Reading The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

Not utmostly impressed so far with Arundhati Roi’s new novel. It’s kind of all over the place and I’m not sure who I, the reader, am supposed to be. Political writing, and I suppose any type of writing, from India has to decide who it is written for. In my opinion, the best writing doesn’t try to be over-accommodating. Sonia Faleiro, for example, in “Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars” didn’t make things at all easy for a non-Indian reader. As a result, there was a lot that I didn’t understand. But that was fine – it was even fine with a British newspaper that declared it to be one of the best books of the year. Roi tries, sometimes in a rather convoluted way to try to explain political issues or historical events, in long boring asides. At other times she goes to extraordinary measures not to mention politicians by name, though it’s perfectly obvious enough who she is talking about. I don’t get it. I can’t imagine that she is keeping anyone happy; either an Indian or well-informed non-Indian reader on the one hand, or a foreigner who knows little about India or its issues.

With regard to the content, I haven’t encountered much that is new to me, though I’m admittedly comparatively well read in her subject matter. What I enjoy most about Indian novels is the story telling. Indians seem to have some kind of innate ability to create interesting characters and tell amazing stories about them. And the best writers, among whom I count Rohinton Mistry and Amitav Ghosh, also know how to weave politics and history into their writing expertly and keenly. In the same way as a Charles Dickens brings 19th century London to life, Mistry can make me feel like I know 20th century Bombay from the inside. Anita Desai and Vikram Seth perform a kind of magic in translating a world that is completely foreign and making me feel at home in it. Reading U. R. Ananthamurthy is almost like encountering an anthropological study, but in a completely enjoyable way. Arundhati Roi seems less sure of herself. Perhaps she is trying too hard. I feel like I need to winnow away some of the chaff in order to get at the grain of what she is trying to tell me.

More later, when I’ve finished the novel.

Being a guest

There’s a lot to be said in favor of simply being a guest in a guest house. Here I am in Arka, in Auroville, staying here for the 5th or 6th time I reckon. They know me. I know them. They give me the same room each time. It keeps improving from year to year. Last year they made a door ledge to stop the scorpions getting in. This time they gave me a fridge. When I come, it takes me 20 minutes to unpack and set everything up, as I know where to put all of my few belongings. I know about the quirks of the water system and the wifi; the place in the room where the phone is most likely to get a signal; how to get a wifi signal by placing the antenna above the window mesh. I know what clothing and other items I’ll need to bring.

At a guest house, the client is king. There are not a lot of expectations on either side to deal with. I’m a quiet undemanding guest. I have few needs and could stay here forever. But if anything ever goes wrong with the relationship, it isn’t hard to find a similar guest house and set up there.

This is actually much better than either owning property or being beholden to somebody – an ashram, say. The few rules that exist are easy to abide by, the responsibilities are minimal. I determine my daily schedule. If I feel like getting up at night to do a little writing like now, I may. If I feel like taking a nap in mid-morning, it’s fine. And I’m old and mature enough to strike a balance and not to let too much freedom become a problem. So I’m sold on guest houses in familiar places. This is a perfect arrangement for summer.

Liberty Might Be Better Served by Doing Away with Privacy

Motherboard has an interesting article by Zoltan Istvan, “futurist, transhumanist, author of The Transhumanist Wager, and a Libertarian candidate for California Governor.”

“Privacy, broadly thought of as essential to a democratic society, might disappear.”

“While privacy has long been considered a fundamental right, it has never been an inherent right,” Jeremy Rifkin, an American economic and social theorist, wrote in The Zero Marginal Cost Society. “Indeed, for all of human history, until the modern era, life was lived more or less publicly, as befits most species on Earth.”

“For many, this constant state of being monitored is concerning. But consider that much of our technology can also look right back into the government’s world with our own spying devices and software.”

“But it’s not just government that’s a worry. It’s also important that people can track companies, like Google, Apple, and Facebook that create much of the software that tracks individuals and the public. This is easier said than done, but a vibrant start-up culture and open-source technology is the antidote.”

“If no one can hide, then no one can do anything wrong without someone else knowing. That may allow a better, more efficient society with more liberties than the protection privacy accomplishes.”

“Like the Heisenberg principle, observation, changes reality. So does a lack of walls between you and others. A radical future like this would bring an era of freedom and responsibility back to humanity and the individual. We are approaching an era where the benefits of a society that is far more open and less private will lead to a safer, diverse, more empathetic world. We should be cautious, but not afraid.”