Bruce Chatwin: A Biography

Complicated man
Lots about his sex life but
his writing......still dark

A Woman in Berlin

The end: World War II

War is truly hell even

for non-combatants

Gripping Guanzhou (or China)














I spent two weeks in Guangzhou recently on a business trip. It was an eye opener, both good and bad. It made me appreciate how far China had come, how impressive their acheivements are and also how insular of a country China really is in spite of the World Stage it commands.

I was there when the Olympic torch came through town and that was quite an experience. The Chinese are extremely proud (and rightly so) that the Olympics are being held in Beijing. Just like the Olympics in Barcelona was a coming out for that city, the Beijing Olympics will be a place for the China to show who they've really become. This isn't simply a land where cheap goods are produced (I could not beleive how cheap things are though. And i was paying tourist prices)

This is a country confident of who they are, confident of where they are headed. They are proud of their accomplishments. They have lifted millions of people out of poverty. They have built some of the grandest cities in the world and are continuing at a breakneck pace. Guangzhou is not on my radar as far as world class cities but it is getting there fast.. The amount of construction that is taking place is breathtaking. And this isn't Soviet architecture that is being raised. The skyline is rising with what looks like amazing looking structures. The city is being built with big boulevards and iconic buildings (Now if they could just deal with the smog)

They have a unique system (socialism mixed with capitalism, authoritarianism mixed with a relatively relaxed social environment) which is working surprisingly that allows them to address whatever ails them in a unique fashion, a path that no other government has. The government has absolute authority and gets things accomplished when things need to get done. They are adept at outside of the box thinking and with their political system are able to devise and implement unique solutions to deal with their problems. The challenges they face are immense (environmental, social, policitcal) but from what I see, they are well equipped to deal with these issues. Their people trust the government to better their lives, not by giving them a handout but by providing the opportunity for people to do better their own lives. For me, this is absolutely extraordinary. Its capitalism on a grand scale. It’s a system even the most jaded of American conservatives would be impressed with.

One only need to look to my motherland, India, to see where a goverment has failed in this regard. With all the positive coverage showered on its successes, India’s failures are on open display on every street in every town: families living on sidewalks, children begging in the streets, trash and litter everywhere. None of its cities compare in any way to the grandness of China’s big cities. The people have no trust in the government’s ability to better their lives. It is in spite of the government that the country is moving forward. Democracy and human rights have done little to increase literacy rates, provide basic services to its people, or better the lives of its poorest citizens (who are also its most numerous)

The insular nature of China has to do with my experience as being a person of color in a wholly homogenous country. Though I only had a handful of bad experiences (mostly having to do with taxi drivers), the overwhelming impression was of a country that does not embraces foreign cultures, foreign ideas. With the exception of the US, it’s the only country that I’ve visited where most people do not speak a second language. It’s either Mandarin or nothing. Perhaps it’s a remnant of the country’s history of which I am completely ignorant.

27 Dresses

Always a bridesmaid
27 times. Hence the
title. Fun movie.

Waiting: A Novel

Man in love. Maybe.

Man wants divorce. Really?

In Maoist China

Markgrafenbraeu

A google search on the term returned zero hits which is a bit of a shame. Well, it is a cheap beer (6 euros for a crate of 20 when the average is about 13 euros) and the beer is brewed by Winkels Getraenke GMBH (Usually the name of the beer would be somehow associated with the name of the brewery, i.e. Margrafenbraeu would be brewed by Margrafen Brauerei. In this case, its brewed by Winkel's Drinks Incorporated, the sort of association that would cause most Germans to steer clear of this brew. There's a classic American commercial about salsa from years ago, where the actors cringe when they read on the salsa bottle that the salsa's made in New York City. Its the same kind of thing here. Beer should come from a brewery. Not from Wenkel's house of things liquid)

I generally do not drink exports at home. They're just really too sweet for me and don't complement food well. Markgrafenbraeu though it has a terrific sweet smell also has a nice bitter taste. I really dig that combination. According to the label, its been brewed according to the German purity laws (no, this ain't some Nazi thing. German laws for brewing beer precede Herr Hitler. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot ) since 1816. Not that that's any indication of a good brew (Check out Ruppaner for a sizable exception) but here, Winkel has done a good thing. For six euros for twenty half liter beers, I can't complain.
No google hits, huh? I guess it may be time to start a website for Markgrafenbraeu connoisseurs.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

How can a book be so sad? Within the first forty pages, I was ready to break down and weep. I almost dreaded having to pick up the book when I got into bed (nor could I resist. Kinda like being a drug addict. Don't want the fix but can't resist either) but then once I started reading, I didn't want to put it down.

It almost seemed like the book was taunting me with the amount of sorrow it could pack. Every time I thought there's no way the book could get any sadder, the next chapter just brought more heartbreak. Grief piled on top of misery with a helping of being the wrong sex in the wrong country when the shit hit the fan.

The characters just seemed so alive in the novel, and I felt all their trials (I wish could say I felt their tribulations, but there were hardly any tribulations until the very end. Mostly tribulations just resulted in more misery), and I almost felt that it was happening to someone I know. I couldn't separate reality from fiction as I read the book. It felt like a real story, real people, partly because its set in Afghanistan in the recent past, a past which is very alive today and a culture which is very much in the news at the moment.

Having a young daughter, all the gloom visited on Azizi struck unbelievably close to home. I couldn't help think of my daughter when reading about Azizi. How terribly sad to have to face a life like hers. Terribly sad to face any of the lives in the the book but Azizi's was especially hard on me.

People stuck in situations beyond their control whose only want in life is to live without war, to be able to live a life of their choosing. How is that that this is not possible in the 20th century? I think that strikes are the crux of why this novel caused me so much grief. That what the women are striving for is so simple, something that I expect as a birthright, but is still far beyond the reach of a lot of people. Something I feel powerless to address in any shape or form. Therein lies my true grief.