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Nine Lives: Book Review


So this book by William Dalrymple came to my rescue when I was desperately looking for a book to read, to hold the hard bound cover in my hand, smell the familiar fragrance of old paper, and revel in the beauty of the printed word as it stares at you from the book with that smile that invites you to just delve into reading the book! So yes, I was basically “book starved” and this book satiated the hunger for a worthwhile reading experience.

The words just flow in the book and you don’t have to try too hard to read them. It’s almost like swimming downstream in a slow paced river. You just “go with the flow”, which I think is very essential for a Travelogue such as this one. The book takes the reader through stories of nine different Indians, who encompass in themselves a world of their own. The stories have the underlined theme of spirituality in the country and the various ways in which Indians try to achieve the much desired “enlightenment”. So, I am not going to talk about all the nine stories, just the two that I personally liked a lot. And trust me, I have had a hard time zeroing down on these two!

The first story, “The Nun’s Tale” is the story of a young woman who turns into a Jain nun at the age of 14. She visits the holy place of worship and there is no looking back for her from there. Leaving behind a family that loved her by all its means and perhaps a bright corporate future, she chooses to get her hair picked from her head by the roots and deny all the worldly pleasures of good clothing, living in a place for too long, money etc. While she had embarked on a journey of complete detachment, she fails to realize that she was still very attached to this one person.

I cannot help but think about how useful Is detachment. How practical is it when we are constantly living in a world surrounded by people. Somewhere, if you are not attached to your family or loved ones, are you not doing them wrong? Are you not being grossly selfish, looking for your own individual selfish means of “enlightenment”? On a much deeper level, does an individual get enlightened or an entire society? An entire country? An entire generation? 

Contrasting to the Jain peaceful style of living is the one adopted by Manisha Ma in one of the stories, who worships the Goddess Tara, another form of the Goddess Kali. For Manisha Ma, drinking the blood from the skull of the dead is a vehicle that needs to be used while walking the path of enlightenment. While this is not exactly “my favorite” but I cannot help but wonder at the contradictions that exist in the way of living people adopt to perhaps achieve communion with the same God? While earlier I was questioning the Existence of God, this brings me to another question, about the Form of Existence. One entity with different, contradictory forms? Or different entities, implying different contradictory Truths.

The second story that I liked was “The Daughters of Yellama” which is enriching account of the now underground Devdasi culture in the country. Having its roots in Karnataka, this concept and others mentioned in the book continuously challenge the doctrine of the superiority of Brahmins. Forcing women into prostitution on the pretext of serving a higher purpose now seems wrong. It sure wasn’t when the process started.  Does that imply that our ancestors were really irrational? Or is rationality just a new concept, somehow taking us away from the spiritual?

P.S. Considering the length of this post and the innumerable unresolved questions posted here, it would make sense for the readers to read the book, explore these questions and come up with many others of their own! Happy reading! 
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