OBOC - Antigua

Seething with anger “Autobiography of my mother” is a poweful book by Jamaica Kincaid, who blends in the political with the personal in one continuous narrative. The story of Xuela who is part carib, part African, part white who was handed off to the laundress like a bundle of clothes by her father at birth because her mother died is an outburst against colonialism.

First and foremost I had to look up who were the Carib people. Sure enough, here was one more tribe that was a dealt a cruel blow by the great Columbus. Ironical that I finished the book the same day Howard Zinn died. Only about 3000 Caribs are left according to Wikipedia and they are mostly in Dominica which is where this story is set.

Having been dealt with such a card at birth, Xuela's life just takes more cruel turns and in that process she seems to become more hardened and chooses a life of loneliness and independence. Denied her mother's life and love, she refuses to give life and love to anyone else and withdraws from friendship and romance.

The puzzling thing about the book I am unsure how I feel about Xuela. She has very strong traits, absolutely fearless, completely in control, refuses to belong to anyone, any race, any nation, but her absolute coldness is unnerving.

Loss of a mother and lack of love at birth had made her fearless as the only thing that the child fears happened to her at birth. I guess she never again wanted to experience fear or lack of control and that kinda explained to me why she refused to bear a child, love a man, befriend a woman or care for anything and instead chose a life of loneliness, spent waiting for the one thing that was greater than her the thing to which she can submit - death.

The prose speaks like poetry yet at the same time is honestly brutal and made me feel uncomfortable as i tried to understand the story of resistance and survival of one woman.

Remembering Howard Zinn

Until Howard Zinn, History to me was just a narration of winners and losers with a smattering of dates which were just plain hard to memorize; an exam i had to get through. And then a few years back I picked up "People's History of the United States" on the recommendation of none other than Noam Chomsky who said something like- to paraphrase - if you had only one book to read, read that.

Sure enough it was one of the few books that I just couldn't put down. Made me realize that history is not about the conquerors and the victors who did these earth-shattering deeds, but all about the countless small actions of many unsung heroes. A timely reminder in these times when everyone is looking up to Obama to get us through the mess and save the world.

What we read in textbooks is just selective history and the world needed this book to come along to reveal the truth which was right there very much in front of us but which we just refused to see - exposing the victors like Columbus or Andrew Jackson for what they were and revealing facets of other heroes that we never knew like Hellen Keller or Mark Twain to use his oft-quoted examples.

Darn it! The impact of the book was so much on me that all i saw in Avatar was a condescending story of a victorious white man who had to step in to save the natives! A script that could have been written by an official historian!

If you read People's History, the one lesson you will take away is to make your voice heard and to be an active citizen! Every time i sent a fax or signed a petition or wrote a letter to the editor I have always felt that someday the future Howard Zinn when writing the people's history of our times will use MY letter (yes being a narcissist here) as proof to say that "No, not everyone in india was pro big dams", "No not everyone in India was silent during the Gujarat riots", "No not everyone is against Universal Health Care", and hopefully after Jan 30th "No not everyone was for Bt.Brinjal". This is how i actually overcome the overwhelming cynicism that floods my brain every time I take on an issue.

So here's to a great teacher and historian who will be sorely missed. And yes he might never be mentioned in any history textbook 50 years from now, but maybe someone will stumble upon my blog to say he was admired and respected even by ordinary citizens of the world!

OBOC - Bangladesh

Taslima Nasrin was the obvious choice for Bangladesh, but I didn't pick her and chose "A golden age" by Tahmima Anam and it was a great choice!

A Golden Age is the story of a mother who will go to any lengths for the sake of her children – isn’t that the story of any mother? Well it is and it is not. Set in Bangladesh in 1975 as the country tried to free itself from the oppression of Pakistan and preserve its identity and culture, the mother, Rehana, is a widow who once had to lose her kids to relatives in Pakistan after her husband’s death due to financial reasons. With great struggle and “borrowed” capital she builds a second home – Shona (which is almost another character in the novel), rents it out and finances her way to Lahore to win her kids back. Having been through that experience once she was not going to lose them again to Pakistan, a country which despite her religion and her predominantly Urdu tongue was slowly becoming alien to her. In the process, she metamorphosis from the quiet mother to a reluctant nationalist as she harbors guerilas (and in fact falls in love with one of them) shelters their guns and their wounded, clothes, feeds and nurses the refugees, rescues terrorized victims – all to stay involved in her adult children’s lives and understand their aspirations , while at the same time learning to let go of her children as that is the only sure-fire way of holding onto them.

For anyone familiar with the history of the sub-continent and the painful birth of Bangladesh, the book offers a great glimpse into the war as witnessed by average Bangladeshis. The ban on Bengali and even on Tagore only fueled the separatist movement as the cultural difference between Pakistanis and Bangladeshis was as wide as the Indian sub-continent that separated them. As someone from South India, I had no idea until a few Bengali friends of mine enlightened me how similar they were culturally to the people of Bangladesh. No wonder Calcutta plays a pivotal part both in this story and in the history of Bangladesh.

A Golden Age has all the elements for a great movie – drama, love, suspense, action, human misery, and triumph of the spirit – despite that there was something missing although I am not able to put my finger on it. Amam is certainly an author to watch and I will await her sequel to this book

OBOC - Bhutan

I really wanted to read the book by the current Queen of Bhutan, but couldn't find it in the local library. So I settled for Jamie Zeppa's Beyond the Sky and the Earth, and as I wrapped up the book have no regrets!

A Canadian who spent a few years teaching English in some of the remote corners of Bhutan, her story as she discovers Bhutan, makes you want to pack your backpack and head out to Bhutan right away! She vividly captures the landscape, the culture and the politics of Bhutan in the early '90s but despite wearing the Kira and eating the chillies and becoming a Buddhist, she still remains an outsider, but goes as far as one can in a country which is striving hard to maintain its national culture in an era of globalization.

I was a bit puzzled when the book ended in a positive note with her marriage to the Bhutanese student Twsehang who is also the father of her son Pema. Why puzzled? well there were hints in the book that minimalist Bhutan was OK as a "brief" break from consumerist Canada, but definitely could not be a replacement. For e.g she hints "You can love the landscape because your life does not depend on it. It is merely a backdrop for the other life you will always be able to return to". She clearly says "I love the view, but I would not want the life". So I did some research as to what happened to Jamie after her marriage.

Well it was not such a happy ending after all. Cultural differences crept in, and living in Bhutan with a baby was not very convenient especially when there was no emphasis on privacy.

I don't blame the author for stopping the narrative at the Fairy Tale ending, after all no one knows what happened to Cinderella and her Prince Charming when they had to change diapers at 3AM! I don't think the intent of the book was to discuss her failed marriage, but to offer a glimpse into Bhutan which has been shut out for most of the Western world.

But like any good book, this one got me thinking - Are there cultural barriers that cannot be bridged no matter what? Do we tend to over-romanticize the old ways of living, ignoring the hardships that came with that lifestyle? Do average Bhutanese choose the simple way of life or is it the card that they have been dealt with?

It also took me to the recent failed Copenhagen Climate Summit, where developed countries were trying to dictate to developing countries on the kind of lifestyle they can aspire to. Of course it would be extremely convenient to the Developed world if all the other countries in Asia and Africa adopted a Bhutanese lifestyle, but as Dini says in the book "In your mind Bhutan can be whatever you want it to be. But only the Bhutanese know what it is".

With that thought I will wrap it up as I move on to Bangladesh and Bahrain.

OBOC - Benin

I had no hopes of finding a book from Benin, so it was a complete surprise to stumble upon Raouf Mama's "Why Goats smell bad and other stories from Benin" at the local library. Intended for young adults I found the book in the "folk/fairy tales" section in the library.

Like many other pre-colonial cultures, the Fon people of Benin also had a very rich oral tradition. This book by Mama is an attempt to capture these tales in written form to preserve it for posterity and also to give others a glimpse into Fon culture.

I enjoyed the stories and even narrated a few to my young one who enjoyed those too (especially the Cinderella equivalent of Denangan and Hobami). I am a fan of Joseph Campbell's comparative mythologies and as I read Mama's book could not help wondering that there is also a ripe field of comparative folk tales as i saw a few parallels to other tales I've heard/read. There is a whole section devoted to the "Trickster - Yogbo the glutton" which is very common in folk tales and mythologies. There were also a couple of stories about Rainbow Snake - which made me recall the Rainbow Serpent from Aborginal Mythologies.

There is also a section on Pourquoi tales from Benin which I had to wiki to find out what they were! I especially liked the book for the introduction to the culture by Mama and also for the notes at the end of the story providing an explanation. In Fon culture the stories dont have titles, but Mama has provided one for the reader's sake. Also every story begins with "My story takes flight..." as the tale is likened to a bird taking flight and landing on a protagonist. Every story also has short verses which I'm sure Mama's done a great job capturing from local language - he has even preserved the rhyme scheme for many of the verses.

Overall a light and easy yet fascinating read which exposed me to a culture i had never even heard of before!