"The Help" - Decries Yet Distances Racial Segregation

I like movies that transport me into a world distinctly different from mine, and Taylor Tate’s The Help, based on Kathryn Stockett’s novel, did.  It took me to Mississippi during the 1960s when the word ‘Negro’ was not a slur, and when all a black woman could hope to achieve was to be a maid in a rich white home. I also liked the movie because it presented white and black America of the time with equanimity that’s colored in candor, humor, and wit. The black and white characters both have their share of skeletons to hide, and Tate indulges these characters by letting them be exactly who they are: at times shallow, sometimes wicked, oftentimes insecure, even downright evil, but overall very real. There is Minny (Octavia Spenser) and then there’s  Skeeters (Emma Stone), two undaunted women, one black one white, both witty and winsome and who enchant the audience while making good of the worst of situations.  Viola Davis who plays the silent yet solid Aibileen, the black maid whose story is the first of many to go public in a NYC newspaper, whose stoicism is in sharp contrast to Minny’s effervescence; yet both so real. Not to be outdone, the ‘white’ characters are just as delectable; the overtly segregationist ‘Hilly’ and the socially ostracized bottle blond “Celia’ are a treat to watch, especially as they outdo each other in petty pursuits.

The movie, though set in the times of social segregation, deals with race relations in a lighter mode yet sends a clear message decrying racial discrimination of the 60s. The Help provides for two hours of witty and wholesome entertainment.

Ayad Akhtar's American Dervish - a Sufi Tale Promoting Ijtihad?

Having watched and posted on Ayad Akhtar's movie "The War Within" a few years ago, here was no doubt that I would read Akhtar's debut novel "American Dervish" some time soon.  Besides, American Dervish had received several favorable mentions in the news media,  so when I found the novel sitting on the coffee table at my sister's place, I asked her if I could borrow it. My sister who had "finished reading it in a few sittings" had a lot to say about the novel; that was a significantly strong reaction coming from her. However, I managed to dissuade her from discussing the novel, but not before I heard her say that "the book was an 'Islam/Muslim Culture 101'" for her, and so it was for me too! American Dervish explores the religious identities of several characters, from different age groups and belonging to different strata of American society, before Hayat, the novel's narrator who too has been through the tumultuous process of exploring his identity, emerges the 'dervish'.   

Akhtar's American Dervish is a coming of age story of Hayat Shah, a ten year old boy  born into a rich Pakistani immigrant family living in Milwaukee during the 1980s.  Hayat's story would have been a lot different had Mina not happened to the family.  Mina, a friend of Hayat's mother, comes to the US in order to escape her ex husband who is threatening to get custody of her five year old son Imran.  Mina is a well educated, articulate and forward thinking Pakistani woman who also happens to be good looking and thus becomes  ten year old Hayat's boyhood crush.  Her entry into Hayat's family sets several sub plots in motion, all of which help unfold a catchy story; one depicting the struggle of several characters trying to live out their Muslim identities. Being  the storyteller, Hayat comes out of the struggle significantly wiser on what it meant to be a Muslim living in Milwaukee in the 1980s.

American Dervish is definitely not a Reluctant Fundamentalist; primarily because Ayad Akhtar's aim was to tell a story in a way that would optimize readership. Mohsin Hamid, the author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, though telling a story,  has a clear prerequisite for his readers; they need erudition of the kind that will ease them into the planned and perfected writing of Hamid's and appreciate the captivating story Hamid has to tell.

Regardless, if it's a gripping story you want to read, Ayad Akhtar's American Dervish is a perfect fit.

Stephen Kinzer's "All The Shah's Men" - Documents the 'Folly of Attacking Iran'?

I have my brother to thank for suggesting and then buying me this very informative and entertaining read by Stephen Kinzer, titled All the Shah’s Men.  My brother and I had been discussing how Iran seemed to be making headlines in US media of late, and that is when he mentioned “All the Shah’s Men".  He recommended I read it to better understand Iran’s wariness of the United States Government in the current stand off between Iran and the nuclear member nations regarding Iran’s nuclear weapons program;  the countries alleging that Iran was but a step away from producing a nuclear weapon. Iran’s President Ahmadinejad, the ever illusive statesman that he is, is only adding fuel to fire by not providing any clear answers, and the stand off continues with member nations of the nuclear club waiting with bated breath wanting to know, “Does Iran have a nuclear weapon?”

It was in the back drop of this current stand off that I started reading Kinzer’s book, the title of which is a take on Nixon’s Watergate scandal made famous by the movie titled “All the Presidents Men”.  Kinzer’s “All the Shah’s Men” is no less of a Watergate as it is based on findings from CIA documents that were released to the public in 2001.  These documents revealed how the CIA conspired with the British government to oust the Mossadegh Government in Iran during the 1950s. Mossadegh, was a popular nationalist who believed, "The Iranian himself is the best person to manage his house" and thus became a thorn in the side of the British who according to Mossadegh were 'bleeding Iran dry through the Anglo Iran Oil Company".  The book reveals how much money, time, and effort were put in to get rid of Mossadegh who by then was a world icon having made it on the cover of "Time" magazine. The British called it "Operation Boot' and the US termed it Operation Ajax, but regardless of its name, the operation is a real eye opener to what and how much the CIA can do, even on foreign soil! The key figure in the operation was CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt.  Roosevelt planned and implemented Operation Ajax which involved bribing influential figures, planting false reports in newspapers and provoking street violence that had some 300 people dead on the streets of Tehran in less than three hours.  Operation Ajax was basically about masterminding a coup that would overthrow Iran’s elected Prime Minister, Mossadegh, who having nationalized Iran’s oil industry, had angered the British Government which had until then owned and run Iran’s oil production.  Roosevelt’s coup in 1953 did bring an end to Mossadegh and also diffused the tension of Britain attacking Iran which to the Americans was a bigger threat as it would threaten to bring Soviet Russia into the picture. With Mossadegh gone, the British could heave a sigh of relief and keep their control over the Anglo Iran Oil, and that would eliminate all possibility of communist Russia taking over Iran’s oil wells in case the British were to leave. Operation Ajax definitively put Anglo Iran Oil back into the hands of a consortium of nations that included the British, the Americans, the Dutch, and the French.  In addition, it ushered in a quarter-century of relatively calmer dictatorial rule under a young and insecure Shah who depended largely on US funding and resources.  Kinzer claims that Operation Ajax lead to a politically weak and desperate period  for Iran which brought in heightened Islamic militancy in Iran and that eventually became a mainstay of the region.
All the Shah’s Men is a very engrossing read that rivetingly tells of a CIA driven foreign coup to ‘control Iranian oil fields, over concerns of Iran coming under control of Soviet Russia’. It provides the reader with once classified information about Operation Ajax which is ‘now regarded as a mistake that has compromised U.S.'s ability to defend democracy around the world’, which certainly makes this book a very relevant read!  The Preface titled “The Folly of Attacking Iran” is a delectable read by itself! "As militants in Washington urge a second American attack on Iran, the story of the first one becomes more urgently relevant than ever," Kinzer writes in his new essay. "It shows the folly of using violence to try to reshape Iran."

Nostalgia - A Magical Quicksand?

Is nostalgia becoming a modern day epidemic? Nostalgia for... a place that once was, a country one left behind,  a people we once were, a lifestyle that once was, the person you once were, the friends you once had; the list is endless! If indeed nostalgia has taken such mammoth proportions, one wonders why that is so, and what it will lead to.
Mohsin Hamid a  renowned writer of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" fame claims, "we live in a world that is changing more and more rapidly, and the desire to look back with longing is growing more and more strong. But we can't return to the past and it is dangerous to try."  Nostalgia, as suggested by Hamid, may be a result of the rapidly changing world that we now inhabit.  A world that is shrinking every minute because distances have ceased to matter. The instant and super-fast connectivity of the internet and the i-phone have certainly resulted in virtual proximity, but then why the nostalgia? Hamid's answer is because " I liked my new existence, but I'd liked my old one too, and I imagined places where the two could come together."  Which points to the very ephemeral nature of our modern day existence; we barely get our hands on our present, and it is gone or has evolved into something smarter or more complex. Given the transient nature of our present, we are compelled to go back to it in order to fathom it and enjoy it.  That going back is nostalgic,  and it is invariably colored by that which we are seeking at that moment in our lives. Nostalgia thus becomes that utopia which we frequently inhabit to feel in control of our fast paced and fast changing lives; nostalgia allows us to 'spin our straw into gold' as Sandra Cisneros would have said.

Much as I love immigrant literature, I have to admit that it is usually born out of nostalgia, whether it's Lahiri, Jelloun, Allende, or Cisneros.  They all write about the indomitable human spirit that will not give up even when rooted out of its natural environment and coerced  to adapt and assimilate in foreign soil.  However, there exists a monotony of theme and thought in these writings because, "Nostalgia, as always, had wiped away bad memories and magnified the good ones. No one was safe from its onslaught."  (Gabriel Garcia Marquez.). The Mohammad's and the Willie Loman's of  Literature are tragic heroes no doubt but are losers in real life because they too indulge in nostalgia which spells their doom. Nostalgia implies a disconnect with the present because we are embedded in a magical past, and it will never let go, thus killing any likelihood of a future that might have been. A dangerous predicament for sure, especially in a world that's 'full of care, and we have no time to stand and stare'  into the magical quicksand of nostalgia.

Lac Su's "I Love Yous Are For White People" - A Gripping Immigrant Memoir

Having read several autobiographies and memoirs of journeys undertaken by immigrants to come and settle in United States of America, and eventually making their American dream happen,  I was not really gung ho about reading yet another immigrant memoir.  In fact, I had Lac Su sitting on my to-read list for quite a while. It was only because I had nothing better to read today, did I pick up “I LoveYous Are for White People"; needless to say, my expectations were at the very minimal.  I simply wanted a read that would lull me into daytime slumber despite the unrelenting war waged on me by viral rhinitis.  Lac Su’s novel did anything but lull me to sleep; however, it did sideline the viral war, as I forgot my pains and aches, even my sniffling was significantly less during the two and a half hours I was reading the novel.

Lac Su provides a very graphic, yet teasing account of how he and his family escaped Communist Vietnam in 1979.  The only other such novel that evoked a similar response was Laila Lalami’s “Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits”.  Lac Su’s novel’s opening is a jump start that breathes interest and excitement in the reader which Su is able to sustain for the major part of the memoir which is divided into fourteen chapters.  Each chapter is given an intriguing title which forces the reader to go that next chapter before putting the book down; that is how I read it in one sitting. Given that the title of the memoir is so catchy, the anecdotal chapters had to follow suit; so in the memoir, there are chapter titles like ‘heavy Javi’, “A is for boy and B is for cat”, “the naked truth” etc.  Having said that, I must add that some chapters are not as succulent as the others, especially the ones dealing with the gang wars in Hollywood.  The overall impression though is of a gripping memoir that is heartfelt and true, and must have been cathartic for the writer as he admits to in one of his interviews.

A parting note:  As soon as I finished that last chapter, I looked at the date of publication of this novel because the content and some of the underlying themes have an Amy Chua taste to them.  Amy Chua the “TigerMom” had the western world in disbelief as she unraveled unique parenting styles adopted by many Chinese families in her January 2011 article titled Why Chinese Mothers are Superior. Apparently Ms.Chua wasn’t as much of a maverick in parenting as we imagined her to be; Lac Su had a head start on her since his memoir "I Love Yous are For White People" published in 2009, gives the reader an insightful account of Asian parenting, Vietnamese style.  

"A Palace in the Old Village" by Tahar Ben Jelloun Explores Immigrant Dreams in North Africa

Tahar Ben Jaloun’s ‘a palace in the old village’ is about the dream of Mohammad, an ordinary Moroccan, to bring his children back together under one roof in his old village. Despite being a migrant worker in France for forty years, Mohammad believes “La France is good for the French not for us…nothing of France had found a place in his heart or his soul.” A decent man and a good father and husband, Mohammad believes "he is a Muslim before being a Moroccan, and before becoming an immigrant. ”  For him Islam is a refuge that “calms him and brings him peace”, even as his children with “their Arab features and gestures” are now ‘assimilated’ French and European, and want nothing to do with his preposterous dream of wanting to bring the family together in their old Moroccan village. Jelloun’s Mohammad is much like Arthur Miller’s Willy Loman and Joe Keller. Mohammad, like Miller’s protagonists, is a modern day tragic hero who is delusional and lives in a happier past that often makes him forget the realm of today, and this predicament and his handling of it arouses reader sympathy.

Tahar Ben Jelloun in ‘a palace in the old village’ is being the ‘witness’ he claims every writer is…. “He bears witness to his time—he tells stories, and in so doing comments on his society and the world.”  In this novel, Jelloun highlights the plight of immigrants in North Africa to show that "emigration is no longer a solution; it's a defeat. People are risking death, drowning every day, but they're knocking on doors that are not open. My hope is that countries like Morocco will have investment to create work, so people don't have to leave."

Noam Chomsky on 'Occupy Wall Street' Protests

Noam Chomsky , a renowned scholar, linguist, and a Professor at M.I.T., supports the 'Occupy Wall Street' protests, and paints a grim picture of what is unfolding in the US.  

His claim is that:

• 'democratic system isn't functioning and the public knows it "
• 'campaign spending for each candidate in the 2012 US election is about 2 billion dollars...and campaign funds come from financial institutions...and they will expect to be paid back'
• ' immense power in concentrated capital'
• 'US in vicious cycle of social issues ..unemployment levels like those during the depression...in some areas in NY there is serious poverty like that in Africa....infrastructure collapsing, schools collapsing... and it's time to protest'

I plan to be in Times Square this weekend to add my voice to this protest.

Anna Hazare Uses Gandhi's Ahimsa to Battle Corruption in India

For a man who has "no bankbook", lives "in a temple", and has "a plant and a bed" as his only two personal assets, Anna Hazare may bring about the Indian Summer to bring attention to and perhaps curb the rampant corruption that exists in India today.

NEW DELHI — "In a “new” India often obsessed with wealth and status, where cricket batsmen and Bollywood movie stars are wildly idolized, Anna Hazare is a figure from an earlier, seemingly discarded era. His pointed white cap and simple white cotton clothes evoke a Gandhian simplicity. His rural, homespun demeanor ordinarily might elicit snickers from India’s urban elite.

Yet Mr. Hazare, 74, has emerged as the unlikely face of an impassioned people’s movement in India, a public outpouring that has coalesced around fighting corruption but has also tapped into deeper anxieties in a society buffeted by change.

His arrest on Tuesday, made while he was en route to a park in New Delhi where he intended to commence a hunger strike as part of his anticorruption campaign, drove thousands of people onto city streets across India. Under public pressure, government officials tried to release him within hours, but Mr. Hazare refused to leave jail unless the government released him unconditionally. On Thursday, the two sides reached a compromise, and Mr. Hazare is expected to leave jail on Friday to lead a hunger strike and mass protest in central New Delhi to push his demand that the government create a powerful, independent anticorruption agency.

The popular outpouring he has set off has inevitably drawn comparisons with the democratic uprisings of the Arab Spring. Most analysts agree, though, that India’s moment is a different one. But in its own way it may prove to be no less important.

India already has the democratic freedoms sought by protesters in the Middle East and North Africa and has enjoyed rising global influence after two decades of fast economic growth. Yet India is also experiencing what one observer has called a “churning” period, as public frustrations are boiling over about poor roads, shoddy schools, inflation, rising inequality and the pervasive reach of official corruption.

Running through each of these issues is a deepening public disillusionment with India’s political process and a growing disconnectedness between the governing class and the governed, making the corruption issue especially explosive. As the crowds supporting Mr. Hazare grew larger and more passionate this week, person after person seemed to arrive on the New Delhi streets carrying their own tale of official graft.

“It is the middle class who is worst affected by corruption,” said Asha Bhardaaj, a woman who traveled more than 30 miles from the suburbs to join a rally. “The upper class is not affected. The upper classes can get what they need by paying money.”

Mr. Hazare’s appeal seems partly rooted in the traditional values he embodies. He is a longtime social activist who has campaigned against corruption for nearly two decades in the state of Maharashtra, living off a military pension and financing charitable work through donations. If his clothes evoke Mahatma Gandhi, India’s founding father, then so do his protest tactics of nonviolent hunger strikes and peaceful marches.

Yet Mr. Hazare and his advisers have also proved adept at the necessities of modern politics: they have adroitly outmaneuvered the police and government officials who sought to defuse the anticorruption movement, after the decision to arrest him backfired dramatically. They also have exploited the nonstop, often sensationalistic coverage on India’s television news outlets to build public support for their cause. Mr. Hazare’s face is now visible in almost every corner of India.

Mr. Hazare and his advisers — a group of prominent lawyers and social activists nicknamed Team Anna — have spent months campaigning across the country. His aides distribute a flurry of daily e-mail updates to journalists, and his close advisers have used social media to connect with young followers. Early Thursday, one adviser, Kiran Bedi, used Twitter to announce a breakthrough in negotiations with the authorities.

Later on Thursday, Ms. Bedi released a video of Mr. Hazare made inside Tihar Jail, where he is being held. “I got my energy after seeing the young protesters,” he said. “Today is only the third day of protest. I can continue like this for another 10 or 12 days more.”

The governing Indian National Congress Party, by contrast, has seemed rattled, unprepared for the public anger against the government and incapable of delivering a consistent counterargument. One party spokesman personally attacked Mr. Hazare, describing him as a corrupted figure, while another spokesman blamed the United States for supporting the anticorruption movement.

“This is a moral moment,” said Jayaprakash Narayan, a social activist in the city of Hyderabad. “Everybody is sick and tired of corruption. And in dealing with this, the government has shown no political sense at all. There is a lot of anger in the country, not only to end corruption but to end politics as it is conducted today.”

Mr. Hazare was born Kisan Baburao Hazare in 1937 in rural Maharashtra. He still speaks Marathi as his primary language and eventually assumed the name Anna. Beyond his admiration of Gandhi, Mr. Hazare drew inspiration from Swami Vivekananda, a prominent reformer during the 19th century. Having stumbled across the teachings of Vivekananda while serving in the Indian Army, Mr. Hazare decided to dedicate his life to public service after narrowly escaping death while posted on the Pakistan border, according to his official biography.

He served 15 years in the military, qualifying for a pension, and retired to Maharashtra to take up social work. He was awarded two of India’s highest civilian awards for his work, which includes drought-relief efforts and working to create a sustainable Gandhian “model village.”

By the 1990s, Mr. Hazare had begun staging hunger strikes in Maharashtra to pressure state officials linked to corruption. Several were ultimately removed from office. At one point, countercharges against him claimed that money from one of his trusts had been used to pay for his birthday celebration. A government-appointed commission concluded that the money was improperly spent, but Mr. Hazare was never implicated in any personal corruption.

His national profile has risen sharply since this spring, when he came to New Delhi to begin a hunger strike demanding that the government introduce a bill in Parliament to create the anticorruption agency, known as a Lokpal. When thousands of people unexpectedly came out in support, government officials invited Team Anna to join a special committee drafting the Lokpal bill.

For several weeks during the early summer, Mr. Hazare was a periodic visitor at a government guesthouse in New Delhi while attending committee meetings. During an interview in early June, he often spoke with dramatic flourish about the need to eliminate corruption, while also predicting that people would support him again, if necessary.

“I’m confident that people will stand up again,” he said. He had been traveling the country, appearing at rallies to gather support for a Lokpal. “Yes, I feel empowered,” he said in June. “It happens because a large number of people are standing with you. Otherwise, what do I have? I’m a beggar. I live in a temple. I do not have a bankbook. I have only a plant and a bed.”

His methods and goals have not impressed everyone. Critics accused him of trying to hijack the democratic process through protest pressure tactics. Others warned that the type of Lokpal he envisioned could upset the balance of the country’s democratic institutions and accused his group of refusing to compromise.

Ultimately, negotiations broke down in June on the Lokpal legislation. The government has since introduced a bill in Parliament during the current session, but Mr. Hazare has criticized it as too weak. This week, he came to New Delhi to begin another hunger strike when the police arrested him.

Under the compromise reached for his release, Mr. Hazare agreed to limit his hunger strike to 15 days, and the police said they would remove their original restrictions on the number of supporters allowed to attend the protest.

Outside Tihar Jail and elsewhere in the city, people have chanted Mr. Hazare’ s name and voiced anger over the pervasiveness of corruption in daily life. One college student complained that rich families are able to buy admission for their children to top colleges. A man who has a trucking business complained that he had to pay a 10 percent bribe to a petty official in order to get a certificate proving he paid a transport tax on his vehicle.

“Today, when we were coming, a traffic cop stopped our vehicle and suggested that we shell out some money,” said Ajab Singh Gujar, the owner of the trucking business. “I shouted, ‘Victory to Anna Hazare!’

“The cop immediately allowed us to pass through without any bribe.”

Hari Kumar and Nikhila Gill contributed reporting.

By JIM YARDLEY

Published: August 18, 2011

NYT