Manto Strikes

dost, amrita,

The other installments are with chowk. And will be published, but maybe it will not streak through the front page as before. The issue of reader fatigue seems to convinced the editor to tear this installment away from the front page!

Still, methinks, it will remain on the side panel.

dost, any comments, suggestions are welcome.

amrita, you are quite right! I do hope you`ll stay with me.

HN

Harish - is it over??? that sounded horribly like a farewell. If so I will hunt you down and find out what happens next!

I was actually thinking of Enigma of Arrival - but I dont know if it was this that brought it to mind. Something did. Maybe it was you. Re: Rohan, I think he serves as a foil to you. That seems to be his purpose. (Thats not letting cats out of bags is it?) I`m happy this is going to be a book. I was telling someone the other day that it ought to be. :)

Harish:
No need to be sorry, but thanks for explaining the context. I am a sucker for travelogues. And I liked 9-2-11 too.:-)
Look forward to future installments. Is the book under publicaion or are you seeking any comments, suggestions, et.?

jang,

Thanks. I`ll now have to explain the reasons I raise expectation. It follows.

dost,

I am sorry, like Farzana said earlier, it is not a thriller or soap opera. I explain in detail at the end of this post, at the cost of losing serious readers.

ana,

I am told I never know how to say no, and how to scold. Thanks for the compliment. I`ll of course, ignore the quote marks!:)

To all:

This entire exercise is conceived as a book. I have actually used this travel route, and the people I meet, and the incidents I experience, to also carry my entire world view. As can be expected at chowk, a huge percentage, a brute majority, of the readership here is trapped in the parenthesis of Indo-Pakistan and Hindu-Muslim issue. Not suprising, since that is what is the only contentious set of issues that connect these zygotic twins of the sub-continent. While some very insightful material is publicly exchanged, it is mostly opinions and views.

What I am attempting here is a more panoramic India, since that is all I know of. I bring in people who are real and existing, but totally spun to represent my view; as in either closer to me or further away from me, they basically clarify my worldview.

Yes, there will be serious attention deficit situations for many, and there will even be some serious factual errors too, perhaps, despite my best attempt. I hope to learn and correct myself there.

I do not know if many who have interracted here have read a Naipaul book called The Engima of Arrival. It is a book where he writes about his stay in the countryside, and then converts people and places there into pegs on which he drapes his own world view on post colonialism. He uses his own experiences as a West Indian colony resident and his Oxford years etc...To my mind it is a great book, though opinion is divided. His major disciple of a time Theroux thought it was a rank bad book.

The best thing is that the book has a sub title callled A Novel. This is somewhat like that. I beg indulgence, I promsie my best shot, and I`ll take what comes from the readers.

Thank you for your indulgence. I am overwhelmed that so many people read these three chapters. I appreciate the amount of investment you have made. I am indebted to you.

Thank you.

i find rohan`s character quite interesting myself so far, but since harish has already ``scolded`` me for revealing devices and ruses, that`s all i`ll say.

something about this makes me think of some novels that i`ve read. where the story begins and pulls you in, but then it digresses and describes something else, and then it continues with what was interrupted. i think that waris shah may have done that with ``heer`` as well, if i remember correctly what my father told me.

here we have a journey through what seems to be a long stretch, and parts are going to be captivating, and parts are going to be a little less so in terms of action. but in all this rohan is one not to take your eyes away from, because this is being told from harish`s point of view, but rohan`s role in this journey is significant, as is a peek into his thought processes. rohan`s quite `beefy` in that sense. :)

i know harish, i know you even said `please`. . . but . . . apologies!

I am reminded of the film Nau-Do-Gyarah though Rohan is no Kalpana Kartik.
Interesting, but where is the beef?

HN,
no, i liked the articles, but the expectations raised over time, thanks.

t,

Very colourful lit crit that! Thank god the light flashed back!

ana, amrita,

Thank you for staying with me. And please do not publicly see through writer`s ruses, devices etc...and then splash it here! :)

BeeJay,

Who was the ancient Greek who said give me a point and I`ll give you the universe? Thanks for staying with me this far. The later instalments are not these lengthy. ..:)


Farzana,

The periodicity of the pieces is the chowk editor`s call. And, i do agree that reader ennui sets in, in fact I have a feeling it has settled down for good! Thanks for staying this far.

jang,

I am sorry I did not clear your bar. Thanks for your time, I really appreciate it.


nb,

Most of this trip was long rides from one town/city to another. We stopped for some significant length of time only at some places. The longest rides were bhabhaneshwar to Vizag....and then from mangalore to Kudal at the southern tip of Maharashtra!

HN

There`s a huge area between Nagpur and Raipur, where`d you stop in between?
Poor Mantolives was alarmed at first, I believe!!

so mr nambiar, what did you eat? what were the hotels like? the prostitute story sounds like something i heard 20 yrs back..kind of urban legend? (the setting may not have been Dagadu Chawl, but similar plot-line).

Harish:

I am now reading this as I would a travelogue, so I feel free of opinions:)

But, a suggestion...since this is not a thriller or a soap opera and I am sure there is more to come, could you space it by at least a week? Wonder if you agree, but reader-ennui should not set in.
- - -
BeeJay:

Now to further lower myself in the eyes of those who do not see me `down there`, I have had a heated argument with a gigolo! He was interviewed by a friend and had made really tall claims. I told her, ``Impossible.`` She recounted my comment. He said, ``Send her to me!`` That made me take off...including giving the poor guy bits and pieces from Masters and Johnson.

Since no one here concedes I am a journalist, I can only say that one does not hang out with people, you encounter them. And you learn. Observation is also experience.

Farzana (never on sabbatical...hai-hai)

oK... sorry you are not our friend from Hyderabad.

Harish Nambiar,

If you are the same as Harish Hyd.

Please refer to Kamran Meer`s (in)famous article.

The comments you attributed wrong to Jinnah were by the other ``Mohammed Ali`` ... of the Ali Brothers... an old ally of Gandhi`s who was disillusioned by his backing out in 1924.

For future reference... Jinnah is never referred to as Mohammed Ali.

Youre on a roll. great trilogy.

I agree with Ana that this seems to be a foundation peice and t that this one is bit more uneven than the other two. I like what you`re doing with Rohan`s character though or rather what Rohan is accomplishing by himself. :)

as for his lady of the night - :)). I dont think its what modern journalists do Beejay (on sabbatical?) but its rare to meet someone from Bombay (male at all events) who doesnt have some tale to tell, either his own or his friend`s or something.

Sorry, Mr. Nambiar. I just don’t know about this work of yours!

1) If this series of three articles has a particular point, I really missed it!!

2) You have a nice starting introduction in Part 1 […rather I have attempted to measure and formulate a perceptive understanding of individual responses in small town India, which are at the frontier modernity]. I am glad about this perceptive understanding, but still trying to figure out what it was!

3) Am I the only one in this chowk crowd who thinks there is something seriously wrong with your hanging around so nonchalantly with buddies who are having heated encounters with “professional” ladies, or is that the current accepted norm for present day journalists?

4) Next time, could you keep it a little shorter, please? The account is interesting, but goes on too long.

Thanks.