タグ: English reviews

★★★★☆  I thought it’d be a travel journey where he saw poverty in India, spiritual and mystic and all that. How wrong I was, it’s a book that gives a slap in the face of those who think it that way.

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An Area of Darkness 
V. S. Naipaul, 1964
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul
304 pages
Read in 2023.08


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

I thought it would be a travel journey from Naipaul, a winner of Bookers and Nobel Prize, where he saw poverty in India, spiritual and mystic and all that.
Well, I was completely wrong. 

It is more like a connection or a journey through himself, in the atmosphere of India.
Not heard to imagine he was in some kind of depressed state, but his reactions are raw and cruel.
He's not here to pretend that there's beauty in the poverty, as many Western travelers claim. 
Instead, he talks of the exploitation of the poverty, the filth of the poverty, of the blindness, or ignorance, of the endless corruption and of the excrement of all the negative things human.
Not surprised it was banned in India, it puts off the Western people who want to see the mystic India.

He had a pretty unpleasant visit to the village where his grandfather is from, that he's happy to dismiss, this story alone represent the sentiment.
It's not the UK where he lives, not Trinidad where he's from, India is to him familiar yet very unfamiliar. 
It's definitely not a happy read, it's a slap in your hypocritical face that wishes to say the poverty is beauty, no it's a middle finger to anyone who says that. Brutally honest.
No wonder he's not popular in India... at all.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

An Area of Darkness: A Discovery of India

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
An Area of Darkness: His Discovery of India

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Un'area di tenebra (Italiano)

★★★★★ A speech he gave at Keio University in Tokyo in 1916. Full of warnings for Japan that he had loved, at the time Japan was militarising too rapidly. However he still believed in the power of Eastern philosophy.

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The Spirit of Japan
Rabindranath Tagore, 1916
22 pages
Read in 2023.11

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A speech he gave as he was departing Japan at Keio University in Tokyo in 1916.
It is critical and full of warnings for Japan that he had loved, at the time Japan was militarising too rapidly. He strongly believed in the power of the East, that the power of Eastern philosophy 

It's well known that he though he was fond of Japan and its culture and arts, he was very concerned about the rapid Westernisation of the country, thus going towards the path of colonisers.
Looking at how his own country was getting consumed by the West and how Japan was losing its honourable self, he was unable to contain himself and gave this powerful speech.

However, his warnings are timeless and universal; this "modernisation" is a path to self destruction and the hatred and harm you force upon the others will always come back to yourself.
He strongly believed in the power of the East, that the power of Eastern philosophy would overcome the material power of the West, just like the sun that is always there even if the cloud might cover the sun temporarily.

Short but meaningful book.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Spirit of Japan (Mint Editions (Voices From API))

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Spirit of Japan 

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
The Spirit of Japan (Mint Editions) 

★★★☆☆ An interesting and original view on the matter of Nepal, its position between Britain and India. Make you realise how important Nepal has been in our history and how it’s been neglected.

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Anglo-Gurkha Relations
Historical Account of how the Gurkhas Bestowed upon Queen Victoria the Gift of Indian Empire
GL Rai-Zimmdar, 2007
211 pages
Read in 2023.12


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Probably a self published book, but has an interesting and original view on the matter of Nepal, its position between Britain and India.
The author seems to feel it a mission to correct previous historians' fake stories, or misunderstandings, so I should have known the general or previous understanding of Anglo-Gurkha relations to appreciate this book.

This doesn't really teach you the general history Anglo-Gurkha Relations, but it does make you realise how important Nepal has been in our history and how it's been neglected.
It claims that the world has been misled because of the strong Indian and British influences.
I must find a regular history book on Nepal first.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Anglo-Gurkha Relations, New Edition: Historical Accounts of how the Gurkhas bestowed upon Queen Victoria the Gift of Indian Empire

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Anglo-Gurkha Relations: Historical Account of how the Gurkhas Bestowed upon Queen Victoria the Gift of Indian Empire

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
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★★★★☆  A memoir, a nostalgia, of how this Bengali teacher who spent a few years in Darjeeling in the 1990. Their politics and sentiments are complicated, and he carefully observes them as an outsider.

🔽 log 🔽
No path in Darjeeling is straight
Memories of a Hill Town
Parimal Bhattacharya, 2017
200 pages
Read in 2022.02


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
A memoir, a nostalgia, of how this Bengali teacher who spent a few years in Darjeeling in the 1990.

I read quite a lot of books on the history of this area but this is more personal.
Their politics and sentiments are complicated, and he carefully observes them as an outsider.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

No Path in Darjeeling Is Straight: Memories of a Hill Town

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
No Path in Darjeeling Is Straight: Memories of a Hill Town

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
No Path in Darjeeling is Straight: Memories of a Hill Town (English)

★★★★☆ A sober biography of the Buddha as a person. It follows from his birth to death, through history and myth of 2500 years ago. A perfect introduction, to understand why Buddhism started there and then in India.

🔽 log 🔽
Gautama Buddha
The Life and Teachings of The Awakened One
Vishvapani Blomfield, 2011
416 pages
Read in 2020.02

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A sort of biography of the Buddha as a person, and is trying its best to stay sober.

It's 2500 years ago so it is difficult to give a chronological order but it follows from his birth to death, with very good description to the background that is the Indian society which itself is mythical.

A perfect introduction, to understand why Buddhism started there in India. 
It was a long read and a difficult one to follow (so many long names!) but now that I finished I miss reading it.
He was a fascinating person and definitely philosophical one which is why Buddhism is still spreading even in the West and is being re-imported back in India.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of The Awakened One

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of The Awakened One

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
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