Urban aria

Posted on by bijalv

Urban aria

Lavanya Sankaran’s new book examines the complexities inherent in a postindustrialised metropolis, says Time Out

The Bangalore that’s presented in the pages of The Hope Factory, a book by Lavanya Sankaran, is a familiar city, constrained by bureaucracy, corruption and of course, the limitation of class. The author describes the flesh and bones of this metropolis by way of two parallel stories: that of Anand, an upper middle class entrepreneur whose dream is to expand his factory by buying new land in the city, and Kamala, who works as a maid in Anand’s bungalow, and purposes her life around that of her son, Narayan.

“It’s a personal exploration using whatever talent sets I have, and what I am capable of,” said Sankaran, who worked on the novel for the last six years. “When you’re writing literary fiction, you are not just being a sociologist, you’re being a political analyst, an economic analyst; it’s more multi-layered.”

Sankaran examines the impact of industrialisation and the resultant urbanisation. “We are seeing this huge urban boom – the expansion of cities in what were earlier fields, slums,” said Sankaran, referring to Anand’s plan to buy up for farm land for his factory and Kamala’s home being swallowed up by the city gradually “It’s happening, not just from one generation to the other. It’s happening every five to ten years now.” Through her two protagonists, Sankaran explores the country’s many contradictions – the haves and the havenots, the middle class and the poor, the individual and the family – while steering clear of stereotypes that are often a mainstay in Indian literary fiction. For instance, while Anand is busy negotiating with the Japanese for a new automobile contract, his staff insists on following auspicious temple rituals for the deal to go smoothly.

To colour the character of a young entrepreneur, Sankaran shadowed people who worked in industries to figure out how Anand’s daily life would play out. “If you’re writing about something, you have to do it with an understanding of all the issues involved,” she explained. “But to construct characters that are complete in themselves, that is the crux – one of the reasons why it took six years. I didn’t want to handle anyone with the stamp of a stereotype.” This is Sankaran’s second book – her first, The Red Carpet, is an anthology of short stories about Bangalore. This time around, the city she visits could be any metropolis in the country. “You can think of something complex, and India will out-bizarre it,” laughed Sankaran. “I wanted very everyday characters, driven by very everyday concerns. They are not victims. They are reaching for opportunities. They have to manoeuvre the obstacle race of life.” Sankaran deftly evokes empathy for her characters. In fact, Kamala, who is a single mother and has migrated to the city, turns out to be a strong feminist voice who defies the usual fatalist behaviour expected of her.

What makes Sankaran’s book a refreshing read is that it’s not melancholic. Her characters brave the odds of migration, single parenthood, scheming relatives and keep moving forward. “This is a country that doesn’t give up,” she said. “There is poverty, poor infrastructure and incredibly bad governance, to corruption on an epic scale. Yet we deal with it, we wake up and continue. That’s one of the reasons why I like the title… because India is the hope factory. But, hope is a doubleedged sword, there is epic failure on the other, you can’t look at one without the other.”

Lavanya Sankaran Hachette India, R550

By Bijal Vachharajani

Myths world

Posted on by bijalv

http://www.timeoutbengaluru.net/books/features/myths-world
Halahala has fallen silent. Bijal Vachharajani tells you why that isn’t a bad thing

Legends of Halahala

Many aspects of Gestalt psychology become apparent while reading Legends of Halahala, Appupen’s silent (without any text) graphic novel. Starting from the first chapter “Stupid’s Arrow”, there’re so many hidden details in every nook and cranny of the book that it’s like playing Where’s Waldo. There are clever references to the current socio-political scenario, subtle digs (and not-so-subtle ones as well) at consumerism and poignant reflections on social trends and ideologies. That, according to George Mathen, who goes by the pen name Appupen, was what he intended his second graphic novel to be.

“Each story deserves its own world,” said Appupen, who is in thrall of the works of JR Tolkien as well as Indian epics such as Mahabharata and Ramayana; they’ve each informed his work. “By creating another world there are so many possibilities that are not constrained by the realities for our stories.” Appupen’s clear that he doesn’t plan to retell mythologies. Instead he wanted to create his own mythology, which he did by fashioning Halahala, a mythical world that exists in a parallel dimension in Moonward, Appupen’s debut novel which was published by Blaft in 2009. Halahala, named after the poison that was churned from the ocean when the gods and demons in Hindu mythology fought each other, is a grey, dystopian world with dark characters.

Legends of Halahala isn’t strictly a sequel to Moonward, instead it is a set of five stories that are set in Appupen’s new world that has undercurrents of different kinds of love – vengeful, tragic, obsessive and quirky. In “Stupid’s Arrow”, two warring sides come head to head when a love missive goes to the wrong recipient. “The Saga of Ghostgirl Part 2: Legacy” is a black-and-white story that takes a strange turn after a superhero rescues a boy. “Oberian Dysphoria” takes place at the beginning of the world, where two creatures; they look like the pygmy puffs from the Harry Potter series, fall in love and are then tragically separated.

Before launching into the world of graphics as Appupen, Mathen was a drummer with Lounge Piranha, a post-rock band; he also dabbled in advertising. His experience working in the advertising industry forced him to question the term, creativity. “In advertising, a selling exercise is taken as being creative,” he said. “But they haven’t done anything besides selling a product.” And these thoughts are reflected in the last two stories. The most compelling is “16917P’s Masterpiece”, where 16917P slithers out of a domed city into a toxic wasteland. He can’t free himself from the shackles of materialism yet there’s a creative tussle that finally reaches a fatal end. The story is grim, as is its rendering. The last story, “The Accordion Manoeuvre”, is comic and filmy, but again resonates with sarcasm and holds up a mirror to society’s obsession with looks and consumerism. Appupen adds that his book is sponsored by Supa Kola, a cola that he introduced in his first book.

Also while Moonward had minimal text, Legends is a “silent classic”. And the lack of text doesn’t take away from the story, instead it highlights the graphics, engaging readers to look at details and make their own interpretation to the multifarious stories. “After Moonward, a lot of people told me to forget about writing,” said Appupen. “I was writing to convey certain things. In my first book I wanted to tell so many things. Now I can put aside that baggage.” By drifting into the silent zone, a first such novel for Indian readers, Appupen is hoping to make his stories more accessible. “Hopefully, the art will invite you to look at it again,” he said.

Legends of Halahala, HarperCollins. R499.

By Bijal Vachharajani on March 29 2013 11.50am

Rear window

Posted on by bijalv

Ranjit Lal on why his writing table faces a wall (or the story where I finally talk to my absolute favourite Indian author)

http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/kids/features/rear-window 

kids books, ranjit lal, birds from my window, indian bird guide, wildlife

House crows that filch melba toast from under the noses of members of the Willingdon Club in Mumbai, a lady sparrow that throws a tantrum and a “pipsqueak of a purple sunbird” who goes berserk on a bottlebrush tree outside author Ranjit Lal’s house are some of the protagonists of his new book, Birds from my Window and the Antics They Get Up To. In the introduction to this book, Lal said that he has been watching birds from his window and balcony for several years and finds it a “wonderful way of never having to get bored”. Peacocks, bulbuls, babblers and sparrows are always at hand to distract him so now his writing desk faces the wall, or “this book would never have been written”.

What inspired you to write Birds from My Window and the Antics They Get Up To?
There was so much happening around the home, with regard to everyday birds that it was worth following up their lives and writing about them. Also, there are a lot more species of birds around in cities like Delhi than one would imagine. Basically you just need to spend a bit of time, standing and staring!

Your book is a guide to Indian birds but unlike most guides, it’s laced with generous bouts of humour.
Birds can be quite hilarious – in looks, deportment, behaviour – and on occasion they’re not too different from us! They have the same ego issues, desire to impress the fair sex (though in birds the males are the dandies and the females are the critics!).

Many of your books introduce children to animals and birds in the city.
Well, if you’re just a little observant and interested in the world around you, you can’t help notice the creatures that share our space. Keep observing and you’ll see patterns of behaviour emerge, showing that they too have orderly, disciplined lives, which generally will fit into the grander scheme of things.

How difficult is it to hook young readers onto wildlife?
The trick to get them interested in wildlife is not to make an academic meal out of it. It’s got to be fun and appeal to their sense of adventure, not to say curiosity.

What’s your average day like with the birds in your garden?
I’ve started putting out bajra and peanuts every morning, plus of course water. The peanuts get gobbled up very quickly – by peacocks, mynahs, babblers  sparrows et al. The bigger guys usually shove the little ones away. There are ego issues within species too, some big dada sparrows will bounce down and drive the wimps away. They hold their parties at any time of the day; it could be early morning, mid-morning, afternoon, evening: there seems to be no fixed time, probably because a lot of other people also leave out stuff, so the birds are spoiled for choice!

Tell us about your experience of birdwatching in Mumbai.
I wasn’t very interested in birds until I bought my first pair of large (and rather heavy) binoculars. We had a peepul tree growing outside the verandah and so I trained my binoculars on that. The first bird I spotted and saw close-up, was the coppersmith barbet, which had a face like a clown (and seemed a little tipsy, what with its hiccups). That was enough – if the first bird I saw looked like a tipsy clown, what would the other 1,200-1,300 be like, I wondered. That’s what I’m still finding out. Incidentally, that peepul tree, that overlooked the whole of Central Bombay, had over 15 species, including a pair of nesting black kites, which would dive-bomb me when they had chicks. And they were very cunning about how they went about it, slipping off the nest, below the cliff, banking away to one side and then gaining height out of sight, before zooming around the corner and whistling down screaming, with claws extended! Exciting stuff.

Birds from my Window and the Antics They Get Up To, Scholastic, R125. Ages 8+

By Bijal Vachharajani on May 26 2011