A haughty leader but loving hubby THERE are a few individuals who have shown such a powerful command in the English language both in the spoken and written forms as Winston Churchill.

The job (and social attitude) that stinks
Review by Kuldip Kalia
The Scavengers : Exploited Class of City Professionals by P.S. Vivek. Himalaya Publishing House, Delhi. Pages 118. Rs 150.

Rishis and their human side
Review by P.D. Shastri
Indian Legends by Nagendra K. Singh. A.P.H. publishing, New Delhi. Pages 383. Rs 600.

The house that Vaastu built
Review by M.L. Sharma
Remedial Vaastu Shastra by Bhojraj Dwivedi. Diamond Pocket Books, New Delhi. Pages 274. Rs 150.

A haughty leader but loving hubby

THERE are a few individuals who have shown such a powerful command in the English language both in the spoken and written forms as Winston Churchill. He is more remembered as an orator than a writer, who inspired his nation by his powerful speeches delivered in the House of Commons during World War II. Churchill believed in the power of words. It was in his school days that he cultivated the art of writing under the able guidance of his tutor, historian Somerville. His favourite writers were Edward Gibbon and Thomas Macaulay, who became the model for his literary compositions.

Churchill was a prolific letter-writer which is evident from his massive official and non-official correspondence distinguished for its literary flavour and clarity. But it is in his correspondence with his wife Clementine that he pours out his tender feelings. The book under review is “Winston and Clementine: the Personal Letters of the Churchills” edited by Mary Soames (Houghton Mifflin, pp702, $ 35).

Mary Soames, Churchill’s daughter, has made the present selection out of 1,700 letters. She has been superbly assisted in this task by Ann Hoffman who transcribed the hand-written letters, added notes and prepared the index. These letters present Churchill as a family man, free and frank, deeply concerned about the welfare and advancement of his kith and kin.

Churchill was exceptionally self-centered, egotistical, proud, overbearing and impervious to the feelings of others. His wife knew what she was in for. She herself was ambitious. She loved the great world and also perks and offices like the Admirality. The correspondence begins and ends with touching endearment. They tell each other of their deep love. He knew that women need to be reassured that they are loved. She firmly believed in his destiny. After the debacle of the Dardanelles when he was condemned for his ineptitude, he wrote from the trenches on the western front.

“O my darling, do not write of ‘friendship’ to me. I love you more each month that passes and feel the need of you and all your beauty. My precious charming Clemmie..”

Or again:

“You cannot write to me too often and too long, my dearest and sweetest. The beauty and strength of your character and the sagacity of judgement are more realised by me every day.”

Clementine would complain when no letter came or when they came typewritten. She once wrote:

“My Darling, I do love you so much & I constantly think of you and of all you do and are. I send you my heart’s love.”

Later, “Miaow. Letters of faithful Mary & Moppet but no pigs’ paw.”

Churchill would write from the front bench in the House of Commons:

“Shall I send you some more money... I know that (economical) cat it is, but the Riviera is a frightfully expensive place... So now Sir Donald has finished his tame oration and L.I.G is on his legs. Once more, my tenderest love, I wish I could kiss your lips. Goodbye, my beloved. Here ends this fragmentary and discursive scribble from your faithful and churlish Pig.”

Churchill took flying lessons in 1914 at a time when aircraft crashed often. Clementine was pregnant and had nightmares. She wanted him to stop flying and pleaded and remonstrated in her letters. At last he gave in. He wrote, “Will not fly any more until at any rate, you have recovered from your kitten”.

Churchill could not forget the disaster of the Dardanelles in which thousands of British and Australian troops died. The catastrophe haunted him for the rest of his life. She believed, “I thought he would die of grief”. He also believed that his own political career was finished. But he never thought he had been at fault. He lay the blame for the debacle on the First Sea Lord, the eccentric and by that time deranged Admiral Jackey Fisher, who refused to carry out Churchill’s plan to send naval reinforcements to the Dardanelles, then resigned and refused to speak to him.

The Coalition Ministry fired Churchill, forcing him to resign, though he was given a sincure. But he joined the army and was attached to a battalion of Grenadier Guards. The Colonel told him on arrival, “We do not want to be inhospitable but I think it right to say that your coming out was not a matter in which we were given any choice.” Churchill was fearless and full of ideas for limited casualties. He became very popular among the Grenadiers and was later put in charge of a battalion of Scottish infantry.

Churchill wanted to return to Parliament to speak on naval expenditure. Asquith reminded him his father Randolph Churchill committed political suicide just by his one imprudent speech. His wife too pleaded with him that in no case he should return to Parliament as long as his battalion was in the front line. Churchill gave in, but in the end he returned when Lloyd George ousted Asquith as Prime Minister. Churchill eventually became a Minister again.

With the dissolution of Lloyd George’s Coalition, Churchill lost his seat in the general election but he managed to join the Conservative Party and Baldwin made him Chancellor of the Exchequer.

On quite a number of sensitive issues he deviated from the party line such as over independence to India, armament in the face of Hitler, the abdication of Edward VIII and the Munich Pact.

When the war came Prime Minister Chamberlain had no choice but to offer him his old post as head of the Admirality. But again the fiasco of the British army and navy landing in Norway when the German army invaded that country in 1940 exposed his bad judgement and incompetence. But when France fell, Chamberlain was forced out and Churchill found himself master of his destiny.

Britain was in a difficult situation. The army was virtually a shambles. The Germans were massing to attack Britain. Politically Churchill was on a weak wicket. There was general demoralisation. In the Cabinet he was facing strong opposition from men like Halifax and Rab Butler who were desperately trying to reach a settlement with the Germans. Churchill was inflexible. It was at this precise moment that Clementine wrote him a remarkable letter:

“My darling, I hope you will forgive me if I tell you something that I feel you ought to know.

“One of the men in your entourage (a devoted friend) has been to me and told me that there is a danger of your being generally disliked by your colleagues and subordinates because of your sarcastic overbearing manner. It seems your private secretaries have agreed to believe like schoolboys and ‘take what is coming to them’ and then escape out of your presence shrugging their shoulders. Higher up if an idea is suggested (say at a conference), you are supposed to be so contemptuous that presently no ideas, good or bad, would be forthcoming. I was astonished and upset because in all these years I have been accustomed to all those who have worked with and under you, loving you. I said this and, was told ‘No doubt, it is the strain’.

“My dear Winston. I must confess that I have noticed a deterioration in your manner and you are not so kind as you used to be.

“It is for you to give the orders and if they are bungled, except for the King, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Speaker, you can sack anyone and everyone. Therefore with this terrific power you must combine urbanity, kindness and if possible Olympian calm... I cannot bear that those who save the country and yourself should not love you as well as admire and respect you.

“Besides, you won’t get the best results by irascability and rudeness. They will breed either dislike or a slave mentality (rebellion in war time being out of the question).

“Please forgive your loving and watchful Clemmie.”

Clementine wrote this letter while living in the same house. Why did she not talk over the matter with him? According to Mary Soames, she was not good at arguing and she tended to spoil her case by exaggerating and going on too long, and he became furious. That is why she preferred to write this letter which shows her sharp intelligence, common sense and good manners.

In 1942 when Churchill was planning to reshuffle his Cabinet, she pleaded with him not to include Max Beaverbrook in his Cabinet. “Exorcise this bottle imp and see if the air is not clearer or purer.” But Winston was not willing to oblige her. Beaverbrook’s charm prevailed. After the war Churchill often stayed with him in Jamaica and again at Cap d’ Ail on the Riviera where they celebrated the golden anniversary of their wedding.

A lasting disagreement was about Chartwell, the country house in Kent. In September, 1922, despite her protests, Churchill bought the house “damp with dry rot”. After the fall of the Lloyd George government he lost his seat after 22 years in Parliament. All through his life he had worked as a journalist without a break. It was his only means of support unless he held a ministerial salary. But nothing stopped him from buying Chartwell... He learnt bricklaying, took up farming but after the war had to sell the property.

This correspondence shows how their son Randolph and eldest daughter Diana distressed their parents. Diana was twice married and divorced. She died of an overdose of sleeping pills. Sarah, the second daughter, married thrice. The third husband died after a year and she turned an alcoholic. She was arrested for drunkenness and Winston and Clementine were mortified.

Their consolation lay in the third daughter, Mary, the editor of this volume and the biographer of her mother. She married a successful Conservative politician who was a Cabinet Minister until the fall of the Alec Duglas-Hume’s government. Later he was appointed Vice-President of the European Commission. He became the leader of the House of Lords. Margaret Thatcher dismissed him.

Churchill was wilful, self-righteous and at time impossible to deal with, but he could be generous. He was capable of infinite sympathy and charity. To India he was hostile, but that is a different story. When the war ended, he told the crowd assembled to cheer him, “A terrible foe has been cast on the ground and awaits our judgement and our mercy”. Mercy, Shakespeare had regarded, is the most “prized virtue” in life.

The job (and social attitude) that stinks
by Kuldip Kalia

The Scavengers : Exploited Class of City Professionals by P.S. Vivek. Himalaya Publishing House, Delhi. Pages 118. Rs 150.

A massive piling up of garbage characteristic of all urbanised areas has turned them into “cities of garbage”. Scavengers and sweepers are the professionals pressed into clearing it. They occupy the lowest rung of the social order. They are treated as untouchables because they remove human excreta . But our own narrow interest in remaining clean does not help us fault the practice of carrying night soil on their head. This hypocritical approach has frustrated all efforts at improving the plight of scavengers. A beginning has to be made by introducing the mechanised sanitation system and also involving people directly in waste management.

The book under review has made an attempt to find out the reasons for their social segregation in the urban areas; traces the impact of migration and urbanisation on scavengers and highlights the effects on their working conditions in the absence of leadership. Also points out hidden tensions and contradictory tendencies in their socio-cultural fabric. The present study is confined to the “safai kamgars” of Mumbai.

Sweepers and scavengers constitute a special group among the dalits. They rank the lowest in the social order. They are, perhaps, the most neglected, poor, socially suppressed and the most discriminated section of society but certainly play a significant role in urban society. They live in slums, marked by polluting environment with open gutters emanating a foul smell, thereby causing many diseases and subjecting the residents to other health hazards.

Various committees and commissions such as the V.N. Barve Committee (1949), the N.R. Malkani Committee (1957), the National Commission on Labour (1966), the Mehta Committee (1989) and the Task Force (1989) appointed by the Planning Commission looked into the practice of carrying night soil on head, working conditions, housing and wages. They all emphasised the need for the rehabilitation of scavengers and suggested concrete steps for improving their working conditions.

Unfortunately the stigma of untouchability exercises a powerful influence in the minds of the people. Tacit acceptance of the evil on the part of scavengers is another reason for the existence of untouchability even today.

It will not be out of context to mention that a sizeable number of safai kamgars in Mumbai are Balmikis but not recognised as a Scheduled Caste by the Government of Maharashtra. Moreover, the Buddhists, Christians and Muslims neither consider themselves belonging to the Scheduled Castes nor does their religion recognise or accept castes as such. In the absence of adequate data on the number and their average earning, the group feels harassed, particularly when they are required to produce a certificate of their being a Scheduled Caste at every stage. Even the issuing authorities do not spare them from harassment.

Harassment, exploitation, domination, oppression, subjugation and suppression (HEDOSS) are some negative aspects or indicators of sufferings which not only highlight their plight but also help understand the complexities in a better way.

It is an irony that most of them, who had come to Mumbai for some gainful employment, have to be content with the job of safai kamgar. They were not performing this job at their native place. Primarily they are now engaged in the activities linked with waste material, including removal of human excreta and domestic garbage, and maintaining the complicated sewage system. Undoubtedly these are unpleasant jobs but there is no choice. They are looked down upon as unclean and thus of being undertaken by the untouchables.

On the religious ground, they believe that they are in such a cursed stage because of the sins committed in the previous life. Even culturally, they are kept at a distance, being segregated from the rest of society and a target of humiliation. For all this, they survive in abject poverty.

They are rarely unemployed but underemployment is their way of life. That is why their expenditure always exceeds their income and this forces them to borrow money. Loans are generally taken in the event of marriage in the family, visit to the native place, to repair the hut or sickness in the family. It appears odd but is a fact that despite indebtedness, the trend of possessing TV sets and other such items is getting stronger.

Surprisingly they keep the city clean but when it comes to maintaining their own surroundings, they almost ignore or neglect cleanliness. Smoking is prevalent among women. Men consume lot of liquor. Offering liquor to the guest is considered a sign of hospitality.

They are not free from other social evils such as child marriage, child labour and even in certain cases the sale of wives. Children are not sent to schools because they feel that nothing is taught there which could be useful to them. Safai kamgars are normally arrogant and quarrelsome. But what unites them is the “identifiable section” with a “distinctive identity”.

Undoubtedly, sweepers and scavengers are professionals and guardians of sanitation and hygienic environment. Municipal corporations, hospitals, airports, railway platforms, educational institutions, housing societies and private undertakings cannot do without them. Moreover existence without them is unbearable, rather unthinkable.

It is interesting to note that they are organised, having their own rules and regulations and a code of conduct. No safai kamgar enters the place of work of another kamgar in any establishment. The code is applied to all irrespective of the community they belong. If anyone breaches it, he is liable for punishment. The offender faces expulsion or the “hookah pani bandh” treatment.

Attempts are being made to channelise this militancy into constructive acts. The most heartening aspect is that they have developed an urban orientation without breaking their links with the ancestral place, and caste differences are weakening.

Innovations and improvement in equipment like long-handled brooms, flush system and protective clothing will slowly diminish direct contact between the worker and the refuse matter. The job will be more professionalised and thereby help in removing the “socio-cultural religious” stigma attached to the work and the workers.

Rishis and their human side
by P.D. Shastri

Indian Legends by Nagendra K. Singh. A.P.H. publishing, New Delhi. Pages 383. Rs 600.

THIS voluminous book is divided into three parts. The first deals with Vedic rishi Shunah-Shepa, whose name is associated with many verses. The second is about “The heaven’s dog” named Sarma. The third recounts the legends of well-known sages Vishvamitra and Vasishtha.

These three names hardly ring a bell in the mind of a general reader. Shunah-Shepa is practically unknown. The author traces their legends, starting with the Vedas and going on to the Brahman scriptures and the Upanishads (which the orthodox regard as part of the Vedas, though reformers like Swami Dayananda assert that the Vedas are only the mantra portion), Nirkuta, the puranas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and other scriptures.

Every version is different and in all it is a bewildering variety. Of course, there are dominant versions of these legends, which are generally accepted.

Shunah-Shepa, Vasishtha and Vishvamitra are no ordinary mortals. The Rig Veda has ten “mandals” (books) and Vasishtha is credited with having created the whole of the seventh “mandal” comprising 104 hymns (or chapters). Each hymn contains a number of mantras (verses). Vishwamitra is responsible for the whole of third mandal, consisting of 63 hymns. The same is true of Shunah-Shepa but to a lesser degree.

To the ignorant and the unlettered, these sages are the authors or makers of these mantras. To devotees and scholars, these rishis were just seers and the Vedic texts are divine compositions and revealed to these sages.

For instance, Vishvamitra is the rishi of the all-important Gayatri mantra, the pride of Hinduism which countless millions through the millennia have practised for yajna, etc. and recited it repeatedly for spiritual self-fulfilment.

There are a total of 226 rishis of the Rig Veda, of which 22 are women, whose share is a respectable 200 mantras. It shows the exalted status of Aryan woman in the Vedic age.

The author starts with the Vedas to recount these legends. But the Vedas contain no history or geography; if they did, they would be limited in time and place while we consider them timeless and eternal. There are some allusions and references to the names of rishis which later literature developed in its own way. The name Vasishtha occurs in the Rig Veda 50 times, that of Vishwamitra a little less.

We start with the legend of sage Shunah-Shepa, the least known of these three immortals. His name literally means dog’s tail or one who looks like a dog, not a flattering name.

King Harishchandra, the greatest embodiment of truth and who was the idol of Mahatma Gandhi, lived in Sat Yuga or the earliest golden age. As in the case of great kings, he had everything except a son. On the advice of his family priest Vasishtha, he undertook a severe penance of Varuna to beget a son. His effort bore fruit and he had a son. But there was a condition that the boy would be sacrificed to Varuna (what was the purpose of having such a son?).

Still the king accepted the boon, hoping for the best. When the boy Rohit was born Varuna appeared to demand his due. A compromise was soon evolved: the king should sacrifice a “purchased” boy and then the curse would be lifted.

Shunah-Shepa was a son of a poor person named Ajigarta. He was sold for 100 cows (in some versions for 1000 cows plus some gold).

The boy was tied to a stake awaiting execution. But Samitir, the official killer of sacrificial animals, refused to kill such a handsome boy. His father offered to do the job for many times the usual fee. In the meantime, Vishwamitra taught the boy Varuna mantra, by repeating which Varuna was pleased and let go the boy. Later this Shunah-Shepa became one of the great saints and a path-breaker of Aryan civilisation and culture.

The second part of this work deals with a heaven’s dog or the divine bitch named Sarma. “Panis” (demons) stole Indra’s cows and kept these in their mountain hideout, inaccessible to all people. Indra commissioned the dog Sarma to trace the cows. She found the cows.

The “Panis” offered to make Sarma their sister and give her much wealth and other things if she joined them. But man’s best friend and symbol of loyalty did not betray her master Indra. The cows were retrieved.

The bitch secured from Indra a boon to make cow’s milk the best diet for humanity.

Opinions among Vedic scholars differ. Prof Kuhn thinks that Sarma stands not for a dog, but for storm. Max Muller thinks Sarma means the dawn; the cows, bright rays of dark monsoon clouds, had been stolen by demons (forces of darkness or night). The Vedic hymns in praise of the dawn are magnificent poetry.

B.G. Tilak, the greatest scholar in his work “Arctic Home in the Vedas”, floats the theory that the original home of the Aryans was not Asia as commonly held but the north pole; they were exasperated with never-ending night and prayed for the dawn.

The third part (running to 183 pages) deals with the two great seers, Vasishtha and Vishwamitra.

Vasishtha had an exalted divine birth, being the son of Brahma. Vishwamitra was the son of a king, hence a Kshatriya.

According to Sayana and other scholars, Vasistha was born again and again. Otherwise it does not stand to reason how Vasishtha and Vishwamitra were present at the time of Raja Harishchandra (the former was the king’s priest, while to the latter, Harishchandra gifted his kingdom in a dream and he and his family were sold as slaves. They were also present in the days of Ram (Treta yug), long years later.

Vasishtha replaced Vishwamitra as the family priest of Raja Harishchandra. When Vishwamitra came to King Dashartha’s court, Vasishtha was already the family priest. He took over from him. In ancient times, both were family priests of the great king of that age, Sudasa.

Their rivalry was intense. The story of their enmity is all over ancient literature (only the Vedas make a single indistinct reference to it). Vasistha called Vishwamitra a rajrishi (a Kshatriya saint); Vasishtha was a Brahma rishi (Brahman saint). This made a world of difference. According to one version, Vishwamitra killed all Vasishtha’s 100 sons one by one, for calling him a raj rishi. According to another version, Vasishtha’s 100 sons were killed by King Sudasa’s descendants, his one time patron. Vasishtha was so much heart-broken that he sought to commit suicide by jumping into the river Beas by tying himself in a net. (The river however released him and so the Beas is called “vipasa”, one that frees man from web).

This proves that makers of our civilisation and culture were after all human beings, with all frailties and foibles. To give more examples of human wekness: once there was a 12-year-long famine and Vishwamitra had to eat dog’s meat. At another time, he went without food for three days. He went to steal food from the palace of Varuna and with the power of mantras, he put to sleep watch dogs and watchmen.

Such accounts tell us how our ancestors, lived their lives tens of thousands of years ago. The fight between the gods and demons represents the war between good and evil forces. Those were the times when the gods frequently came to earth, mixed with the humans, fought their wars. The people spent most of their time in prayer, penance and “yajnas”. As a reward gods gave them cattle, wealth, health and, most important of all, progeny.

The mythologies of India and Greece are world famous. History is the record of a people’s conscious actions, mythology of a nation’s collective unconscious, their hopes and fears, their dreams and fantacies. Study of mythology is necessary to understand the mass psychology of a nation. The ideas may be relative, but the ideology is absolute.

Anoher merit of this book is that it brings together hundreds of quotations from the Vedas, Brahmanas, Upanishads and the epics, in fact from the whole gamut of Hindu scripture.

A war India, Pak and others must win
by Randeep Wadehra

Mountain Ecosystems edited by Vir Singh and M.L. Sharma. Pages 264. Rs 400.

“GAS chambers!” This obnoxious phrase once used to conjure up images of hapless humanity being sent to its doom in Nazi Germany’s concentration camps. Ironically, now the term has become synonymous with our big cities, especially Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Calcutta. Breathing is becoming an increasingly laborious process in our urban areas. Bronchitis, asthma, blood cancer and other pollution-related ailments are on the increase.

The reasons for these are not far to seek. Every year more than two million vehicles are added to our city roads. And this rate is only going to increase considering the number of vehicle manufacturers competing for a market share.

Add to this industrial pollution due to our progress and lax enforcement of relevant pollution control laws and the dismal picture is complete.

Unfortunately this problem is not peculiar to any one country or region. The menace is global. Large-scale burning of fossil fuel, the “piercing” of the ozone shield through release of various gases, especially CFC, etc. have done untold damage to the atmosphere. There is a slight misunderstanding of the term “greenhouse effect”. It has somehow acquired sinister overtones.

In reality greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides, etc. are essential for absorbing and reflecting back the infra-red rays in order to maintain earth’s temperature at levels conducive to life. But beyond a limit these very gases can cause the warming of earth to an intolerable and lethal level. In the long run this can prove fatal to life forms as they exist today.

In fact chlorofluorocarbons are man-made compounds that are doing real damage to the atmospheric balance. This is not to ignore the destructiveness of hydrocarbons and other noxious chemical compounds.

Environmental degradation has also adversely affected water and soil. Alarmingly, our mountain eco-systems are fast reaching the state of unsustainability.

In this book Sunderlal Bahuguna, that great environmentalist, avers that the destiny of the people of Nepal, India, China, Pakistan, Burma, Bangladesh and even Afghanistan is linked with the health of the Himalayas. He warns that the so-called development in the region is playing havoc with the Himalayan eco-system. He has drawn a very disturbing picture of the Himalayan ecological situation.

Other writers like Smitu Kothari, Ajeet Kumar, Binod Bhattarai, and Virendra Singh too have given graphic details of the region’s environmental degradation and have suggested various remedies to save the unique eco-system.

***

Encyclopaedia of World Environment, Vol 3 — Wild Life by P.R. Trivedi. APH Publishing, New Delhi. Pages vi + 361. Rs 3000 (for the set of five volumes).

This is the third of the five volumes compiled by Prof Trivedi. It gives useful information of wildlife conservation and bio-resources. Written in a lucid style, this book dwells on the distribution of flora and fauna in India, the various endangered species, wildlife reserves, national parks, etc. The volume has separate chapters on The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and The Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 1991.

How one wishes that the trigger- happy neo-rich brats were not only acquainted with these laws but also punished suitably for killing the denizens of the wild.

The publishers should come out with a more affordable edition so that those genuinely interested in our rich bio-resources could buy them.

What one fails to understand is the reason for such high prices of publications that are so essential for educating the common reader about the perils confronting our environment. I found Vandana Shiva’s “Biotechnology and the Environment” — for which I had paid Rs 30 — and the “Survey of Environment 1997” published by The Hindu, and modestly priced too, far better value for money.

Incidentally The Hindu publishes the survey annually. Articles are analytical and contemporary. These are based on empirical data and hence more reliable.

***

Life and Art by Gurtej. Raman Publications, Dabwali. Pages 143. Rs 195.

All life is precious and human life sacred. We know this, yet we can be callously forgetful of human tragedies occurring in our vicinity. The exceptions are those who are directly affected by such tragedies. How many of us remember the Dabwali calamity? For that matter, how many of us can recall similar tragedies in which children lost their lives in the past, say, five years?

What sort of society we live in which cannot even pause for a moment and pay homage to the departed souls, victims of someone else’s cruel carelessness? Gurtej’s book is a personal emotion-charged reaction to the loss of his wife Ranjeet, son Gagan Deep and daughter Raman Deep in the December 23, 1995, tragedy.

But one should not be surprised. A people that cynically ritualise the date of the Mahatma’s murder, who shrug their shoulders when others get killed in natural disasters, cannot be expected to burden themselves by a mere fire tragedy. The sorrow shall necessarily remain personalised, only to become a dull throbbing pain eventually.

I quote from the author’s poem “Sufferings can never be compared/May these be spared! Sufferings can never be cured/These can but be endured. Sufferings invite exploitation/The sufferer has no audience/ ... Loss is loss, gain is gain/All are with the winner/Who, with the defeated, will remain?”

Any answers to the poser?

***

How to receive Sri Satya Sai Baba’s Grace compiled and edited by Satya Pal Ruhela. Diamond Pocket Books, New Delhi. Pages 312. Rs 100.

It is said that one is closest to God when one is in pain or peril. Basically selfish, human beings turn to Him only in moments of crisis. We devise various ways of reaching Him, by going on pilgrimages, distributing alms, chasing godmen or praying at home.

Once upon a time Sri Satya Sai Baba was a rage among the nation’s elite. Politicians, intellectuals, scientists, Generals, Admirals and Air Chief Marshals led the pack in having the Baba’s darshan. Then things changed, and the Baba is now a recluse. Spiritualism, politics and materialism can be a high octane explosive mix.

The author has compiled the experiences of various devotees of the Baba. Needless to say, they are all in his praise. It always makes one wonder about the divine experiencess that these people are able to have, or the miracles they behold. I too was once a Baba devotee. All that I could witness was the petty politicking for the posts of treasurer, president, etc. of local committees. Perhaps I am still in my tamasic stage of existence.

Anyway this book is a reasonably readable fare for those who believe that an external agent can help one attain moksha.

Poet Politician Atal Behari Vajpayee by Chandrika Prashad Sharma. Vikas Paperbacks Publications, New Delhi. Pages 261. Rs 195.

***

Poet Politician Atal Behari Vajpayee by Chandrika Prashad Sharma. Vikas Paperbacks Publications, New Delhi. Pages 261. Rs 195.

Expectedly, Sharma has adopted a eulogistic tone while writing about his subject. Vajpayee has effectively remained in the saddle for only 13 months, too short a period to evaluate his performance. True, he made his presence felt as Foreign Minister in the first Janata experiment. Granted that he has been a member of several high powered delegations to the UNO and other international fora. But they do not add up to making Vajpayee a statesman, as the impact of his contributions could hardly be felt even at the national level.

Therefore, it would be premature to place him on a pedestal, although it is true that he is arguably the tallest among today’s politicians. But Gulliver, a normal statured man, was considered a giant by the Lilliputians! Before you damn me as a Vajpayee baiter, please ask yourself an honest question, “Why is Vajpayee the tallest among Indian politicians?”

The answer is only one: He has a clean image. Nevertheless, isn’t our democratically eleced representative expected to possess one? Vajpayee’s stature has got more to do with the fact he is surrounded by pygmies than to any grand gesture or achievements on his part. Anyway to remain unsoiled in what once an embittered Amitabh Bachchan had described as a cesspool, is no mean achievement.

Our publishers are an honest lot. If, unfortunately, you are bitten by the creative writing bug and are original to boot, you will be told quite candidly that even though your writings are very good, these are not saleable because you are a nobody. In India, you have to be somebody to get published. And if that somebody happens to be a political heavyweight, then even his trash would sell.

Don’t get me wrong, Vajpayee’s poems are certainly not trash, but I am prepared to bet the shirt on my back that his works would have become moth-eaten manuscripts if he were not a political heavyweight. His poems are good, but certainly not masterpieces. They must have had a ring of truth about them before he became Prime Minister, but today some of them at least sound less than honest. The politician has throttled the poet in him.

For example his poem, “... Can’t bend” in which he proclaims, “I’ll break myself but not bend/Struggle of truth fighting with power/Justice struggling with despotism as a trend/darkness challenges the light./That last ray is getting last in fight./The lamp of resoluteness flickers not .../I take a vow to fight.../I’ll break myself but not bend.”

Over to Jayalalitha.

The house that Vaastu built
by M.L. Sharma

Remedial Vaastu Shastra by Bhojraj Dwivedi. Diamond Pocket Books, New Delhi. Pages 274. Rs 150.

RECENTLY there has been a spate of books on the subject of Vaastu. The present book covers all aspects besides providing useful tips to ward off evil effects due to Vaastu flaws in house building. Dr Bhojraj Dwivedi, a renowned astrologer, tantrik and expert on Vaastu, has studied the system as well as Feng Shui (pronounced Feng Shoy), an ancient Chinese art form and intuitive approach to arrange “our environment to be as beneficial as possible to us.”

In the second chapter “Vaastu shastra and five elements”, the author deals with the philosophy relating to the directions of a house. He says if the eastern side is lower than the western side and there are a good number of doors and windows, the whole building will receive ample sun rays for the well-being of the occupants. Windows in a house should be arranged in such a way that the occupants should have fuller access to sun rays which have a salutary effect on the health of the occupants.

The kitchen should be constructed in a proper place with no defects or cracks in its wall, there should be an outlet for the disposal of waste and rain water. Due care should be shown to the central portion of the plot as it is the most sacred area and is called “Brahma sthan”.

Dwivedi suggests that the square, rectangular (both ways), circular and hexagonal plots are auspicious as they bring prosperity and peace. Triangular, octagonal, cart-shaped and semicircular plots should be discarded. A small plot surrounded by two large plots should be rejected and more space should be kept on the east or west side of the plot.

A pomegranate sapling should be planted in the plot as it brings prosperity and wards off financial difficulties of the owner. If there are big multi-storeyed buildings or a big complex in the vicinity, it is advisable in affix a hexagonal or circular mirror over the terrace of your small house so that the shadow of those buildings will be reflected in the mirror; otherwise, they will rob you of your glory.

As the head of the “Vaastu Purusha” rests on the north-eastern side, the puja or meditation room should be built on this side, bathroom and water storage tanks be constructed on the eastern zone, kitchen in the south-east, and the storeroom on the northern side.

In a chapter “Formulae on building construction”, the author offers several remedial measures in the form of sacred mantras and spells to remove Vaastu defects. Such charms and mantras should be affixed on the east-west axis of the house, the front gate or the parapet. A green-coloured photograph or an idol of Lord Ganesha, should be installed on the front and rear sides of the building.

In another chapter, he says the construction of the house should not be started when the sun or the moon is weak, or when the sun is transiting through Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces signs. Idols of Durga, should be installed during the “Navratras”. Regarding house warming (griha pravesh), he suggests that the most suitable periods are in the months of January, February, April and May and medium periods are in the months of October and November and the “nakshtras” should be all three “uttaras”, Anuradha, Rohini, Mrigasirsa, Chitra, Revati, Dhanista, Shatbisha, Pushya, Ashwini and Hasta.

The author has offered several tips to ward off ill-effects like sitting under a beam, and using a revolving chair in workplace. Beams cause stress and strain, so it should be covered with a false ceiling and by placing two flutes made of bamboo and tied with a red cloth or ribbon with the mouth of the flutes pointing downwards.

Musical bells, plants and flowers, or small aquarium or pool, fountain, windmill, weather wanes statues, bamboos and flutes add to the beauty and the well-being of the occupants.

There is a whole chapter relating to the house location according to the zodiac signs (rashis). This is based upon a Tamil text “Shri Ram Nadi” by poet Bhim. Each sign has been divided into four segments with 7.5 degree each. For instance, he says, “Persons born under the first phase of Aries sign will have their houses in lanes which are situated in south-east directions with open spaces on the western side”.