Book review: For Pepper and Christ, by Keki Daruwalla

 

Keki Daruwalla, a prominent Indian author, passed away on September 26, 2024. To my shame, though I had known of Daruwalla and his writings, I hadn’t read any of his works. When I heard of his sad demise. I hastily scanned through the list of his books, purchased For Pepper and Christ and read it as fast as I could, which, thanks to my other commitments, took me two months. 

“In the fifteen century, Portugal was a poor country of just about a million, but it had ambitions- the poor need to have more ambitions than the rich. Why not? They wanted gold and slaves and spices; and they wanted to cut out Venice and Genoa who bought pepper, ginger and cinnamon from the Ottomans and Mamluks at excessive prices and sold them to Europe at even more exorbitant rates. What a ducat could buy in Calicut, cost over sixty in Venice.”

 The Portuguese desperately wanted to find a way to India so that they could load their ships with spices and sell them in Europe where Indian spices fetched a fortune. The spice trade was controlled by the Arabs and they did not really want to give up their monopoly. This was an era when none knew for sure how the oceans ended and continents began, when maps were rare and involved more of guesswork and less of cartography. The Portuguese believed that the paradise kingdom of Prester John existed and looked for him everywhere, from Africa to Asia. The Arabs (whom the Portuguese called the Moors) were good fighters on land, but were totally outmatched by the Portuguese at sea, especially since the Portuguese had guns mounted on their ships.

In For Pepper and Christ, Daruwalla uses three narrators. The first voice is that of Brother Figueiro, a member of Captain-Major Vasco da Gama’s fleet on the 1497-98 voyage, as also the one in 1502. The second speaker is young pilot Taufiq, who hails from Oman and ended up showing Vasco da Gama the way to Calicut. Taufiq has lived in Gujarat as a boy, while accompanying his father on the latter’s sailing trips. He has sailed under the guidance of the legendary Ibn Majid and his feeling his way around the world. When Daruwalla starts his narration, Taufiq has been sent to Cairo for his studies at al Azhar and has made friends with Ehtesham, the painter and Murad, an eccentric, but street smart lad. Then, there’s also a neutral narrator, to fill in all the gaps. 

In Daruwalla’s own words, a historical novel is neither history nor fiction. Or perhaps, it is both. Daruwalla does not grudge spending pages on history. There are frequent references to the crusades of the past, as bitter memories spill out from the mouths of Cairenes, even as the Mamulks who defeated the Mongols control Cairo. Daruwalla’s history writing does distract the reader from the story, but then, there is no real story, since when one reads  For Pepper and Christ, one reads the history one already knows, the history of Vasco da Gama’s discovery of the trade route to India, but that’s not true, I tell you. Daruwalls is a good story-teller, as he tells us the story of Taufiq and his friends Ehtesham and Murad and of Muhtasib, who torments all three of them in various ways. The famous navigator Ibn Majid (under whom Taufiq trained) gets a look in.

Muhtasib, the feared inspector of weights and measures, lords it over the people of Cairo and I found his character to be just as fascinating as that of the Vasco da Gama. Muhtasib thinks painting is akin to creation, an action reserved for Allah, and hence, blasphemy. So, he is not too fond of Ehtesham the painter, who has taken on a contract to paint his pictures inside a Coptic church in Cairo. ‘Doesn’t a potter make his urns, doesn’t a farmer create his wheat, or a weaver his cloth? Are they committing a crime against Allah?’ Ehtesham asks Mutasib and this argument we know, continues even now in the 21^st century.

Daruwalla’s narration is placid most of the time, even when he tells us of the Portuguese pouring boiling oil on abducted pilots as they are forced to reveal the sea route to India. The Portuguese suffer a lot as they journey around the Cape. “Scurvy had already taken a toll of our men before we reached Mozambique. Their hands and feet had bloated, the gums turning purple and swelling to an extent that they draped the teeth.” Daruwalla’s language is like that of the ocean, with many dangerous currents underneath.

Are the Portuguese the most cruel folk in the entire saga? The Portuguese are best at organised violence, but the Arabs and even the Zamorin are no laggards when in comes to cruelty. Interestingly, the King of Cochin, a rival of the Calicut Zamorin, is keen to have ties with the Portuguese and Daruwalla has a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka try and fix deals for the King of Cochin.

Vasco da Gama and the rest of the Portguguese have only hatred and distrust for the Moors. On landing in Calicut, they mistake the hindus for Christians and looks for ways to persuade them to evict all moors. The gifts that they Portuguese have carried with them are very inadequate, but they persist and survive. Vasco da Gama never takes goodwill on face value, never brings his ship too close to the shore (lest it be captured) and does not hesitate to take hostages  whenever he has a demand.

Daruwalla describes in gory detail how the Portuguese under Pedro Álvares Cabral bombarded Calicut in 1500–01, when they returned for the second time and caused a lot of death and destruction in Calicut.  The incident of the pilgrim ship Mirim is also described in detail. On returning to India in October 1502, at Madayi in Kannur, da Gama's fleet intercepted Mirim, a ship of Muslim pilgrims travelling from Kozhikode to Mecca. Da Gama looted the ship and killed all its passengers, including a number of women and children, by burning the ship. Those who jumped into the sea were speared and killed.

Taufiq had shown the Portuguese the route to Calicut without suffering any tortures, but he later repents (as he finds out how cruel the Portuguese can be) and punishes himself. Please read this excellent novel to find out how Daruwalla provides for Taufiq’s punishment.

 On the whole, I found For Pepper and Christ to be an excellent read, one which any history buff would enjoy.  Highly recommended. I do wish I had been lucky enough to have 'discovered' Daruwalla earlier and hope I manage to find time to read at least some of his other books in the near future.

Re-Reading Amitav Ghosh’s Shadow Lines

Recently I re-read Amitav Ghosh’s Shadow Lines and was once again reminded why this book is one of my favourites and the best work of fiction till date by Ghosh. This note isn’t meant to be a review of Shadow Lines, but just a bunch of jottings based on my most recent reading.

• Is there any Indian who had a middle-class upbringing who did not listen wide-eyed to tales narrated by ‘phoren’ relatives? One listened to every word they spoke, remembered the street or lane or boulevard they lived in, the names of their ‘phoren’ friends and greedily asked for even more details. This is essentially what the unnamed narrator does as he gets us started on the story of Tridib and the rest of the Datta Chaudhuris and the Prices.
• This time, I was for some reason reminded of David Copperfield’s opening scene when I re-read the opening lines of Shadow Lines.

Thirteen years before I was born, my father’s aunt, Mayadebi, went to England with her husband and her son, Tridib.

 

I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.

• Set in England and Bengal from the 1930s to the late 1960s, Shadow Lines depicts a bye-gone era that we've seen only in black & white movies. I think I enjoyed Ghosh’s description of a post-World War II England a lot more this time than in my previous reading. I think it is England which has changed a lot more than Calcutta.
• Neither the narrator nor Tridib nor any of the Datta Chaudhuris seem to have experienced any serious racism in England, save for Ila’s doll Magda’s traumatic experiences at the hands of Denise. I guess racism reared its ugly head in the UK only in the early 70s.
• The narrator’s grandmother, who is Tridib’s aunt, reminded me of David Copperfield’s aunt. Her attitude to Tridib who she considers to be a loafer and a wastrel, is on the same lines as David Copperfield’s aunt’s attitude to various characters in Dickens tome. These ladies form their opinions fast and stick with them
• In this reading, Nick Price came across as two-dimensional. I distinctly remember being impressed and awed by Nick Price and later hating him and feeling sorry for Ila when I read Shadow Lines long time ago. This time, I didn’t particularly feel sorry for Ila or hate Nick. A sign of age or maturity or cynicism?
• The grandmother’s omelette - a leathery little squiggle studded with green chillies. The omelettes I ate as a child were very different - they were soft and fluffy. Many years after I read Shadow Lines, I actually ate such an omelette at a wayside Dabha. Is the leathery nature of the omelette a reflection on the grandmother’s character?
• I found myself looking at the narrator with contempt this time. The narrator is in awe of Ila, possibly has a huge crush on her, though she is his second cousin. Towards the end, the narrator has a scene with May, his deceased uncle Tridib’s lover and partner. Why isn’t there a single mention of a relationship with someone outside the Datta Chaudhuri and the Price families? We know that the narrator is doing a Ph.D. on the textile trade between India and England in the nineteenth century and that he received a year’s research grant to go to England to collect material from the India Office Library for his thesis. Towards the end of the novel, there is a stray reference to a ‘thesis’, implying that it is incomplete and the Ph.D not yet in the narrator’s bag. Definitely a loser!
• [SPOILER ALERT] Finally, the billion dollar question. Is May responsible for Tridib’s death? I know, May made her peace with Tridib, but I never did and re-reading Shadow Lines did not help me sort out this pending issue one bit. I was back to where I started. For years, May used to think she had killed him. She thought she was the reason Tridib got out of the car. However, later she worked out that there was no reason for Tridib to have plunged into the mob to save her. She was always safe, she was a white woman, the mob wouldn’t have harmed her and Tridib should have known that. So when Tridib jumped in to save her, he was actually just making a sacrifice.
• I still struggle to buy May’s argument. I think May should have known that Tridib would have tried to protect her from the mob, even if he thought that it was highly likely that the mob wouldn’t have harmed her. There was no way Tridib could have stayed in the car when May was fighting the mob. Knowing Tridib as well as she did, there was no way May could have assumed that Tridib would have stayed in that car when she was battling the mob. No way May, I can’t bring myself to absolve you from responsibility for Tridib's murder.
• Also, when May says Tridib was actually just making a “sacrifice”, is she implying that he was committing suicide? I just don’t see why Tridib would want to commit suicide at that juncture. Were things so bad for him then? No, definitely not. So, is May saying Tridib needlessly sacrificed himself for her? Maybe.

Book Review: Boundary Lab: Inside the Global Experiment Called Sport, by Nandan Kamath

 I just finished reading Nandan Kamath’s Boundary Lab and I’m a changed person. Never ever will I look at competitive sport in the way I used to before I read this tome. Each and every chapter in Boundary Lab starts with an intriguing question and then commences a slow and deep dive into the issue. Is body building a sport or a beauty pageant? Why was garbage not cleared after the IPL match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Delhi Daredevils in April 2012? Can a sporting event’s official broadcaster call on the governing body of such sport to engineer the tournament’s design to guarantee atleast least one match between arch-rivals (India-Pak for cricket, Australia-NZ for rugby, Argentina-Brazil for football) in the course of the tournament, during prime time? Should India bid to host the Olympic Games? Are the benefits of hosting the Olympic Games worth the expense? Was Azharuddin actually cleared of all match-fixing charges? When in 2012 the Andhra Pradesh High Court lifted the life ban imposed by BCCI on the former Indian captain, did it amount to a clean chit for Azharuddin, as he immediately claimed ? Is there immunity for those causing injury to opponents in the sporting area? What if the injury has been caused intentionally, such as when Mike Tyson bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear or when at the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil, Neymar was deliberately pushed from behind by Colombian defenders, cracking his vertebrae and debilitating him for the rest of the tournament?

Kamath writes in simple but elegant English as facts, issues, arguments (for and against) wrestle inside the paper pit to throw up conclusions, which are logical and sensible. Boundary Lab is a must-read for all sports buffs and all those are interested in knowing more about the laws that underpin sporting activities in India.

Nandan Kamath is a trustee of GoSports Foundation, the Principal Lawyer at LawNK and a co-founder of Sports and Society Accelerator

Book Review: Plentiful Springs by Anjaly Thomas

 

Plentiful Springs is the bittersweet, growing-up story of Siana, a stubborn, intelligent,  creative and articulate girl born to a Keralite-Uttar Pradesh couple and brought up in villages, estates and boarding schools in and around Mangalore and Wayanad. Siana’s best friend is her diary to whom she confides everything. Much later, after law school and a career in journalism that takes her to Dubai and various trouble-torn parts of the globe, Siana is left wondering if the bad things actually happened or if she had imagined them. She reads her diary again and re-traces her steps before she can be sure of what had actually transpired.

 

Anjaly Thomas is an excellent writer who does not let fine language come in the way of a riveting story, one that will make you root for Siana, hate her abusers and make you want Siana to get her life back. Thomas keeps her prose simple and straight-forward and gets on with her story. Siana’s diary entries are interspersed with narrations in third person and Siana’s extensive correspondence with her various friends. Since we are talking of the 1980s and 1990, we are talking of correspondence through inland letter cards. Travel is usually through public transport or auto-rickshaws. Money is tight and tempers run high everywhere. Corporal punishment is par for the course for Siana as is domestic violence for her mother. Many of those in power, teachers, wardens and fathers abuse their power and strength freely, but amidst all that, occasional kindness and humanity shines through. Siana’s indomitable will and her never-say-die spirit pull her through, despite her occasional moroseness and bad temper. There are springs aplenty throughout the dreary landscape!

 

I really enjoyed reading Plentiful Springs, though at times in the early stages of the 348-page tome, I did wonder where the story is headed to. Thomas, however, has an excellent instinct for timing and she gathers the various loose ends and brings the story to a gentle climax at the end.

 

Thomas’s characters are all real and three-dimensional folks, especially Siana. They smile, laugh, cry, make mistakes and fix things. Siana isn’t your pink dress wearing sensitive princess, rather she’s a warrior woman who will kick you in your balls if you harm her. Thomas gets you to know Siana so well that I could sense how Siana would behave, when towards the end, Siana has to make certain crucial decisions.

 

One of the best things about Plentiful Springs is the manner in which Thomas has captured the 1980s, the 1990s and early 2000, when India was so very different from what it’s now. Life in various estates of Managalore and Wayanad are also detailed with precision. Thomas has time-stamped the story throughout and that helps the reader place the story in its proper context. For example, Thomas would have her reader know that in April 1981, Siana’s father left Uganda for good, in June 1982, at the age of six, Siana started boarding school, in 1993, Siana starts a five-year course at the Mangalore Law School, so on and so forth.

 

Please don’t read the brief paragraph below. Instead, do buy a copy of Plentiful Springs and read this excellent work of fiction for yourself.

 

Spoilers Ahead

 

The evidence was always blowing in the wind. In addition to being abused by the butler at her first boarding school, Siana was also abused by Him. Siana’s diary has at various times, recorded such abuse. Even after Siana is a teenager, Siana hates staying at home, in fear of abuse. We don’t see Siana complain to her mother, herself a victim of domestic violence, about the abuse. In a way, since the reader knows Siana well, the reader also knows that’s typical of Siana’s character and eyebrows won't be raised, though the situation does tug one’s heartstrings. However, isn’t this typical of abuse within most families? I wonder if there ever can be a solution to these issues. Strong, kick-ass women like Siana can provide answers, hopefully. I end this review by raising a toast to brave Siana as she ‘gets on with the rest of her life’. I'm sure Siana will continue to find many more springs as she moves on in life. 

Book Review: Eden Abandoned – The Story of Lilith, by Shinie Antony

 Did God intend women to be subservient to men? Did God want Man to be on top or did the missionaries place him there? Didn’t God create Eve from out of Adam’s ribs, with the intention that she would always follow her man, obey him and bear his children? Then why did God create Lilith first? Did God make a mistake with Lilith, which he rectified by creating Eve?

Shinie Antony’s Lilith, doesn’t give a damn about the expectations of others. She seeks, or rather demands, parity with Adam. She asks nicely at first and when Adam doesn’t concede, she uses her fists and claws, before walking away from Adam. Adam didn’t give her any children of his own accord, but Lilith does bear a brood of children. Please read this book to find out how Lilith manages that feat.  

Lilith is the archetypal bad woman that our ancients warned us about. Adam is goody two-shoes who obeys God to the letter and is even scared of him. After having walked away from Adam, Lilith goes about cavorting with Shamael, fulfilling her wants in the ways she finds best. Shamael really indulges Lilith, especially her evil thoughts and desires. When they see Lilith enjoy life, they urge her to return to Adam and fulfil her duties. Lilith refuses. She becomes a serpent that tempts Eve. I’m not going to disclose more and give away the story.

Is there a bit of Lilith in all women? Is there a bit of Lilith in all men too? If so, Antony unleashes the Lilith in her readers even as launches a furious assault on patriarchy. If you haven’t heard of Lilith, here’s Wikipedia to the rescue.

As usual, Antony’s writing is subtle, explosive, sensual and once in a while, bland. Much of the beauty in Antony’s writing is on account of her placement of words and sentences. She leaves a lot to one’s imagination and then, after one’s imagination has run wild, takes one on a wild ride in a different direction altogether. I read this book once around two weeks ago, got busy with work and then re-read it again a second time just now and found myself sinking into an abyss of thoughts and confusion, though it is a slim volume of just 135 pages, one which fits into my trousers’ pocket.

I can’t recommend Eden Abandoned – The Story of Lilith, by Shinie Antony highly enough. It’s possibly Antony’s best book to date.