Saffron Swords

An African saying which I have always heard in talks by my favorite author Sanjeev Sanyal is, "Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter". This is what has happened to Indian History as well right from our text books to the public discourse on history. So, for me personally whoever writes anything from an Indic perspective is doing his or her part to rectify the past.
The book Saffron Swords is a collection of 52 short stories about the warriors of Bharat, includes some familiar names like Bajiprabhu Deshpande and Kanhoji Angre that apart, most of the names are new to me. I haven't gone through the whole book as yet, but I can surely say that it is worth the time spent on reading it. I am not suitable to review the book from a technical point of view as I am just an amateur in the field of history. However, will try and write what I felt. The first thought which came to my mind after reading the first few stories is people are surely going to question the authenticity. To answer them I can say that, I have met the author heard from her the painstaking journey of finding these valorous warriors from historical records, visiting these interior places, interpreting the local folklore and puting it in words and for me all that was as authentic as it could be.

In one of the stories the author mentions about the movie 300, I don't remember anyone questioning the movie's authenticity we all took it at face value, was it only because it came from the west? Most probably the answer is yes. I would urge you to read the book without any bias, the interested readers can even go further and research more on this and help the Indic narrative.

PS: The story on Bajiprabhu Deshpande lacks a few details. This will be evident to almost every person who has read Babasaheb Purandare's writings or heard his talks, however, it conveys the nub of the story and hence we can live with it.

Operation Johar

By looking at the way my outlook towards reading has changed in the last couple of years I can call myself an avid reader. However, till very recently I enjoyed anything related to History be it ancient or modern mainly from an Indic perspective. A few days back read a book named Operation Johar which was a venture into an unknown territory.
I agree I was very skeptical at the start and had various notions from reading the name of the book. At the very first, like most of the bollywood freaks I too categorized it be some kind bollywood masala fiction which somehow links to Karan Johar or another one would be the Rani Padmini Johar whatever the topic was it was a "NO GO" zone for me as since school staying away from fiction books has been my idiosyncracy. Be that as it may, a change happened and all thanks to Indic Academy that I got a glimpse of the book from the author himself Mr. Abhishek Banerjee.
At the very start of the talk Abhishek clarified all my misconceptions and the book was not related to either bollywood or Karan Johar or Rani Padmini it was a story about the manace of Naxalism in Jharkhand. A state about which not much is known and the information about which starts with its creation by carving out a separate state from Bihar in the year 2000 and it ends with Captain cool MS Dhoni hails from this state.
When we hear about Naxalism a usual response is that "this whole thing is a problem in the interiors and not in the cities why do you care so much", however, the book Urban Naxals by Vivek Agnihotri brought to light the city realities, which one can say were hidden but, the fact is he brought to light the elephant in the room which none wanted to see. Operation Johar is in a different format however, brings to light the same and Abhishek has made it very interesting read without being preachy. He has so beautifully described the landscape of Jharkhand that we get a realization of why the name of the state is so apt. In every chapter I was wondering how little I know about Jharkhand or for that matter the naxal issue faced by the state. Though the story is a fiction I don't think it is far from reality and you can link it with current city activism which calls for freedom of expression at every minute of the day without even having a slightest of awareness of the responsibilities as a citizen. A gripping love story of a teenage boy named Somu and Sangeeta a doctor. Their story of coming together takes the reader along an unimaginable journey of the Naxal activism and cruel and barbaric side of the people involved in the fight for power which the naxals by mistake call a fight against the state. It also gives a perspective of the tribal people who are forcibly pulled into the fight and their struggle for saving the forest.

Book launch an experience

Yesterday, for the very first time I went for a book launch it was of a novel named "The Curse of Gandhari". Unfortunately, it ended up in a disaster as people did not turn up for the event, hardly there were like 10-15 people in a hall capacity of approximately 70. A regular Saturday evening with the regular Chenaiyya traffic and not a drop of rain so, there was no chance for the usual reasons like heavy traffic due to rain or the most important preferred one in today's time "it was a weekday and was tied up with work".
The author Aditi Banerjee came all the way from the United States to Bharat, at the first glance itself we felt like she was trying to portray a strong face but, the low turnout had a clear impact on her.

For the novice that I am for such events, I did not carry much expectations, still felt the need to ponder on why this happened. Firstly, I would like to clarify that I am not questioning anybody's priorities and each one has every right to have a different opinion than what I am saying.
The primary reason what I think here is the ever-growing materialistic mindset ("what's in it for me" question in every situation). People view such events as preachy and even if the event is free for all the turnout is usually low. Another very important point is books are not categorized under the genre of entertainment and as we hear very often weekends are for leisure and family time. And predominantly "family time" means going to shopping malls or for a movie or taking a long drive, etc. Parents have a usual response like "my son or daughter will not let me listen to the speaker and will create a nuisance" however, the same people will buy a hefty ticket to watch a movie and spend most of the time out of the cinema screen to shush the kid. In a big metro city like Chennai, we cannot even find 100 people who come and support Indic thought. At such instances, you feel the importance of physical glamour and it is very rare that it can be replaced by academic glamour. Another point where I think the organizer Indic Academy is lacking is insufficient publicity of such events, just one or two posts on facebook or twitter are not enough.
At the end of it, I consider such events help spread the Indic thought and if these efforts don't come through well, the purpose is not fulfilled in the true sense.

Brahmaputra by Aneesh Gokhale

An engrossing account of the events in history that resulted in the Battle of Saraighat. The point which makes it even more interesting is the author is not from the Northeast, but a Maharashtrian. Though the story revolves around the Ahom commander Lachit Barphukan, we get to know about many other unsung heroes who were instrumental in keeping the Indic flag fluttering proudly in the Northeast Bharat to name a few the inspiring King of Ahom Dynasty Chakradhwaj Singha, the Prime Minister Atan Buragohain, Japang Gohain, Bagh Hazarika.

Aneesh has linked the story of Ahoms with the Marathas and nowhere it seems like a forceful attempt to highlight the similarities. Still, many observed similarities like they both fought with a similar spirit to protect the motherland from the aggressors and both fought lopsided battles against the resourceful Mughal Empire. The only two advantages which are clearly visible is the indomitable spirit and the topography which was used in the best possible way by both, the Marathas had the mighty Sahyadris and the Ahoms had the grand Brahmaputra. Another point which is clearly visible is he has not just compiled the stories together but, has visited the places and reflects the nuances of the Ahoms.

In every chapter, the biblical story of "David and Goliath" was flashing at the back of my mind and felt like why we too keep on using this phrase in regular parlance why not use something Indic like Shivaji and Afzal Khan or for that matter Ahoms and the Mughals.