Mon Avis: Temptations of the West : How to be modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond...

Don't be misled by the title, more so by its subtitle. The book is not a stand alone assault on the hollowness of western culture imbibed by the east, not also a blindfolded condemnation of colonialism. In fact, Pankaj Mishra's latest treatise lays threadbare a contrast between South Asia and Western Civilization.

It is obviously a heavy book, a book I picked up only because of two reasons : One, that i have followed the authors previous books and Second, the book opens with a chapter about Benaras (My wistful attempt to relive Benaras through literature.. Alas!..) Pankaj Mishra lives in both India and London, so he cannot disclaim influence of the West and hence his book offers no prescriptions on the ways of modernism.

The Benaras Chapter : Benaras : Learning to read

He begins his novel with the start of his journey in swampy and dusty Central Library in Benaras Hindu University where he devours the works of Edmund Wilson and Gustav Flaubert. Here Mishra uses his talent of discovering exemplary and representative characters and introduces us to Rajesh, a frustrated young chap with an ever confused sense of life around him full of corruption and favoritism. Rajesh is well educated with a taste in literature as he reads Wilson's essay on Flaubert's "Sentimental Education" given to him by the author. Rajesh tips it to be "story of my(his) world", a story of miniature but potent tragedies, thwarted hopes and disgruntled ideals.

Worth mentioning that Mishra has lived in Benaras in 1980's and seen its way of life. Though much to his astonishment he still makes a pleasant discovery that the city had as much holy significance for Muslims as it had for Hindus, and he finds a 17th century Sufi shrine placed behind a tea shack where he spent most of his evenings (Place not named though :( )

There are more chapters on Allahabad, Ayodhya, Bollywood (He actually met Mallika Sherawat before her Murder release and saw nascent brashness of her sexuality, besides meeting Mahesh and Pooja Bhatt... He denotes the grim and bright bollywood way of life as seen through the eyes of an outsider), Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet and Nepal. Mishra depicts a world striving for modernity where expectations are constantly evolving, colliding and vanishing into a nadir. It puts in perspective each of the above hallmarks of South Asia and their hunger for a place in the modern society.

I would rather not write much about the other chapters as they read mostly like an updated history book of modern events focusing on post 911 events and their impacts on the above.

The book is part autobiographical, part travelogue and part journalism, an assembly of his first hand accounts of visits to the catalogued landscapes. All in all it is a bold book, much separated from his usual genres and much beyond the usual cliches and rheoteric... A book that has recieved less support from his own country in general and its Hindu majority in particular. It was very lately that Pankaj Mishra was mired in controversies regarding his article about Kashmir Massacre on 20th March 2000.

More about the author here


Enjoy the book in leisure...if you wish to travel across South Asia seeing it with penetrating eyes of the author and his thought provoking accounts..

Merry Christmas!

Mon Avis: The Guardian

Well this was a real hard hitter!! I guess Coast Guard is not all about the sleazy Baywatch....


"So the others may live" sums up this saga of courage, comaraderie,
team spirit, dedication, hope, despair, love, loss, destiny, victory and much more....

Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher team up in a story about a rescue swimmer Ben Randell (Kostner) who is a legend in his own right and has a history of unrelenting miraculous saves, one of which the movie begins with. Then comes the blow of fate, he loses his team in a freak accident and his wife leaves him because he has too little time to spare. The accident leaves him shaken and traumatised which lets him no choice but to take a coaching position in the school which produced him alongwith the best Coast Guard fleet.

In comes Jake Fischer(Kutcher), a mysterious swimming champion with no reasonable cause to take up the rescue swimmer as a career. The training begins where the two character come face to face with each other's expectations and question each other's motives to be at the place. Jake graduates with flair and breaks all Ben's previous records.. except one.. he is yet to be tested in real life.

There are several hallmarks about the movie

1) Kostner and Kutcher are too convincing!! Kutcher comes out a gem. Kostner at his usual best!

2) The movie is gripping from first to last frame. The tumultous emotions are well interspersed with breathtaking action sequences at roaring sea. One actually feels like on a rescue mission.

3) The music score compliments the movie well and what more.. it ends with a Bryan Adams's

4) Few of the exchanges are timed perfectly to be comic, not keeping the tone very serious. Further, the rescue events are as exhilirating as they are symbolic.. For instance, first one where a couple at the sea are fighting hard to survive and a husband is pulling down his wife to stay afloat, purely out of "survival instinct"

5) Dialogues are amazingly striking.

My favorite.... When Kutcher asks Kostner one last time "Whats the real number?" (of people he rescued in his entire career)

He answers "22"... Kutcher: "Well, 22 is not bad not 200 but not ba..." Kostner : "22 is the number of people i have lost.. and that is all i keep count of.."

There are many more like these which are so truely punch the viewer....

A fantastic movie which stands to show human courage and attitude have the power to conquer all ........... It is all about the choices you make in life............

A real mover, Go for it!