Super Freakonomics

I had to read Super Freakonomics. Freakonomics had blown me over, shattering my belief that most management books are easy prescriptions for lazy people who refuse to think on their own. Freakonomics changed the way I think, forever edging me to seek causal relationships between freakishly unrelated things. It forced me to think. Sadly while writing Super Freakonomics Levitt and Dubner forgot to think. Super Freakonomics come across like a hurriedly put together Bollywood economic pot boiler. It is a pot pourri of ideas thought to be imperative to the success of any formula Bollywood film of the 80s. There is sex and violence, a touching story of man and his best friend, chimps in this case, medical marvels, the story of the underdog and for green peace good measure there is a global warming story piped in. And then you wonder why it failed to deliver. Precisely why all Bollywood formula films fail because it is not insightful, the authors were not inspired and it was not a story waiting to be told but a tale concocted to be published.
However I need to objectively review the book and I shall list down some of the thoughts in some chapters that interested me. The first chapter was for instance really about gender inequality however it was masquerading in the book as the hitch hikers guide to the prostitute galaxy. It doesn't really take a nuclear scientist or a freakonomist to know why prostitutes with pimps fare better and why being a madame in the 1910s paid better than being a prostitute in Kamathipura today. It really is just good ols common sense. However they did start an interesting train of thought on how women and men are not motivated by the same things and that is probably the real reason for the proverbial glass ceiling. Men, no surprises, are motivated by money but what women are motivated; by we never got to that in the book. The chapter on altruism and apathy seems to be totally off center. The economists undertake study after study to explain why no eye witness reported a gruesome murder, however the answer to that one was simply in understanding that the sample space for the research was not unbiased, a no go in any statistical study. I was particularly looking forward to the chapter on global warming hoping that Levitt and Dubner had actually found the solution to this impending disaster called irreversible climate change. No such luck, infact I could not fathom why the chapter was included in the book.
The one freakonomic tale worth mentioning is the one on simple fixes. A doctor finds the cure to puerperal fever, the number one cause of mortality amongst mothers and children in the 1800s. This story is classic freakonomics, the doctor peruses data after data but it is a freakish unrelated incident that leads him to the cure. A very simple cure: Handwashed and Scrubbed doctors! I really do enjoy simple stories especially the ones with happy endings. Or the chapter on chimps and humans, it was sufficiently edgy and tried answering questions that I had not thought of.
All in all, the book is a breezy read but not an inspiring one. Much like a Karan Johar film, it has the right actors and grandeur sufficient for many films, it touches topical subjects but just fails to inspire or even impress you. The formula helps you leaf through but fails to get you back.
If there was ever a hypothesis on how the second book of a best selling author is never as good as the first one Super Freakonomics would be a prime exhibit. Having said that I did find my “aha” moment in the book again in the last chapter but what stayed with me was this line “In economics, as in life, you'll never find the answer to a question unless you are willing to ask it, as silly as it may seem”. Well that is a thought.

The Hungry Tide

“The Hungry Tide” languished in my book shelf for four years before I picked it up again a couple of weeks back. Some years back my love for Indian authors writing in English turned into extreme aversion and all the books that I had bought overwhelmed by my amour at that point, were discarded unread (never uncared for). Two weeks back I faced an unusual problem.. not having anything to read. Picked up “The Hungry Tide” and am writing about it to sort out my feelings for Indian writers in general and Amitav Ghosh and “the Hungry Tide” in particular.

The setting is unusual, the Sunderbans, caught between the Bay Of Bengal and the plains of Bengal the novel traces the life of people who are also caught between fact and folklore, reality and idealism, hope and despair, marriage and infatuation, choice and compulsion. I do not know who the protagonist of the novel is, there is Kanai a suave business man linguist Casanova forced to visit Lusibari to visit an aging aunt. Nilima the aunt successfully manages to not box herself in the stereotype of the lonely, frail widowed aunt and is actually the most tenacious character who is at peace with herself and the life she has chosen to create in Lusibari. Piya, the young Indian American cetologist on her quest to explore the Gangetic dolphins of Sunderbans, unsure of herself away from water but erudite and confident around the marine mammals. Fokir the unlettered but wise fisherman, his wife Moyna struggling to better her life in the unforgiving Sunderbans. Horen is the boatman in the background who connects the present to the past. Finally Kanai’s uncle Nirmal the absent minded Rilke loving school teacher and the beautiful strong woman Kusum who enthralls all and who is amalgamation of the best that each character in the book has to offer. I will have to give credit to the author for having created distinct characters who if not complete are distinct.

Kanai comes to Lusibari in the Sunderbans after many many years to read some transcripts left behind by his late Uncle who harbored the dreams of being a writer in his youth but spent his life teaching the children in Lusibari. Nilima in the meanwhile created a life for herself centered around the hospital she built and the many lives she touched through it. She is rooted to reality doing more good than any of the ideologists could ever hope to do. Piya on her way to study the Irrawaday dolphin briefly meets Kanai. Intrigued and comforted by each other’s presence in unfamiliar rustic Bengal they move on their journey separately. A twist of fate brings Kanai and Piya together again, this time their meeting is saddled with the presence of Fokir. The three collaborate as they move on to understand the dolphins and their lives. Kanai also reads through his uncle’s transcripts on his journey on the Ganges. Nirmal writes about his brief passionate liaison with a movement of a group of displaced indigenous people to reclaim one of the islands as their habitat towards the end of his life. The impatient and restless passion that this chance encounter ignites in Nirmal is symbolic of the angst that each character in the book goes through as s/he tries to harmonize her aspirations with reality. His writings also add to the enigma of the Sunderbans explaining the mystique through folklore, science and a breathtakingly real portrait of the swamps.
However the narrative gets stalled midway as Piya discovers her Gangetic Dolphins a little soon for me quelling the anticipation that the first half of the book builds. Post the discovery, for me the book was a maze of conversations, events in the Sunderbans, dalliances with ones’ fear, encounters with the beasts of the Sunderbans and the chemistry of unlikely alliances all leading to something that was not quite obvious as I read through the second half. The pace of the book slows down, the narrative gets tedious and I quite miss my “aha” moment in the book, the insight around which the story seems to have been woven. As the book ends Piya and Horen actually start to find the peace of mind that has eluded them throughout the journey and maybe most of their adult life. As for me I also did find my “aha” moment (albeit a little late) in the last line of the book as Nilima says “.. For me home is wherever I can brew a pot of good tea”. See I liked Nilima from the beginning of it all.
As for my verdict on Indian writers, this one has left me little more confused. I am a very simple reader I read books for the stories they offer. This one had an average story in extraordinary settings and some interesting if half baked people in it. I was engaged enough to read through it (yes I do commit the ultimate reader's transgression of abandoning books half way through)but was not enthralled enough to say WOW. So for now, for my love of the "Shadow Lines" more than this one I will say that Amitav Ghosh is not half bad.

A Suitable Girl

When your favorite author announces a sequel to your favorite book jumping with joy and squealing in delight is the natural reaction. I consciously veered away from Indian authors writing in English because of many reasons I shall enumerate in a separate less hurried post, however Vikram Seth steadfastedly remained lodged as one of my favorite authors refusing to box himself in any label the I could come up with. The Suitable Boy is a favorite I can reread ad infinitum. And now "The Suitable Girl".So now I am like the million Harry Potter fans waiting for the next installment. I just wish it were earlier than 2013.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany’s evokes vivid images of Audrey Hepburn in the slim black dress she immortalized, the quintessential black glasses, her hair tied up in a sophisticated bun and her long fingers in a bejeweled black glove gently playing with the cigarette holder. The novella by Truman Capote was so much more than just that image. It suddenly catapulted Truman Capote to the top of my ever burgeoning list of favorite authors. The simplicity of his narrative is captivating. The novella is part of a collection of four short stories by the author published in 1958. Needless to say Breakfast at Tiffany’s was destined to be one of the most endearing novellas for all times to come. The novella traces the enigmatic friendship between the young and waifishly beautiful Holly Golightly and a young yet unpublished struggling author with glamorous New York of the 1940’s as a befitting montage. It starts with the unnamed author discovering intriguing Miss. Golighlty with trepidation. Edged by his intrigue and held back by his reticent self the author tries to learn about the elusive Ms. Golighlty but finally friendship blooms when the brash but charming protagonist deigns to do so. This sets the tone of the two characters as well as their relationship. The readers are as fascinated by Holly Golightly, her socialite ways and her seemingly decadent admirers as much as the young earnest author is. Without doubt Holly Golightly is the pivot of the story but the relationship between the two is what takes the story forward. The author is unlike any of Holly’s suitors and that lays the foundation of the honest and selfless platonic relationship. The friendship starts with the author being completely absorbed by the charming Holly and Holly seeking solace in a friend unlike the rest of the men she has met. There are many layers to Holly and her relationship with the unnamed author both often mirroring each other. What makes the novella a reader’s delight is that the description of the protagonists and her relationship does not stall the narration but it is infact the impetus that blends in the narration forcing it to move forward. Holly assumes a definitive character in a very short while through brilliant descriptors. The paradox of her black and white judgment frame coexisting with her dubious scruples is perfectly natural even for the reader. She is innocent but not naïve; she is carefree, follows her natural instincts, speaks her mind, empathizes with the weaklings in her life as she takes them under her wings and charms everyone along the way all the while displaying wisdom and insight way beyond her years. The novella traces her life in the short period of one year as she yearns for the people she left behind while trying to foolishly love the ones her current life presents her with. At the heart of the story is a young girl yearning for her home, a place she feels comfortable in, a girl searching for her place under the sky knowing that her relationships with places and people is at best transient. This theme also runs across the other three short stories of the collection, reflective of Truman’s disturbed childhood. This short novella etches unambiguous characters that you fall in love with instantly. It touches chords of the heart many verbose authors fail to recognize and this is what makes it a masterpiece. The precise insights and the brevity of characterization make Truman Capote one of the most delectable writers. Students of the English language should study Truman to appreciate adjectives. Phrases like, “I’d rather be natural than normal”;”Yearning not stupid” amaze the discerning reader. The story ends at an appropriately poignant note; it could not have ended any other way according to me. There has to be a special mention of the quick repartee that Holly and the unnamed narrator exchange at various points that takes the story and their relationship further. The story and the dialogues have a screenplay written all over it and I cannot think of any other story that can so naturally lend itself to a film. As the novella and the book came to an end, appropriately the phrase “A Picture paints a thousand words” came to my mind, for Truman’s writing in one word is Picturesque.

Details:

Title: Breakfast at Tiffany's
Author: Truman Capote
Publisher: Random House
When:1958