IWOTY 2011 Nominations

Ever since your favorite blog, The ArTicKles Blog, has been launched (in April 2008), it has regularly kept its readers informed about the Word Of The Year (WOTY) declared by Oxford Dictionaries, Global Language Monitor (GLM) and the American Dialectic Society (ADS).

The links to these posts are here, in case you have missed them or wish to refresh your memory.
WOTY 2008

WOTY 2009

WOTY 2010 and IWOTY 2010

In the post announcing WOTY 2009, a question was posed to the readers of this blog thus:
“Indians should have their own WOTY! What do you have to say?”

In the very next year, while announcing WOTY 2010, I invited some suggestions and posted them as worthy candidates for IWOTY 2010. The following words featured in the competition: Scam, ScamRaja, ScamRajya, Spectrum Raja, Tainted, Corruption. The Scam –related words dominated the polls, as was expected. As you would observe the words suggested by readers is a reflection of the times we live in. Future generations could study their history of the present times by studying the WOTYs! Psst: Yes we too will be history some day!

NOMINATIONS FOR IWOTY 2011

This year the following words have been suggested by enthusiastic readers of the ArTicKles Blog (and some are my own wild imagination) :-

1. Anna

Anna Hazare’s first name - Anna - Just a word? I am sure Anna is not just a word, but a phenomenon that 2011 witnessed. The “Anna movement” ; the “Team Anna”; the “Anna factor”’ the “Anna phenomenon” was the much talked about subject by the print media as much as TV coverage of the events that Anna’s movement organized in several parts of the country. Newspaper editorials and opinion pieces may have debated his manner of protests being methods of “arm-twisting” and argued about the concept of the Lokpal being flawed in a democratic republic, but the people of India found the basic movement against corruption just the right course of action to deal with the widespread malaise that is eating into the fabric of our nation. Whether the movement will result in a strong Lokpal Bill or not, however important, one cannot deny the awareness that Anna spread about the need to combat corruption in our lives in all its manifest forms.

2. Annagiri – This derivative form of ‘Anna’ would perhaps be another worthy candidate. It is now rampantly practiced by the common man donning “I am Anna” caps and taking up cudgels with the corrupt powers-that-be. Akin to the “Gandhigiri” which is not exactly following the Mahatma’s principles, but really just adopting the methods demonstrated by Munnabhai in the cinematographic depiction of the Mahatma, - that of offering flowers and winning hearts to get redressal to grievances, Annagiri would turn out to take up a strong, determined stand against those in public service, who later turn despotic in their stance, once elected to the chair.

3. Kolaveri – A tamil word that every school-going child has heard about thanks to the song “Why this kolaveri di?” sung by Rajnikant’s son-in-law, Dhanush and featured by all TV News channels. They told us that It means “murderous rage”. Although the ‘Tanglish’ song is basically a drunken lament of the heart-broken young boy as he asks his ex-girl friend a question that is now on the minds of all leaders of the world today “Why this murderous rage?” In fact without the “kolaveri” emotion felt by millions in the middle east, the “Arab Spring” or the “Occupy Wall Street” movements would not have been much to talk about. There is kolaveri doing the rounds of the globe and the world would see how it fits into the global scenario – Tamil heartbroken soup boy singing in Tanglish is not a frame that can hold it within or contain – it has gone viral as it rightfully deserves! This murderous rage has dislodged despots, changed regimes and will probably serve the masses well by keeping the rulers in every country in check of their excesses.

4. Lokpal – The perceived panacea for the ills of corruption and the proposed Ombudsman with a larger than life role being sought by Civil Society is another worthy candidate for IWOTY 2011. The Lokpal will soon enter lexicons, for sure, as there is no proper equivalent word in the English language. Whether we will have one or even if we have one, will it be strong enough to serve its purpose, is another matter altogether!

5. Anshun - Protests have been the theme of Year 2011 and India was not to be left behind. Anna Hazare. Whether this word will become popular or not, one cannot be sure, but the protests that one witnessed in 2011 do characterize the year 2011 very well. No wonder, the Time magazine has announced the Person Of The Year 2011 as “The Protestor”!

6. Slaptivism n. activism by slapping [slap + activism] – This form of activism was resorted to by an Indian youth recently when he slapped Sharad Pawar to vent his frustration on corruption and uncontrolled food inflation. We have come a long way from being ‘slacktivists’ - slack armchair activists, who click on causes pages or online petitions to protest. We have also seen ‘hacktivists’ like Julian Assange who hacked into computers and exposed (and thereby embarrassed) governments by revealing secret pacts proving ulterior motives. We also witnessed legal activism in India, Dr Subramaniam Swamy’s crusade in courts to fix corruption using existing laws. Implementing laws has always been the real hurdle in fixing the corrupt – laws may need to be changed, but without all these various forms of activisms, the Lokpal Bill or any other law will do little by itself.

7. Sibal v. to remove offensive content from social networking sites
Also - Siballed – offensive content removed by Government by Sibal’s laws’
Also -- Siballing - the act of removal of offensive content ~

This diktat from Kapil Sibal was greeted by dollops of kolaveri from the aam admi! Champions of the ‘Free speech’ cause fired salvos on their blogs and challenged the government and debates followed as celebrities who are also the targets of hate posts, abusive language and photo-shopped images supported some kind of action against such malicious posts and such offenders who attack them in public platforms.

8. Civil Society – This was another much talked about phrase in 2011. The fact that the government did engage with unelected, self-appointed campaigners with a cause became the bone of contention. “Representatives of ‘civil society’”, was a term used to justify discussions with a view to bring a stringent law through debates. Although the government had been always posting proposed draft laws in public domain, inviting suggestions from NGOs, public/industry bodies in the past, this was an unusual engagement with ‘civil society’. It is hoped that ‘civil society’ plays a larger role in policy formulations in a participative democracy in future.


9. There are some more words suggested by subscribers to my blog, such as ‘Incorrigible India’, ‘Jokepal’, ‘2ji’, ‘aggrandisement’ etc. that some of you have suggested that deserve mentions.

From the scam-related words in 2010, we have moved on to protest-related words in 2011!

Is there any Indian word for too much debate and scant action? We must have one! So maybe we can hope for something to look forward to in 2012. Will we have a Lokpal in 2012, one wonders?

WOTY 2011 - and IWOTY?

As the year draws to a close, one cannot help but pause in thought, spare a few moments to reflect upon all the happenings of the year that slips into the past. How the year 2011 treated you would largely determine whether you loved it or loathed it.

“Squeezed middle” is the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2011.

Generally it has been an year of protests across continents - protest against crony capitalism and the economic cruelty of the 1% against the “other 99%” by innovating financial products designed to unjustly enrich the wealthy, while handing out a raw deal to the ‘squeezed middle’. While squeezed middle is British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband's term for those seen as bearing the brunt of government tax burdens while having very little to pay it off.

“Occupy” is Global Language Monitor WOTY 2011

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement along with the occupied territories of Iraq and Afghanistan helped “occupy” pitch for top spot in the Global Language Monitor’s exercise this year.

‘Arab Spring’ was voted as the Phrase off the Year 2011 by Oxford Dictionaries

In North Africa and the middle eastern countries, the year witnessed unrest of the masses against complacent, vain, self-serving leaders exploiting them in every conceivable manner for decades. What began as an uprising in Tunisia in December 2010, later spread as the Jasmine revolution to other countries in the region and is now collectively termed as the ‘Arab Spring’ by the western countries. Power-drunk despots, who had unleashed their tyranny on their subjects for several decades, were dislodged from their thrones as public sentiment turned against them in 2011 after bearing the brunt of their atrocities.

The other words that also-ran in the race to the top may be seen in the links below;

Oxford Dictionaries shortlist of words for WOTY 2011

Global Language Monitor’s WOTY 2011

As has been expressed by the ArTIcKles Blog, we Indians ought to choose our own Word of the Year the Indian Word Of The Year (IWOTY).

What do you think the Indian Word of the Year 2011 be? Do suggest words for IWOTY 2011 - leave your comment in this blogpost.

Retailing our woes

When our elected parliamentarians holds the nation to ransom as they bicker on some or the other issue by preventing the house from functioning in its core business of discussing and passing bills that are the dire need of its citizens, one would think that any bill passed by the Government in such times would be received with a thunderous applause. But that has not been our experience recently. The FDI in multi-brand retail has been quashed by opposition from left-wing political parties, who see more harm to our people than good. The argument is that they will finish the kirana-wallas (mom-and-pop stores) and then dictate their prices to the small farmers and exploit them! Those who support FDI in multi-brand retail argue that the large food chain specialists will offer better prices to farmers, invest in better cold-storage chains and yet offer consumers a better deal than the present market mechanism does.

Indian traders have, for several decades, dictated terms to small farmers and producers, fleeced middle class consumers by flouting every regulation meant to protect them and have unjustly enriched themselves all along. Several success stories of small-time retailers turning into big-time business houses with companies now listed on bourses get featured regularly in the media. Yet, it was these very retailers that got bailed out by opposing the FDI proposal in multi-brand retail! Basically, organized global retailers of the kinds of Walmart and Carrefour lost out – at least for the moment.

The young prince of the Congress party has been telling our farmers how they had been deprived of an opportunity to get better prices from these charmed global giants and would continue to suffer from the handouts from local traders due to the opposition to the proposed FDI.

What one ought to ask is this: Weren’t the various malls that were set up by Indian entrepreneurs, the likes of Big Bazaar, Subhiksha, More, Reliance Fresh and several others – which were also supposed to cut out the middleman from the chain and offer better times for producers and consumers from their efficient supply chain capabilities – supposed to do exactly this? But they did not prevent farmer suicides or prevent the exploitation of the small producers, did they? So how is it that bigger global players would do what the local entrepreneurs fail to? If conditions of investment in cold-chains and better supply chain facilities would be enforced for FDI investors, wouldn’t the same conditions imposed on domestic players have not been the right way to go? Would we not have seen better infrastructure if these conditions had been in place for local large-format retailers already?

The magic potion of multi-brand retail revolution having been thwarted, the government hurriedly passed the Food Security Bill! The succour to our hungry millions, it would seem. But the recent introduction of the Food Security Bill has been criticized in the press for several shortcomings and significantly for the huge burden [estimated to be Rs. 5,45,000 Crores] on the ex-chequer at a time when the fiscal deficit already poses an insurmountable challenge for the government to cope with. Deficit aside, the poor delivery mechanisms that our previous programs prompt us to be skeptical of the basic purpose of any food security bill – to ensure every citizen gets his two square meals every day! Will he? Or will some politician now go around and tell the hungry that the pseudo intellectuals in our society opposed the FSB and deprived you of your rightful meal today, that we sought to deliver?

One cant but admire the work of various NGOs committed to feed the hungry - they dont wait for the government to pass a piece of legislation!

Jug, Jug Jiyo, Jug!

When a ‘festival’ calls itself a ‘carnival’ in just its second year, you know this is not just any new-born but someone growing in a hurry! The Times Literary Festival made its debut last year (2010) in Mumbai’s NCPA, about which I had blogged about here. This year’s Times Literary ‘Carnival’ was held at the Mehboob Studios at Bandra, Mumbai from 2nd – 4th December 2011 on a much larger scale – clearly the crowds had swelled in numbers compared to the turnout at last year's Fest! The organization of the event was the responsibility of our beloved columnist, Bachi Karkaria and Namita Devidayal, another Times staffer, who tried their best to bring in as much variety and spice in the proceedings through a thematic diversification into Hindi song lyrics – by roping in the likes of popular Bollywood lyricist Gulzar and the upcoming folk-musician Raghu Dixit to bring the festival to life!

The event gave an opportunity to readers and wannabe writers to meet several authors like Rashmi Bansal, Sonia Faleiro, Chetan Bhagat, Rahul Pandita and several others and pick up a signed copy of their work - as they chat up with them on the sidelines! Last year I had the opportunity to talk to Amish Tripathi and Ashwin Sanghi and my favourite columnist Bachi Karkaria at the book stall at the NCPA. This year it was an opportunity to have a few words with Jug Suraiya, Bunny Suraiya and Rashmi Bansal in between sessions!





Being a die-hard fan of ‘Jugular Vein’, a column by Jug Suraiya that never fails to entertain with its dollops of humour, this was an opportunity to listen to the writer talk on 3rd Dec, about his book, “JS and the Times of my life” with his wife, Bunny. The talk was indeed very enlightening – providing deep insights into what makes Jug the phenomenal success he is today. “Why do people only think of you as a humour writer, although you do write a contrarian column ‘Second Opinion’ and have written spiritual pieces for the Speaking Tree, short fiction and poems?” Bunny asked. Jug shrugged and said he hoped people wouldn’t be laughing–out-loud while reading his other pieces! Jug further clarified that he was more like a ‘ventriloquist's puppet’ when it came to journalistic writing of pieces of current affairs and opinions.

When asked “Is there any ethics in humour?”, he replied with 2 rules of humour that he observes strictly “Rule No. 1 - Always make fun of yourself, before you attempt to make fun of others and Rule No. 2 – Always make fun of those who are more privileged than you NOT of those under-privileged, deprived sections of society – those that are more at a disadvantage than you are – you couldn’t be making fun of the poor downtrodden, could you?”! So very true, Jug!

When asked about the blogging community and their work, he responded that it is what he called a large “prosumer” group, those who ‘produce’ as well as ‘consume’ the produce amongst themselves – a phenomenon made possible by the internet today. "Junior Statesman", the magazine that he began his career with, was such a ‘prosumerist’ magazine, which encouraged readers to contribute to it rather than have elite columnists being featured. When asked if 'JS,the magazine'could be revived, though, he responded that "it could be – but only in the electronic medium – not in print"!

One young man cornered Jug in the question and answer session, when he commented that although he did offer his ‘Second Opinion’ column to readers of TOI, in his opinion, he was not having or offering any opinion at all! He cited examples when he had contradicted himself at different points in time. Jug was at a loss for words, although his wife, Bunny appreciated this young man with “That was really a good question!”

Oh, Jug may have a good explanation for this some other day – although he had nothing to offer on the spur of the moment. Well I can understand, I too had this one question in my mind that I did not ask him during the session:
“You say, you are the ‘ventriloquist’s puppet’ - Pray tell us who is the ventriloquist?”

Whatever the answer, I truly love your “Jugular Vein” – the column, that is!

“Blogger’s Post-Script – My personal treasurable take-away was an autograph of Jug I took on a photcopy of one of my latest published articles - And this picture i took of Jug and his Bunny!”

Occupy [Fill-your-choiceofstreet-here]

While some would say that “Occupy Wall Street” is similar to “Chalo Ramlila Maidan”, the word “occupy” sets it apart. Several concerned citizens of India have raised doubts about any “Occupy [fill the prominent street in your city here]” would be a big challenge – we now have one cause that needs our immediate protest action - the paucity of places that can be “occupied”!

For a Mumbaikar like me, all the streets are already occupied – by hawkers, homeless street-dwellers, migrating construction workers, illegal stalls, jobless youth looking for some roadside entertainment, auto rickshaws, cars, buses commuting those fortunate to be employed to their place of work and even by stray dogs that are rapidly growing in numbers everywhere.


In short it is occupied - by all of us!

But the ones who can really be said to be ‘occupying’ the streets in the true sense of the term, are the construction agencies, who are busy building flyovers, metro lines, skywalks and such structures that we would need “for a better tomorrow”, while we are urged “to bear with us today”!

With a clearly drawn out strategy, these agencies coordinate efficiently to plan where to pitch their giant mechanized earth-digging equipment appropriately called ‘bull-dozers’. Squatting in the middle of a busy road isn’t possible without some amount of bull-dozing! But squatting in public places is a common phenomenon – zunka-bhakarstalls, roadside vendors, paan-bidi shops - they all do it with the ‘cooperation’ of the local goons. Thanks to all these occupants, ‘occupying a street’ is close to impossible – not even to protest for the paucity of space to “occupy”!

Why do we even want to get on to already crowded streets to protest, when the national TV channels can do just as well, one may ask? With the phenomenon of squatting having caught up in news channels too, getting their attention is not an easy task either. The spokespersons of all leading parties, political commentators and editors of newspapers and periodicals seem to have a permanent slot allocated to them. The controversies are never allowed to die down – or at least until another one emerges. The need of the hour is to protest about the dearth of space to ‘occupy’, but to gain a foothold in the visual media would be quite an ordeal, for the simple fact that it is already “occupied”! But how can anyone appear there unless one takes to the streets to highlight the predicament we face?

Even the print media is not free from this ‘Over-occupied’ phenomenon considering the dearth of available print space to reach out to the readers. ‘Letters to the editor’, the usual place where a common man rants out his regular grievances is too scant to do justice to the incoming flood of mails. And again – who really reads them? Too many matters to raise and just too little space to do it!

That leaves hardcore protestors wanting to enter the living rooms of millions of television viewers with only one option – to head to the already occupied streets armed with placards, slogans, street-plays and the necessary pluck to break prohibitory orders. That would mean courting arrest aka “Jail Bharo andolan’ , a call to ‘occupy’ prisons. But high profile self-serving public servants and greedy corporate honchos who indulged in “Jeb Bharo” practices have ended up “bharoing” jails, when caught in the act, and created an acute shortage of available prison cells. The planned capacities of prison cells have not taken into account this sudden surge of late – and we cannot even blame the Planning Commission for it!

This capacity crunch could leave thousands of jail-bharo aspirants out on the cold this winter – all this in spite of the high incidence of hospitalization due to the highly predictable post-arrest chest pain that shifts the pressure on to the cool comforts of a Hospital in the city. The trend is disturbing - that could mean that those with genuine emergencies could find admission to the nearby hospital an ordeal in itself.

Our public transport, like trains and buses, are so much “bharoed” already, that getting a toe-hold on the last step is all one can hope for. Mumbaikars would do with some coaching institutes which teach them how to get into crowded buses and trains – but no sooner that this wish is granted, be sure of a long queue of aspirants seeking admission like we witness in all our schools and colleges.

A committed public servant, an acquaintance of mine, who courted arrest at an anti-corruption rally he joined recently, shared with me his predicament:

“Forget jails, dear friend, when I felt the pressure of nature’s call, even our innovative chain of “Sulabh Shouchalayas” failed to meet the surge of demand of those assembled at the maidan – they were all, well, “Occupied”!

One had to curb the curiosity to find out how he had dealt with the situation - and instead offered this response, perhaps unwittingly:

“Aah! Now I know why a fast is an important, integral part of any street protest in India!”

Book Review: "Ethics For Our Times" by MV Nadkarni

Ethics For Our Times - Essays in Gandhian Perspective
M. V. Nadkarni

ISBN13: 9780198073864
ISBN10: 0198073860
Hardback, 288 pages
Published by Oxford University Press in 2011



About the Author:

Mangesh V. Nadkarni is an Honorary Visiting Professor, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru - a former ICSSR National Fellow and Former Vice-Chancellor, Gulbarga University. An author of several books such as “SocioEconomic Conditions In Droughtprone Areas : A BenchMark Study Of Drought District Of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka And Tamil Nadu” (1985) ; “Hinduism: A Gandhian Perspective” ; “Social Science Research In India HB” among others.

About the Book – A Book Review by Gopinath Mavinkurve

The book is an analytical treatise containing essays delving into the relevance of Gandhian thought in negotiating with contemporary dilemmas. Critically examining conventional notions of good and bad, it presents a comprehensive analysis of ethics as a conceptual framework and guide to the problems of rapidly globalizing societies. The author explores issues related to economic development, social environment, humanism, culture and religion in the context of modern ethical aspects like social justice, equity, and harmony across different sections in societies. He stresses the need for a holistic approach to resolve moral questions in everyday life. In these scholarly dissertations presented in 9 essays, the author cites several thinkers from ancient philosophers to contemporary commentators of repute such as Amartya Sen, Ramachandra Guha, Gurucharan Das, Vandana Shiva and several others of international repute, to support the arguments put forth. Balancing Western notion of the ethical and the Hindu notions of Dharma, the author analyses Gandhi, the thinker, activist, and philosopher. He presents an engaging connection between three systems of thought—ethics, Gandhian principles, and the Hindu scriptures.

This book presents deep insights into the principles that the Mahatma stood for and lived by. To quote VM Rao, who has written the Foreword to this book, “This book makes an admirable attempt to explore the building blocks need to construct such a wide agenda. He is uniquely qualified for this task as a leading ecological economist, who has worked extensively and in-depth on the developmental issues relating to the poor and marginalized subsisting in locations with degraded resources and vulnerable to frequent disasters such as droughts and floods.” “Nadkarni pursues these dicta to their roots, going deep into Gandhian thought and vision for mankind. What distinguishes his approach is that he is a social scientist turning to Gandhi for guidance and not a Gandhian, who is usually prone to accepting Gandhi as an authority on all issues and problems.” VM Rao concludes with this recommendation: “I recommend the book to all those who are worried about ‘Today’ and wish for a peaceful and prosperous ‘Tomorrow’. Gandhi can help if and only when we are willing and even eager, to help ourselves.

In the essay titled “Ethics, Environment and culture”, the author discusses different approaches to the environmental problems like climate change, pollution of air, water and soil, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, shortage of vital resources like water and energy in the light of rapid industrialization and our tilted sense of ‘development’ which is construed to mean building dams, power plants, quoting Vandana Shiva’s deep feelings for the need for protection of natural resources and water bodies. Nadkarni balances the inevitable advancements of industrialized infrastructure projects, by suggesting 2 approaches – one, by using technology to reduce pollution per every unit of produce from the intended project and two, the Gandhian way of reducing wants, particularly of the type which consume large amounts of energy. But ground realities are far from these noble intentions, industries are known to turn on their effluent treatment plants upon sighting Pollution Control Board officials, while surreptitiously letting untreated waste into our rivers – even the Holy Ganga is not spared, although on an auspicious day one may bow reverently before it! Such is the paradox - our teachings and our thoughtless worldly behavior! Nadkarni steers clear of vindictive attacks on the functioning (or otherwise of) government bodies, while subtly bringing out this dichotomous behavior, in his inimitable style.

Apart from the stated Gandhian perspective, the author also presents a couple of essays delving deep into the foundations of Hinduism and how ethical behaviour had been a predominant part of early Hindu thought as is evident from the scriptures – The Bhagwad Gita, the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Puranas, the Vedas and the Upanishads. The essay titled “Humanism in Hinduism” is an enlarged and revised version of his Shri G. R. Bhatkal Memorial lecture presented at the Indian Institute of World Culture, Bengaluru in February 2009.

In the final essay, titled “Ethics in Hinduism”, the intricacies of ‘Dharma’ have been discussed, emphasizing how ‘dharma’ sustains society, ensures the well-being and the progress of society. Our actions, thoughts, knowledge, acts of philanthropy – each of these can be either satvik, rajasik or tamasik as has been amply demonstrated in the essays presented in this book. A donation made without any expectation with due respect and regard to the receiver is satvik, one made for the sake of gaining importance or popularity in society is considered rajasik, while one given grudgingly and with contempt to the receiver is tamasik, as has been mentioned in the ancient Hindu scriptures. This very tenet of life shows how purity of mind and thought is necessary although all these are acts may be perceived to be acts of kindness in society.

The essays have carefully avoided being preachy or suggestive of wanting to change the world or even to influence the reader to change for the better – what I intend to convey is that it is not a self-help book, but merely presents various teachings from writings of yore that stand the test of time and become relevant to readers even to this day. A truly well-researched study on the subject, presented in a lucid language, for those readers interested in such analytical essays on moral philosophy. The book has global appeal, having been published in 2011 - the current times being of moral turbulence and depravity. Can we not find the relevance of this topic in such times, when societies in several parts of the world are sinking lower in their credibility, dependability and reliability leading to a crisis of morality with its awful social and financial behavior in public life every passing day?
The book is available on Flipkart, E-bay and several other websites in India and abroad.

Weblinks
Oxford University Press link

Available on Flipkart here

Available on E-bay

Blogger's Post-Script: This book review has been published in the Kanara Saraswat Magazine Nov 2011 Diwali issue.

Book Review - The Storyteller of Marrakesh by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya

The central hub of activity in the city of Marrakesh is the enchanting Jemaa El Fna, a central square where acrobats, trapeze artists, jugglers, painters, fortunetellers and several such skilled street entertainers make an earning from the visitors who come from all over the world to this city in Morocco, perhaps seeking to get away from their own trappings and spend their brief vacation here. Hassan is a popular story teller who takes up the profession from his father who had mastered the art of storytelling and had been enthralling the audience with his tales. Hassan is not just a narrator, but a showman who can hold his audience with a tale in which is also woven the culture and folklore of the places in and around Marrakesh.

Once in a year, Hassan, tries to reconstruct the events that took place on one fateful night, when a foreigner couple – a French-American woman, whose beauty charmed the locals and the gentleman accompanying her had visited the Jemaa and had several interactions with the locals in their short stay there, before disappearing altogether. The mystery of their disappearance is one story that Hassan tries to reconstruct with each of the persons pitching in with their own story of what they had experienced. Although each one differs with the other in describing the couple, the several small stories are pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that each participant helps Hassan put together to get closer to the events that took place in the square that night.

Several questions baffle those assembled – Were they abducted and killed? Did they escape into some other part? Were they running away from someone? But several contradictions in the experiences of each of those present on that day and their fading memory of what had happened makes it quite an ordeal to get to the truth. But if someone does bring the story to its end - well almost – is Hassan’s wayward brother, Mustafa. Mustafa had always been fascinated with beautiful women even when he was a child, and his “free spirit” character and finds the newfound beautiful woman from the foreign land hard to resist.

The story teller does dwell briefly into their childhood and one is treated to some of their experiences in the desert as also to Hassan’s other two brothers. The book takes you to this enchanted land and its people’s social fabric, culture, lifestyles and much more as the mystery of the disappearance assumes the central point of narration. The language is interspersed with several local words to give the flavor of the place where the story is set – A glossary of such words has been provided by the author, Roy-Bhattacharya, an author of Indian Origin, who has presented the richness of Moroccan culture in this fascinating book.

Rating: 3.5/5

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