In Search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology
Edited by Malashri Lal and Namita Gokhale
Penguin Books India and Yatra Books, 2009
Lal and Gokhale’s anthology seeks a balance between some feminist dismissals of the long-suffering woman of the epic with textual evidence of Sita’s own heroism, as well as her relevance to, and impact on, centuries of Indian women. Through the essays and interviews, the connection between two assumptions – one, that the Sita of the Ramayana is a powerful, even heroic woman and two, that she was treated monstrously by the patriarchal laws of her time – only resolves itself by implication. They are not contradictory ideas in the least. The editors are more successful in articulating the divide between the country’s opinion-makers and its broader population, in their respective views on the centrality of Sita’s story to our culture. The throng of voices in this book hamper its quality (Nina Paley and Indira Goswami in the same section? Really?), but its best writing is clear-eyed as well as warm-hearted. Kumudini’s fiction, Letters from the Palace, is a delight, as are Arshia Sattar’s excerpts from her introduction to Valmiki’s Ramayana. The book isn't just about revisiting mythology; it is also about revising our own perceptions of the figure who remains, in many ways, India’s first lady.

Q&A with Paul Smith

Verve catches up with the British Embassy (Cairo)'s Paul Smith on his subject for the 12th annual Vasant J Sheth Lecture, titled Full Fathom Five: Shakespeare’s Old Seas and New Worlds. Excerpts:

Can you tell us about some instances of Shakespeare’s engagement with the ocean and the worlds across it?
The Tempest is most conscious of the ‘newfoundlands’ across the oceans which beckoned a different future from the Mediterranean past. Other last plays – particularly Pericles and The Winter’s Tale – share its use of the sea as the locus of exploration and self-discovery and, indeed, of birth, death and redemption. In my lecture, I shall also talk about the plays in which new life has to begin at the shoreline, particularly following the metaphorical calamity of shipwreck in, for example Twelfth Night or The Comedy of Errors. We’ll touch on plays where war is fought across the waters – Antony and Cleopatra, or Troilus and Cressida – and where commerce, including that of human relations – is determined by the sea’s implacability, most notably The Merchant of Venice.

Would you say Shakespeare’s engagement with Europe’s changing world view affected the audiences of his own time?
During the Renaissance, terra incognita begins to beckon and seduce where it was, to the Medieval mind, frighteningly out of bounds. The great dramatist of excessively expansionist vision and ambition is Marlowe. But, in every play of Shakespeare, the dominant pulse is the realisation that each drama is creating its own uniquely real world.

Britain’s maritime history is also its colonial history. Do we foresee that in Shakespeare?
It was all yet to come, but Shakespeare’s psychology clearly premeditated it. He is compelled by the means by which people exert control over each other – be it an Iago over Othello, or Portia over Shylock. And his geographical vistas are wide. We have no evidence whatsoever that he even saw the sea, let alone crossed it. But the majority of his plays are set in distant lands and, in some, the boundaries of the play find synonymity with the boundaries of the known world. ‘All the world’ – the beckoning expanding world of renaissance Europe – really does become ‘a stage’ in his canon.
The lecture will take place at Rangeshwar Hall, the Yashwantrao Chavan Auditorium, on January 14 at 7 pm.

Royal Camouflage

Shrabani Basu’s new book, Victoria & Abdul recounts the compelling friendship between Queen Victoria and her closest confidant, Abdul Karim. A young Muslim came to play a prominent role at the heart of the British Empire, and his influence over the Queen at a time when independence movements in the subcontinent were growing in force, makes for a captivating tale: a story of friendship that survived the best attempts of history to destroy it.
He was an assistant clerk at the Agra Central jail and arrived in England to wait on tables during the Queen’s golden jubilee. Soon he found himself as a personal attendant to the Empress of India herself. Within a year he had turned into a powerful personality becoming the Queen’s munshi (tutor), teaching her Urdu and advising her on Indian affairs. It all happened at a time when the Queen had been devastated by the death of John Brown, her scottish ghillie. In Abdul, she had found her replacement. Right until the end she held a stubborn and intense loyalty to Abdul, despite the controversial relationship, almost causing a revolt in the royal household.

Nisha Paul met with the author at Hardy’s restaurant in London’s Dover Street to get a preview on that book that will be out this month.

Why are your stories always about legendary women?
Being a woman, I am drawn to their stories. Whether they are young, beautiful women or an 80-year-old empress, there is a persona and a depth to each one of them. It is the first time, however, that I have tried to look inside a man’s mind and visualise his point of view.

What inspires you to write about controversial characters?
Why not? We all need to learn from the secrets of history. I am fascinated by Indo-British themes because we have shared 400 years of history with them and those stories shaped so much Those unspoken stories are most enchanting.

For 13 years Queen Victoria wrote to Abdul every day. What created this unusual bond?
There was something instantly charming that drew her to Abdul Karim. Right from the day she met him in court, she described him as a tall handsome man with a serious expression. He also represented ‘India’ to her. Queen Victoria could never go to India and had a huge fascination for it. So in a way, India came to her in the form of Abdul Karim with his elaborate turban and his soft spoken manners. The interesting thing to note here is that she could have easily befriended any of the maharajas, who were constantly travelling but she chose a commoner and he became her closest friend. For thirteen years till the time she died Abdul was by her side the whole time.

Passion has no reasons. Do you think in modern times a queen could freely cross cultural thresholds and boldly have a friendship with her attendant?
Queen Victoria was bold no doubt and she did it no matter what anyone said. But it caused a stir and was not easy. There was an outrage in the court, everyone was writing about it in the newspapers and gossiping about it. But she fought everything and enjoyed her challenges. They even tried to go on strike and most crucial of all her son threatened her and said that he would declare her insane and step into her shoes. She actually faced the prospect of being dethroned but she did not care. In the end no one dared to do that to Queen Victoria. She faced bitter opposition and always fought for Abdul. She made her son and family apologise to Abdul and one can only imagine how much they hated it
If we look at present times, when Princess Diana had a liaison with a Muslim doctor and then secondly with an Egyptian Muslim Dodi Fayed, it was definitely not accepted by the British establishment.

QUICK READS
	Come, Before Evening Falls Manjul Bajaj Hachette India, 2009 Born in the village of Kala Sand, surrounded by legends, pale-eyed dadis, and the vicious fangs of the Khap panchayat; a story of Lolitaesque beauty and forbidden love enfolds in a smooth, fluid voice.
	Tide of Fortune Manubhai Madhvani with Giles Foden Random House India, 2009 A fascinating cultural travelogue of a sugar empire’s rise and fall, with a dynasty caught in a political turmoil, spanning over many lands and many tragedies, finally culminating into ground-breaking success. Needs more editing.
	Inspector Singh Investigates: A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul Shamini Flint Hachette India, 2009 After a successful stint in Malaysia, Inspector Singh is back to fight jihaadi crimes in Bali. With Browyn Taylor for company, Singh goes on a laughter-filled expedition and memories of death and fundamentalism, making this a perfect second to what has now developed into a full-fledged Inspector Singh series.
	If I Could Tell You Soumya Bhattacharya Tranquebar, 2009 An intimate narration of a father and daughter’s life through rough economic times, few other failures and achievements, probes the emotions and memories that make up a father-daughter bond, one which grows silently across ages to a cherished rock-solid soul connection.

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