Talking about talks

It would have been amusing had it not been for the underlying seriousness of the subject. As China resumes its long-stalled talks with the Dalai Lama’s special envoys, Beijing has one piece of advice for the Dalai Lama: “Cherish” the fact that they have another opportunity to hold talks.

“We hope the Dalai Lama will cherish this opportunity and respond positively to the requests of the central government,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu has said.

It is an interesting choice of words. It has a ring of patronizing to it. It is almost as if a stern parent is telling an errant child after a timeout, “Now that you have learned you lesson please cherish tis lollipop."

The talks between the two sides broke down in November, 2008. It was not mentioned what caused it but at that time it was widely believed that the Tibetan demand for autonomy and assertion that it was not in conflict with the Chinese constitution was the reason.

The Dalai Lama’s two envoys Lodi G. Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen arrived in Beijing yesterday and are expected to spend several days in the Chinese capital. It is not clear what the two sides will talk about. If the past is any indication, they will attempt to lay a foundation for future talks.  The bar of expectation is so low in any China-Dalai Lama interactions that many are happy that it is happening at all.

Man, monnik, mysticus

I have just received the pocket book Dutch edition of my book Dalai Lama: Man, monnik, mysticus. So far the book has done over 20 language editions. I would describe the book's overall commercial performance as ranging between average and good. 


From what I can tell it has received far less media attention than one might have suspected given the inherently compelling nature of the subject. The reviews in the past two years have been largely positive, while some have called it dreadful. 
Unlike writers of lesser books, I have not been able to project myself personally. I have been driven by the principle that the work has to speak for itself. If it doesn't, that's just too bad. Admittedly, this is not the kind of attitude that can get me too far in a market where projecting oneself is a prerequisite. 


Just how much of a low profile I have kept on this book became evident to me at a recent event where more than 30 Indian journalists had gathered. Many of them were animatedly discussing the U.S. policy on China in the context of Tibet and the Dalai Lama and how it might play out with India. Broadcast journalists were looking for some educated comments on the subject. Sitting barely five feet away from many of them, it did not even strike anyone that I just might fit the bill.

About Jaipur Literature Festival

I have a tendency to look for utterly inconsequential details of life. This is within the fact that everything, including the universe, is utterly inconsequential.

The Jaipur Literature Festival has become not just India’s but Asia’s largest such annual gathering. The five-day festival has just begun in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Author William Dalrymple and publisher Namita Gokhle together have created something of lasting value in holding this event. Authors of great merit, from English and other languages, attend the event where anyone interested can walk in without any ticket or connection. The whole atmosphere is one of informal conviviality.

I give this backdrop for a reason. Given the conscious decision by Dalrymple and Gokhle to keep the proceedings so accessible, it is a bit amusing to read this bit about how celebrity authors display no starry airs at the event.

Both Dalrymple himself and a piece in The Daily Best by Olivia Cole mention how once author Vikram Seth sat on the floor and ate his food when he did not find a chair. This trivia is mentioned with obvious admiration and the intention seems to underscore how humble a great author becomes in the friendly settings of the festival. The import of mentioning Seth sitting on the floor, as opposed to in an ornate chair, and eating food is lost on me. Why is sitting on the floor a sign of anything, let alone humility? And that too in the midst of a gathering of people who think of themselves as above such ceremonies as where they may sit and eat.

Vikram Seth squatting with his legs crossed and eating food with his bare hands is not emblematic of anything. Period.

P.S.: That felt good.

KrishnAvatar

Purely on an impulse last year I fused these two completely unconnected images, the one of the left of Krishna, and the one on the right of Na'vi from director James Cameron's 'Avatar.' I was quite struck by how visually akin the two were. It turns out my impulse was not off the mark.


Cameron has said in an interview with the Entertainment Weekly here is what Cameron says 
''I just like blue. It's a good color,'' James Cameron says. ''Plus, there's a connection to the Hindu deities, which I like conceptually.'

Anil Kapoor on '24'

Anil Kapoor as Omar Hassan in '24' (Courtesy: Fox Broadcasting)

As career breaks go, Anil Kapoor’s induction into the wildly popular Fox drama ‘24’ is a quite a solid one. Kapoor, still fresh from his triumph in ‘Slumdog Millionaire”, plays Omar Hassan, “a determined Middle Eastern leader visiting the U.S. on a peacemaking mission.” He is a target of assassination by those who are opposed to his peace mission. Enter Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) to save the day. That is broadly the plot.

I have not been a 24 regular but last season I saw quite a bit of it. Despite its often unconcealed jingoism, it can be a compelling watch. In the last nine years Sutherland has internalized Bauer. As for Kapoor it is a great opportunity to keep his Hollywood ambitions on the front burner. Slumdog and his own intrinsic passion to grab the limelight gave him a lot of traction last year. The new 24 season is expected to do his career a world of good. You may even see him rise as the most successful crossover star from Mumbai.

Little bit about Haiti

Inevitably, the idea of “an angry god” has been injected into the stories coming out of the earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

In a short piece out of Port-au-Prince Pooja Bhatia, a fellow at the Institute of Current World Affairs, says among other things: “If God exists, he’s really got it in for Haiti. Haitians think so, too. Zed, a housekeeper in my apartment complex, said God was angry at sinners around the world, but especially in Haiti. Zed said the quake had fortified her faith, and that she understood it as divine retribution.”

Decency demands that one refrain from weighing in as the people of a country so profoundly wounded find different ways to rationalize and heal themselves. However, calling it “divine retribution” is nothing more than a case of mystifying self-loathing. The movement of the earth’s crust is neither divine nor retributive. It is purely geophysical.

For a fellow at Institute of Current World Affairs to say that, “If God exists, he’s really got it in for Haiti” or even “Perhaps a God who hides is better than nothing” is endorsing the absurd argument that somehow the Haitians had it coming.

A little beyond “F#$% New York Times’

Picture courtesy: twitpic

Singer MIA has a succinct riposte to The New York Times which described her former country Sri Lanka as number one destination to visit 2010. "FUCK NEW YORK TIMES! DO YOU THINK YOU NEED TO GO HERE ON VACATION?" she has tweeted and posted these pictures to illustrate her rage.

For the last decade and half Sri Lanka has been part of my journalistic interest. I have been visiting the country since 1994 for professional and personal reasons. I can tell you from those visits that the reality in Sri Lanka has been little more complex than what MIA's black and white rage and these harrowingly cruel pictures might underscore. The Sinhala-Tamil animus has been so longstanding and so compounded by centuries of enmity and blood and gore from both sides that it serves no real purpose now to apportion blame.

The Sinhala and Tamil kingdoms were historically at odds long before the more modern ethnic conflict began. In fact, in what clearly articulates this unease the Sinhala people have always used the symbol of a lion for their community as opposed to that of a tiger by the Tamils. The word Sinhala is a derivative of Simha, Sanskrit for lion. It can be reasonably argued that in modern times, especially after Sri Lanka became independent on February 4, 1948, the majority Sinhala community has been less than fair to the minority Tamil community, whose profound disaffection Vellupillai Prabhakaran and his Tamil Tiger rebels tapped into for over two and a half decades to propel one of the world's most violent secessionist campaigns.

As unnerving as these pictures are it is possible for the Sinhala side to counter them by showing as many pictures of people blown to bits by the Tamil Tigers. Let's just say that in this conflict cruelty and viciousness have not been the sole domain of just one side. It is unquestionable that there was a complete collapse of the rules of engagement during the military assault that terminated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last year. Notwithstanding the strenuous denials by the Sri Lankan governments independent sources have shown that serious human rights violations occurred during and in the aftermath of the all-out assault. The violence captured in these pictures are a product of that breakdown.

The question now is whether the world can forever afford to treat Sri Lanka with the kind of contempt that the singer shows. Individuals may make that choice but governments cannot. They have to prevail on the country to ensure that ethnic relations do not break down again to an extent which may yet trigger Tamil Tigers 2.0. If the inherent state cruelty was the factor that decided whether or not countries were ostracized, then we will have vast sections of an untouchable world. As compelling as the idea of comprehensive rejection of countries might be, it does not really work on a long-term basis.

Pathetic

It seems a bit pathetic to respond to a fellow journalist, who is now a celebrated author, on a personal blog. But that’s what my life has come down to. For reasons I have stopped analyzing I have no credible media platform to vent my spleen. So I am thankful for small mercies like this blog.

Arvind Adiga, a former Time magazine journalist who became an internationally recognized author with his debut novel ‘The White Tiger’, has a piece in The Hindustan Times about India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor. In a tone which is recognizably tongue-in-cheek but may in fact be derisive he writes: “There are, it must be conceded, legitimate grounds on which Shashi Tharoor may be attacked. The hair, for instance. It isn’t the 1980s, dude: get it cut. The ultra-posh accent. And I’m talking here of his English accent. One shudders to think what his Malayalam must sound like. And we haven’t yet started on the most sensitive issue — the novels. Has anyone managed to finish Riot?”

It is the last question that I want to answer. Yes, I managed to finish Riot. I do not remember how I felt after reading it. That’s the best I can say for now. I do not know why Adiga “shudders to think what his (Tharoor’s) Malayalam must sound like.” It sounds like some kind of a purity test to me. The man was born in London and has spent more time outside India than back home. It is conceivable that he speaks Malayalam like an “Englishman” extra in a Manoj Kumar movie might speak Hindi. But then so what?

P.S.: Who can call this snippet "venting my spleen?" I have hardly said anything here.

What does redemption feel like?

Comments by Fox news anchor turned analyst Brit Hume’s urging golfer Tiger Woods to embrace Christianity because it offers forgiveness and redemption have drawn a lot of chatter on the Internet. I was not surprised to find over a thousand comments on a seemingly unrelated set of pictures showing actor Richard Gere being blessed by the Dalai Lama during a recent teaching in Bodh Gaya. A lot of the comments on the Huffington Post inevitably center on the Christianity versus Buddhism debate.

For someone who has no stake in any human belief system, I find myself mildly amused by how beliefs are presented as unassailable facts by people calling themselves journalists on networks calling themselves news networks. Forget whether or not Christianity or Buddhism or any other faith actually offers forgiveness and redemption, the certitude with which the adherents of these faiths assert that they do is striking.

I do not understand the practical meaning of the two widely thrown about terms. At least I can get my mind around forgiveness but what does redemption really mean? What do those who say they are redeemed really feel? Do they feel light and bouncy? Or do they feel calm and anchored? Or do they feel cleansed? Never having needed redemption it is hard for me to comprehend those who feel the need for it. 

World famous in Romania

Reviews of my book Dalai Lama: Man Monk Mystic keep popping up around the world. That is natural considering the book has been published in 20 languages so far. I found this one in a Romanian newspaper. I had forgotten that the book also has a Romanian edition. 

Here is how the review by Marius Vasileanu begins: "Unul dintre semnele cele mai clare că eşti pe drumul cel bun al vieţii spirituale este starea de bună-dispoziţie. Din această perspectivă privind, nu cred că există un exemplu mai reuşit decât cel al actualului Dalai Lama."

I used the Google translation tool to translate the piece but did not quite understand the drift of it. "One of the clearest signs that are on the way of spiritual life is in good condition available. From this perspective on, do not think there is a more successful example than the current Dalai Lama," it says.

If you do speak Romanian read the review here: http://www.zf.ro/ziarul-de-duminica/spiritualia-dalai-lama-in-romania-5265134/

Ahmedabad

I have just begun early preparations for a book I am contracted to write on my hometown of Ahmedabad. I am looking forward to the book for several reasons, not the least of them being that someone will pay me to write it.

The most important reason why I am going to write it is because it will offer me an extraordinary opportunity to tell the story of a city that has sat on the intersection of several centuries. It is hard to distil a city’s DNA to a single characteristic but if I were to do it for Ahmedabad it would its people’s self-assurance. There is a pervasive belief among the Amdavadis that the world will adjust itself to their requirements. While that may or may not always happen, it is a great attribute to have.

My travels begin sometime in February when I begin looking for materials to piece together a narrative that is not only accurate but compelling. As a journalist I know that when you present facts the way they are they do tend to become compelling. It all boils down to how you treat those facts and stack’em up.

I plan to approach the city as an organic entity, almost like a person, which carries within itself all the characteristics of a great protagonist.

Writing, shooting, acting, directing and editing

Some three years ago I began writing a film with the idea of not just directing it but even shooting and acting in it. The way I say this is as if it is easy enough to write a film, then direct it and shoot it and act in it as well. What am I? Clint Eastwood?

There is nothing wrong in harboring such ambitions. The problem starts when it comes to realizing them. So far the film whose working title is “Dateline New York” (How original!) is no where close to being called a film. 

The blurb on the accompanying poster, designed by me, says it is about “Two journalists, one federal agent and a world unhinged.” Well, that’s what it is about.

Yesterday while watching a six-minute clip I felt that I should indeed revive the project.  I did not have money then. I have it even less now. So I will shoot it, direct it and act in it now that I have written it. I am choosing the music as well. And yes, did I mention that I am editing it as well?

Banish these terms

It is profoundly troubling to see that despite their intrinsic violence and bigotry terms such as “low caste” and “untouchable” continue to be used while describing a vast section of Indians in many respectable forums.

While reading Wendy Doniger’s review of William Dalrymple’s book ‘Nine Lives’ in The Times I was struck by how even some of the most enlightened and thoughtful people keep using these terms. It is true that they do not use them judgmentally or out of any personal prejudice but only as a reflection of how society continues to do so. Even then, there is something deeply abhorrent about perpetuating these terms. Low-caste and untouchable (Dalit) are terms that need to be erased from societal lexicon.

As long as we continue to use labels and nomenclature for fellow human beings that directly or indirectly underscore and keep alive cruelties and indignities we will not be able to move beyond precisely the cruelties and indignities that we seek to remove. I grant that merely discontinuing the use of these terms is no guarantee that we will eliminate the embedded millennial prejudices. But it is certainly a start.

In her review of Dalrymple’s book Doniger, who is a highly respected scholar and writer herself, says “Dalrymple reveals these tragedies to us, leaf by leaf: Hari Das, a Dalit (or Untouchable), works as a well-digger…” or “Mohan was a low-caste singer of the epics…”. I understand that she is merely trying to contextualize the terms for her readers and not adding any value judgment of her own. I am making a larger point about banishing these terms altogether.

What's (the) time?

Some 31 years ago, while waiting at a bus stop in the debilitating 45 degree C. (113 degrees F,) dry heat of Ahmedabad, an elderly man approached me. I was 18 and he must be what I am today. For some strange reason he asked me in English, pointing at his left wrist without a watch, “Please, what’s time?”

Being a student of physics with much more than working knowledge of the English language, I did not know whether to approach that question from the standpoint of physics or English. So I fused the two in my response: “I could not possibly answer what time is. Even Einstein struggled to do so. If you want to know what the time is, I could not tell you because I do not have a watch either.” I know, I know, I come across as an improbably pompous and stuck-up young man but trust me that was me then.

I thought of this incident while reading this fascinating piece in The New York Times headlined ‘Where Did the Time Go? Do Not Ask the Brain’.  It is broadly about how we perceive the passage of time.  The story quotes philosopher Martin Heidegger’s observation that time “persists merely as a consequence of the events taking place in it.”

I have not given the subject a whole lot of thought since my early years as a student. I used to think then that time is an entirely subjective perception. Everyone perceives time differently. Also, time as we define it in terms of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years and so on is actually much shorter than we like to think. A millennium may seem like a long time for an individual but it is really not that long. For that matter even 13 to 15 billion years that the universe is said to have existed for is not very different from a second that just passed.

If you have nothing more pressing to do (and you would not if you are reading this blog) do readhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/health/05mind.html?em

P.S.: I promise this is will be the last post for some time about my experiences at bus stops.

Give me some redemption

Less people know about Brit Hume of Fox News than the impression Brit Hume of Fox News might be laboring under. Nevertheless his unsolicited advice to the golfer Tiger Woods deserves some dissecting. Twice in two days Hume said on Fox that Christianity of what Woods needs to overcome his problems.

"He needs something that Christianity especially provides and gives and offers, and that is redemption and forgiveness. I was really meaning to say in those comments yesterday more about Christianity than anything else...I think that Jesus Christ offers Tiger Woods something that Tiger Woods badly needs,” Hume said on The O’Reilly Factor’ reiterating a position he had taken on another show earlier.

Implicit in Hume’s comment is that Woods has not much hope of redemption and forgiveness if he continues to remain a Buddhist, his mother’s faith that he is supposed to have embraced. While all religions are irrelevant in my life, Buddhism too has path to redemption. It is called nirvana. In any case every time Woods was with one of those women he did sample a little bit of nirvana, short-lived but nirvana nevertheless.

There is a perception among many Christians that those who follow non-Judeo Christian faiths are heathens and pagans who indulge in drunken orgies to placate their wild gods. The idea that Jesus Christ can save these troubled souls, such as Woods, is more prevalent than popularly believed.

I remember a highly amusing incident that I was involved in soon after I arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1998. I was waiting for a bus early one morning when two young men dressed in black slacks, white half-sleeved shirts and black ties with copies of the Bible in their hands approached me. Their hair was neatly combed and both wore near identical smiles that seemed to stem from some profound realization.

I thought they were going to take the same bus as I was waiting to take. It turned out their plan was a little more ambitious. They both shook hands with me after cheerfully saying hello. I thought that was that but it was not.

“Do you think about redemption,” one of them asked me even as the other nodded in agreement. My brain quickly processed the question and concluded that this was not as innocuous as it first seemed.

“Not while waiting for a bus,” I replied with my tongue firmly in my cheek.

“Do you accept Jesus in your life?” asked the other, younger man.

“In so much as I accept anyone at all,” I said.

“Have you considered converting yourself?” the older man asked.

“Convert from what to what?” I persisted.

By that time I saw my bus approaching and I had to end the conversation as politely as I could under the circumstances. So I said, “That bus is about 50 seconds away from us. I don’t think that is long enough my redemption.”

The two men did not know what to make of my response. They walked off with what seemed like not very forgiving thoughts.

I think they should replace Brit Hume on Fox.

Why kill them, when you can cure them?

Let me tell you a bit about Uganda, whose claim to fame before its government’s near homicidal hatred for homosexuals exploded into a global story, was Idi Amin Dada, who had near homicidal hatred for anyone who opposed him. The east African nation is debating whether gays are so bad as to be put to death or they deserve mercy and should only be sentenced to life.

Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister as well Information and Broadcasting Minister (yes, you read that right) James Nsaba Buturo says he prefers life imprisonment to death because that would allow authorities to rehabilitate gays.

“There have been a lot of discussions in government … regarding the proposed law, but we now think a life sentence could be better because it gives room for offenders to be rehabilitated. Killing them might not be helpful,” Buturo was quoted as saying. There, you have it. Why kill them when you can cure them?

Buturo, who had once tried to ban miniskirts, has responded to homosexuality and human rights with characteristic derision.  “Homosexuals can forget about human rights,” he has said.

For someone who is in charge of ethics, integrity, information and broadcasting taking this position on a section of the country’s population is so egregious one does not even know what to say.

Aural scan, teleportation and W.

The dream must have started around 3 in the morning like most of my dreams do. The venue was somewhere near the North West Gate of the White House. George W. Bush was sitting on the grass with his jacket folded neatly by his side. I stood a few feet away from him and to my right stood, of all people, Bill Press. Why W. and Press together is the kind of question best avoided while discussing any dream.

I remember telling W. about my latest invention-- an aural signature scanner that could track down every single individual out of the six billion plus of us who live on this planet. Once tracked down that individual could be teleported instantly to wherever you desired. Press started laughing. W. looked at him sternly, as if reprimanding him for making light of this absolutely mind boggling invention.

"You mean you could track down bin Laden this very instant and produce him in front of us?" Press asked.

I said yes. I explained to W. how every human being's DNA structure projects an aura which is unique to that particular person. I knew exactly where bin Laden was at that instant.

"What'you waitin for?" W. asked. "Get him."

Before I could I woke up. I am still trying to analyze the significance of this absurd dream.