LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT. 77. LAXMAN REKHA AND NARAYANEEYAM!

LITERATURE- LIGHT AND DELIGHT

77. LAXMAN REKHA AND NARAYANEEYAM !


We know  poetry, prose, drama as the main forms of literature. How many of us have thought of cartoons as literature?

This thought occurred to me with the news of R.K.Laxman's passing. Imagine someone drawing cartoons daily for over 60 years non-stop! Has the world seen another wonder like this?

The cartoon combines the functions of prose, poetry, drama, painting and photograph and surpasses all of them together! A good cartoonist has to be more talented than the creators of any or all of the other forms of literature. Among verbal forms, poetry requires intelligence and understanding on the part of the reader. It has to be explained, annotated. So does a painting require some explanation. A cartoon achieves all this effortlessly. A good cartoon easily surpasses mounds of writing and verbal explanation. When an emaciated road-sider tells  inquisitive onlookers: "I am not fasting,  I am  starving" we know the state of our society after 60 years of Independence. When a pathetic figure lying inside a huge drum  tells the inspecting policeman that  he is "not hiding, but living" there,

 

we know that it is Hindustan Hamara, as Sahir Ludhianvi wrote in 1957 for which the film was not passed by the censors!  ( Cheen-o-arab hamara, Hindustan hamara, raheneko  ghar nahin hain, sara jagah hamara- sara jagah includes the pipeline, road side, railway platform ,drum, ditch, non-working drainage, etc- why not?) How many pages an economist would have written to get this effect? Yet, how many Gunnar Myrdals would be required to make the point? How many eloquent speeches a politician would have made, to no effect? The cartoonist achieves this by a few strokes of the pen or pencil, and a few words, often taken from the context! 

Not that Laxman could or did not write. He was an effective writer, very good at that. May be 30 years ago, I read a feature of his in The Illustrated Weekly of India, describing his travails in obtaining a Canadian visa for visiting the Niagara Falls ,coming from the American side. I thought if the Canadian officials read it, and knew English and consequently understood it, and if they had any sense, they should have committed suicide, or at least tendered an apology, and mended their ways thereafter. But when did we associate sense with officialdom? or how often have we found officials mending themselves?They are there to suck our money, like the leech sucks our blood, and fattens itself! Such was the effect it had on me! I wondered why he did not write more often? Even the uncharitable thought occurred to me : that he did not write, to avoid competing with his more famous brother! But he did write stories, and parts of his own life story!

Not that it would have mattered. R.K.Narayan had his own style. His writing was deceptively simple. He never took sides in a controversy, or indulge in direct social criticism. He captured the lives lived by a certain class of people at  certain points in their lives, and in the life of the nation. He was basically like a social historian, recording things as they were, without distorting, twisting,adding his own colour as mainstream historians tend to do. His characters only gave concrete shape to social realities.I found him really angry only when he dealt with the way the film people mauled his story of The Guide. He would simply paint the verbal picture, and you could draw your conclusion. He was at his emotional best in The English Teacher, and it revealed the heart of the man behind the author, as it was partly autobiographical. It moves the reader so, and a dry eye at the end would only hide a dead heart.It is such subtle, human touches that endear an author to us, not the number of words they have mastered from the dictionary.

In his cartoons, Lakshman was superbly subtle: he made his point, and did not leave one in doubt where his heart and sympathies lay, but did not state in plain  words.  But his writings packed more punch. Narayan's style was understated; Laxman was more frontal. Narayan grew on your consciousness with time, and reflection. Laxman entered it straight.

 TOI was not always available in every place I lived in and worked. So his cartoons could not be seen as and when they appeared. But seen in collected editions of books, their effect is like that of a bomb. If one wants to read about Indian history since Independence, one could read any number of slanted books; but if one wanted to read and understand events as they happened, there is nothing better than Laxman's cartoons. Common Man beats all the literary characters of all the authors down the ages! Stand in Common Man's shoes ( or is it chappals?) and striped coat- you can go anywhere, see everything and conquer the world!

And catch all the crows he has drawn! I bet no photographer could have done that! The Indian philosophical wisdom is that you can understand a tiger only when you become one. Was Laxman a crow in some previous birth that he got so much of their live expressions in those few lines! This is beyond talent, beyond genius. Laxmans are born, God made them like that- no book, no university, no art school. But even God is not so generous in such matters- he made only one Laxman since he created the world!

Both Laxman and Narayan confirm my belief that only those writers who are rooted in their culture can best represent and serve humanity- like a Dickens, Hardy,Mark Twain, Leo Tolstoy! They live on the local soil, but their mind is pervaded by a universal spirit! The expression is local, the interest universal! Hunger is universal, but is best satisfied by local food!

Both Narayan and Laxman died at 94!

It is heartening that Maharashtra Govt recognised the greatness of this distinguished and unique son of India and accorded  State honours at his funeral. It is heartening that it has said it would raise a memorial for him- an honour denied to his illustrious brother by the Karnataka govt, guided by chauvinist linguistic elements.

I have beautiful hardbound volumes of Narayan's books in Everyman's Library editions- though we grew up with the editions of Indian Thought Publications, which were low-priced but decent. As yet, Laxman's books are only available in flimsy paperbacks- that insult to human intelligence and sensitivity. I hope some sensible and sensitive publisher honours Laxman with nice hardbound volumes, and thus honour themselves,too.

Note:

I have shown these cartoons here purely for information/educational purposes. No profit motive is involved. I do not intend to violate any copyright rules. If there is any objection from any quarters, I will not hesitate to remove them. 

LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT. 75. LEARNING FROM LITERATURE-MANAGEMENT

LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT

75. LEARNING FROM LITERATURE-MANAGEMENT

Reading: pleasure and profit

We generally read for pleasure. But great authors also make us profit by it. While books setting out to instruct us, educate us, or even edify us - the 'How To' type books end up boring us- some of the books about the experiences of people in real life situations teach us a lot , by the way. It is always like this in real life- health, happiness are always by products of other pursuits. Set after them, they often elude you. Do other things- they may visit you, or even attend on you!

In my younger days, elders used to advise us about wealth: if you go after it, it will run away from you. You leave it alone, concentrate on doing what you like, or what you have to, wealth will run after you-if it is destined to come. It may sound fatalistic, teaching us indifference. But there is wisdom in it. Those who are after wealth become indifferent to other aspects of life- its graces and charms and become one dimensional. In the ultimate analysis, we can neither control the inflow, nor the outgo. So many people lost their savings investing , or even putting it in banks. C.V.Raman, our Nobel laureate is reported to have lost his money when the bank sank. Many people who earned a lot did not know how to manage it, while people with moderate income remained prosperous all through life. So what our elders taught was to mind what we could, and let Providence do its part. Later as I studied Sri Ramakrishna and Ramana Marharshi, this became my firm conviction. I was pleasantly surprised when I found the sentiments echoed through a beautiful Bollywood song, in the lyrics of Sahir Ludhianvi, in the  melodious voice of Mohammad Rafi, and immortal music of Jaidev:

Jo kuch bhi mil gaya usiko muqaddar samaj liya
Jo kho gaya  main usko bhulata chala gaya.

Our elders also used to tell us not to get preoccupied with little things. They used to say, don't be like the dog, always looking out everywhere for a piece of bone, carrying its stomach wherever it went. Look at the universe- there are 8400000 forms of life. God feeds everything. Man alone runs after food, yet calls himself intelligent! Later, I found Lord Christ said that in the Sermon on the Mount: do not worry about what we shall eat, what we shall wear, etc. Look at the sparrows and the lilies of the field. But alas! We now have more churches than lilies or fields or even sparrows! Where are sparrows in cities like Bangalore? The Telecom towers have killed them.

At one stage I read lot of Self-help, or Self-improvement books like those of Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller,etc. I also read Maxwell Maltz and his Self -image Psychology. Recently, Tom Butler Bowdon has come with two books containing comments on about a hundred books and authors  in such genre.They are good in a way, in their own way. But they cannot be a guide for life. 

A real guide can be: Rich Dad,Poor Dad! It should be read by every youngster now. People - young people spend before they earn! They spend before they save! They spend their capital! Rich people never do that! All that the book says may not be applicable in India, but this one principle is eternal wisdom: Don't spend your capital Make it work for you! Spend out of what it earns, don't spend it!

Another great book is: Made in Japan by Akio Morita, former chairman of Sony. I learned one thing from it- one strong message: quality. You are reflected in the quality of work you do! What kind of person you are if you do slovenly work? 

But this kind of attachment to supreme quality may not be practicable now. Suppose you get the TV  of the highest possible quality now. In three years it will be replaced by another quality product, and you cannot get the old ones serviced or even get spares for it. It then becomes a quality junk in 5 years. Why spend a mini fortune on it now? After all, whatever may be the quality of the TV, what is the quality of the stuff you watch in it?

However, there was another great lesson in that book. He tells a story. An American and a Japanese are jogging. Ahead they notice a lion on the way. The Japanese prepares to run away. The American asks: do you mean to out run the lion? No, replies our Japanese friend. "It is enough if I out run you!" This is the situation we are all in , now. Modern economy has set brother against brother. We can live much better by cooperation. But competition is thrust on us. This is what we have to do: we cannot beat the market, we have to beat the competition!

Most management books seek to teach us to manage the environment. They give us the techniques to manage each segment like HR, Finance, Marketing. But the market is always changing. Products and processes are always changing. You keep changing the technique!

Peter Drucker taught us to manage ourselves! We cannot control or manage the environment, always. But we can learn to control ourselves, prepare ourselves, control our reaction to the environment! Come to think of it: this is, in essence, what Krishna tells Arjuna! Understand yourself- we act out of desire. When it is not fulfilled, we get angry. Desire and anger are the two enemies which control us! Understand this and do what you have to do without anger or agitation- vigatajwara! So what Drucker teaches us is an attitude- a value, not a technique. With the right attitude, we can discover a hundred  techniques ourselves.

The management literature also tells us the games the companies play to fool us. Kentucky Fried Chicken faced lot of criticism and opposition from health conscious youngsters, as the fried food they were selling was not found healthy. What did they do? Instead of changing the food, they changed their name to KFC so that the word 'fried' was dropped from their name! Is this honest business? Do we need management experts to teach this? Our own Indian example is the ITC! They still sell tobacco products, but the word 'tobacco' is not in the name! Such companies talk of 'corporate social responsibility'!

It is such practices which made me realise the reality in the private sector, and shed the idealistic notions I had developed in my student days. I found conscientious managers to be the exception- whether in the private sector or the public sector.

Power of officialdom

We associate corruption with the public sector. But it takes two to tango. The other partner is the private sector. Corruption is institutionalised in both. It has entered the very bloodstream of the entire nation at all levels. Right from birth certificate to death certificate, we are ruled by corruption. I used to wonder why our authorities cannot levy a corruption cess, as they levy a library or education cess? Some star hotels lay down that we need not pay tips, the element is included in the bill!

When I first landed in Delhi in the 60s , I had friends in the ministries and secretariat. Karol Bagh was the main area of our stay- being South Indian bachelors. We used to compare notes. They would tell me how the systems worked. The official concerned would visit some club  in the company of private parties. There they would play cards for stakes. The private party would keep losing , and the official would pocket the proceeds  neatly. It all looked so natural. Who would call it corruption?

The UNI canteen and the canteen attached to the PTI were favourite spots for getting simple, tasty South Indian food, since most of the journalists were South Indians.The UNI canteen was particularly popular and even Joint Secretaries used to visit there, though it was a very kacha arrangement- with a tin roof under some trees. .The govt officers, especially about the middle level would be very snobbish and would not treat officials from other institutions-even PSUs as equals. They would behave as if they carried the govt on their very shoulders! During the Emergency, Sanjay Gandhi took a particular dislike for this place- he did not want any temporary structure there and he ordered the demolition of the place and closure of the canteen. The officialdom was unhappy- they were deprived of a cheap source of good homely food. Their lobby was so strong, someone sufficiently senior could directly approach the "Madam" and get it stalled! A similar structure in Connaught Place-  'Coffee House', housed in a huge colourful tent, equally popular,but with the locals, could not be saved, as the demolition had been carried out already. One should never trifle with these officials! We now understand why we have to bow before the ' parivara devatas in our temples!

In Delhi, you had another class of 'devatas' or devils: the 'consultants'- intermediaries between babus, netas and the private sector.They were in fact liaison men. Almost every company had its own- like permanent agents. They could manage most anything- for the right price. They used to boast: 'Sir, every one has a right price!-Everything has a right price'! But they were a double-edged sword. And one could never be sure of what they would say or do in your name! This is a danger always present in the public sector.

There were other forms of making 'easy money'-called corruption or not. When govt officials were sent abroad, especially from the finance ministry, their stay abroad would be managed by branches or correspondents of Indian banks abroad and their allowances in foreign exchange would be entirely saved. When fairly senior officials went, they would not go by the direct flight, but by connecting flights, involving delay in transit- resulting in an additional day's allowance in dollars! The famous Tamil magazine Thughlaq once carried an article from its Delhi correspondent revealing that all import and export transactions done through MMTC, STC, etc involved  official commission and it asked where the commission went!  I do not think there has been an answer.

I remember an incident. When R.Venkataraman was the Industries minister in Madras, some textile machinery had to be imported from Japan. Everything was finalised. The Japanese then offered the commission. Venkataraman asked them to send another machine in place of commission!

But the govt machinery is not only heartless, it is thoughtless. One does really wonder that things work at all. But the individual officers are also heartless wretches . One case I know is pathetic. The brother of a college-mate of mine was a journalist with a Tamil newspaper, in his late twenties. He was selected as a translator in the Publicity dept of GOI and was asked to join his post immediately. He resigned from the newspaper and joined the post in Delhi. In this case, I do not know how, the medical examination had not been done before the appointment, but was done later. It was found that he had a heart condition. He was asked to undergo surgery and report thereafter. He went to CMC Vellore where such surgeries were done then. It was found that he was weak, would not withstand surgery and was advised some rest and dietary supplements so that surgery could be done after 3 months. He died in about a month.He had been a new employee and had been summarily discharged by the govt; he had resigned from the newspaper and so they had no liability or even sympathy for him. He had been married hardly 4 years earlier. No one thought of compassionate appointment or any compensation. All this because the medical examination was not done before he joined the post. Was it a lapse or was it a standard condition? I was told by my doctor friends that such a condition was not normally serious, most victims carried on normally for long unnoticed, provided they did not engage in strenuous activities;what caused the sudden death in this case might have been the shock! This boy stayed with me during his short stay in Delhi, I could not get over the shock for long. Had I been deficient in some way? Could I have helped?

PSU- again!

I do not know how it is in the private sector, but in the public sector, it is difficult for a straight person to manage to survive. Some times, it is direct. At times he is caught in a cross current. Sarojini Naidu once said that it cost money to keep the Mahatma in poverty.Honesty would cost career in the PSU. 

Often it is found that an honest manager at middle level is found to be inconvenient by either side. He is usually sent to an innocuous position like managing the record office! Or he may be sent on long training, to obtain at least temporary relief. Some time it can get nasty. 

A case I know involves a middle level manager in a PSU. It had to deal with cases of Indo-Aghanistan trade in the olden days, when it was subject to special regulations and facilities.The Indian importer was expecting some unauthorised facilities, bending some rules, but the manager would not do.There was no way to by pass him. The importer found a way. One day he planted some fresh currency notes in his table drawer when he was away . He had locked the drawer of the wooden table ,but it was not a problem to get it opened. Then he tipped off the CBI. They raided his room and found the currency notes! Since he was in the habit of locking the drawers,  it was taken as evidence against him! This man had been such an honest worker for more than two decades, the entire office came to his support and the workmen and junior officers downed their pens! Top management had to intervene, conduct their own study and found the truth. But this had been an exception- he was lucky. But he advised all his friends: don't lock your cabin or room, always keep your drawers open, don't carry work home, always keep another person while talking to customers,etc.

In another case, the No.3 or 4 executive in an Establishment was sought to be implicated, in a matter involving the Chairman. All top appointments in PSUs are political; when the regime changes, the old appointee is troubled by the new ones: they have one post less to extend their favours on! In this case, the new regime got this man investigated. In the process, they asked the above executive to give an adverse statement about the Chairman. He did not really know anything about the matter, and so refused to give the statement. The Investigators told him that since he was no.3 or 4, he 'should have known' it. In the PSUs, things don't work like that . Each executive is an island, just handles his portfolio, and does not know developments in other areas. Finally, they raided his house and office and gathered whatever was available including professional magazines and Telephone Directory, and gave a press statement about 'incriminating documents' having been seized! Finally, nothing could be established against him. If this is the overall picture, what morale or motivation would any one have?

These things happened decades ago, but one hesitates to write about them, even now, after 40 years. As poet Shailendra wrote:

Apne saaye se bhi log darne lage
Ab kisi ko kisi par bharosa nahin!
Ab kahaan jaayen hum?

Where do we go now? People are apprehensive.We can't trust our own shadows!

All good managements believed in protecting the honest worker against genuine mistake.But the managements today have abandoned this practice.

There is also the question of discretion. No administration can lay down rules for all contingencies.Executive power always involved exercise of discretion; but even Indian courts do not support this. 

Literature to spring out of national character!

In this respect I found the Japanese practice better. In institutions like banks, all credit decisions are taken by groups of people, never individually. All decisions have to be by consensus. So matters are discussed repeatedly, each problem and point is thrashed out , the dissenter has to convince others so that all would dissent or the dissenter has to be convinced! If things go wrong- they sure do- no one is harassed as being accountable! The process is tortuous and time consuming, but safe for the executives!

But such practises grow out of national character, not out of American academic text-books! And this is the point I want to make: literature has to grow out of national context and the human character!  Nothing exemplifies this more than the works of Tagore, Munshi Premchand, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, R.K Narayan. There is a local context but a universal human element. Does not a Manjunath invite favourable comparison with a Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn, without being American? Boys are boys, and can be both Indian and American! Both are flowers in the garden of humanity. What does it matter if they are not same? Variety adds to richness. Such authors endow humanity with real, perennial wealth.

This is where Indians have generally,almost totally failed. In every field, we have our writers following foreign ideas and trends. Books like India Uninc are exceptional. Arthasastra was written  centuries before Machiavelli, and they are so unlike each other, but we call Kautilya Indian Machiavelli

Machiavelli


Chanakya or Kautilya
An Artist's view.  >..>>> 


Indian religion has always recognised Artha- Economic effort- as a goal worthy of human endeavour: purushartha. Yet our people write  that India was 'other worldy' .They used to ridicule the Hindu rate of growth, forgetting that fast-running economies falter,while the steady and the slow win the race and have the last laugh! There is an element of the eternal and long-term in Indian thinking,its methods and institutions, not the mere ephemeral. Just see one glaring instance of muddled thinking. We expanded our Engineering education in a hurry and manufactured thousands of graduates yearly. Now 60% are found to be unemployable! Now seats are not filled in the colleges!  Not one of them has really good teaching staff.The same process is getting repeated in other areas too. Will we ever learn from the past?

LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT. 26.DECIDING WHAT TO READ

LITERATURE- LIGHT AND DELIGHT

26.  DECIDING WHAT TO READ

Most of us have a weakness for something or the other. The celluloid poet Shailendra once wrote:

Kisi ko har har note ka nasha hai
Kisi ko suit boot coat ka nasha hai

(Some are intoxicated by the sight of fresh currency notes; some by good dress).Our books tell us that major weaknesses are mainly the three Ws.(They also speak of three attachments-Ishanatrayam) Modern civilisation has given us a few more : stamp collection, photography, keeping pets, simply collecting exotic things, hunting autographs, collecting pens, watches,etc. You name it 'hobby', and anything acquires respectability, and a following!

With some of us, reading literature is a madness, not just weakness.It is difficult to say how one acquires this. May be the influence of a teacher, or example of a family member was at work.In my own case, my mother was a voracious reader and I think she bequeathed this wealth to me, fully!

Yes, you may read all you like, but why buy books- which can put a hole in your roof, not just pocket? We do not have good libraries. The needed books may not be available. In college, my lecturer recommended a book on the pricing of public utilities: by Martin Glaser and said where it was available: Connemara Library, Madras. When we went to Madras, I visited the library and saw the book.But the particular chapter was missing: it had been nicely prised away with blade! In the big cities, for the cost of transportation , you may almost buy a book! And in the time spent, you may finish reading it,too!

If you are a serious reader, you would like to mark things as you go along- may be a  word here, a sentence there, an expression; or you may disagree with something and mark it. Often such markings help you to recapitulate the subject at a glance even years later. I have found mark-worthy matters even in the novels of Harold Robbins! So the markings make the book personal! It is not possible to mark library books, and not desirable in the case of borrowed books. ( I remember, Rajaji once borrowed a book from TTK,but could not resist marking or making some noting, and apologized to TTK!)It used to be said of newspapers that they are like woman: every one must have his own, and not look to his neighbour's! It is even more so in the case of books. And 'neither a borrower, nor a lender be' is especially applicable to books: you may get your money back, and not lose a friend, but a lost or spoiled book is difficult to replace. So there is no way other than buying a book, and holding on to it!

How do we decide  which book to read - fiction or non-fiction? We read non-fiction out of necessity, and since most of us in jobs or retirement do not have any such compelling reason, most of us do not read serious non-fiction at all. We do not read up even on subjects which we majored in at the university. For most of us serious study ends with college. Only professionals like lawyers, doctors, university professors (?),accountants  have to keep reading to remain in practice.

But many of us read fiction. However, in Tamilian middle class circles, it has taken the form of reading the periodicals carrying serials and short stories. This is a fairly well established tradition.There are avid readers, and I remember that in my school days the elders would eagerly await the arrival of the vendor bringing the latest issue of the magazine Kalki on Thursday mornings, when Kalki's novel Ponniyin Selvan was serialised in it- it ran for four years! Once it arrived, they would vie with each other to read it first; if any elder was not well and unable to read, some of us boys would have to read it aloud! That was the craze!  (But we boys would beat them: we would quietly slip out, meet the vendor at the street corner and snatch the magazine from him, stand quietly in a corner and read it, before bringing it home!)It would then be shared with two or three other families. 'Kalaimagal' magazine also carried good stories. But such craze was not for it. But 'Ananda Vikatan'  was  eagerly awaited every week, when Devan's novels  like 'Thuppariyum Saambu' or CID Chanduru were serialised! Such novels were not published as books then. So, many families collected the weekly articles and got them bound. We ourselves had at one time more than 300 such bound volumes collected over 30 years! Unfortunately, they were all printed on cheap newsprint and deteriorated fast. I mention this because it would help us understand that most of us do not have the habit of buying books-even fiction! At the most, we may have a Ramayana or some other religious books. In my visits to the  houses of friends and relatives over the last 55 years  in 7 cities across India,that I remember, I have seen not more than about ten houses with some books- (other than school books) and only two with a library, of mostly non-fiction.

So how do we decide to buy books at all?  We decide about seeing films after some one tells us about it- some one whose judgement we rely upon. But now most newspapers carry film reviews, so we can form an opinion. Most of us watch it on the TV any way,so it really does not matter. We attend music performances on the basis of the artist we like. It is only later that we read a review in a magazine  or newspaper. As for books, some newspapers carry reviews. The Hindu used to carry reviews and also lists of books received for review, earlier on Sundays, but later on other days. But this has dwindled now. They bring out a literary supplement, but it is all slanted, and holds appeal only to some niches. There is no book-review at all in the Times of India! All this only shows how much our media cares for fostering love of books or serious reading habits!

It is indeed a miracle that we decide to buy a book at all! Even those given to buying books found it difficult to get to know about new books, and then getting an idea about them, in the absence of review. In the cities we would visit book shops, scan the shelves, pick up the books that appealed, and browse through the contents, introduction, preface, etc. Some shop keepers would not allow that, and in any case most did not have sufficient space or lighting. Those of us reading magazines would get to know about some books- for eg. Rajaji, even at the age of 80+, would read books and write about them in Swarajya! I remember he reviewed Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, and also mentioned Parkinson's Law. It is only through academic journals that we got to learn about new books.

The Reader's Digest was an excellent resource. Every issue would contain a book supplement. Articles would carry references to other books and sources. I used to buy it for  over 30 years-from 1960. I collected the book supplements , and other desired articles and got them bound. I preserved even the covers- the front cover would contain a nice painting, and the inside third cover would contain a very interesting piece about some celebrity's experience: in one, Toscanini, the famous Italian conductor related how once when he was playing the piano a flock of canaries came and sang in unison! At one stage, I had more than 150 bound volumes, but no place to keep! Also, in the 90s the Indian edition had made  changes which I did not like- I thought it had lost its "Universal" flavour;  margins on the left had become smaller which did not permit binding. Besides, our priorities do also change with the years. So, I stopped buying it in the 90s. Incidentally, there is a nice book on the changing priorities of life, titled "Repacking Your Bags" by Richard Leider! The Reader's Digest Condensed Books were another great resource! My God, how many books and authors and subjects we came to know through it! But back then in the late 50s, they were not easy to get!

The decision to read or buy a particular book on a subject is greatly facilitated by book review,or influenced by peer views or teacher's guidance. If you want to read say Shakespear's Macbeth or As You Like It ,which edition to get? Clarendon or Verity? Or any other? We needed advice. Those days we had classic novels like those of Dickens or Hardy as non-detailed reading; but once you got a taste, you could go ahead and get the others if available! The college libraries had many of them, but our Principal had given instructions that Hardy's 'Jude the Obscure' should not be issued to any student! There was always a senior who was a voracious reader and he would tell us about some books- though at times some were not so desirable, like those of Alberto Moravia. If we had to write an essay say on Macbeth's character, where would you get the material? The lecturer would direct you to the library. You would finally discover A.C.Bradley, and that would be a gold mine! It is like this in small steps that we got to know about books.

But how to know whether the book is good, to read or to buy? It depends on reviews in standard journals or newspapers by recognised names or authorities.  (D.Anjaneyulu, Prema Nandakumar, Prof.M.Siva
ramakrishna , for example) And the journal would depend on the subject. If you are interested in say religion or philosophy and such matters, Prabuddha Bharata or Mountain Path may help; but that depends on publishers giving them copies for review- and most publishers don't. Some times some articles in newspapers mention some books. I remember Swami Ranganathananda mentioned 'The Tao Of Physics' by Fritjof Capra in an article he wrote in the Indian Express in 1977 or 78. So we got to know about it.Once we got the book (it was a Bantam New Age Book), we got to know more books on allied subjects in the same series! Likewise, any one interested in Ramana Maharshi would have heard of Paul Brunton's book 'A Search in Secret India'. In the 60s, it was published by Arrow Books,London in their 'Mind and Matter' series. Once you got it, you would get to know other books in the series!  Scholarly books contain suggestions for further reading and notes contain references to many books.This is how we got to know about books. A good library is the place to get to know about books and read them.

In Madras, second hand books were available in the Moore Market, but we only searched for college books. In Bombay, there were mountains of books on the platform and in some shops specialising in second hand books. There , you had to take from what was available; for specific books  you had to go to a regular book shop.

We faced problems with poetry books too. Most of us read some good English poems in text books.Where to look for more? Palgrave's Golden Treasury was the only available anthology then, but it was without annotations, and we could not follow them.There were some like the one by Moles and Moon, but it contained only some long poems. Then came the Mentor Book of Major British Poets, but that too without notes. This problem persists.

Happily, the internet and the coming of online shopping has drastically changed things. All information you need is literally at your finger tips. On most books , you could get material on the net.After getting introduced to the net, I spent a full year on updating my old academic subjects. The amount of material available was mind boggling, and it would surely take a long time to read and digest that. Thank God, there was no internet 50 years ago- otherwise I would not have been able to write the exam!

But still, internet does not solve the problem of which book or edition to buy. I will give a concrete example. Suppose you are interested in acquiring standard material on English literature. You would come to know that there are good anthologies. But they are one too many! Almost every  famous university or publisher has his! And they are all expensive even for a book lover-upwards of Rs.5000! (per volume and they are multi-volume series!) So which one to choose?

It is here that online shopping helps you. A site like Junglee tells you which vendor is cheapest. But the cheapest may not have a review on his site. I have found that on most books Amazon has reviews by actual buyers. On academic books, well-read people and often the teachers and professors who teach the subject  themselves provide review- at times very detailed! In the end you realise that in some cases no edition is satisfactory. eg if you want to acquire an edition of the complete works of Shakespeare, you will find several editions. You will find that each edition is subjected to detailed review; every edition has compromised somewhere and no edition is fully satisfactory. If you read Harold Bloom, you will learn that the Oxford Shakespeare texts are the least satisfactory (See his magnificent book: Shakespeare-The Invention of the Human). So it is best to go in for individual volumes, with detailed annotations. Here too there are many editions. We choose depending upon the immediate interest. If we want to simply understand the work and then enjoy the poetry, 'No Fear Shakespeare' will do. It is a straight plan: it has the original on the one side, and a version in plain current English on the other, line by line! So we know what Shakespeare means, though we may not know the exact meaning of every word. If we are interested in deeper study of the plot, character, context of the play, background etc, we will have to go for annotated editions. But these days, many editions deal with the stage angle. They think that the plays were meant for acting and it is from that angle that it should be analysed. But we are more interested in it as literature - as poetry! So we have to focus on an edition that deals with the plays as literature, not a draft for theatre! Western audiences may be interested in watching the play; we have no such facility here, or even interest. We are satisfied with Shakespeare as the greatest poet. 

The net contains  the texts, analysis and explanation of most well-known poems and the quotations of Shakespeare. For most people used to the net, reading on line may be sufficient. But old timers like me feel that there is no substitute for actually taking the book in your hand, smelling it, feeling the paper and seeing print! Again, as Sahir Ludhianvi, the celebrated celluloid poet sang:

Jo baat tujh mein hain
Teri tasveer mein nahin!

(He sings of the beloved: that which is in you, is not there in your portrait!)
{ Incidentally, this is a wonderful love song and would neatly fit our love of books! If we don't love them, why should we buy them and hold them in our hand? And having loved, how can we part with them?} I wonder how any serious lover of good literature can settle for online reading!

 For us the reviews are invaluable, to help decide which book to read and which edition to buy. Review is evaluation- another name for critique or criticism. Literary criticism is a vital aspect of the overall literary activity.This we will see next.


Note:

Having mentioned English Literature anthologies, and Shakespeare, I would share the following.

1.There are many anthologies of English Literature.They are very expensive, but indispensable for proper understanding. Indian university courses are half-way houses and do not cover any subject adequately. I have found Norton Anthology to be very good and useful. There is an Oxford Anthology (now in two combined volumes) edited by Harold Bloom and others. This is even more expensive, but is very valuable, because it is not influenced by modern critical prejudices. Though they are expensive, they will obviate the need to buy many individual books later on and thus save us lot of money and time. They would surely provide a lifetime of reading pleasure.

2.As for Shakespeare, if we must own a volume of complete works, either as a matter of pride, or a mark of respect to the Bard, or just for the heck of it, the Royal Shakespeare Company sponsored edition seems to be the best option; a paperback edition is available for under Rs.2000. But this is just for show; for study we would need individual volumes. I have found 'No Fear Shakespeare' series to be helpful. Harold Bloom relies on the Arden editions. I have found the Evans Shakespeare series to be very helpful. It has a section containing material on the sources and contexts, from contemporaries and old authorities. And it has a section containing classic criticism, from Coleridge, William Hazlitt, Bradley, T.S.Eliot etc! And from modern scholars! The UK edition is expensive, but now Indian edition is available for some titles- almost for a song! (They do not have the colour plates.)

3. As for poetry, things are somewhat better. Complete works  of the major poets in durable editions are so expensive as to be not only beyond our reach, but even beyond our imagination. (Complete works of some poets are available in cheap paperback from Wordsworth Editions; they are without notes. A poet like Browning cannot at all be read without annotations.) Selected works are available in paperbacks in Oxford and Penguin editions.The print is small, the paper is not good, and the binding will not stand repeated handling.But they do carry valuable introduction and notes  by scholars. We do get bargains from online stores. Personally I have found Norton Critical Editions of individual poets to be very useful and absolutely delightful to read. The amount of material presented is simply enormous.In some cases Indian editions are available. (There are books by Dr.S.Sen ( Unique Publishers,Delhi) meant for Indian Universities.These contain very detailed annotations and are useful, if you do not mind the occasional howlers.)

4. Often we are tempted to buy books because they become best sellers, or they get some award,or are much talked about. But what happens to the best sellers  a year or two hence? Like Alvin Toffler's 'instant celebrities' they are here this moment, but are forgotten when the next candidate arrives! This best seller business seems to me  to be pure publicity gimmick. After all, we know how awards are got or given! We have to stick to enduring literature.

5. How can we afford to buy books?  Well, life is based on choice, and sacrifice! We can't have all.I can only relate my experience.(in the hope it may help some one) I stopped seeing films in theatre 40 years ago; I did not go to expensive restaurants; usually I avoided coffee, along with snacks; I visited only sacred places and avoided 'tourist spotss'; I travel by public transport, and avoid autos, to the extent possible; I have deliberately avoided owning a car. These are the ways I saved money to buy books!

6. How do we find space to keep our books? Living in flats, this is real problem.It is really strange- the idiot box gets pride of place in the living space, while books are kept elsewhere! I keep books in box cots; some are kept in the attic. But once in a while, we do have to part with some old stuff, though with a pang, to make room for the new. I donate to old age homes or other institutions, but these days, even libraries do not want books! This means we have to be really choosy in acquiring new books!