December 16, 2011
Mario Miranda
Lunar Eclilpse and the Hoax of Scientific Temper
There is a famous anecdote about Thomas Alva Edison - world's greatest inventor-scientist. He is reading Bible in a train and a co-traveller surprised he is reading Bible even if with a scientific temper. Edison later invites him to his home. The traveller goes to Edison's home and suddenly notices an astonishing model of a solar system in the living room. He quizzes Edison who made it but Edison repeatedly says he only created it and that too in a day. The skeptic-guest gets exasperated and says,"C'mon Mr Edison. How can you make such a wonderful replica of a solar system in a day. Tell me who really made it." Edison was supposed to have replied: "If you can't believe that a mere replica of a solar system can't come up by itself, how did you think the entire solar system and the universe came up all by itself? If there is a creation, there has to be a creator. If there is a painting, there is a painting. If there is a sculpture, there is a sculptor. If there is an artwork, there has to be an artist." And so goes the tale, Edison has convinced the rationalist-skeptic-guest into believing that God is indeed the creator of this universe. This tale is recounted by a noted IT professional turned Spiritualist TT Rangarajn. But why am I suddenly saying this now? Because, I feel sometimes agog at the flurry of news channels trying to ignite an uproarious debate on whether the ongoing Lunar Eclipse has any repurcussions on pregnant women, children, eating habits, diseases and so on. I find it extremely silly that the so-called Rationalists dont argue with a scientific temper that it deserves - they just jump onto the moment's opportunity - why can't you eat during eclipse? Why should you close temples? Why you can do anything you like during this time? I cannot possibly answer all these questions in a sentence or a facebook post ( since I and my family take it quite seriously - these eclipses without abashedness whether it is scientific or not). But the fact is - a small micro-degree variation in an acquarium of small fish in temperature or water can kill the fish suddenly. When such a thing can happen in a small ecosystem like aquarium - imagine how much variation can happen when three huge planets Earth, Moon and Sun overlap in cosmic orbits and how many bacteria and micro-organisms get created as well as killed? Why do the Rationalists always argue for arguments' sake without seeing such a simple logic. Our systems also, as one seer opined in a channel, are so advanced we can tell all the eclipses that have happened or will happen for the next several millenia with just pen and paper and vernacular Almanacs. Can the scientists predict when the next eclipse or the next sub-cycle occur? I am reasonably rationalist but sometimes the blind nonsense that goes in the name of Rationalism to the point of pooh-poohing the inherent logical biases and scientific certitude that is embedded into our Astrological systems and good practices of living is not my cup of tea. We can take such debates later on but first let the scientists answer such simple questions as above. Right now, its time for us to have a headbath, recite a few more mantras, sprinkle water, cook fresh food and break our fast of more than 12 hours and go to sleep. Happy Lunar Eclipse to all!
"Panja" Movie Review
"Panja" is directed by Vishnuvardhan who made "Billa". It had Pawan Kalyan pinning such high hopes that he made the Audio launch also a low-key affair and under-stated. The movie will remain that way only - under-stated and low-key because while it is pleasing to the eye, it is hard on the ears. If you combine I-Day and R-Day celebrations since 1947 also, you will not have heard so many gunshots ...in one movie. When will movie-makers realise that people don't come to the theatre to hear gunshots and see stylised violence masquerading as a slick gangster movie. We got the feelling we have seen this movie before in "Antham" or "Godfather" or countless RGV films. Pawan Kalyan looks good with his richly-trimmed beard and subtle acting, he also strived to dance reasonably according to his capacity well. But the rest of the cast doesn't get the characterisation you remember. Another wasted opportunity for Jackie Shroff. Yuvan Shankar Raja's music is good in maybe two songs but his BGM could have been better - he can deliver more like his legendary dad Ilayaraja. The Movie's weakness is the story, below-average entertainment, and dialogues spoken and audible in Don's Dens - doesn't connect well. I wonder if I have the energy in the coming years to watch Tollywood Stars's wild antics on day one - I felt more disappointed with myself for throwing my money for the nth time on stars who are competing with their nephews but dont invest well in stories that sizzle or set them apart. My resolution for 2012 will be to skip such movies on day one and wait for another "Bakra" to review the film for me. Sorry Pawan, but you asked for it. Though I am digressing - what depressed me more is two sulking trailers during interval - of "Businessman" (Mahesh) and "Rajanna" - 2012 looks more depressing from output point of view in Tollywood. But I hope I don't stay in this mood for long. Something better be good soon.
The Dirty Picture
"The Dirty Picture" is not such a dirty picture to watch except for the adult content. I haven't seen Milan Luthria's "Once Upon a Time..." before so I went to the movie expecting to see a raunchy take of the movies of the 80s because the subject of the film played by Vidya Balan is "Silk". We recognised soon after the titles that it had astonishing prettiness, fluidity and a musical line. It sho...ws all the trappings of a nubile young thing becoming a starlet only to get into the lowlife that accompanies celluloid magic - the baggage of success that gets unwanted people, ego-clashes, financial woes and finally, souring of good luck. In the 160 minutes of the movie, you get a peek into the surreptious world of heroines who get drawn like moths to fires of stardom and adulation that utlimately deserts them. Vidya Balan portrays the character of "Silk" with utmost honesty and boldness rarely seen in the "Parineeta" girl and had she not played this character as a woman aware of her sensuality with guts and emotional chutzpah, the movie could have dangerously slipped into a C-grade film. Vidya gives this film its greatest reason to watch and its redemption and its dignity - you quickly move into a gear of emotional journey with the character in all the highs and the lows. Of all the men in her life -Naseerudin Shah stands out with Emran and Tussar not so effective. Writer Rajat Arora must be complimented for penning some outstanding lines seldom seen in Bollywood except in Art Films. He gives Vidya Balan the lines that even angry young men and stammering superstars don't get whistled for. Milan gets extra-ordinary support from Vishal Shekar in BGM and the song "Oo Lala Oo Lala". His shot selection, stylish picturisation and non-judgemental characterisation makes him watchable in commercial films. He has explained well why the 80s films of vamps and sirens have given away to the heroines themselves becoming and dressing like vamps. Vidya could well sweep all the awards this year. Watchable once but beware of some bold content.
The Purple Lotus- Book
Its not everyday you have a friend who writes for a living. Its not everyday that a writer friend publishes a book and you get one of the first autographed copies. I am talking about “The Purple Lotus and Other Stories” written by my friend Ratna Rao Shekar. I have known Ratna Rao Shekar for a little under eight years - more as an ardent book-lover and benign editor of “Wow Hyderabad” and “Housecalls”. While Wow has its instant appeal with the uber-cool of Hydurban, Housecalls is a deceptively lesser-known but over-appreciated magazine for Doctors but whose contents go beyond medical matters. After bringing out a coffee table book earlier “Journey without a map” which captures her best travel pieces from “Housecalls”, she is now the proud author of a much-awaited book, her debut book of short stories – THE PURPLE LOTUS. Though I read as much as one book of fiction as I read of eight books of non-fiction, I find the collection a good read- though it hems with adipose narrative at times.Thirteen stories in all, Ratna uses all of her travelling experiences to tell us tales of diverse folks making their own exploratory trips in Benares, Kerala, Sri Lanka, Kodaikanal, Darjeeling, New York, Singapore, Diu, Andaman and Italy.
If you love travel and the intersection of spaces between Personalised narrative, fiction and nostalgia, you will lap this book. Her style of writing, for those who read her stuff in Wow!Hyderabad and Housecalls is reflective, natural and honest. There is a bit of Naipaul-like prose – and Proust-like dabbling commentary on everything under the sun but centred on filial relations, literary love, careers, kindness and writerly raptures. Having published stories and articles in leading magazines and newspapers, I knew Ratna Rao had the material of many books. Here she gives her rich, unbiased observations on things as they were on matters from loving and death to spirituality and materialism to the emptiness as well as fulfillment that fills most lives. How happy each is in their world and how uniquely unhappy or messier others get – you are given snapshots of both in first and second accounts. The book is a decent debut of short stories that you will eventually connect with in the multiple characters – of writers, spiritualists, dancers, engineers, artistes, doctors, teeny-boppers, sahasrapoornima-seen grandmothers, even tribals. Of course, you may not like every story for the prisms through which the writer characterizes the players but it is quite a quality effort for a writer to publish her first book of short-stories – Ratna’s book bears her own stamp, and with a belief in world-view in a voice that’s her own. Somerset Maugham has given only one solid piece of wisdom for any aspiring writer – Write what you know. Ratna Rao projects her knowledge of things literary and of human nature very well. “Purple Lotus” acquaints you well with a journalist-writer who has never shied from writing passionately and honestly about. For those who know her, there are few stories which are autobiographical and revealing and definitely a tribute to some of her closed ones who nurtured and mentored her. The book is published by Mapinlit (www.mapinpub.com) with an elegant cover and truly international-class printing standards (who else, but Pragati Printing can do it). Congratulations!
If you love travel and the intersection of spaces between Personalised narrative, fiction and nostalgia, you will lap this book. Her style of writing, for those who read her stuff in Wow!Hyderabad and Housecalls is reflective, natural and honest. There is a bit of Naipaul-like prose – and Proust-like dabbling commentary on everything under the sun but centred on filial relations, literary love, careers, kindness and writerly raptures. Having published stories and articles in leading magazines and newspapers, I knew Ratna Rao had the material of many books. Here she gives her rich, unbiased observations on things as they were on matters from loving and death to spirituality and materialism to the emptiness as well as fulfillment that fills most lives. How happy each is in their world and how uniquely unhappy or messier others get – you are given snapshots of both in first and second accounts. The book is a decent debut of short stories that you will eventually connect with in the multiple characters – of writers, spiritualists, dancers, engineers, artistes, doctors, teeny-boppers, sahasrapoornima-seen grandmothers, even tribals. Of course, you may not like every story for the prisms through which the writer characterizes the players but it is quite a quality effort for a writer to publish her first book of short-stories – Ratna’s book bears her own stamp, and with a belief in world-view in a voice that’s her own. Somerset Maugham has given only one solid piece of wisdom for any aspiring writer – Write what you know. Ratna Rao projects her knowledge of things literary and of human nature very well. “Purple Lotus” acquaints you well with a journalist-writer who has never shied from writing passionately and honestly about. For those who know her, there are few stories which are autobiographical and revealing and definitely a tribute to some of her closed ones who nurtured and mentored her. The book is published by Mapinlit (www.mapinpub.com) with an elegant cover and truly international-class printing standards (who else, but Pragati Printing can do it). Congratulations!
BRIC and its Creator's New Book "The Growth Map"
Jim O Neil who created BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as an investible asset-class ten years ago (alongwith Roopa Purushottaman - Indian with Kishore Biyani group now) is finally releasing his book on the theme this month. Title:"The Growth Path" is releasing on the tenth anniversary of the coinage of BRICs by the Goldman Sachs team and I am awaiting to see what more denouements he will add. At the moment, nobody is on a wing and a prayer as much as Investors in BRIC countries and Investors residing in BRIC countries with a home bias.
December 5, 2011
Dev Anand Saab
88 is an age even Gregory Peck who is called America's Dev Anand hasn't lived. While we all recollect the golden period that Dev Anand belonged to - there are many things that made Dev Anand adorable and different. My father and I read his autobiography "Romancing with Life" avidly and recount his candour, zen for life and creative juices that kept flowing till the last. Dev was well-read throughout and didn't stop reading after B.A.English Lit. For most of the actors or anybody, reading was something to be done when you have lots of time and money. Hardly the case with Dev Anand - he made movies despite dwindling response - movies spurred by reading a Times edit or an article in "India Today". Movies with Rs.1-2 crs. budgets with a point or two on current issues. So what if Bharat Dabholkar asked the famous questions: "Who watches Dev Anand's films now?" and "Who finances his films?". Dev Anand took care of his health (almost as legendarily as ANR does today). He takes wine to de-clog his arteries in the same doses as kids take alcohol - in teaspoonfuls or tiny pegs each day. He never worried about his health or wealth, never let his stardom get to his family in arclights. He gave many starturns to star aspirants- male and female - and gave them teasers and cameos. He gained commercially sometimes and left the starturns to happen based on the young actors' luck and self-belief. He knew that his self-belief took him to the pedestal that he stood on and thought that the world will continue to oogle at him. In his heydays, he took on mighty superstars with his youthful effervescence and taught stylish dressing to so many of our fathers and grand-fathers. He was mighty humble and never believed he was the smartest guy in town - I remember he came to one of the cine awards function in South and somebody was introducing Bhanumathy Ramakrishna as a multil-faceted lady - Director, playwright, singer, producer, writer etc. Dev said he was astonished and humbled by her talents. A few years back, he hugged Saif Ali Khan who was imitating Dev Anand at another Awards Nite - so much for his ability to laugh at himself. Dev Anand had great work-life balance but worked hard to deliver creative output with 18-hour schedules. He gave space to so many talented music directors and technicians - SD Burman, RD Burman, Kishore Kumar and so on. He built a studio NavKetan Films that boasts of a marquee catalogue of films that will mostly stand the onslaught of time. Yes, he had famous run-ins with literary giants like Pearl S.Buck and RK Narayan and gave us International Productions and Bi-linguals when we are just getting into color; of course, I never liked the way he short-changed RK Narayan's "The Guide" by feigning that he will adapt the movie from "Guide" but paid a paltry sum to RK Narayan. That experience has forever made RKN shy of giving his books for screenplays and you will find two-three versions of what happened in Dev's autobio, RK's autobio and a rejoinder by Jerry Pinto. Whatever be the truth, Dev Anand fiercely fought till the last to protect his halo and his fading "youth". Of the famous trio, you now have only Dilip Kumar Saab remaining from the Bollywood of the 1950s. But Dev Anand will be remembered as the original happy-go-lucky Hero who gave Independent India its happiest reason to watch Hindi films - to dress like metrosexuals during years of Hindu rate of GDP growth, to live and love like chivalrous men, to live merrily and selfishly and to keep the youthful vigour alive till the last. To me and my dad, the moving visual of a black and white or a color Dev Anand whistling in full-buttoned shirts and driving open-roof cars at fuel-efficient speed is a lasting memory of happiness whenever we see - something that knows no generation gap.
Shankar Sharma's Special Appearances
If I am starved of entertainment during the day, and work demands a break, I tune in to these business channels where anchors and talking heads get paid to talk. The most amusing speaker according to me is Shankar Sharma - he is the Indian equivalent of a Dr.Doom or a human incarnation of a Nomura Securities. I was tuning in the other day, when Shankar Sharma was on one channel. It was irresistabl...e and irascible as usual. He says (and I paraphrase): "Inflation is not in our hands and only Growth is in our hands and yet RBI Governor has continued raising interest rates even at the cost of sacrificing growth. This 1930s thinking to monetary policy has to change.And hence the market will fall by 2500 points." Or something to that effect. Does he know what he is talking about? I am not concerned if and whether the markets will fall by 2500 points as market panics seldom have reason. But I am aghast at his knowledge of economics (as it is most people who are experts have got zero knowledge of economics but thats another matter) and impact on India. He should realise that India is not a small economy like Zimbabwe or Argentina which can afford hyperinflation. There will be issues - social and civil if ground inflation reaches a critical stage and we just can't afford it. There will be issues, he should know, with currency if Rupee touches 60 to a dollar and nobody will allow borrowing against your currency. So, RBI and its legacy of governors from Rangarajan to Jalan to Reddy to Subba Rao are well in their groove to know whats right for the country. I am a beneficiary of capital markets but that doesn't mean the country is less important than stock markets. People like Shankar Sharma who have this foot-in-the-mouth disease and self-righteousness can only make special appearances when the markets are already punished 25 per cent - so they can make more money for jam by going short on the market which is already in panic mode. Discerning viewers and investors will know who comes in when. Coming back to the currency and RBI's policy, now that China has cut interest rates and we have already raised 365 basis points since the last cut - RBI has got every trick in its sleeve to cut to grow. We don't need traders barred by SEBI to tell RBI what to do. RBI's Central Governors can rank amongst the best Governors in the world - they are not just here to sign one rupee notes; they are here to make sure the rupee note is honored by the rest of the world as well and retains the face value they sign on.
Pilla Zamindar
"Pilla Zamindar" is a short and breezy comedy with lively performances by an ensemble of stage artistes who never get their share of limelight in films. Director Ashok and Producer GS Rao have created a fun-filled tale of how a Richie-Rich Naani who takes money for granted gets to earn his spurs and grow as a mature human being who learns that what drives happiness is not money but other things i...n life - love, friendship, self-growth, personal victory and service-mindedness before the world can recognise you. Earlier, he loves things and uses people but towards the end he loves people and uses things - and in this real "graduation" process, the Director has shown enormous talent and command over the script, story-telling and entertainment aspects with oodles of right-balanced emotions. No foreign locations, no exotic sets, no thorough-fare fights that exhaust you. In just 130 minutes, you get a lung-expanding excursion into the village atmosphere and get to see folks who make merry in their rustic walks of life with greater ease than urban folks who smart under the metrosexual madness. Except for a bit of crassiness and maybe one vulgar song, the movie is a victory for what a combination of raw talent, good performances, tight scripting, flair for outstanding humour and spirited execution can achieve. Naani, Rao Ramesh, MS Narayana and the gang who hang out with the hero all deserve applause. There is an unconventional speed and exuberance in the screenplay that gets you hooked even though you know whats coming. Once in a while, we commit a statistical error of watching a good movie wee bit late. Like that, we saw "Ala Modalaindi" and "Golimaar". Its now the turn of "Pilla Zamindar" which is already into 50days run. The experience was thoroughly enjoyable and leaves you light-hearted inspite of the subtle messages beamed out. Saptagiri 70mm where we saw is as robust in viewing experience as a multiplex - and that was just one of the other pleasant surprises - music and photography were equally good. Movie-makers should make this movie a case-study on making low-budget movies that can become paisa-vasools.
Niall Ferguson Vs. Pankaj Mishra
I am excerpting a now famously spirited spat between Niall Ferguson and Pankaj Mishra both acclaimed writers in their own right. Pankaj reviewed Niall's book "Civillisations" and thats where the trouble started for Pankaj where Niall was "alleged" to be "racist" in his views of West Vs. East. I couldn't paste the link from LRB site (London Review of Books) without keeping other letters column. So duly acknowledging these two letters - Niall Ferguson's letter and his repartee by Pankaj Mishra - both are captured in this. Source: London Review of Books (lest I be facing a suit next!)
Niall Ferguson's letter to London Review of Books:Watch this man
Pankaj Mishra is now in full and ignominious retreat. As my last letter explained, in his review of my book Civilisation, he made a vile allegation of racism against me (Letters, 17 November). In his response he nowhere denies that this was his allegation; nor does he deny that he intended to make it. He now acknowledges that I am no racist. Any decent person would make an unconditional apology and stop there. But Mishra proves incapable of doing the right thing. His mealy-mouthed acknowledgment is qualified by the offensive suggestion that I lack ‘the steady convictions of racialist ideologues’, to whom his original review so outrageously compared me. Mishra’s slippery spin on his original words is that he meant to accuse me only of a ‘wider pathology’ of ‘bow[ing] down before the conqueror of the moment, to accept the existing trend as irreversible’. Unfortunately for his reputation, this new smear is also demonstrably false.
If Mishra bothered to read my work – or if he were not so intent on misrepresenting it – he would have to concede that since my book Virtual History (1997) I have consistently argued against the notion of irreversible trends in history. He would have to concede that the first article I published on the subject of ‘Chimerica’ (in the Wall Street Journal on 5 February 2007) explicitly concluded with a warning that the Sino-American economic relationship could prove to be a chimera. Far from writing ‘whatever seems resonant and persuasive at any given hour’, I have consistently sought to challenge the conventional wisdom of the moment. The Cash Nexus (2001) – published at a time when most bien pensants were ardent proponents of European monetary union – accurately foretold the current crisis of the euro. My book Colossus (2004) was subtitled ‘The Rise and Fall of the American Empire’ and warned that neoconservative visions of American imperium would likely founder on three deficits, of manpower, finance and public attention. Throughout 2006 and 2007, when others fell victim to irrational exuberance, I repeatedly warned of the dangers of a large financial crisis emanating from the US subprime mortgage market. And, far from hailing ‘the Chinese Century’, I spend pages 319-324 of Civilisation discussing the numerous challenges that China is likely to face in the coming decades. In fact, the phrase ‘Chinese century’ does not appear in my book.
As Mishra – and the LRB’s editor – must have appreciated, the allegation of racism in Mishra’s review was ostensibly buttressed by repeated accusations of omission of important issues and evidence. In my last letter I took five of these supposed omissions and showed they are in fact in the book under review, in black and white – and in the index. Had Mishra read the book so casually that he missed all five? Or was he wilfully and maliciously misrepresenting it?
Exposed, Mishra now retreats into quibbling about my tone. For example, my reference to Kenneth Pomeranz’s work is said to be ‘uncouth’. Really? Here is what I wrote:
For a century after 1520, the Chinese national savings rate was negative. There was no capital accumulation in late Ming China; rather the opposite. The story of what Kenneth Pomeranz has called ‘the Great Divergence’ between East and West therefore began much earlier than Pomeranz asserted.
I leave readers to make up their own minds about whether or not this is uncouth. (By the standards of serious economic historiography it is actually pretty polite.)
Mishra’s disingenuous approach is exemplified by his treatment of Chinese economic history at the start of the modern era, a central topic of Civilisation. Mishra’s original review said I gave no evidence for my position. Now that he stands corrected, Mishra responds that ‘[Ferguson] now unearths a footnote’ citing ‘two obscure Chinese scholars’. I find this extraordinary in two respects. First, the reference needed no ‘unearthing’. It was there, in the source notes and bibliography, for him and other readers to see. Second, David Daokui Li is hardly an ‘obscure scholar’. He is one of China’s leading economists. Not only is he the director of the Centre for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University, he is also a member of the People’s Bank of China’s Monetary Policy Committee. He is, moreover, a former fellow of Stanford’s Hoover Institution and a former editor of the Journal of Comparative Economics. To say that Professor Li’s curriculum vitae is more impressive than Pankaj Mishra’s would be an understatement. A simple Google search, had Mishra bothered to do one before he wrote his rejoinder, would have spared his blushes. Your readers can now draw their own conclusions about the quality of the work you allow into your publication.
My book is not a ‘paean to the superiority of Western civilisation’, as Mishra describes it in a last pathetic salvo. I explicitly disavow triumphalism in the introduction. Rather it is a dispassionate examination of why the West came to dominate the Rest economically, geopolitically and even culturally between the 1500s and the 1970s. Besides the familiar, ugly methods of expropriation and enslavement – employed by Western and non-Western empires through the ages – there were novelties, not all of them pernicious. One of these was the scientific method, whereby claims are not advanced that patently conflict with empirical evidence. Another was the rule of law, under which, among other things, the freedom of the press does not extend to serious defamation, at best reckless, at worst deliberate and malicious. It is deplorable that the London Review of Books gives space to a man who seemingly cares about neither of these things.
I am still waiting for an apology, from both Pankaj Mishra and the editor who published his defamatory article.
Niall Ferguson
Harvard University
Pankaj Mishra writes: Niall Ferguson does not, alas, satisfactorily embody the ‘novelties’ – ‘scientific method’ and ‘rule of law’ – that he insists were the West’s gifts to the ‘Rest’. He seeks to mitigate the crimes of his beloved Western empires – what he calls ‘ugly methods of expropriation and enslavement’ – by also implicating ‘non-Western’ empires in them. He persists with questions that I have already answered in our previous exchange. Asked for proof of the ‘recent research’ that has ‘demolished’ Kenneth Pomeranz’s The Great Divergence, he comes up with the curriculum vitae of a Chinese academic nearly as well connected as he is. However, some readers of Civilisation may still want to see the actual paper that apparently singlehandedly discredits a major work of scholarship.
It is hard, even with Google, to keep up with Ferguson’s many claims and counter-claims. But his announcements of the dawning of the ‘Chinese Century’ and his more recent revised prophecy that India will outpace China, can be found as quickly as the boisterous heralding of the American imperium that he now disavows. As for his views on the innate superiority, indeed indispensability, of Western civilisation, these can be easily ascertained from his published writings and statements. Here is an extract from an interview early this year in the Guardian justifying the conquest of Native Americans:
The Apache and the Navajo had all sorts of admirable traits. In the absence of literacy we don’t know what they were because they didn’t write them down. We do know they killed a hell of a lot of bison. But had they been left to their own devices, I don’t think we’d have anything remotely resembling the civilisation we’ve had in North America.
It says something about the political culture of our age that Ferguson has got away with this disgraced worldview for as long as he has. Certainly, it now needs to be scrutinised in places other than the letters page of the LRB.
Niall Ferguson's letter to London Review of Books:Watch this man
Pankaj Mishra is now in full and ignominious retreat. As my last letter explained, in his review of my book Civilisation, he made a vile allegation of racism against me (Letters, 17 November). In his response he nowhere denies that this was his allegation; nor does he deny that he intended to make it. He now acknowledges that I am no racist. Any decent person would make an unconditional apology and stop there. But Mishra proves incapable of doing the right thing. His mealy-mouthed acknowledgment is qualified by the offensive suggestion that I lack ‘the steady convictions of racialist ideologues’, to whom his original review so outrageously compared me. Mishra’s slippery spin on his original words is that he meant to accuse me only of a ‘wider pathology’ of ‘bow[ing] down before the conqueror of the moment, to accept the existing trend as irreversible’. Unfortunately for his reputation, this new smear is also demonstrably false.
If Mishra bothered to read my work – or if he were not so intent on misrepresenting it – he would have to concede that since my book Virtual History (1997) I have consistently argued against the notion of irreversible trends in history. He would have to concede that the first article I published on the subject of ‘Chimerica’ (in the Wall Street Journal on 5 February 2007) explicitly concluded with a warning that the Sino-American economic relationship could prove to be a chimera. Far from writing ‘whatever seems resonant and persuasive at any given hour’, I have consistently sought to challenge the conventional wisdom of the moment. The Cash Nexus (2001) – published at a time when most bien pensants were ardent proponents of European monetary union – accurately foretold the current crisis of the euro. My book Colossus (2004) was subtitled ‘The Rise and Fall of the American Empire’ and warned that neoconservative visions of American imperium would likely founder on three deficits, of manpower, finance and public attention. Throughout 2006 and 2007, when others fell victim to irrational exuberance, I repeatedly warned of the dangers of a large financial crisis emanating from the US subprime mortgage market. And, far from hailing ‘the Chinese Century’, I spend pages 319-324 of Civilisation discussing the numerous challenges that China is likely to face in the coming decades. In fact, the phrase ‘Chinese century’ does not appear in my book.
As Mishra – and the LRB’s editor – must have appreciated, the allegation of racism in Mishra’s review was ostensibly buttressed by repeated accusations of omission of important issues and evidence. In my last letter I took five of these supposed omissions and showed they are in fact in the book under review, in black and white – and in the index. Had Mishra read the book so casually that he missed all five? Or was he wilfully and maliciously misrepresenting it?
Exposed, Mishra now retreats into quibbling about my tone. For example, my reference to Kenneth Pomeranz’s work is said to be ‘uncouth’. Really? Here is what I wrote:
For a century after 1520, the Chinese national savings rate was negative. There was no capital accumulation in late Ming China; rather the opposite. The story of what Kenneth Pomeranz has called ‘the Great Divergence’ between East and West therefore began much earlier than Pomeranz asserted.
I leave readers to make up their own minds about whether or not this is uncouth. (By the standards of serious economic historiography it is actually pretty polite.)
Mishra’s disingenuous approach is exemplified by his treatment of Chinese economic history at the start of the modern era, a central topic of Civilisation. Mishra’s original review said I gave no evidence for my position. Now that he stands corrected, Mishra responds that ‘[Ferguson] now unearths a footnote’ citing ‘two obscure Chinese scholars’. I find this extraordinary in two respects. First, the reference needed no ‘unearthing’. It was there, in the source notes and bibliography, for him and other readers to see. Second, David Daokui Li is hardly an ‘obscure scholar’. He is one of China’s leading economists. Not only is he the director of the Centre for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University, he is also a member of the People’s Bank of China’s Monetary Policy Committee. He is, moreover, a former fellow of Stanford’s Hoover Institution and a former editor of the Journal of Comparative Economics. To say that Professor Li’s curriculum vitae is more impressive than Pankaj Mishra’s would be an understatement. A simple Google search, had Mishra bothered to do one before he wrote his rejoinder, would have spared his blushes. Your readers can now draw their own conclusions about the quality of the work you allow into your publication.
My book is not a ‘paean to the superiority of Western civilisation’, as Mishra describes it in a last pathetic salvo. I explicitly disavow triumphalism in the introduction. Rather it is a dispassionate examination of why the West came to dominate the Rest economically, geopolitically and even culturally between the 1500s and the 1970s. Besides the familiar, ugly methods of expropriation and enslavement – employed by Western and non-Western empires through the ages – there were novelties, not all of them pernicious. One of these was the scientific method, whereby claims are not advanced that patently conflict with empirical evidence. Another was the rule of law, under which, among other things, the freedom of the press does not extend to serious defamation, at best reckless, at worst deliberate and malicious. It is deplorable that the London Review of Books gives space to a man who seemingly cares about neither of these things.
I am still waiting for an apology, from both Pankaj Mishra and the editor who published his defamatory article.
Niall Ferguson
Harvard University
Pankaj Mishra writes: Niall Ferguson does not, alas, satisfactorily embody the ‘novelties’ – ‘scientific method’ and ‘rule of law’ – that he insists were the West’s gifts to the ‘Rest’. He seeks to mitigate the crimes of his beloved Western empires – what he calls ‘ugly methods of expropriation and enslavement’ – by also implicating ‘non-Western’ empires in them. He persists with questions that I have already answered in our previous exchange. Asked for proof of the ‘recent research’ that has ‘demolished’ Kenneth Pomeranz’s The Great Divergence, he comes up with the curriculum vitae of a Chinese academic nearly as well connected as he is. However, some readers of Civilisation may still want to see the actual paper that apparently singlehandedly discredits a major work of scholarship.
It is hard, even with Google, to keep up with Ferguson’s many claims and counter-claims. But his announcements of the dawning of the ‘Chinese Century’ and his more recent revised prophecy that India will outpace China, can be found as quickly as the boisterous heralding of the American imperium that he now disavows. As for his views on the innate superiority, indeed indispensability, of Western civilisation, these can be easily ascertained from his published writings and statements. Here is an extract from an interview early this year in the Guardian justifying the conquest of Native Americans:
The Apache and the Navajo had all sorts of admirable traits. In the absence of literacy we don’t know what they were because they didn’t write them down. We do know they killed a hell of a lot of bison. But had they been left to their own devices, I don’t think we’d have anything remotely resembling the civilisation we’ve had in North America.
It says something about the political culture of our age that Ferguson has got away with this disgraced worldview for as long as he has. Certainly, it now needs to be scrutinised in places other than the letters page of the LRB.
Let the Parliament function
Even though I am a die-hard bull about the economy and stockmarket, I am worried about the way the Parliamentarians in India are acting out of their wits. If they don't allow the ongoing Winter Session to function properly, and deliberate and discuss the passage of crucial bills - you can rest assured that not only FII outflows will increase or additional FDI get stalled, it will do more harm than... good to Brand India in the near-and-long-term. I am scared that if this session doesn't function its chartered course, Rupee can touch 56-58 to a dollar and markets can slip to 12k also - aggravating a fragile balance in macroeconomic headwinds. Opposition in India have opportunities galore already, they should just rein in their destructive emotions to act responsibly - else, they will be perceived as enemies bigger than some neighbouring countries. Dear opposition, choose your batttles well, you are on the verge of winning a war, why fritter away a chance to show some statesmanship?
Congress-I and Customer Service
The concept of customer service (moments of truth) has never existed for Congress-I and its lieutenants. Look at the way they are treating their biggest bastion in South - AP and India's second Presidential Capital Hyderabad. Even with 40 plus MPs - we have no minister of reckoning who will award projects here or retain investments. Investments are flowing out of the city, commercial space i...s g...oing abegging, some 30,000 units are threatening closure, companies like ICICI Bank and Infosys have reduced their footprint here to other places (which was not the original plan) like Pune, Landmark Bookshop closed its Warehouse in Hyderabad, many prominent groups have shifted out of Hyderabad, students are not coming to study in Hyd anymore especially Inter/Degree/PG level students which is the backbone of student population, MICE events have taken the severest knock last few years, IT Parks are shifting their R&D to other centres in India and abroad. Congress-I never treated the Hyd city or the state of AP with the respect and support - issues pile up and burial is the solution. This is nothing but a heist comparable in scale to what the British plundered in pre-independence era. The state is ignored in getting Railways footprint, projects, industrial corridors, everything and they manage to keepo the state folks perenially in illiteracy and disempowerment with doles for the poor. Today, the poor of AP are going out of the state for work; a few years back states like Bihar saw outlflow of people because of de-growth in Bihar - now Bihari workers in AP are moving back to Bihar because there are better prospects there. Does that mean we are becoming worse than Bihar?In the triangular contest happening between TDP, Jagan and Telangana demands - the Cong-I has precipitated CBI enquiries which are going nowhere but threatening to cast a shadow on every businessman in the city. I just hope that the next election will teach a lesson on customer service to Congress-I by decimating their base built on crooked plans, divisive politics and devious policies based on faultlines developed by them alone. Who will cry for you, Andhra Pradesh?
Being Cycil
"Blood is thicker than water". You can say now that Cycil Mistry is chosen to succeed Ratan Tata. The oldest group didnt want any outsider to lead them like say Infosys. Thats justifiable and understandable given its range of businesses.
Quotes on Stockmarkets
Some quotes on the stock market that are never out of sync.
"Know that for every Seller in the market, there is also a buyer" - Anon.
"Only liars manage to always be OUT during bad times and IN during good times in stock market."- Bernard Baruch.
"The investor's chief problem - and even his worst enemy - is likely to be himself." - Benjamin Graham.
"Investors shouldn't delude themselves about b...eating the market. They're just not going to do it. It's just not going to happen." - Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics.
"Your ultimate success of failure will depend on your ability to ignore the worries of the world long enough to allow your investments to succeed. It isn't the head, but the stomach that determines your fate." - Peter Lynch.
"There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools." - Nicholas Chamfort.
"The greatest advantage from gambling comes from not playing at all." - Girolamo Cardano, 16th Century physician, mathematician.
"If you want to see the greatest threat to your financial future, go home and take a look in the mirror." - Jonathan Clements.
just made a killing in the stock market -- I shot my broker". Henny Youngman
"The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell".John Templeton
"If you have trouble imagining a 20% loss in the stock market, you shouldn't be in stocks".John (Jack) Bogle
"The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them".
Peter Lynch
"The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing".Philip Fisher.
"Know that for every Seller in the market, there is also a buyer" - Anon.
"Only liars manage to always be OUT during bad times and IN during good times in stock market."- Bernard Baruch.
"The investor's chief problem - and even his worst enemy - is likely to be himself." - Benjamin Graham.
"Investors shouldn't delude themselves about b...eating the market. They're just not going to do it. It's just not going to happen." - Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics.
"Your ultimate success of failure will depend on your ability to ignore the worries of the world long enough to allow your investments to succeed. It isn't the head, but the stomach that determines your fate." - Peter Lynch.
"There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools." - Nicholas Chamfort.
"The greatest advantage from gambling comes from not playing at all." - Girolamo Cardano, 16th Century physician, mathematician.
"If you want to see the greatest threat to your financial future, go home and take a look in the mirror." - Jonathan Clements.
just made a killing in the stock market -- I shot my broker". Henny Youngman
"The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell".John Templeton
"If you have trouble imagining a 20% loss in the stock market, you shouldn't be in stocks".John (Jack) Bogle
"The key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them".
Peter Lynch
"The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing".Philip Fisher.
Sri Rama Rajyam Movie Review
“Srirama Rajyam” is worth the wait and worth watching all 150 minutes. Honestly, I was not bored even once despite that there were no fights, no item songs, no comedy tracks, no belly-dancing or bottom-pinching movements. On the contrary, Balakrishna who usually mouths blood-wrenching dialogues and Nayanatara who wears sleeveless sarees gave one of the best performances of their lives – Balayya with his “Avatar” Vishnu-blue colour body and impeccable makeup and costumes that are reminiscent of NTR and Nayanatara with her Satwic portrayal of Sita in elegant skin-protecting dresses is surprising.
The script - originally purportedly written by Sage Valmiki – based on the original “Luva Kusha” was well-fleshed out, articulated and embellished by Late Mullapudi Venkataramana garu. You see him in every line that every character speaks in the film directed superbly by Bapu garu. It is incredible that after so many decades after “Seeta Kalyanam”, Bapu and Ramana retained their affection for Ramayana so well as to carve out a mini-epic that will resonate splendidly with today’s audiences. In interpreting Ramayana in the light of today’s changing themes of polygamy, disharmony and dysfunctional childhoods, live-in marriages and celebratory divorces, children and parents who live on different planets, et al – Mullapudi Ramana gives his subtle take on many aspects for those who listen to the under-currents behind the voices coming from the characters.
The original “Luva Kusha” despite its celestial songs and immortal characterization came in techno color and all of 22 reels with higher Telugu proficiency. This one is 16 reels and full of crisp characterization and wonderful visuals and some ten minutes of outstanding graphics toward the climax. Not just Balakrishna and Nayanatara - almost everybody gets to shine once or often most notably ANR (who played a majestic role as Sage Valmiki), Srikanth (as Lakhsmana), KR Vijaya (as Kausalya) and Roja (as Sita’s mother Bhoodevi). The three kids playing Hanuman, Luv and Kush give us a full feel of what blithe spirits are – they are just adorable. At eighty, when most folks wheel away in their chair or eke their twilight years like a vegetable, Bapu garu has worked so damn hard on a subject that’s dear to him and his dear friend Mullapudi Ramana who passed away before the film got completed. Of course, it requires a gutsy producer like Y Saibaba to collaborate so well in bringing such an ambitious enterprise to bear fruit – and he is the silent hero who has to be appreciated. One movie like this will get generations back to its roots – and Bapu has taken great care in giving a top-quality visual which is crisp, neat, measured not once appearing either regressive in message or vulgar at all (like some of the other directors who attempt mythologicals get tempted for). Music by Maestro Ilayaraja is already a hit but in the movie he used it with calibrated orchestration as BGM that will stand out.
There are minor blemishes in the movie but hardly noticeable in the flow and very few cinematic liberties taken by Bapu and Ramana – but they don’t impoverish our worldview, they enrich the movie. Also, given the thin layer of the original Uttara Ramayana, I expected to see Bapu-Ramana team to delve more into the nuances of Rama Rajyam which people like Mahatma Gandhi and others talked about – give us a broader sweep of how a society used to live under Rama Rajya – rather than concentrating on the melancholy and twist of fate separating Rama and Sita yet again. That would have set “Srirama Rajyam” further apart from “Luva Kusha” as the final epic instead of mostly showing a brooding Rama. Sita’s character always shows greater resilience and courage than Rama – and that comes through ably through Nayantara.
Ramayana as a theme always finds takers for its undercurrents of love, family values and devotion. I am always intrigued that right from Valmiki to Kamba to writers like RK Narayan, C Rajagopalachari, Ashok Banker – success always crowns those who stick to the basic knitting. If you stray from the plot like Mani Ratnam or take liberties under the veil of artistic freedom, you will get dumped not for irrelevance but for irreverence. Recently, Delhi University has scrapped AK Ramanujam’s essay on 300 versions of Ramayana because the epic is burned so deeply inside our national consciousness that reading the original version gives more benefits than when it is not endured. To that extent, “SriRama Rajyam” is recommended highly. We are taking out our 83 year old grandmother as well as kids who see Telugu DVDs with English subtitles. And let me say this unabashadely, nobody makes Ramayana epics better than Bapu-Ramana or for that matter Telugu folks.
The script - originally purportedly written by Sage Valmiki – based on the original “Luva Kusha” was well-fleshed out, articulated and embellished by Late Mullapudi Venkataramana garu. You see him in every line that every character speaks in the film directed superbly by Bapu garu. It is incredible that after so many decades after “Seeta Kalyanam”, Bapu and Ramana retained their affection for Ramayana so well as to carve out a mini-epic that will resonate splendidly with today’s audiences. In interpreting Ramayana in the light of today’s changing themes of polygamy, disharmony and dysfunctional childhoods, live-in marriages and celebratory divorces, children and parents who live on different planets, et al – Mullapudi Ramana gives his subtle take on many aspects for those who listen to the under-currents behind the voices coming from the characters.
The original “Luva Kusha” despite its celestial songs and immortal characterization came in techno color and all of 22 reels with higher Telugu proficiency. This one is 16 reels and full of crisp characterization and wonderful visuals and some ten minutes of outstanding graphics toward the climax. Not just Balakrishna and Nayanatara - almost everybody gets to shine once or often most notably ANR (who played a majestic role as Sage Valmiki), Srikanth (as Lakhsmana), KR Vijaya (as Kausalya) and Roja (as Sita’s mother Bhoodevi). The three kids playing Hanuman, Luv and Kush give us a full feel of what blithe spirits are – they are just adorable. At eighty, when most folks wheel away in their chair or eke their twilight years like a vegetable, Bapu garu has worked so damn hard on a subject that’s dear to him and his dear friend Mullapudi Ramana who passed away before the film got completed. Of course, it requires a gutsy producer like Y Saibaba to collaborate so well in bringing such an ambitious enterprise to bear fruit – and he is the silent hero who has to be appreciated. One movie like this will get generations back to its roots – and Bapu has taken great care in giving a top-quality visual which is crisp, neat, measured not once appearing either regressive in message or vulgar at all (like some of the other directors who attempt mythologicals get tempted for). Music by Maestro Ilayaraja is already a hit but in the movie he used it with calibrated orchestration as BGM that will stand out.
There are minor blemishes in the movie but hardly noticeable in the flow and very few cinematic liberties taken by Bapu and Ramana – but they don’t impoverish our worldview, they enrich the movie. Also, given the thin layer of the original Uttara Ramayana, I expected to see Bapu-Ramana team to delve more into the nuances of Rama Rajyam which people like Mahatma Gandhi and others talked about – give us a broader sweep of how a society used to live under Rama Rajya – rather than concentrating on the melancholy and twist of fate separating Rama and Sita yet again. That would have set “Srirama Rajyam” further apart from “Luva Kusha” as the final epic instead of mostly showing a brooding Rama. Sita’s character always shows greater resilience and courage than Rama – and that comes through ably through Nayantara.
Ramayana as a theme always finds takers for its undercurrents of love, family values and devotion. I am always intrigued that right from Valmiki to Kamba to writers like RK Narayan, C Rajagopalachari, Ashok Banker – success always crowns those who stick to the basic knitting. If you stray from the plot like Mani Ratnam or take liberties under the veil of artistic freedom, you will get dumped not for irrelevance but for irreverence. Recently, Delhi University has scrapped AK Ramanujam’s essay on 300 versions of Ramayana because the epic is burned so deeply inside our national consciousness that reading the original version gives more benefits than when it is not endured. To that extent, “SriRama Rajyam” is recommended highly. We are taking out our 83 year old grandmother as well as kids who see Telugu DVDs with English subtitles. And let me say this unabashadely, nobody makes Ramayana epics better than Bapu-Ramana or for that matter Telugu folks.
On Petrol Prices
Petrol prices slashed again by less than a rupee. This is a rare event that must be celebrated by vehicular country like India. Note this day because it really makes for a Happy Adults Day. The statistical probability of such events recurring is usually rare - not as rare as Dev Anand movies but as rare as once in four years. Oil majors despite posting monstrous losses have many ways to make money - including petrol-tripping (each pump operator saves about 50 litres per week), rounding off etc. The point I want to make is: You can't assume deflation with such once-in-a-while concessions. Next four years will see crude oil jumping ahead of the curve.
On Airlines Industry
You know that old joke about making a million in Airlines Industry. Start with two million. What folks dont know is that Capt.Gopinath also ran an Airlines to ground after taking Rs.700 crs. from a UK-based businessman. Then he tried to sell it Anil Ambani. After that misfired, he found Mallya an easy bait. With that money, Cargo Jet services were launched before it teeters on the brink of bankru...ptcy. On top of that, he wrote a painfully long autobiography of how AirDeccan was formed. Never read a more painful book in my life. Mallya, on the other hand, is crying baby. This is like RajKapoor growing a stubble before meeting Censor Board members to spare censorship of sexy scenes that will rake in the riches. If only bankers realise to ask for pledge of shares of the other cash-rich companies - the ones that keep us in high spirits. Funny, how the best of the lot can get fooled. I am not just upbraiding any Airlines here, but Indigo and then Jet and then Spicejet are my pecking order of airlines to fly with on a clear day. As for Kingfisher, I guess this year there will be no Calendars for 2012 because the owner has become the new poster-boy and "shoot at site" orders may come marching anytime.
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