politics, into an also ran for the Congress party, brings a feeling of helplessness and hatred towards the way politics is run in this country. The chapter on Communism in Calcutta brings the reality of the fall of communism all around the world, and how those in Calcutta are clinging to the last vestiges of power. Even though written in 1991, the book brings a sense of foreboding for the communists, describing the rot that had sent into their government even then. Its only surprising that it has taken almost 20 years for the government to fall even after such suffering of the people. This goes a long way in saying about India's political system. The Chapter on 'return of the Artist' describes the plight on the traditional arts and crafts in the country, with a glimpse into the life of India's tribals.

Whats common to all these articles is that all of them are his own life experiences, and all of them have described bribery and corruption in one form or the other. The ineptitude of the government also stands out in most of them, making one believe that he is government bashing - but anyone who has lived in India for any significant amount of time will vouch for the fact that what has been mentioned is sad, but true. Where he so much succeeds is that he has made the commonplace mingle with the most bizarre, with a small bit of humour and exaggeration that is essential when someone is writing on India.

All in all, it is a book that is as entertaining as it is enlightening, and I would definitely recommend it to all Indophiles and also all people who like good writing.

Rating : 4/5

ENGINEERING 'COLLAGE'

I happened to talk to a lot of my friends from Engineering college and school very recently. Most of them are well settled with their jobs and everything, and all of them want to know how it was ‘going back to school’, so to speak, when I decided to do my MBA. Well, instead of talking about MBA, of which there’s nothing much to write home about, I have decided to write about the good times we had in Engineering College. There is a lot to cover, so this is the first of four instalments, starting chronologically with the first year.

All great things begin with a bang. We started off our Engineering education in typical Kerala fashion – strike on day one of college. I had high expectations thereafter, but was a bit disappointed in that respect. After that day, we only had a strike once later. But it was fun nonetheless. And then it took almost a year to get to know everyone. But the best part of that year were the weekly train journeys between Thrissur and Ernakulam – short and sweet, but so full of fun. The ticketless travels (never me, I always had a season ticket), the full train walk to the pantry of Dhanbad Express (getting cutlets and samosas and Lays), the leering and ogling at each and every young specimen of the opposite sex, talking to every person in the compartment, showing off to everyone that we are from the best (or second best) Engineering college in the state and a hell of a lot of other things- politics, sports, cinema, anything and everything that we had picked up. We were a bunch of noisy fellows, singing and talking loudly in the train, no worries in the world, getting unsolicited stares from everyone else in the train. But we didn’t care, and enjoyed every minute of the journey.

The college canteen was legendary. In the beginning, all of us were weary of going into it. We had heard stories of weird creatures being found in the food, food being stale, and also an unconfirmed report of mice being found in the rice. But one day we summoned up the courage to go there and then to our surprise found that the food was actually quite okay. Masala Dosa for 5 rupees, Sada Dosa for 4 rupees, cutlet for 2.50 and meals for 10 wasn’t bad at all. Boy weren’t we glad that there was a canteen in our college. There was the MILMA booth as well, quenching our thirst and satiating our hunger when the food in the canteen was not good enough, which according to some dudes was most often the case. And of course Wimbis can never be forgotten. The Veg Puff and Lime Juice routine that I followed there religiously for the four years is, well, unbelievable thinking about it now. It was in the ‘lawns’ of this great bakery that I came across the first entrepreneur in my life. Shamil Kumar – of SKCL fame. He was the one awakened the sleeping management student in me. Having got into our college for Chemical Engineering, he found the course too difficult to handle. He dropped out, started a small stationary shop, and now has branch offices as well. He is the one stop solution for all of us – be it project submission, exam (and supplementary exam) form, internet browsing, stationery, bird watching, and what not. If the college ran out of the official College letterhead, no worries guys, SKCL has it. J Add to that his bits of gyan on anything under the sky, well, no wonder he is more prosperous than many engineers I know.

Coming to academics, the lab sessions were the ultimate stress busters. Having been bestowed with group mates like Salim Zabeel, Nycil and Neethu at one time or the other, there was no dearth of fun n frolic, especially in the Chemistry labs. Phenol became Acetone, Sodium Carbonate became Potassium Permanganate, Methyl Orange and Phenolphthalein changed colours at the exact titre values as though by magic. The picture of ‘Dr. Rita George’ staring in wonderment is still fresh in my memory, when we got the values right at the first instance itself, without a ‘redo’. It was I guess the first such experience in her life. Little did she know how we got it right. And I am not going to reveal it here, either. J And the less we speak about organic chemistry lab, the better. A smile never escapes my face when I try to recollect the contorted faces of our batch mates, trying to find traces of that ‘bitter almond smell’ or ‘fruity smell’ or ‘pungent like odour’ in order not to end up doing extra lab sessions. Oh, those were the days. Where are you guys...

And no mention of college is complete without the mention of ‘Hostel’. Since I was supposedly living close to Thrissur, and of the general category, I did not get the college hostel. And since I was a ‘higher Option’ candidate, by the time I came for admissions, all the hostels nearby were taken. So I ended up at ‘Pranavam Hostel’, near ‘Girija’ theatre. The place was a decent enough one, where shared my abode with 13 other “Paavam” inmates. The warden was one piece of Gods workmanship (or mistake however you would like to see it). He believed that being in a hostel for us was supposed to some kind of an ordeal. The less I speak about it, the better. The only thing I can say is that boy, did I learn to live.

Well, I could carry on and on, but theres a limit to everything. I guess this pretty much covers the bare essentials, and all of us have our own stories to tell, but I end the first year here. The second edition will soon follow, with a supposedly more mature second year.