Forget healthcare research or innovations in renewable energy. What we, the tax-paying public need from our department of science and technology is - yes, of course, a better fairness cream!
Sigh.
Good friend and fellow blogger Uma (of Pattu fame) suggested that I read a book called A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and what’s more - even lent me her copy. I’d never heard of the book or the author, Betty Smith before, but I read the book over a short span of 3-4 days. It helps that we haven’t yet got the TV set up at our new place in Chennai!
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the kind of linear, simple narrative that can be considered terribly unfashionable today. It follows a young and gifted girl, Francie, as she grows up in the poor neighbourhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn sometime in the early 1900s. At times, Betty Smith’s writing can seem overtly simple, and even somewhat over-explaining. Any writer writing today, has the ’show, don’t tell’ so drilled into them that we feel the pressure to go the other extreme - with self-conscious writing that tries its best to avoid talking about anything that it really wants to talk about. (Of course, not all complex styles are bad or simple styles good, or vice-versa).
A Tree...suffers from no such considerations. Betty Smith first and foremost, wants to tell a good story, and that’s what the end result is. What makes it even more worthwhile is the painstaking detailing of early 1900s Brooklyn - from the mom-and-pop stores to the clothes of the children to the foods and languages of the different ethnicities - Irish, Italian, Jewish, German, Polish that live in the neighbourhood, Betty Smith recreates it all in beautiful detail. It is almost as good as seeing those black-and-white pictures of another era.
I also liked it for its tremendous optimism and courage - without in any way flinching from the harshness of life in a poor time and place. Read it if you can lay your hands on a copy. (Stores don’t always seem to have a copy and even Flipkart only sells the imported edition).
Miss me, anyone?
Yes, I know it’s been more than a month since this blog was left unattended. (I have been blogging over at Women’s Web though - some recent posts: In praise of SAHMs and In the name of tradition).
Life has been busy, and that is an understatement. Women’s Web went through a revamp and has a much busier content schedule now. Plus, I have begun working with a friend to speed up the site monetization - currently, it is entirely self-funded, and while I am trying to not run through money like many of the dotcom-2000 guys did, running a site takes a decent amount, and I won’t be able to sustain it for ever.
On the personal front - a big move happened - from Bangalore to Chennai. The husband got a pretty good job offer from a big IT firm, but the role wasn’t available in Bangalore. After much agonizing over it, we decided to take the move. The Women’s Web team still being virtual makes it easier. I am surprised though by how different and un-homelike Chennai feels to me, despite the fact that I did a good bit of my schooling here, and even worked in this city for 2-odd years.
It’s been about 10 days since we moved in, and the first movie we caught here is the new Danny Boyle ‘real-life’ based one, 127 Hours. I don’t feel adequate to reviewing it - go watch it though; the way the story is narrated is very interesting if you have some patience to wait for the build-up. Rahman’s soundtrack is unusual and superb and James Franco is very good as Aron, the lone hiker who gets trapped in a canyon for 127 hours. (There are some spoilers ahead, though not too many.)
What intrigued me about the move is how Aron, stupidly (as he acknowledges) cuts himself off from any chance of rescue because he has not told anyone where he is going to be hiking - this, despite the fact that a co-worker has asked him and his mother has tried to reach him before he left. Nor is this the only such story I have heard of. There is a series about real-life narrow escapes called I shouldn’t be Alive that airs (I think) on Discovery - and time and again, they show such stories where the guy/girl in trouble has no hope of rescue because no one knows which area they are hiking/travelling in, or even that they have gone somewhere for the weekend. No one even thinks to report them missing.
Going by these narratives, Aron’s story is not unusual. I know the American culture places a huge premium on individualism, but somehow, it seems a little saddening to me. In 127 hours, Aron’s family clearly cares a great deal about him, yet, he doesn’t see the need to let anyone know where he is. In fact, one senses a reluctance to let anyone know. I cannot imagine any young Indian man or woman in that situation, even those living away from their families in metros. We are not in general big on travelling alone, and even if we did, surely someone would know if one was going to a remote place - a friend, a roommate, a sibling? I am not at all sure that individualism in the sense of such isolation is a great thing, even if self-imposed.
One could ask, but what’s wrong with it if it makes you happy? I don’t have an answer to that, but it still makes me uneasy. What do you think? Is it ‘normal’ for human beings to live in such isolation?
On that note, I’m going to wind up this post. And yes - wish you a very happy and productive 2011!
p.s. I hope to be blogging here more regularly from now, although a lot of my women’s issues blogging will probably move to Women’s Web, and this one continue to be more a books/ travel/personal sort of blog.
The word “adjustment” figures very often in the advice handed out to Indian women. Learn to adjust. If you adjust for some time, everything will be alright.
To what point does one adjust? Should everyone in a new relationship learn to adjust rather than it being expected mostly from one person? Are women by nature more ‘adjustable’? How does one decide if it is worth it? And what should be non-negotiable?
On that theme, is our new contest at Women’s Web, ‘The Great Adjustment Story.’ Go on and participate - Flipkart vouchers await the winners!
Recently, I have been coming across news articles that discuss (with much figurative hand-wringing), the casual use of emergency contraceptives and abortion pills by young women. No doubt, serious health effects can arise due to the improper use of such pills for regular contraception - they are to be used very sparingly.
Many of the articles however mistakenly cite easy access to the pills as the reason for their too-frequent usage. Over the counter availability at the neighbourhood pharmacy may indeed help women buy them more easily, but that is not the fundamental reason for their misuse.
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