Book Review: Following Fish

Following Fish: Travels around the Indian Coast is Samanth Subramanian's debut novel and what a debut! Samanth is a journalist by profession and  he uses the narrative version of journalism to full efect in "Following Fish"

India is a country with a long and diverse coastline and as the author says Fish inhabit the heart of many worlds - food of course, but also culture, commerce, sport, history and society" The author travels to 7 locations spread across the Indian coast (+ Hyderabad which is landlocked), interacts with locals, investigates a story special and specific to that location and then pens it down for our reading pleasure.

Any book which covers an aspect of my hometown Mangalore favourably, will definitely be recommended by me. :) But "Following Fish" offers 8 more reasons (chapters) for me to recommend it!

Starting with West Bengal, where he sets off in search of the perfect Hilsa ("If Bengali cuisine were Wimbledon, hilsa would always play on centre court"), he is initiated into the differences between Bangladeshi & Bengali hilsa as he traipses across Howrah fish market & Kolaghat market and eats at places as diverse as The Park in Kolkatta, Oh Calcutta, an eatery on Mirza Ghalib Road and a shack in Diamond Harbour. He does throw in a few recipes from Chef Vasanthi of The Park (Warning" most of them don't mention any quantities) for good measure.

In Hyderabad, he visits the Bathini Goud family - dispensers of the annual "Goud fish treatment" for asthamatics. Exploring the history of the treatment and the myths around its origin, as a good journalist, he also investigates the naysayers theories and facts and chronicles the entire event from the initial pooja at the ancestral Goud house to the public dispensary at the Exhibition grounds in Nampally.

In Manapadu in Tamil Nadu (TN), Samanth researches the dynamics of social relationships between Parava Catholics and Kayalar Muslims since the 16th century, how historical Hindu customs are still followed by the Paravas with a Catholic veneer and the declining importance of the Jathi Thalaivan in society. It is here that the author encounters Aruni - a researcher of fish as a food in TN who introduces him to fish podi - a dried fish powder peculiar to that part of the country.

His quest to discover Kerala through its toddy (local alcohol) shops is delightful. "We stumbled onto the most ideal method (to root out the best toddy shop in town) by chance - commandeer an auto rickshaw and solicit its drivers guidance.  The driver will be so struck by appearance of people after his own heart - people who will get out of an early morning train, exit the station & ask for a toddy shop - that he may even forget to inflate his rate." The cuisine of toddy shops in Kerala has a style, nature and flavour of its own, normally consisting of extremely spicy fried food which would necessiate the consumption of even more toddy. While the Karimeen/Pearlspot is the most famous fish in Kerala, there are a lot of other varieties on offer too.

In Mangalore, he initially flounders in his quest for the perfect Manglorean fish curry, but soon with the help of friends he discovers eateries that are hidden gems, known to the locals and discovers tawa fried fish, rawa fry and other delicacies too. His encounter with Vasudev Boloor (President of multiple fishermens associations) leads to an impromptu meal of home cooked Manglorean fish curry which any Manglorean would know is infinitely better than anything that a restaurant can ever serve.

In Mumbai, he meets with anglers Baptista & Danny Moses. He joins Baptista & his adult nephews on a fishing trip to their favourite ocean spot in quest of the elusive and highly spirited sailfish. He also interacts with the original settlers of Mumbai - the Koli fisherfolk who are more weloming of "outsiders" than the more violent political parties of this age. The kolis also initiate him into the subtle differences between Koli, Gomantak & Malvani styles of cooking.

In Goa, he encounters different kinds of fishermen - those who indulge in it purely as a hobby, (angling is a Goan pastime) and those dependent on it for their livelihood. His conversations with the locals only seems to emphasise that the governments greed and inefficiency is completely destroying the fisherman's habitat.

The boat builders of Mangrol and Veraval in Gujarat are his last stop.Their long history of boat design is even suspected to extend to the Indus Valley civilisation. While the principles of boat building appear unchanged, modern technologies have been put to good use to help speed up some of the processes while others like caulking the boat for water tightness have remained unchanged for hundreds of years..

Samanth Subramanian has a wonderful, distinctive style of writing with a wry sense of humour and an eye for detail. There is an investigative depth to his research and a passion for the subject he covers.

This book is an easy read but don't let that mislead you into dismissing it lightly. It contains a wealth of useful information for the foodie traveller and a cook who is comfortable with grandma style recipes (a pinch of this, a dash of that etc)

If you love food or travel or reading about food or travel, this is a book you will thoroughly enjoy and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I look forward to more books from him.

Book Review: The Cobra

The latest novel from Frederick Forsyth, this one deals with the cocaine trade. An industry worth billions of dollars and which ruins millions of lives.

Paul Devereux an ex-CIA special ops is called out of retirement by the American President himself, to stop the drug trade at any cost.

The drug trade across the world, from suppliers in 3rd world countries to end users in developed nations flourishes in spite of the strictest laws, because they operate outside the law and international govenment agencies have to follow every rule in the book. What can happen when the forces against the drug cartels do not need to follow the strict guidelines of the laws is what forms the crux of this book.

While the story line sketched out by Forsyth, makes one wonder, why it can't be put into practice, one is forced to reconcile that such a solution can only happen in fiction. The basic hypotheses on which the "solutions" work in "The Cobra",  is that there are just a handful of cartels who control the bulk of the global cocaine trade.

As usual, Forsyth is a master storyteller and once you are a few pages in, it is impossible to put the book down until you have finished. Another wonderful piece of fiction from one of my  favorite fast-read fiction authors.


           

Book Review: Curses in Ivory

Curses in Ivory traverses three generations of women as seen through the eyes and memories of Sreya. The 3 main characters are Sreya, her grandmother Hansabati and mother Regina. The minor but still important characters are her mothers sister Queenie, her Fathers brothers wife Brishti and her sister-in-law Nilima.

The curse supposedly has its origin in the time of Hansabati's mother-in-law Kamala and carries on in various forms through the Rai Bahadurs family.

This novel is a subtle yet wonderful exploration on the status of women across 4 generations in West Bengal. Societal norms, the prevalence of purdah, the British influence, the lowered status of women who lost their mothers or were orphaned, the overwhelming obsession for a male heir all of these are explored in this novel.

Curses in Ivory is a relatively easy read but will leave lasting impressions on the reader. The slow decay of once wealthy households holding on to their past. Family secrets - explosive if revealed but even more destructive if concealed. Arranged marriages where pre-teen spouses grow up together and office romances that lead to marriage. The changing fabric of society reveals itself in the course of this book.

While Curses in Ivory is not chicklit, women readers will be more appreciative of the subtleties in the story telling and the implications of events.

Anjana Basu's story telling flows very smoothly and there are minor differences in the flow depending on which characters perspective is being put forth. The poetic turn of phrase around Brishti is the most palpable.

While not in the league of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay or Satyajit Ray, she still succeeds in bringing an older Bengal to life.

Book Review: Disgraced by Saira Ahmed

Picked this book up on a whim, as it seemed to be in the vein of Jean Sasson's books. It promised a glimpse into the life of a young British-Pakistani girl growing up in a traditional Muslim immigrant family  in the 1980's.

Was it a good book? Well, it won't win any awards for the writing, but the story did make me empathise with her. It created an emotional response in me and isn't that what good writing is supposed to be about?

Saira is brought up in an ultraconservative Pakistani muslim family that lives in Britain, where the entire extended family is involved in the family garment business. Men rule the household with iron fists and women are treated as property to be used and abused.

The danger for someone unfamilar with Islam reading the book, is seperating what stems from religious practice and cultural practice,  since Saira herself is not sure of the distinction. Bullied into submission from a young age by all the men in her family, it is not possible for her to question any of their actions or decisions.

However, after being forced into an abusive arranged marriage with a distant family member on a trip back to Pakistan, she slowly summons her courage and uses all her wits to escape back to Britain where she finally lands in a safe house. It is here that she glimpses an alternate way of living her life and starts working outside the family business and outside the traditional ghettoes.

Unfortunately this respite is only temporary as she loses her job for no fault of hers and is forced to come up with money to pay off the debts incurred by her family. Her parents who keep sending money to relatives near and distant, back in Pakistan and her older brothers drug addictions.

The only way she can make money fast enough to repay the interests on the debts of the loan sharks is by selling herself as an escort. It is during this phase that Saira oscillates between guilt of doing something haram, even though her intention is halal - to help her parents.

The story ends abruptly  when she stops herself from committing suicide for the sake of her daughter and manages to follow her original dream of designing fabrics and textiles. A more "respectable" job.

The book gives the reader a glimpse into a slice of Saira's life. There are definitely a lot of questions, I would have liked answered. How does her family travel so frequently between UK and Pakistan if they are constantly in debt and money is tight?

A reader unfamiliar with the "extended familial responsibilities"  concept in the sub-continent, would have many more questions as to why a lot of the personalities in this book, behave or react the way that they do. In that manner, Disgraced isn't very illuminating. But it is a story that might have been repeated in a number of immigrant families from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka to the UK. It is a story that deserves to be heard.

Book Review : Yajnaseni - the story of Draupadi

This is a translation of the work of Oriya writer Pratibha Ray on the story of Draupadi. This tale portrays Draupadi in a completely different light from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Draupadi, in Palace of Illusions

I feel this book has lost a lot in the translation. The first half of the book was very diffcult to get through. The language is clunky and for someone unfamiliar with the multiple names for Arjuna, Krishna, Yudhishtir and Draupadi, the characters can be extremely confusing.

The translator Pradip Bhattacharya, is an IAS officer and the text of the first half is very heavy with convoluted sentences which made me feel like I was reading a bureacuratic report. It takes until the second half, for Bhattacharyato get into his groove and start writing a bit more naturally which really helps the story flow more smoothly.

Pratibha's Draupadi/Yajnaseni/Krishnaa is a woman trapped by circumstances. First having given her heart to Krishna (then told by Krishna himself that her destiny lies elsewhere) and then to Arjun, she is forced to split her time as a wife between 5 husbands, each with their own personalities and peculiarities.

A pre-occupied Yudhisthir, a demanding Bhim, Arjun who blames her for accepting his brothers as her husbands (for not saying no to the suggestion, although he himself didn't), childlike Nakul and Sahadev. Each husband needing to be treated differently according to his temparament. It is easy to empathise with Ray's Draupadi and feel sorry for her predicament.

To love Arjun and want to be his alone and yet have to spend 80% of her time with her four other husbands. Plus Arjun's long travels, as penance for intruding on the privacy of Yudhisthir and Draupadi, to gain astras from the different devas while marrying different princesses along the way. The final straw is when he marries Subhadra and brings her back to Indraprasth, before Draupadi herself has had the chance to be a wife to Arjun (in Ray's sequence of events). Yet, she manages to reconcile herself to all of this with the help of Krishna's council.

In this interpretation of the Mahabharath, Draupadi and Krishna share a spiritual level of trust and love that her five husbands accept and understand unquestioningly. Draupadi, even instructs one of Krishna's wives on how the wives have got it wrong in their constant fighting to possess Krishna for themselves, while what they should be doing is surrendering themselves to him.

Karna is not the flawless noble hero, but an insecure man who nurses his insults and loses no opportunity to rub salt in Draupadi's wounds, even though he also saves her life at one point of time.

Ray, bases her novel on the Mahabharath by Vedvyas and the Oriya Mahabharath by Sarala Das. She also adds a few incidents from her imagination and mixes up the sequence of some events to help her own narrative.

Although Draupadi is one of the five satis, she is often insulted as the one with five husbands and hence implied to be a woman of loose character. Ray's objective in writing this tale was to clear this "negative" interpretation of her and to give her the honor she deserves for holding the Pandavs together and being an "agent of change" in her time.

Also published on desicritics.org

Yajnaseni - The Story of Draupadi