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17 June 2008 - News Updates
Summer
camps revive Sanskrit - Washington Post
Story
of Kamasutra - Washington Post
36 Hours
in Mumbai - NY Times
Summer Camps revive
India's Ancient Sanskrit
15 June 2008, The Washington Post, By Rama
Lakshmi
Hemant Singh Yadav, a lean
and sprightly 15-year-old, was sent by his parents to a summer camp to learn
to speak Sanskrit, or what he calls the language of the gods. He had studied
the 4,000-year-old classical Indian language at school for six years. He
knew its grammar and could chant the ancient hymns. But he could not
converse in it. During a two-week course at the camp, Sanskrit Samvad Shala,
he had no choice: He was forbidden to speak any other language.
"At first I thought it was
impossible. The teachers and attendants spoke to us only in Sanskrit, and I
did not understand anything," said Hemant, one of the 150 students gathered
inside a Hindu temple on the outskirts of New Delhi. "I knew big, heavy
bookish words before, but not the simple ones. But now Sanskrit feels like
an everyday language."
Such camps, run by
volunteers from Hindu groups, are designed to promote a language long
dismissed as dead, and to instill in Hindus religious and cultural pride.
Many Sanskrit speakers, though, believe that the camps are a steppingstone
to a higher goal: turning back the clock and making Sanskrit modern India's
spoken language.
Many scholars warn against
exploiting Indians' reverence for Sanskrit to promote the supremacy of Hindu
thought in a country that, while predominantly Hindu, is also home to a
large Muslim population and other religious minorities. "It is critical to
understand Sanskrit in order to study ancient Indian civilization and
knowledge. But the language should not be used to push Hindu political
ideology into school textbooks," said Arjun Dev, a historian and textbook
author. "They want to say that all that is great about India happened in the
Hindu Sanskrit texts."
One of the oldest members
of what is known as the Indo-European family of languages, Sanskrit is a
beleaguered language in India today, caught in a web of widespread apathy
and questions about its utility. Mainstream Indian schools teach the
49-letter language unimaginatively through tedious grammar lessons, and
children learn by rote. Many parents see little use in encouraging their
children to pursue a language that is not in any official use.
"Some people are
constantly saying that Sanskrit is a dead language. It cripples our psyche
to hear that, because we are nothing without Sanskrit," said Vijay Singh,
33, a teacher at Sanskrit Samvad Shala. "In the name of so-called
secularism, it has become fashionable to attack any attempt to promote
Sanskrit."
In January, government
funding for a major Sanskrit program in schools was abruptly cut, prompting
the program's managers to allege that officials were biased against the
language. The program, which encouraged immersive methods and developed
computer-aided teaching tools and games, had been set up in 2003 by a Hindu
nationalist government. One of the recommendations of the project included
translations of English nursery rhymes such as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little
Star" and "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" into Sanskrit.
When a new government was
sworn in two years later, it ordered a massive review of the program, as
well as other initiatives that were seen as being infused with Hindu
supremacist rhetoric. "The Sanskrit project was initiated by the previous
government. They had their own priorities. The project was so-so. How many
people really speak Sanskrit in India?" said Ramjanam Sharma, head of
languages at the National Council of Educational Research and Training, a
government body that designs school curriculums. Defending the decision to
cut the funding, he said it was not appropriate for schools to teach
children how to converse in Sanskrit. "We cannot replicate the teaching
methods of traditional religious schools in our mainstream schools."
Although Sanskrit is one
of the 22 official Indian languages, census figures show that only about
14,100 people speak it fluently, in a nation of more than a billion people.
Still, it is prevalent in the hymns and chants at Hindu temple rituals, as
well as at birth, marriage and death ceremonies. Not unlike Latin in the
West, Sanskrit was long the language of intellectual activity in ancient
India.
"Some people oppose
anything that promotes Sanskrit because of its association with Hinduism. We
were just trying to make the language a fun experience for students," said
Kamla Kant Mishra, a Sanksrit professor and a member of the government
project.
"To talk about Sanskrit is
very political in India today," Mishra added. "That is the plight of the
language." The Indian government funds many colleges and universities that
teach Sanskrit literature and scriptures, but it is not uncommon for even
PhD students in the language to be unable to speak it. State-run schools
offer a choice between a regional Indian language and Sanskrit. Many private
schools offer Sanskrit, French, German and Spanish.
Meanwhile, some scholars
are developing computer programs for Sanskrit and translating its rich
repository of children's stories online. Last month, an alliance of
international scholars from the United States, France and Germany was formed
for Sanskrit computing. "Sanskrit is very suitable for computing, because
its grammar is complete with 4,000 rules and has a regular structure," said
Girish Nath Jha, assistant professor of computational linguistics at the
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
At Sanskrit camp, a
19-year old undergraduate said that Sanskrit is in her blood. "When I learn
any language, I learn about its history and its literature," said Jaya
Priyam. "But when I study Sanskrit, I learn who I am. It is my identity."
Top of the page
THE BOOK
OF LOVE - The Story of the Kamasutra
A
biography of the world's most famous sex manual
4 June 2008, By Michael
Dirda/ By James McConnachie
Years ago, a bunch of us
were sitting around drinking when I heard a friend murmur two sentences I
have never forgotten. "You know, guys, sex is the greatest thing in the
world." He paused and we were all about to nod in agreement. He was, after
all, a noted and knowledgeable ladies' man. Unexpectedly, though, he then
added, with infinite wistfulness: "But it's just not that great."
There, in that gulf
between the reality and the dream, lies the domain of pornography, the sex
industry and the masturbatory fantasy -- of Viagra and the midlife crisis.
Our Western myths of love are seldom about fulfillment; they are all about
yearning. In Plato's Symposium we are told that the gods divided the
original ball-like human beings in two, and that we consequently spend our
lives searching for the other half who will complete us. So-called romantic
love, which first blossomed in 12th-century France, revels in passion
delayed, forbidden or otherwise thwarted. Its real theme is desire.
But for the Western
imagination, the East has long represented an escape from this pervasive
sexual unhappiness. Baudelaire spoke of tropic realms of "luxe, calme et
volupté"; Hawaii and Tahiti once beckoned as Edens of innocent
voluptuousness. From the 18th century on, the Orient, in general, seemed a
perfumed garden, offering the tender attentions of geishas, bare-breasted
island girls and pretty boys. Here, amid erotic graciousness, the darkness
of sin was unknown. And yet, even this scented, sensual wonderland turned
out to have its guide, its bible: The Kamasutra, sometimes subtitled
"The Hindu Art of Love."
The title alone summons visions of exceedingly ambitious sexual postures.
Yet the real Kamasutra is even more fascinating than its myth. In his
"biography" of this Sanskrit classic, James McConnachie starts by exploring
the philosophical and historical background of its 3rd-century text. "Kama"
is the Sanskrit word for sexual pleasure or delight; a "sutra" is "a
scholarly treatise designed to compress knowledge into a series of pithy
maxims." The Kamasutra itself is a work of consolidation or reclamation,
since its author, Vatsyayana, tells us that he was building on seven earlier
treatises about love (all now lost). It was intended "to be a contribution
to the great scientific project of the era: the composition of authoritative
studies of all aspects of human behaviour and understanding." Other
treatises were devoted to dharma -- a word associated with law, justice,
duty and principle -- and artha, which covered worldly success.
Under the Gupta dynasty,
3rd-century India developed a highly aesthetic urban culture, and
Vatsyayana's intended readers were young men about town, who frequented the
theater, practiced the arts and lived playboy lives devoted to pleasure. His
treatise (or shastra) is divided into seven "books." In Wendy Doniger and
Sudhir Kakar's 2002 translation, these are: General Observations, Sex,
Virgins, Wives, Other Men's Wives, Courtesans, and Erotic Esoterica. Full of
details from contemporary life, The Kamasutra is highly
dramatic and has been likened to an extended play. It also strives to
establish sex as a humane activity, a cultivated art that rejects both
confining Buddhist morality and unchecked sexual aggression.
In the notorious Book Two,
Vatsyayana describes 64 kama-kalas, or ways to make love.
Surprisingly, these are not 64 positions, notes McConnachie, "but simply a
kind of grand total of the categories into which Vatsyayana divides the
different moods and modes of lovemaking. Theorists, Vatsyayana says, divide
sex into eight different topics, namely 'embracing, kissing, scratching,
biting, the positions, moaning, the woman playing the man's part, and oral
sex.' As each of these modes of sex is supposed to have eight different
particular manifestations, there are thus sixty-four ways in which a man or
woman could be said to be having sex in its broadest sense." But, as
McConnachie emphasizes, "the kama-kalas are not just tools for successful
love making," they also "lie at the heart of what constitutes an educated
man."
Yet because he surveys
actual practices, not just ideals, Vatsyayana also depicts far more than
gentlemanly behavior, including drugging, rape and kidnapping. He is at his
most attractive in noting "procedures of kissing," "types of scratching with
the nails," "ways of biting" and the character of the female orgasm. His
analytic mind neatly tabulates the differing sizes and shapes of the male
and female genitalia, formulates ways to ingratiate oneself with young girls
or married women, and even categorizes the varieties of ecstatic moan: "As a
major part of moaning, she may use, according to her imagination, the cries
of the dove, cuckoo, green pigeon, parrot, bee, nightingale, goose, duck and
partridge." Clearly, Vatsyayana must have been something of an amateur
ornithologist, and one with a very good ear for birdsong.
McConnachie reminds us
that the original text of The Kamasutra wasn't enhanced by
illustrations, and only in modern times have editions used Indian temple
sculpture or Persian-style miniatures to depict innumerable and unlikely
interlacements. Similarly, the original Kamasutra has nothing to do with the
practices of Tantrism -- the latter's religious adepts performed their
sex-magic without feeling desire. The book does, however, briefly allude to
male homosexual practices and closes by offering unlikely recipes for
restoring sexual vigor, ensuring fidelity or ending an affair.
By the 16th
century, The Kamasutra had been largely forgotten in India (and
partly replaced by later sex manuals such as the Ananga Ranga). We
owe the classic's modern revival to Richard Burton, the 19th-century
explorer, translator of The Arabian Nights and outspoken proponent of
sexual freedom. McConnachie's middle chapters briefly chronicle
Burton's
daring life, his friendships with Victorian connoisseurs of erotica and the
gradual rediscovery of ancient Sanskrit literature. While Burton is
traditionally given as the translator of the groundbreaking 1883 edition of
The Kama Sutra (so spelled), the actual work was done by his friend
Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot and two Indian scholars, Bhagvanlal Indraji and
Shivaram Parshuram Bhide. Burton did some polishing and added a few notes,
but he was mainly the driving force for bringing the book into print (under
the auspices of the private Kama Shastra Society). About sex, he emphasized
in a letter to a friend, "it is the standard book."
The last chapters of
The Book of Love bring the story up-to-date, without stinting on the
entertaining pen portraits and anecdotes. One would like to know more about
The Kamasutra's notorious French translator, the Hindu convert Alain
Daniélou. McConnachie also reflects on India's contemporary Puritanism,
discusses the trademarking of the word "Kamasutra" as shorthand for sexual
acrobatics (in particular by Alex Comfort in The Joy of Sex), and
concludes with a survey of recent scholarship on the Sanskrit classic.
McConnachie has written an
altogether first-rate work of intellectual history for ordinary readers.
Throughout he reminds us that The Kamasutra is a repository of both
ancient Indian culture and of modern sexual daydreams (most of the postures
being either uncomfortable or impossible). In the end, though, The Kamasutra
itself recognizes that the ultimate transports lie beyond the teachings of
art: "When the wheel of sexual ecstasy is in full motion, there is no
textbook at all, and no order.
Top of the page
36 Hours in
Mumbai
22 June 2008, The New York Times
IT’S the Jazz Age
again in Mumbai. The populous metropolis is bursting with money, a
shimmering art scene has a growing global presence, and young people are
exploiting their newfound freedoms in dim bars until the wee hours. Indeed,
in the city’s more rarefied circles, Champagne is sipped every night and
everyone knows everyone, darling. But large swaths of Mumbai, the former
Bombay, remain immune to the homogeneity of global glamour. Behind the
bustling boulevards are nameless alleys where coconuts are sold, haircuts
are given and the city’s frenetic traffic occasionally comes to a honking
halt because of a scampering goat.
Friday
1)
5 p.m. BEACH FLAVORS
When migrants from
Mumbai’s outlying areas arrive, they descend onto Chowpatty Beach, a
surprisingly pristine beach in the middle of this throbbing city of 17
million or so. Children swirl around rusted merry-go-rounds; families bond
over cobs of corn; vendors sell hot-pink cotton candy. An array of services
is on offer, including head massages and palm reading. Buy a savory plate of
bhel puri — a kind of trail mix of puffed rice, garlic chutney, coriander
and tamarind — and stroll among the classless ocean of Mumbaikars taking an
urban breather.
2)
7 p.m. TOAST THE VIEW
For a bird’s-eye view
of the city’s high rollers, head to the top of the InterContinental Mumbai
Marine Drive Hotel. The hipper-than-hip rooftop bar, Dome, draws the city’s
wealthy young, who flirt over hot toddies by the pool. It also affords
romantic views of the Arabian Sea and the graceful arc of Marine Drive, the
seaside promenade also known as the Queen’s Necklace.
3)
9 p.m. CRAB EXPEDITION
The Koli, a hereditary
caste of anglers, were among Mumbai’s original dwellers. They still fish,
and you can sample their catch at Trishna, a venerable seafood restaurant in
the Kala Ghoda district.
Saturday
4)
7 a.m. FISH SPOTTING
Wake up early and
drive to the Ferry Wharf seafood market at Mazgaon Dock (Malet Bunder Road),
where fishermen come in after a night or a month at sea, collect their pay
and buy jewelry and CDs for their wives. Be warned: the scene is chaotic.
Workers balancing baskets of seafood on their heads will push to get past,
and the floor is coated by a sludge of innards, blood and ice. Photography
is absolutely forbidden, but the image of the anarchic frenzy will surely
stay.
5)
11 a.m. SPRUCE
YOURSELF
India is known for
exporting luscious fabrics, but homegrown designers are making a name for
Indian fashion. Across the street from the Taj Mahal Palace hotel is Bombay
Electric, a concept boutique on three terraced levels that embodies the new
Indian cool. If you order Jodhpur riding pants (7,500 rupees), they will be
stitched by the Maharajah of Jaipur’s tailor, according to the store.
6)
Noon INDO-IRANIAN
BOUNTY
Few countries have
exported their cuisines as successfully as India. And yet what you find in
New York or London tends to be a fraction of the culinary diversity that you
find here. Take, for example, the country’s old Iranian community, whose
cooking is rarely found outside of the subcontinent. Follow the city’s
foodies to Britannia (Ballard Estate), a breezy restaurant with high
ceilings that blends Persian and Indian cuisine. Lunch is about 600 rupees
for two.
7)
2 p.m. THIEVES’ MARKET
For the intrepid
treasure hunter, few shopping jaunts rival the grimy Chor Bazaar, a
sprawling maze of lanes in the heart of downtown Mumbai. The market is
cramped and chaotic, coursing with wooden carts that will, if you are
careless, flatten you. Expect to find antiques at throwaway prices,
including colonial-era lamps, Art Deco clocks and trinkets of every kind
and, at a store called Mini Market (Mutton Street), a large stash of
original Bollywood posters sought by leading Indian collectors. And haggling
is mandatory.
8)
4 p.m. ARTY STROLL
Mumbai’s art scene is
exploding, and a good place to discover it is the Kala Ghoda district,
within the larger neighborhood called Fort. Behind a frosted-glass wall is
Bodhi Art (K. Dubash Marg), a chic gallery that features cutting-edge Indian
painters like Atul Dodiya, and which has outposts in Berlin, Singapore and
New York. Directly across the street is the gallery of Max Mueller Bhavan,
as well as the well-known Jehangir Art Gallery, with rotating shows and a
cafe that feeds Mumbai’s artists and intellectuals.
9)
8 p.m. GRILLS AND
TRUNKS
Before you head out
for a glamorous night, feast on an everyman dinner. Bademiya (Tulloch Road)
is a legendary stall behind the Taj Mahal hotel in Colaba that serves the
traditional Muslim cuisine of kebabs and paper-thin roomali flatbreads.
Spread a newspaper and eat like the locals on the trunk of your taxi, or
duck into the empty gallery across the street. It is difficult to spend more
than a few hundred rupees.
10)
10 p.m. AIR KISSES AND
BELLINIS
The sceney Blue Frog
(Lower Parel) may be the boldest experiment to date in Mumbai’s young but
decadent night life: an attempt to showcase fresh, global music in a city
reared on Bollywood show tunes. A dapper crowd packs the bar three deep,
waving Gandhi-adorned currency and screaming out for Bellinis. Everyone
seems to know one another, with fashionable new arrivals barely able to
squeeze into their reserved booths without bumping into 12 people they went
to school with, or worked with.
11)
1 a.m. BOLLYWOOD BLING
Despite the city’s
over-the-top, nouveau night life, the police try to shut everything down at
1 a.m. One splashy exception is Bling in the Leela Kempinski Hotel, near the
international airport, a posh nightclub that stays open until breakfast.
Waiters are dressed like rap moguls, the sofas are studded with fake
crystals, and the VIP lounge looks like an aquarium. Unlike the mega clubs
in South Mumbai, which tend to play Western pop tunes, the D.J. here mixes
Bollywood beats with hip-hop and house. The door charge is 1,000 rupees a
couple, and “couple” is narrowly defined as a man and a woman, which can
sometimes leave gay tourists stranded.
Sunday
12)
1 a.m. REALITY CHECK
A majority of
Mumbaikars, of course, cannot afford nightclubs or cool boutiques. For an
enlightening tour of the city’s incomprehensible Dharavi slum, reserve a
spot with Reality Tours and Travel. The tours, which start at 400 rupees and
two and half hours, are safe and eye-opening, and showcase the hives of
entrepreneurship that dot this giant shanty town. Brisk industries for
recycling and leather, for example, have sprouted among the ward’s
oil-slicked streets and jury-rigged homes — offering yet another example of
how this megalopolis innovates at all levels.
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