Pin Thodarum Nizhalin Kural

The Limits of Reason

Pin Thodarum Nizhalin Kural is fundamentally a novel about the limits of reason or rationality. We live in this 21st century where we predominantly use the tools of reason to understand the world around us. We make countless choices and we generally assume that its through application of reason we arrive at them. But is this true, are humans so perfectly reasonable in their believes and actions ? In Pin Thodarum Nizhalin Kural (The voice of the shadow) the central character Arunachalam is a communist worker, a man deeply educated in the Marxist method. Marxism is the application of reason in understanding societies and humans in general. Yet in the very chapter we are introduced to Arunachalam, he seems to be in a quagmire, because he had stepped out of the house using his left leg. A totally irrational belief but an act that seems to bother him quiet very much. This is who Arunachalam is , a man in the outside is an orthodox Marxist, who boasts in the perfect rational application of the Marxist method, one who lectures his party workers on the philosophy. Yet inside he is like any human being controlled by beliefs and forces beyond reason.
We have a brilliant moment in the earlier chapters where Arunachalam gets angry about her wife being flirtatious with a young man, he is really embarrassed to have this feeling over which he has no control. Nagammai, Arunachalam’s wife understands him better than he himself thinks to be, she does not buy into the Arunachalam that he badly wants to sell to her. Through these initial chapters we see that Arunachalam is a person with many layers, inside the Marxist exterior there are realms of his personality that he is not aware of.

In this scenario he happens to come to know of an incident in the past that completely changes his world view. The rock on which that he had made his life seems shaken, the unshakeable beliefs that he seems to have had over the party crumble before his eyes. He comes to know of a man named Veerabadra pillai who in the past had been a important member in the party. He seems to have been erased from party history. His presence forgotten, no one seems to even remember his name. Yet he had once been a close friend of many senior party functionaries. In this journey Arunachalam finds out the truth about this man. In a sense he becomes part of that lineage which links him to Veerabadra Pillai, who is in turn associated to Bukharin the soviet Marxist who was unfairly killed as part of the Stalinist purges.

Arunachalam comes to know of Veerabadra Pillai through works he had left behind. It is through this articles, plays, short stories, poems we understand the pain that Veerabadra Pillai had to suffer. Veerabadra Pillai becomes Arunachalam’s shadow, whom was himself followed by Bukharin as a shadow. There are some key themes that comes back to us over this novel that I will list below.

1. Conscience beyond reason
Time and again this question comes to us, is conscience driven by reason or beyond it? We can throw words, facts and figures, mind splitting logic but the voice of conscience is never subdued. There are two characters who are completely driven by the worship of reason, one is Kathir a party functionary who explains to Arunachalam how the past belief in total revolution are no longer valid. His ideas and thoughts are provocative, he completely shatters Arunachalam. But as you hear to his sophisticated argument one is never convinced by it. His logic never can satisfy, compare it with the words of Christ who comes at the end of the novel, his words are grand and twisted but they are far from truth. The other character who epitomizes this rational approach is SM Ramasamy although he is critical of the excesses of Marxism. He considers justice as a social contract, a rational institution, he does not share the emotional upheaval that Arunachalam undergoes on learning about Veerabadra Pillai. His rationality makes him distant to the suffering of people. Or even his empathy seems like a rational act. This novel beliefs in justice that is rooted beyond reason, it considers justice as the representation of the divine in this world.

2. Truth beyond reason
The novel also places truth over reason. The party is constantly hiding the past, never openly accepts its past mistakes. It justifies every mistake in the past hoping that the future revolution will compensate for it. For the party it is the end that justifies the means. In the hope of establishing the socialist society if few million people have to be killed so be it seems to be the guiding principle. I was constantly remembered of Gandhi and his approach towards Truth, for Gandhi it is the means that matters most. By choosing a violent path in order to achieve the revolution the soviet communism was doomed from the beginning. As Bukarin, SM Ramasamy argue in this book over and over again there are certain fundamentals like justice, truth that should be common to every human being and they are non negotiable.

3. Feminine vs Masculine
There is a continuing discourse in the novel, about the feminine and masculine aspects of revolution. The feminine aspect understands, assimilates differences and produces something organic. Its based on love and compassion, the masculine should be rooted in this feminine. The revolution in Russia was all about the masculine it could not resolve its difference through love and understanding. The teachings of Gandhi and Jesus are rooted in this feminine, their thoughts seem like idiosyncratic and naïve but the greatest of thinkers sometimes are child like. In the play that shows the confession of Bukharin to his wife Anna, he calls her Nelli, Sophia, Kitty the great women characters, the women before whom Rashkolnikov confessed about his sins. Women who don’t use words to cover up their conscience. Arunachalam in the final letters he writes says how he got recovered by his mental illness, and the very act of sexual union is raised to something spiritual.

4. Myths

The novel also explores why humans constantly evolve myths and habits to make sense of the world. The world is challenging and constantly changing, human life is a speck of dust in this eternity. Hence he finds meaning in bonding with other humans, even those who had lived in the past. Through myths he seem to reach out to realms that are clearly not accessible only through reason. For example the myth of offering food to the dead, it links humans to their past, in a reasonable world view this seems like superstitious. But in a mythical way this connects us to the past, through these rituals we become part of the ever existing. I have been deeply moved by these rituals especially the simple act of burning the dead body, collecting the bones and dissolving in the river Cauvery always moves me to a state which cannot be explained by reason alone. It feels like we are enacting something so ancient signifying how life returns to its original primordial state.

As we finish the novel we ourselves get deeply disturbed by these questions. We ourselves share the anguish and deep rooted suffering of Arunachalam, Veerabadra Pillai, Bhukarin. The novel’s form of using these writings from past is very effective in creating this confusion. Personalities merge and across time they feel that shared pain, which eventually the reader feels it. In the extraordinary ending when Jesus gives those answers to Bhukarin it answers us too.

It is an extraordinary novel that is a rewarding read always.

The Themes of Les Miserables

The higher law or the voice of conscience

The fundamental theme of Les Miserables is the idea of the higher law that governs human life.
Societies had laws that governs everyday human lives, yet is there a law above human life that governs us? How does one live in a society when the everyday practical law is corrupted and is in contradiction to the higher law that governs us ?
Les Miserables central character Jean Valjean is a convict, a man who is in the eyes of the practical law a criminal, yet what he is convicted with is laughable. He steals a bread to feed his family who are starving, for this he sentenced for five years. His term gets extended many times as he tries to escape the prison, eventually he is paroled after serving more than a decade in prison.
In these years he is transformed into a hardened criminal, all the light that is innate to a human being is darkened in his soul. In a sense the prison rather than reforming a human, has made him an animal. On his release, he searches in vain for a place to stay, he is rejected a roof by almost everyone, he chances upon the house of Bishop Myriel who lives by the teachings of Christ. His house is always open for everyone, he never locks his house. This chance encounter of Jean Valjean and the Bishop radically alters the life of the convict.
The bishop in an act of love, by believing in the human being, by recognizing that the soul is eternal and pure in every human being treats him with love. Jean Valjean is unable to understand the actions of the Bishop but reforms himself from that moment. This encounter is extremely well written, especially how Valjean torments himself, initially he steals the silver from the bishops house and escapes. He gets caught by the police and brought back to the bishop. The bishop understands the situation immediately and says to the policeman that it was he himself who had given the silver cutlery to Jean Valjean. He chides Valjean why he didn’t take the candle sticks too with him. This act of generosity, an act sans any logic here but profoundly significant in the eyes of the master above us transforms Jean Valjean. The Bishop mentions to Jean Valjean that he has ransomed his silver to bring him from evil. He asks Jean Valjean from now on to be in the way of the god. Jean Valjean carries this candle sticks all through his life till his death. The bishop’s voice becomes the voice of his conscience all through his life.

He starts living as Monsieur Madeleine, he becomes a successful business man, transforms a entire city. His enterprise alters the city bringing the much needed prosperity. He becomes a benefactor running schools, hospitals for the poor etc. In this life enters Fontaine a poor innocent girl who life has been destroyed by a frivolous young men. She is a mother of a child, the man who was the father of the child abandons her without even thinking about the ramifications. She moves to the city where Madeleine is the mayor from Paris. She leaves her daughter Cosette to an inn keeper family. As she starts working for Monsieur Madeleine she hopes to bring her child back after earning a living. Yet fate plays a cruel hand, she is removed from work by the supervisor due to her dubious past. This destroys her, in a way to make money she looses herself.
At the same time Cosette is treated like a servant by the inn keeper family. Fontaine dies handing the fate of Cosette to Monsieur Madeleine. During the same time, there is a case that comes to notice in which some random person is charged as Jean Valjean. Monsieur Madeleine on knowing that someone else is going to be arrested on his name suffers immensely. He does not want to go back to this life, but his conscience does not allow him. The whole sequence of Monsieur Madeleine suffering so much and eventually surrendering himself in the court is a great chapters in world literature. He drives to the city in a cart to witness the court proceedings, his journey is stalled multiple times and he believes that maybe god does not want him to surrender himself. There will be so much damage, what will happen to his business, the people of the city dependent on it, more than anything what will happen to Cosette. An innocent girl who is suffering alone waiting for her now dying mother to come and rescue her. Yet he could not allow an innocent man to suffer, hence he goes to the court and reveals his identity there by saving the innocent man. Javert the police inspector of the city who had always doubted Monsieur Madeleine to be the criminal Jean Valjean is jubilant and wants to arrest him. Jean Valjean begs him to give three days to find Cosette and bring her to the dying mother. Javert in a cruel act tells to dying Fontaine that she will never see her daughter as he is going to arrest Jean Valjean. In this shock Fontaine dies, in a way handing the fate of Cosette to Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean escapes from the police and once again finds himself in the run, this time to save this innocent child.

From the moment on he becomes the savior of Cosette.
He saves Cosette from the inn keeper family and starts living in Paris.

Love The Supreme Ideal

The other theme of the novel is the greatness of Love. Love becomes a supreme ideal that the novel wishes for everyone. In this great feeling that a human being feels for another one is the greatest happiness that a man can achieve in this world. The love of Maris and Cosette is a great romantic episodes written in world literature.
Its not the frivolous one as Fontaine had in her life, something so pristine and great that a human being will even destroy himself to attain it.
The way in which Hugo masterfully narrates the romantic relationship between Cosette and Marius is extraordinary. It is not the romantic love, Hugo also elevates the idea of compassion to an ideal too. Jean Valjean tries to be compassionate towards people around him, to a man who has undergone so much, who had seen so much of suffering around him, he is able to understand the pain of others. He is even compassionate towards people who try to harm him.
The way he let goes of Javert the police inspector who is hell bent on arresting him is an example. How Javert could not arrest Jean Valjean at the end of the novel and in turn commits suicide is one of those chapters that beautifully explains the contradiction between social law and a moral law that is underlying all existence.
Javert had been a sincere policeman all his life, his only ideal is to follow the criminal law in letter and spirit. This has been his strength, this conviction had provided him with all the strength and rigidity behind all his actions. Yet at this pivotal moment he is unable to arrest Jean Valjean. His conscience that had been hardened by years of performing the police duty refuses him. At the end after when Marius and Cosette are married, and Jean Valjean confesses his past to Marius. Marius’s initial reaction is to cut Jean Valjean from Cosette. Marius though being a revolutionary believing in human progress could not overcome the social convictions, he could not see that the convict is also a human being. Jean Valjean had saved Marius from the barricade, had been a guardian angel to Cosette but for Marius he is unable to see him any other than a convict.
This all changes after Marius comes to know of the truth, he and Cosette visit Jean Valjean in his death bed. This image of Marius and Cosette kneeling before Jean Valjean and he blessing them with his hands over their heads is an image that will stay with me for ever.

Al kisa – Ajithan

In this brilliantly written novella, Ajithan recounts a story of supreme sacrifice, and miraculous love. Set in Ajmer in the mosque of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti the Sufi saint, this story is about two young lovers Haider and Suhara, who fall in love while witnessing a magical rendition of Bade ghulam ali khan. It is the night of Ashura, the tenth day of the month of Muharram, the day on which many thousand years ago Husayn and his followers were martyred in the battle fields of Karbala. Through this magical rendition we are transported to those days, when brave sons of Ali sacrificed their lives. As we witness this great martyrdom unfold, we see also the blossoming of magical love between Suhara and Haider. Love is an emotion when humans can shed our ego and sacrifice ourselves, in that sense love is akin to a spiritual exercise. Haider and Suhara go through a gamut of emotions in this fateful night, from fascination, to repulsion, to heartbreak. Haider is blessed by Suhara by all her forms and beauty, he is enchanted and completely lost in her. As the story progresses we see the sacrifice vividly recounted by the magical writing of Ajithan. We see the sons of Ali bravely fighting the Umayad Caliphate, they fight valiantly against all odds, being no match to the huge army of the Caliphate they are virtually giving themselves as sacrifice to the great god. The whole narration is an ode to sacrifice, when Hussain’s sister begs him not to sacrifice his son Akbar, Hussain says will you sacrifice something defective to God or that you hold as dear. As Martin Luther king once said one who haven’t found a reason to die hasn’t got a reason to love for, the sons of Ali are willing to sacrifice without an iota of fear to the path of righteousness. Yet one cannot control once tears when Hussain for a moment following his son as he leaves to batty, and explains to his sons questioning him by saying you cannot understand it without having a son. One cannot wonder not seeing the unavoidable influence of Jeyamohan in these chapters. Ajithan chronicles the greatness of the sacrifice but never makes it sentimental, he elevates the whole episode. The deaths of the brave sons and Hussain himself is felt by everyone witnessing the rendetion, and we as audience too become a witness to this great sacrifice. The novelist and the artist becomes someone who reminds generations of this great sacrifice. Haider and Suhara also gets connected through the grief, Haider reminds Suhara through his gesture that he belongs to these people. Suhara beseeching him through her eyes not to leave him.

Yet as the story ends and people start leaving, they are brought back to reality which they hate to acknowledge. Can’t this moment of bliss not exist for an eternity seems to be the question in both their minds as they return to their lives. Yet in a turn of events which can be considered divine, they are joined together and the novel ends with the birth of the son who is named as Hussain. Unlike modernist novels which would have typically ends with separation and acceptance of a reality, this novel ends in their being together.
The novels recounting of the poem in which the prophet is joined by his family within the blanket and how in that moment of love and togetherness, god bestowing his blessing on this family, we see family relationship being elevated to a realm of the spiritual. We see divine grace, love and sacrifice glorified in its pages. The novel fills one heart and as a novelist Ajithan becomes a chronicler, a story teller of values that are immortal.

The Manor And The Estate

I.B. Singer’s work is set in Poland in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Through the changes happening in Jewish family members’ lives, Singer explores how the drastic changes in science and technology impact everyday lives. Our worldviews are influenced by society and it has real implications for our actions. Jews in Poland have lived for more than 800 years and their lives are characterized by religious traditions, every aspect of their lives has been controlled by religious beliefs. The moral beliefs they follow, the festivals they celebrate, and the role of men and women in the family were all influenced by religious beliefs. Things start to change as currents of modernity start sweeping Jewish lives, growing economic prosperity, and changes in science and technology forced ordinary Jews to question their religious beliefs.
The characters in this novel start questioning beliefs like if there is a creator, how do we know if the Jewish Torah is the only true way what about religious beliefs practiced by other religions? Scientific discoveries like Darwin’s evolution, and understanding in astronomy question the idea of the existence of a creator. These doubts result in a confused state of these characters, if there is no creator and if there is no central importance to the ten commandments, if there is no idea of sin, how do we make everyday choices? Does this really help humanity, if everything is defined by chance events and there is no moral order behind that governs human actions then how do humans find meaning?

The novel begins with the failed revolution of the Polish aristocracy against the Russian rule present in Poland during that time. Although the Jews are not directly participating in this it affects their fortunes positively indirectly. The novel’s central character Calman Jacoby takes over the running of a Polish estate confiscated by the Russian authorities after the failed revolution. Calman’s fortune changes after this event, a pious Jew he becomes prosperous. The changes happening in Poland like the construction of railroads, contribute towards his riches. It is through following the lives of Calman and his family we understand the changes happening in Jewish life. It is a family saga in an epic scale, each member of his family and those they relate to their lives become a sort of microcosm of Jewish life in Poland.

Calman himself is torn between living a pious Jewish life, and also getting caught up in the drastic life changes happening around him. A man who till his end is constantly trying to grapple with desires, especially carnal ones, his life sees ups and downs. His economic prosperity gives him mobility in social status, he gets introduced to aristocratic Jews who are liberal in their lives. Yet he is never able to overcome his traditional Jewish beliefs. All of Calman’s daughters’ lives are impacted to varying degrees due to the changes happening in society. After the death of his wife, he marries Clara a Jewish frivolous woman, from the beginning Calman is aware of the stupidity of this decision. His conscience constantly warns him against the baseness of the woman, but he seems to be unable to control his desires and falls to her. This is a constant theme in the novel, men and women seem to be powerless against the desire that determines their destiny. Singer seems to be concluding that without a strict moral compass, human beings will fall for desire. This a very sober and sometimes depressing read that one gets by the constant failings of these characters. Clara till her death never seems to be able to live a content life, she is constantly falling in love and every time she gets closer to death she seems to repent but once she is healthy she is back to leading a life of frivolity. Calman’s marriage with Clara ends in a disastrous manner, as she gets involved in incestuous relationships he is morally sickened by her baseness. Even after being separated from Clara, Calman is constantly struggling against carnal desires and passions. His only recourse seems to be to live a life defined by Jewish beliefs. Even if these beliefs might not be scientifically valid yet his life without them seems to be much worse.

Compared to Calman, Clara’s life is one characterized by duplicity and falsehood. There is a fascinating episode in the novel when Clara falls out with her lover, they charge against each other and find out they both cannot agree on what is true. They confess that they cannot swear on a god as both of them do not believe in a god. This seems to be the problem for both of them. During this time in Poland among Jewish intelligentsia there are three major viewpoints about how Jews should try to change themselves. The socialists believe in the revolution they do not believe in religion or god and consider it exploitative. The modernists want Jews in Poland to assimilate with the Polish society by learning the language, learning science, and technology rather than believing that every wisdom is contained in the Torah. There are zionists who believe Jews should migrate to Israel and create a Jewish nation.
All these three viewpoints are represented in these novels. Somehow Singer does not seem to be so convinced by any of them. The character Ezriel represents this dilemma very clearly, he is a modern and enlightened Jew, and he moves to Warsaw and studies to become a doctor. He is married to Shaindel the second daughter of Calman. Ezriel in the early stages of the novel wants to reform and lead a life of a modern man, he disconnects himself from his father a rabbi himself, and he is ashamed of the Jewish ways of his wife. Yet all through the novel, he could never get convinced by the modern ways. His own sister gets herself involved in the socialist movement in Poland and is sentenced to hard labor in Siberia. He gets to see the conflicts among the socialist movements, their violent ways, and their complete lack of respect for their own forefathers is not to his liking. Ezriel himself gets involved in an affair with a widow, he is torn by guilt of his actions yet unable to overcome his desire. There is something seductive about the guilt that gives men pleasure, whereas a moral life looks boring and dull at the outset. Ezriel gets caught in this trap, and Shaindel in her later life is diagnosed with mental illness. She is admitted to an asylum, and Ezriel starts living with the widow. He visits her but she is caught up in her own fears and illusions. For Ezriel the mental illness that characterizes modern humans stems from a lack of belief and moral framework to lead life. The way Ezriel and his secret lover fool themselves and get involved in their secret desires showcases masterfully the complexity of the human condition.

Calman’s other daughter Mariam Leiba’s life is one that is completely tragic. She elopes with a gentile named Lucian and becomes a Christian. Her family completely severs her ties. Her life with Lucian is tragic and sorrowful. Lucian is one of the characters in the novel who is completely sold to evil. Others in the novel seem to be oscillating between the extremes of good and bad. Lucian continuously cheats everyone, having multiple affairs, with no proper work he gets even jailed for murder. Lucian probably represents the extremes of human cruelty. In one of the poignant moments in the novel, Ezriel comes to meet Mariam Leiba on her deathbed. She warns Ezriel not to leave Shaindel, even though she is not aware of Ezriel’s affair. She warns him that these things never end well. Mariam Leiba was the most beautiful and intelligent girl amongst Calman Jacoby’s daughters, he suggests to her to marry a very pious man called Jochanan. She refuses to marry him, and in turn her younger sister Taipele marries Jochanan.
Jochanan is a mystic Hassid who is an extremely pious Jew, every moment of his life is dedicated to the study of the Torah. He is struggling with consumption at the end of the novel. He is considered a saintly person, Jews from different places constantly visit him. Did Mariam regret not marrying him or does she still prefer the struggle and suffering over the docile life of Taipele? At the end of the novel, we see Ezriel coming back to Jochanan and reconnect with the Jewish people. He asks Jochanan to teach his son the Jewish ways and the Yiddish language. Jochanan asks him have you seen the truth that you were looking for? and Ezriel responds saying no I have seen their lies.

These lines seem to reflect Singer’s view, although religion might not have answered all the questions at least it gave certainty and consistency to its believers, modern science seems to be placing people in the no man’s land. The novel is a must-read for people trying to understand Jewish life in Poland and its challenges in the 19th century.

Traveling

I have been to Paris over the May 1 weekend. We stayed in Paris close to a week, we had around 5 days to explore Paris. As we had planned to visit Disney Land, we were effectively having four days to explore Paris. We didn’t plan to visit any other places other than Paris. Many of my friends asked what was there to visit in Paris for so many days. I was surprised hearing this as there are so many places to visit in Paris. I was also following one of my friend traveling in Europe when I was staying in Paris.

His itinerary was completely packed, over a period of two weeks he was continuously sharing photos in watsapp status. I was surprised how many cities he was visiting, it was photos from touristy spots in these places that I came to know of the places he was visiting. Eiffel tower in Paris, royal palace in Brussels, Tulips garden in Amsterdam etc. I was thinking about why people want to do these packed itinerary. Are they really traveling to explore new cultures? Is it even possible to get any meaningful travel experience visiting so many cities in such short duration? European cities offer so much to explore, world class museums, historical sites, public gardens, squares. In my experience a city like Paris takes 3-4 days to even get a feel of it. I had been to Warsaw during the Easter holidays, although there was a temptation to do a one day Krakow trip. I didn’t do it, this gave me ample time to explore the city. I will never forget the city, i had time to visit the key places more than once, in fact the Warsaw square gave a complete different experience in evening compared to how it was during daytime.

Yet people want to do more, they have notion that for money spent visiting more cities is better. This giving importance to quantity over quanlity is a big mistake people do while visiting Europe. The trip ends up being just taking Instagram worthy photos before the usual touristy places. I recently went to the Rodin museum in Paris, i could hardly see any other Indian visiting it. We have a complete lack of understanding about Museums, most Indian friends whom I interact find it boring to visit museums. These are key places to visit in major European cities, without visiting Louvre or Ufizi I don’t think a visit to Paris or Florence is complete.

Also from the eagerness with which people share photos in social networks, it feels like traveling has become more of a social identity. It’s a way to showcase our lives as happening. Even while traveling I could see many people talking their audience in reels. I am not sure how much of these travellers will even travel if there was no social network to showcase.

For me I would say rather than prioritising quantity it makes sense to have meaningful experience. It is important to be open to new places, for example cultural places like museums, churches can be immensely knowledgeable experience especially to children. Otherwise we may go to dozen cities and have photos to post to Instagram but nothing more than that.

Enemies A Love Story

Set in post second world war in Newyork, this novel is about the lives of people who have been nearly destroyed in the war. Almost everyone suffered tremendously during the war, first in the concentration camps in Germany and then in Soviet labor camps. These Jewish ex-pats from Europe now find themselves living in Newyork. Most of them have lost their family, they have lost their belief in gods and the religious way of life that had defined their lives back in Poland. How do they find meaning, and continue to live a life of hope? After undergoing such trauma and suffering can they ever come back to living normal lives? Does the experience completely alter them, were people who died in a sense lucky that they don’t have to grapple with all of that had happened to their people.

Herman Broder, the central character had escaped the Nazi death camps by hiding for two years in a hayloft by gentile women in Poland. He had married the peasant woman who saved his life, she used to be a servant in Herman’s household in Poland. He was married and had two children back in Warsaw before everything was destroyed by the wars. His life in the present still feels like he is hiding from Nazis, there is so much duplicity and dishonesty that characterizes his life. Yadwiga the Polish peasant with whom he lives is an uneducated simple peasant woman from Poland. She worships him and believes the countless lies that he says to her. Herman is not satisfied with a regular life, the innocence and simplicity of Yadwiga are boring to Herman, he shares a secret love life with Masha a fellow jew from Poland who also had suffered incredibly in the past. Herman and Masha’s relationship is characterized by feisty love that is sometimes characterized by more hatred than love. Herman cannot seem to separate himself from her even though he wants desperately to untangle himself. This aspect of the novel was fascinating to me, is it the holocaust experience that has altered Herman’s and Masha’s life. They seem to be yearning for trouble, the regular life that had ancestors lived they are unable to. Herman writes commentary on Jewish religious texts like the Torah but his life lacks those virtues that these texts speak about. In a sense, he is a modern man unable to define a moral compass for himself or to follow a moral compass handed to him through tradition.

Herman’s life gets complicated when his wife from Poland, Tamara comes back, she is more-dead than alive. She feels the loss of her children, and she sees in Herman the same duplicity that used to characterize his life even in Warsaw. Herman seems to see in Tamara a memory of his children, he is guilty before their memories, he asks her whether his children ask about him when they visit him in her dreams. We also see Tamara suggesting to Herman that he needs someone to give instructions for him to lead his life. She takes over his life for a brief period, instructing him to follow her in leading his life. This shows what Herman lacks in his life, a sense of direction in a meaningless life. He constantly looks at the universe around him, the stars, and the moon are they all random or is there some unknown principle behind all of it. If so how does this cosmic principle allow for such cruel acts to happen? This contradiction is central to both Herman’s and Masha’s life. Tamara is just looking for a purpose but she will eventually find it. Yadwiga on the other hand does not seem to bother about it, she is pure and simple. When she comes to know about Tamara, she is even ready to leave Herman and move back to Poland. She feels she has wronged Tamara by marrying her husband even though she always thought to be dead. Her morality is something passed on to her by tradition, something that Herman or Masha lack.

The novel ends tragically, with Masha killing herself and Herman disappearing from everyone. Tamara taking care of Masha and her child. In a sense, the central question that novel seems to raise is, in the midst of such cruelty and randomness, and absurdity governing life how does one live?

Abyss – Exploring The Human Condition in the Darkest

In Hindu mythology there are seven worlds under the world in which we live, they are characterized as dark and daemonic. It is not just the world under us, even the world that we reside in contains nether worlds which we seldom notice. Ezham Ulagam by Jeyamohan a Tamil novel translated brilliantly as Abyss by Suchithra explores such a world. The novel is centered on the lives of beggars and people who run businesses around the act of begging.

Pandaram is the man who owns these people, whom he refers to as items, these people suffer from physical disabilities, and Pandaram uses them by placing them in prominent places and earns his livelihood by making them beg. In the initial chapters, one is shocked to see the brutality of the world unfold before our eyes. There is very little effort to make the readers sympathize with the lives of these poor souls. We get to know the various characters who run and facilitate this macabre establishment. Pandaram himself is a complex human being, he seems to be a god-fearing man, calls the name of Muruga every now and then but does not see any moral discomfort in running such a business. Everyone around him seems to take it as any other business, they enquire about it casually like you inquire about the sales to a shopkeeper. His wife, and children all are aware of it and do not seem to see anything wrong or sinful. This I felt may be due to the fact they don’t see these beggars as human souls, they are referred to as ‘items’ pejoratively. This dehumanization is a way it seems everyone including Pandaram justifies the cruelty they seem to inflict upon these people.

In a sense as a reader, one feels a sense of astonishment at what is being done to these people. Especially how Pandaram uses one of the women Muthammai to rear children is something that was especially sickening to me. The novel changes as we really start seeing the personalities, until this point we see repulsion and anger at the way they are treated. As we get to know the individual characters we see the underlying humanity that is common to everyone. Even though they are physically deformed and made to beg and live amidst such cruelty we see the tremendous sense of humanity in each one of them. Contrary to how they are characterized as ‘items’ they share love and affection amongst themselves. They have a tremendous sense of humor and fun, and they have a brilliant understanding of the human condition. In one of the conversations, Ramappan who is afflicted by leprosy yearns to see the beautiful fingers of women, and the way he shares love with one of the girls in the group. In the later stages when she is sold to another person by Pandaram, he is heartbroken to see her go. We see Muthammai who is forced to have children like a cow, just to be made to beg yet her affection towards the child which is born is something any mother can resonate with. She brutally protects the child, feeds her constantly, and enjoys the funny little things the child does. There is Kuyyan who is constantly hungry his life is characterized by an intense desire to taste food, there is no notion of tomorrow for him. In one of the final episodes, Kuyyan is heartbroken when he learns that Pandaram does not feast on them at his daughter’s wedding. Everyone pools money and offers him the money they arrange for the local constable to take him to a hotel and get him a feast with payasam. The local constable even suggests that he can use this 50 rupees to eat beef curry and parotta for five days rather than wasting it for one day feast yet Kuyyan chooses it, there is no tomorrow in this world.

As we see the world being part of them and not from above, we understand them much better, and helps us see the humanity that is common to everyone. In Hinduism’s Vedanta tradition, the Atma is eternal and everlasting and not the body, which is ephemeral. In Buddhism, one of the fundamental tenets is to see the body as just the body. Underlying the deformed bodies we see the everlasting souls, souls which could feel happiness, pain, shame, love, and angst like anyone of us. This is the central success of the novel we get a lived experience of being and sharing with the people we generally fail to notice.

Mangandi Samy who is part of the beggar commune is someone venerated by everyone including his owners. He never begs anyone and sings yearning songs towards the eternal. He is just being there with them but everyone is aware of him being beyond them. Like a mystic Paramahamsa who is not bothered by the things around him, he exists in eternity. In between the novel he is sold to another group, where he is provided with all the riches and showcased as a spiritual guru. He stops singing altogether and starts begging amongst the riches. He is returned back to the Pandaram group, where he comes back and the novel ends with his singing again. It’s an interesting thing to note that he never begged when he was with Pandaram, but when he was given all the riches in the world he starts to beg.

Pandaram although outwardly does not seem to be perturbed by his profession. He seems to be feeling a growing sense of discomfort over his life. The drastic changes that happen towards the end, especially with his daughter’s life seem to disturb him. Did he know deep down that there may be repercussions to his life? He seems to be torn between guilt and deep affection towards his daughters, especially once he comes back from Pazhani where he had taken his ‘items’ to beg and comes back. He has sold Mangandi Samy, he had been profusely drinking and sleeping with prostitutes, on coming back home he realizes he has forgotten to buy the bangles his young daughter had asked for. He goes back in the night and gets it done, does he compensate for his guilt by showing this affection.

The novel explores the human condition in the abyss, a very dark corner, and even here it shows how relatable and similar humans are everywhere. As Jeyamohan mentions in his interview, this novel calls for empathy rather than evoking a sympathetic response from the reader. It shows the commonness of human experience everywhere and showcases the soul that is eternal, like the fire that burns everything irrespective of what it is, the soul burns everywhere.

The translation of Suchithra needs a special mention, it is a very challenging work to translate as the prose is filled with proverbs, rejoinders, and funny conversations and she has done a commendable job in translating it and providing an amazing reading experience.

Fredrick Douglass A Remarkable Life

Recently I read Fredrick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight. It is an extensively well-researched biographical account of American Abolitionist Fredrick Douglass. This book provides a complete account of Fredrick Douglass’s life from his birth as a slave, and his remarkable journey until his death. Fredrick Douglass was one of the most prominent black men in American history. In his life in the 19th century, he was involved in almost all the pivotal events that shaped black history during his time. Hence a biography of his life also reads like the history of the black struggle during the 19th century.

Douglass was born enslaved on the Eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Talbot County, Maryland. He has very little memory of his mother, he does not know about his biological father. He was greatly attached to his grandmother but very early in his life, he is separated from his grandmother by the cruel system of slavery. By chance, he is sent to Baltimore where away from the plantation his life is a little better, importantly he is taught to read by Sophia Auld the wife of the master in Baltimore. This very little teaching of the alphabet changes Douglass’s life, he secretly starts reading the King James version of the Bible and his reading opens to him a new world. He comes to know about abolitionist working in the north who considers slavery wrong. This for the young Douglass brings awareness of his unnatural state of being a slave. Although his life turns to the worse after his stay in Baltimore, and he is sent back to work on various farms after this, he never loses hope of escaping from slavery. He secretly reads books, especially books that will help the future Douglass the orator.

Douglass escapes from slavery and manages to arrive in Manhattan. His first impressions of New York, especially his first experience as a free man are poignantly captured in this book. He gets introduced to Garrisonians and gets trained under Garrison himself. This starts his remarkable journey as an orator in the circuit. Although other Garrisonians can speak about the ills of slavery, he who had lived and seen it has something more personal to share with the audiences. This makes him a star speaker all our the North. I was astounded by how many speeches and the endless tours the young Douglass does in his early years. He is highly influenced by the Jermiad tradition of the bible, and seeing Douglass speak becomes a huge thing. Douglass in this yearly year is a Garrisonian who wants to use moral persuasion and does not want to get involved in direct politics. He also starts to write his biography and visits Europe to promote his work. This also brings him new friends from across the Atlantic.

Douglass after his initial years starts to move away from Garrisonian, and he starts publishing his own newspapers. The effort he had to put to run this newspaper, to keep his family afloat, and the back-breaking speaking tours he has to make becomes a feature of his life till the end of his life. Douglass’s life also coincides with remarkable changes happening in the USA. Especially the north and south are slowly moving towards a civil war. The north becomes more and more vocal about the opposition to slavery and the south feels insecure about the north’s idea of curtailing slavery. There are multiple tumultuous events that happen during this period, especially the supreme court judgment on the Dred Scott vs Sandford case stated that the enslaved people were not citizens of the USA. This becomes a huge setback to the Garrisonians. The victory of Lincoln in the presidential elections and the secession crisis become huge events. Douglass initially is critical of Lincoln, he considers Lincoln’s position to curtail slavery in the south as conservative. So Douglass does not have high hopes for the Lincoln administration, he even fears that Lincoln might be willing to have peace talks with the intransigent south. The south’s reluctance to accept any offers becomes a blessing, Douglass correctly predicts that if there is a civil war slavery will not stand a chance after it. Hence he is vocally in support of the war. He continues to give remarkable speeches and campaigns for the abolition cause and gets involved more and more with the republican party after his break with the Garrisonians.

As the civil war progresses and Lincoln gradually moves towards more radical positions like the emancipation declaration and then hiring black men in the union army he appreciates the remarkable statesmanship of Lincoln. The two great men of their times Lincoln and Douglass had great respect for each other, their remarkable meetings are poignantly captured in this book. Once slavery is abolished Douglass starts canvassing for voting rights for blacks, the fourteenth and fifteenth amendment brings remarkable joy to Douglass’s endeavors. He is unable to believe that things that were once mere dreams had come to fruition in his own life. Lincoln’s untimely killing deeply affects Douglass, in the memorial speeches to Lincoln Douglass quotes from Lincoln’s second inauguration speech which he considered a sacred effort.

In the years after the abolishment of slavery, there are many challenges that arise in Douglass’s life. Especially he loses his sense of purpose, what happens to an abolitionist after the abolition is a nagging question. He is forced to redefine himself in these years. In the reconstruction years, Douglass feels let down by the growing reconciliation that the North felt toward the South. This Douglass feels is contrary to the memory of the civil war. The Confederate forces and the Democrats start controlling the southern states once again, and they pass various laws curtailing black voting. There is also a growing problem of lynching of black people in the south. Douglass feels that as the years move forward from the civil war the blacks seem to lose the victories gained by them. This gives paradoxically to Douglass the purpose he seems to have lost after the abolition of slavery.

Douglass also becomes part of the power equation in Washington, he holds various posts during these reconstruction years and the aftermath. The new generation of blacks starts to criticize Douglass for being close to the republican party. Douglass remains a lifelong republican supporter as he believes in the party of emancipation. He also campaigns for various presidential candidates of the Republican party, yet he feels constantly disillusioned by the party not doing enough to safeguard black lives and rights.

Douglass’s final years are constantly mirrored in controversy, his extended family is a constant source of economic needs. Douglass’s second marriage to a white woman also creates a scandal among the press in Washington. Yet among all the challenges and the advanced age, Douglass is constantly trying to hope and live.

Douglass’s life is an epic living close to seventy years, his life was a mission, a constant struggle to overcome the limitations imposed upon him by society. His unbelievable energy and continuous struggle is awe inspiring and this book captures the epic extraordinarily well.

Abraham Lincoln And The Abolition of Slavery

Recently I have been reading about the events leading up to the abolition of slavery in the United States of America. Two brilliant works, And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meecham and The Fiery Trial by Eric Foner, reading them has kindled my interest in American history. I plan to read more books on the history of the USA this year.

These two works brilliantly document the life of Lincoln and his abolition of slavery as President. They were real eye-openers, I had known nothing much about Lincoln’s life. It was surprising to see how Lincoln over the years had very limiting views about blacks, although he seems to have had a conviction that slavery was wrong he never considered them equal to white people. For many years he was a strong supporter of colonialization, an initiative to settle free blacks outside the USA. It is remarkable to read these works that document how Lincoln constantly changes his worldview about blacks over the years. The books also showcase to use the difference between a reformer and a politician, Lincoln was a politician who was elected by the white voters of the USA, he was cognizant of the fact that a completely abolitionist view will never get him elected. He was aware of public opinion which as a politician he had to represent. Compared to politicians who could promise slavery to be abolished, Lincoln was aware of the futility of such maximalist promises. This political acumen is central to Lincoln’s life.

Lincoln was born in an America where the question of the future of slavery was in a precarious balance. The constitution was ambivalent about the question of slavery, although it mentions that ‘all men are created equal’ it was not sure if blacks were included in this. The northern states had long abolished slavery and had a free black population. In the south, cotton and sugar cultivation were heavily dependent on slavery. Hence there was the Missouri Compromise was reached in 1820 to balance both interests, according to which slavery would be prohibited north of 36°30′ parallel. The slavery of the south was constantly challenged by abolitionists in the North who considered it evil. Lincoln’s ascendancy in the whig party initially and then the Republican party were the years in which the conflict between the south and the north crystallized.

The Republican party or any party in America had varying voices, there were voices in the republican party which wanted slavery to be abolished via Federal interference, and many in the party also felt that the union should not interfere in state rights. Lincoln wanted the party to be united on a common minimum denominator that will be acceptable to the entire party, they ran mainly on containing slavery to the southern states and hoping for its destruction in course of time eventually. Yet the southern states saw the rise of Lincoln as
president as a direct threat to the system of slavery central to their existence. This eventually lead to the civil war. In a sense Lincoln wanted nothing revolutionary to begin with he was willing to negotiate and avoid war and keep the union. His fundamental defense of the war was to keep the union intact, but beyond a point, the war had its own effects that no one saw. As union forces suffered reverses it was necessary for black people to be enlisted in the union army, even during this time we see Lincoln trying to be within the constitutional framework as much as possible. He wanted the actions to be in accordance with the constitution. Although many accused Lincoln to be slow he always defended himself that he never put a step back even if it was slow.

Lincoln’s leadership during the war, how at each he steps he takes those pivotal decisions and even during exceedingly difficult times sticks to them makes him great. Especially during a time when people around him suggest negotiating with the south promising that he will go back on the emancipation proclamation he refuses it. Initially, he was not keen on emancipation but once he was convinced of it there was no going back on his word. This steadfastness in the decision and pragmatic approach to achieving them is a constant theme throughout his life.

The books also document how his views changed over his life, and how he comes to see the black question constantly changes, especially after his son’s death there is a stage where his language becomes deeply religious and spiritual. He sees the subjugation of the blacks and to deny them the rightful fruits of his labor as morally wrong. He believed in the moral arc of history, and he sometimes deeply felt that he had been chosen by god to perform this act of moral perfection, a step ahead in this moral arc.

It was unfortunate that he was killed immediately into his second term
and although the 13th amendment abolished slavery, some of the reconstruction efforts were thwarted by Andrew Johnson who assumed the Presidency after the assassination of Lincoln.

I would recommend these two books to anyone trying to understand the remarkable life of Lincoln and his pivotal efforts in abolishing
slavery. A fine balancing act!

Steppenwolf

Herman Hesse Steppenwolf is a novel exploring the existential crisis of its protagonist Harry Haller. It is a novel about the manuscript left by the author to the nephew of the landlady whose house the author stays in an unknown city.

Essentially this novel is a ‘Bildungsroman’, a prominent genre in German literature is a novel of education. Haller comes to us as a sort of split personality in the initial stage of the novel. He identifies in himself two contradicting personalities one of the intellectual and the other of the wolf. He exists and lives within the bourgeoise yet hates the absurdity of their lives. Every step of his life is a constant struggle between these two forces ever fighting among themselves to assert their superiority. In this way, he contemplates suicide as a way out of life, and he decides to kill himself on his fiftieth birthday.

Harry Haller idolizes Goethe and Mozart like them he wants to live in the world of the immortals. Yet he is scared and does not seem to possess the bravery needed to achieve it. In a sense, he is not able to overcome the self-preservation that he himself loathes in the bourgeoise. For all his pretensions he still belongs to this very society he despises deeply. In this agitated state of existence, by chance, he meets a woman, maybe as this part of the manuscript, one can only speculate the reality of everything that happens after it. Maybe it’s his subconscious that yearns for it. This woman commands Harry to a new life, a life that he himself has stubbornly refused to himself. A life characterized by jazz music and dance and everything that in the past life Harry considers as repulsive. The woman points out to Harry how stupid his life has been, and she shows to him the pleasures of everything around him. Harry is amazed by her ability to live for the moment, the way she treasures every little wayside flower with loving care, and how she derives value from every playful little instant. She constantly reminds him of his silly little concerns like a mother she chides him for being too serious about life.

At some point she says, there are some people who make the highest possible demands on life and have a hard time coming to terms with the stupidity and coarseness of life. At the end of the novel, the entire sequence turns magical and absurd at the same time. Harry enters into a make-believe world created for him, he explores everything and we as the reader get a view into his subconscious. The novel ends when Harry tries to kill the woman tormented by jealousy and finally understands that he has still not learned to laugh at life but he will eventually be there at some point. There is a poignant sequence at the end, Handel’s music is played in an absurd instrument, and Harry initially is repulsive to this poor quality music but Mozart points to him that even though this music is poor yet you can discern the quality of it if you care to listen. This becomes a metaphor for life itself, in life too one should take seriously what is worth taking seriously and laugh about the rest.

The key themes in the novel are how should one live if death is going to end everything and what is worthy of striving. The novel seems to indicate that as an intellectual sometimes we need to laugh at ourselves and things around us and try to take pleasure in the truly happy moments around us. The novel is heavily inspired by the philosophy of Nietzsche, laughter is an important image in his writings. All the immortals in this novel, Goethe or Mozart are depicted laughing their hearts out. Till the end we see the inability of Harry to laugh, and his nature to take everything seriously. The novel calls us to be authentic and act without worrying about eternity, even if nobody knows about it is part of eternity. Life is much shallower if we are fighting for something good and ideal in the belief that we are bound to achieve it, ideals are not always there to be acheived.