Keep the aspidistra flying, George Orwell, 1936, part one

 Orwell published his first novel, Burmese days in 1934. In this second novel (title above) the aspidistra, a common house decor plant becomes the symbol of middle class conformity and obeisance to Money God.

Gordon Comstock, a classics scholar and poet in his late twenties finds that the lack of money and the need to earn it, hamper his desire to write poetry. He has to work as a copy writer in an ad agency but he loathes his work of whipping up desires and making people buy the sponsored products.

He starts his private rebellion of saying no to money. He chucks his job and becomes a salesman in a bookshop. The job is even more loathsome to him and the pay is barely adequate for his food and board.

He works on his writing in the spare time: London Pleasures, a collection of poems. With inadequate money, writing becomes more and more difficult. Most of his poems are returned by publishers.

His public school education (which meant privation to his parents and sister) has given him a code of honour. He knows the rules: never let other people buy your drink for you, for one. He walks miles and goes hungry but does not let his girl friend buy things for him. He is very careful not to be seen as sponging off his rich friend, the only one he has.

The girl friend is an honest soul and dearly loves Gordon. She does not understand his rebellion and the bitterness that enters his soul. Gordon is sure that money vitiates everything, creeps into and spoils every relationship. His despair leads him to descend further into poverty. The girl friend wants to marry but is afraid to say so as he cannot support them both. She becomes pregnant but says heroically that she would not force him to marry but raise the baby on her own.

That and the grudging realization that the lower classes comprise decent people who do their best to keep their values and raise families while struggling for money, that they are not senseless, witless morons thrust hither and thither by Money God finally convince Gordon that his embrace of poverty for two years has been a fruitless journey. He realizes that there is nothing positive or redeeming about poverty; it deadens the body, mind and spirit.

He goes back to his first job, sets up home and marries the girl friend. He chucks out London Pleasures and decides to grow an aspidistra plant. His rebellion is over.

Chronicle of a working life

It is an omnibus publication, 672 pages, of 3 of our favourite books in young age.

The 3 books are: A pair of hands, A pair of feet and My turn to make the tea.

Monica Dickens (1915 - 1992) was a prolific writer who has written more than 80 novels and autobiographical accounts.

In my college days, a trip to the British library invariably yielded a thick novel of hers. My father's personal collection boasted of two of her titles:

Thursday afternoons and

A pair of hands.

The former had a well meaning but muddled lady, Cybil as the protagonist and the latter was highly recommended by Baba and so was sacrosanct in our eyes. It is a highly entertaining account by MD of her experiences when she worked in different houses as a cook. After her finishing school, she desperately wanted to work but was not trained for anything. So, on the basis of very limited experience - there was an old cook in her house who did not allow anybody in the kitchen - she embarked on her working journey with many hilarious experiences on the way. She learnt cooking by trial and error on the job and she worked also as a house manager.

MD belonged to a well heeled family and her mother had accounts with the big departmental stores in London. By working as a cook, MD broke the class barrier and joined the ranks of the plebian. This led to many funny encounters. For example, in one of the houses she worked, the man of the house would talk to his wife in German whenever MD was around. He took it for granted that she would not understand a word. On another occasion, two guests in the house party fumbled at the name of a railway station near Paddington and unwittingly, MD provided it. "They were taken aback but being perfect gentlemen, thanked her."

MD has a witty style and her tongue in cheek humour is refreshing.

A pair of feet is about her days as a nurse in a few big hospitals in war time Britain. My turn to make the tea is about her career as a journalist in one small, provincial newspaper.

She writes with verve and gives us an inside account of what happens in these jobs. When she wrote these books, better jobs were simply out of the reach of most women. However, even now, I cannot think of any similar accounts by women. Women have been teachers and governesses for a century or more but they did not write about their working life as MD does here.

Sutton Publishing, UK brought out the omnibus in 2004. A pair of hands can be opened at any page and can be read with relish. The other two do not quite attain the same level of excellence but the collection can be safely recommended for your library.

An index card-a-day

 It was a stray message on Pinterest. It asked to practice drawing, painting, doodling etc. on an index card every day, for a month or two.

I had a pack of blank index cards with me. It had lain unused for years. I had bought it in USA and I had a research project going. My own project, no external funding but I had hopes of getting a fellowship on its basis after my retirement. These cards, like those in library catalogues, come handy for bibliography research. One card for one author or book or article. Notes can be made on the cards to juggle memory and the cards can be arranged in different combinations.

Stationery shops in India do not carry these card sets but in USA, they are easily available and are popular right up to school students.

Alas! My research proposal for the fellowship did not make the cut. I drew a blank when I tried to get my writing published. Academic publishing, never easy, has now become almost impossible. I was disappointed but had to accept it.

So the card-stack remained with me.

I remembered it when I saw the Pinterest message. Why not have a stab at it?

I began with enthusiasm which turned to a drag which became an eagerly awaited work in the end.

There were no restrictions on images to be created on cards. Decorative designs, line work, landscapes, floral studies, portraits and simple play with lines and colors. Drawing pencils, water color pencils, water colors, acrylic and oil paints, marker pens - anything was permitted.

I began with atrocious designs and colors. Later I found myself thinking about this challenge during the day and I started scanning newspaper ads, photos and Google search images with interest.

The freedom and the small size of the card were real boons.

Yesterday, my card stack got over. I missed only on a few occasions. Otherwise, I drew and painted through July, August, September and eleven days of October after having started on 27 June 2024.

Outcome?

Nothing much but a sense of satisfaction.

Take a look at the blog to see some images I created.

Zee TV’s Home Minister

 This highly popular serial is going to close down on 13 September 2024 after continuous telecast of 20 years!

The home minister is the lady of the house and the anchor, Adesh Bandekar, visits her in her home, gets to know her and her family by asking a few standard questions. Then he asks her to play a game or produce given items from her kitchen in a short time and rewards her generously by giving her a Paithani saree.

Imagine travelling all over Maharashtra to do this, 5 days a week and for 20 years. The programme is so popular that Bandekar went abroad with it among Maharashtrians settled abroad.

The serial targeted the neglected large segment of Marathi women - housewives and made them visible. It did not entirely ignore working women but the focus was on homemakers, singly or in groups. It also probably enhanced their status. It made the anchor insanely popular and launched his political career.

If you haven’t watched the programme, do so quickly: Zee studio, TataPlay channel no. 1204 Monday to Saturday 6 to 6.30 p.m. Catching it alive should be worthwhile.

Women send their invitations to the organisers before they are selected. The chosen one decks herself, beautifies her home and introduces her family members and friends. They welcome Bandekar with a puja tray and niranjan.

You should watch the women talking lovingly about how they met their partners or how marriage was arranged. They describe their partners: all are quiet and helpful. They identify one weakness in themselves, usually getting up late or having a short fuse and promise to do better. They remember their parents and seek their forgiveness. They also include their in- laws sometimes. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all the women.

The programme is a sterling example of the power of the medium and its capacity for audience participation.

One is exasperated by the rote answers. It is so easy to sidestep truth and push it in the background! Listening to these women makes you forget that Maharashtra also has problems like domestic violence, dowry deaths and gender discrimination.

For all that, it is still heart-warming to see the women playing simple games on TV and winning.

Feminism goes mainstream Part 2

 1. How to say Babylon gives an account of the life Safiya Sinclair has led till now. She was born to Rastafarian parents in Jamaica. Her father was a reggae singer. After emperor Haile Selassie (of Ethiopia) visited Jamaica in 1966, he embraced Rastafarian ways totally. This is an outlawed fundamentalist cult which was later banned in Jamaica. Its members grow their hair long and do not comb them, like the devadasis in Karnataka.

Safiya's mother was bright but got no opportunities in life. Safiya and her 3 siblings were abused and oppressed by the father. All are very bright. Safiya is a poet and after school she became an international model. On the basis of the exposure to American society, she managed to enroll herself in colleges and helped her siblings too. One of them is a Rastafarian.

Safiya gives a moving account of her and her family's ordeal. Her writing is concise. In Rastafarian lingo, Babylon stands for everything in the 'corrupt' Western culture. Her account convinces us that patriarchy and fundamentalism are two sides of the same coin.

2. Prize women is based on an actual event in Toronto in 1926. In that year, an eccentric lawyer leaves a part of his large fortune, not having any direct descendants, to that woman in Toronto who produced the most children in the decade following his death. The court stepped in to find out such a woman and its efforts are known as the Great Stork Derby in Toronto from 1926 to 1936. 

This was the time of the Great Depression also. Therefore the derby attracted a lot of attention. The court held that the award would exclude stillborn babies and children born out of wedlock. Eleven families competed in the race and 7 were disqualified. The remaining 4 received $ 110000 each or $ 2.23 million at 2023 prices. Three of the 4 families had to pay back the relief money that had been granted to them by the City of Toronto earlier.

On the basis of this event, Caroline Lea has written her novel. It features 2 women, Lily and Mae. It begins very well, describing the daily torture Lily and her son are subjected to by her husband. Mae is a poor typist but manages to marry her rich employer. He loses everything in the depression. Both women compete in the race but Lily does not make it due to male prejudices against Italian immigrants and women in general. Mae shares her booty with Lily and lesbian love between them is hinted at. It is clear that the author is looking back at past times with the lenses of the present.

A compelling read which however, loses its mojo in the middle.

3. Lessons in chemistry  shows the life of Elizabeth Zot in the decade following 1950s in USA. Elizabeth is a brilliant, self-taught and self-made scientist who has encountered discrimination from the very start of her life. She loses her research job and funding and manages to survive by running a cookery show on TV. In this show, she treats the ingredients and their combinations like a great ongoing chemical process and manages to elevate the status of cooking in the eyes of her audience.

Elizabeth has encountered only difficulties in her life but for all that, her approach to life is upbeat and positive. That is the redeeming feature of this humourous, well-written novel.

Feminism goes mainstream

 I hear that there is a backlash on Tik Tok and a regressive view that women should go back to baby rearing and keeping the house is increasingly popular.

In literature however, the spurned, oppressed female has caught the attention of writers and readers alike.

I allude to 3 recent books.

1. How to say Babylon, a memoir by Safiya Sinclair, 37 INK, Simon & Schuster, N.Y. 2023 (book in 4 parts, 29 chapters, 352 pages)

2. Prize women by Caroline Lea, Penguin Random House, U.K. 2023 (book in 3 parts, 45 chapters, 322 pages)

3. Lessons in chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, Penguin 2022 (45 chapters, 400 words)

The last one is wildly popular today and has been converted into a popular TV series along with translations in 42 languages. The other two have been critically acclaimed.

All have suppression of women as their leit motif. Their popularity means that the audience is into the message of different shades of this suppression.

Read my next post for a short description of each book. Do read them.

Old and current crime stories

 I have started translating The wheel spins by Ethel Lina White in Marathi. It is a project for myself and it is turning out to be enjoyable.

The novel was first published in 1939 as a crime club publication. It was adapted for the big screen 3 times and for radio several times. Alfred Hitchcock's The lady vanishes came out in 1938, a year before the book was published. Later screen adaptations were in 1979 and in 2013!

The plot revolves around Iris Carr who finds that a lady she spoke to on the train, a Miss Froy has just vanished. The novel spans over the train journey and ends in London. Just a little before that, Ms. Froy is found as a sedated, totally bandaged patient who is meant to languish in a mental hospital.

A single, young woman who battles all sorts of difficulties during this brief period of time is a subject which seems to lure movie makers in nearly a century.

What strikes me however, as my translation begins, is that the novel is a work of literature. It has a literary style and it draws out its characters with deft literary touches. Sometimes the effort goes overboard but it is an absorbing read.

What a contrast with the contemporary thrillers - not crime books but thrillers! A derogatory category name actually. What is aimed at is titillation and not covering any depth.

Arguably, thrillers came to the fore with Fredrick Forsyth's books. Others that followed in this genre are fast-paced, have continuous action and they employ a very basic style of writing. Character building makes way for a whole lot of information about geography, secret service agencies and the police force, the weaponry, government plans, coups etc. Their narrative always stays on the surface as no effort is made to explore any depth. It is a money-making business and the front running authors employ a research staff to ensure that they get their details right.

Millions of copies are sold and the authors are rich people.

What they churn out is action which keeps you hooked as long as you are reading. Once done, you shake yourself  and promptly forget most of what you read.

Not so with literature. Tiny details in it remain buried in your mind and come to the fore unexpectedly. Its characters are truly your companions.

We had an old Penguin copy of The wheel spins. The cover had a green border and my father always kept it with him for Bombay- Poona train travel of 4 hours, a fraction of the Trieste - London journey in the novel. The well-thumbed book was in tatters and its pages came loose. It had to be discarded, much to my dismay.

I mentioned this to my brother some years ago. He remembered it well and gave me the site of some Australian publisher. I actually downloaded and printed the book free from this website, courtesy my college room printer!!