FAITH AND PHILOSOPHY

Hinduism by K.M.Sen, Penguin Books, $19. Why did Penguin Books ask Amartya Sen, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998, to translate Kshiti Mohan Sen’s Hinduism?

“That important assignment had gone to a friend of Kshiti Mohan, Dr Sisir Kumar Ghosh, who did produce a nice translation. But there were editorial as well as stylistic difficulties, and Penguin Books asked me whether I would agree to take charge of the English rendering, based on the Bengali text,” writes the respected economist in his new foreword to the book his grandfather wrote half a century ago.

“Another scholar, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (earlier the Spalding professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford, and later the president of India), had suggested to Penguin that they should approach Kshiti Mohan, in view of his exceptional command over the subject.”

From the Indus Valley civilization and the Vedic age in the third and second millennia BCE to the births of Buddhism, Jainism and ancient agnosticism, and the arrival of Christianity and Islam, the book  introduces the reader to the evolution of diverse schools of thought and practises in India over the last 5000 years.

K.M.Sen’s synopses of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas, and his selection of excerpts from the four Vedas and the Upanishads are steeped in meaning. Sen condenses the sixteen chapters of the father-son conversation in Chandogya Upanishad beautifully for the reader’s benefit in just a few pages:

This (body) indeed withers and dies when the living Self has left it; the living Self dies not.

That which is that subtle essence, in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.”

I must add, however, that I was disappointed with his version of the Bhagavad Gita. Sen’s Gita lacks the poetic vigour of Sir Edwin Arnold’s The Song Celestial or the scholarly erudition of the aforementioned Dr  Radhakrishnan’s translation, or the loving devotion evident in Bhagvad Gita As It Is by Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada, the founder of Iskcon.

The poetry and the purpose of the Gita are squandered in the dense English prose. 

But nitpicking aside, Hinduism is a great read for anyone wishing to learn about a faith that’s as old as the Indian civilization.

SONGS SUNG BLUE

Akhtari, edited by Yatindra Mishra, Harper Collins, INR 691. Begum Akhtar holds music aficionados and fans enthralled  even decades after her passing.

There is, also, a fascination with her story – the daughter of a courtesan who rose to spectacular heights, then gave it all up for the life of a begum – the wife of a well-to-do-conservative lawyer – only to return to her music a few years later. Thus a book on her is a big draw. However, this particular collection of articles and short pieces on her life and music fails to do her justice.

It starts off well enough – if one overlooks the purple prose: All of this is only an effort to seek shelter under the umbrella of the style and art of a singer of intense calibre who graced the garden of semiclassical music, a singer we had the fortune of being blessed with.

It appears to be a hastily put-together project. So much so that the photographs mentioned in the acknowledgments are MIA – there’s nary an image in the book.

There are proofing errors galore: The exceptionally gifted girl found recognition at a very young age, which their move to Bombay imminent. Huh?

While the meanings of some words in her songs would have been helpful, there are whole passages of dense Urdu accompanied by English translations. Those who know the language wouldn’t need the translation and those who don’t are unlikely to wade through all that text in a language they don’t follow.

Then there are expressions like “filmy” journey which set one’s teeth on edge.

What also dilutes the impact is that the articles are repetitive. Yatindra Mishra acknowledges that so much has been written about her that it’s almost impossible to find something new, but they are almost all about the same incidents, the same songs.

Which is not to say there are no hidden gems in the collection. He shares his family’s connection with Begum Akhtar and someone recalls asking her husband about the song that made him fall in love with her.

Sheila Dhar writes that “Akhtari Bai could not live without ishq, without being in love. If love did not happen, she had to invent it.”

There’s a riveting piece on her portrayal of a singer in Satyajit Ray’s Jalsaghar. Until one reads of it in another article. And then another.

Someone describes the sorrow experienced at finding her grave in Lucknow in a sad state of disrepair and of cleaning it up and lighting an incense stick there.

Lata Mangeshkar talks about the thrill of hearing her name announced in the same breath as Begum Akhtar’s – she had requested a ghazal by the singer on a radio program!

Begum Akhtar’s voice is immortal, her ghazals sound just as fresh today as they did when she performed  live. But the story of her life, cobbled together as this is, falls short of expectations, and sounds jaded. One can’t help but reflect, we’ve heard this before. And that’s a pity.

THAT’S LIFE

What Are You Doing With Your Life? by J. Krishnamurti, Rider Books, $21.99. J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) is considered one of the world’s great philosophical  teachers, and his lectures and books have always been about the individual and his/her relationship with life.

What is life? What is its significance? How do I live life to the full? He answers questions such as these, and leads the reader on the best way of being true to oneself.

There is a path, he says; no higher authority; no guru to follow – and that ultimately it is our own responsibility as to how we live our lives.

If you are in need of a detox after overindulging on New Age gurus and their seductive offerings, this is a good  J.Krishnamurti book as any to make a beginning.

BEAUTIFUL BOUQUET

The Kew Gardens Girls by Posy Lovell, GP Putnam’s Sons, $22. London, 1916. England is at war. Women are enlisting for jobs previously held by men who are away at the front. Among them are Louisa and Ivy, who want to prove that women can be as good – if not better – gardeners than men.

Under their care, Kew, the Royal Botanic Gardens, begins to flourish, and become a safe haven for the two as well as others seeking solace.

But not everyone wants women working at Kew. 

Women’s rights, the fight for equal pay, the suffragette movement, pacifists and conscientious objectors... And  fun parts about the language of flowers – it’s all here.

The story is based on real-life events mixed with some imagination.

In a conversation with the author at the end of the book, Lovell reveals that she had to learn about plants to avoid making mistakes.

“I spent ages making sure I wasn’t putting plants in the wrong place or having them bloom at the wrong time of year or in the wrong colour.”

She succeeds in artfully braiding several threads together to present a beautiful bouquet.

EMBRACE YOUR IMPERFECTIONS

Brave, Not Perfect by Reshma Saujani, Currency, $22. In this book inspired by her popular TED Talk, New York Times bestselling author Reshma Saujani urges women to embrace imperfection and live a bolder, more authentic life.

She shares insights from her own life, from her decision to run for public office at the age of 33 with no prior experience and her spectacular defeat and says this was the first time she had done something truly brave.

Women behave this way because they’re trained to do so, to play safe, she says. Boys, on the other hand, absorb a very different message. They are taught to explore, play rough, swing high, climb to the top of the monkey bars – and fall down trying.

Boys are taught to be brave. Girls are taught to be perfect.

Being perfect at every role we play in our lives – and we play a multitude – is the default setting for many women.

We don’t know how to deny anyone – except ourselves.  We second-guess our instinctive responses, we run ragged spreading sweetness and sunshine.

Though authentic is the not-so-new buzzword, the idea of embracing our imperfections has its appeal.

AND A VERY GOOD NIGHT!

While You’re Sleeping by Mick Jackson and John Broadley, Pavilion, $26.95. While you’re sleeping there are many who are busy making sure everything runs smoothly. A beautiful story about all that cleaners, firefighters, truck drivers, nurses and doctors – and mums and dads – do while children are sleeping from Booker-short-listed author Mick Jackson.

TEEN REVIEW

By MAMONA KHAN

The Diary of a Young Girl, edited by Otto. H Frank and Mirjam Pressler, Bantam Books, $18.95. This novel, based on the diary of Anne Frank, a teenager living during World War II, is a very interesting and sad read.

It is also a very important historical book as it sheds light on the horrors and prejudice faced by many Jews during World War II.

The novel is the three-year account of Anne’s life – from June 12, 1942, to August 4, 1944.

It recounts Anne’s experience of hiding from the Germans in an attic of an office warehouse in Amsterdam, as well as her thoughts and opinions of the world around her, and her incredible wisdom.

Anne’s writing is heartfelt and very relatable for teenagers today.

A quote I especially love is from her entry on Tuesday, July 6, 1944:

“We’re all alive, but we don’t know why or what for; we’re all searching for happiness; we’re all leading lives that are different and yet the same... We have many reasons to hope for great happiness, but... we have to earn it. And that’s something you can’t achieve by taking the easy way out. Earning happiness means doing good, and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction.”

I highly recommend this novel.

• Mamona Khan is a Youth Volunteer at Brampton Library.