Enter the Lota-pourri

Reading intense books, for me, is not a regular occurrence these days. Primarily because I like to start and end a book on the same day, at one go. I have this disability which performs pastoral dances in my mind's eye when I have to pick up a book after having read 30-40 pages the previous night.

But right now, I'm as jobless as a beedi seller on the moon. So I ended Meghnad Desai's 'The Rediscovery of India'. Slightly heavy duty, but enjoyable nonetheless.

'Despite such a long litany of troubles, India somehow managed to conduct a normal political life that was open and democratic. Disputes did get settled, if only temporarily. Lives were lost or ruined, but there were also achievements. The size and complexity of the country give it an aura of a functioning anarchy. Yet, it must be remembered that India has had the the experience of a viable overarching state only for a fraction of its long history. The open society with its press and other media, a tradition now over a hundred years old, a cumbersome and overburdened, yet functioning, legal system built on the ideas of the rule of law, all provide a formal envelope for the resolution of many such conflicts. The rest are dealt with in the time honoured way of Indian society, which Hegel labelled 'Oriental Despotism' and Marx called 'The Asiatic Mode of Production' - a world where political authority is remote and does not touch the lives of ordinary people.'

Nice, no?


PS: Deodorant companies, it DOES NOT HAPPEN. Sod off.