Books like The Twice-born

Taseer writes gorgeous, minutely detailed prose which makes this a very readable book, but the project has zero substance - he is out of his depth in this one, trying to find the 'soul of India' through learning to read Sanskrit and talking to 'referred' authorities about Sanskrit-Brahmin-Hindu-culture amidst a Rising Modi. A battle in his mind (and he thinks, in India) that rages between Hindu nationalism (translation: proud of one's 'pure heritage' that existed before any invasion, jeans or smartphones) and that of 'revenge and revival' (translation: beating the crap out of minorities). The authorities he picks for this search are 'spiritual, linguistic, intellectual leaders' of Hindu nationalism (translation: fundamentalist, racist and possibly militant Brahmins). They live in a glib bubble of never-having-worked/built-a-day-in-their-life suffering from perennial victimhood which is the source of their power and infamy, while also being disrespectful of country's magnanimous history, geographical reality and bipolar potential of all that India was and is and will be. They all sound like a combo of Pakistani Jamaat-i-Islami Prof. Khurshid Ahmed sb., Hafiz Saeed and Hamza Ali Abbasi (jingoistic dim bulbs glorifying solitary religio-political pursuits, superiority of some mystifying 'grand design thought' that they believe only occurs to their creed or caste or religion, and persecution complex while lapping up attention from controversial remarks, justifying violence). It's a label and a crude and one-dimensional one at that (apart from being a mouthful), but the bottomline is: what have these guys created or built in the world? (seriously, what have Tripathi, Mukhopadhyay and Shivam built except for hot air balloons?) What do they have to show for all the mind-numbing arguments about superior heritage? The guys in Taseer's book have anointed positions not because they were talented or deserving, but because they were born in a certain race, religion, city, political climate and made moolah, prestige and honor from it. The only reason why they were chosen to be interviewed is because they are self-serving, divisive and angry old/young (Brah)men. Do they matter? Only to those who want to fuel cars on butter, or ride a donkey to work, since car was not created by Hindu mythology. (disclaimer: I love vegetarian, organic, home-grown stuff but that does not make me a terrorist). Their nostalgia over the great India and great Indian genius before "Huns, Shakas, Jews, Parsis, Muslims and British" came, reminded me of the myopic inferiority complex and humiliation some Muslims suffer when thinking of the Ottoman Empire and its Fall! Their saffron lungis and scarves reminded me of Tablighi Jamaat-followers' white headgear, loose shirt with large-sleeves and pajama-above-ankle attire gaining middle-class ground in Pakistan: symbolic piety hiding intolerant, rigid, unsmiling expression of might-is-right mentality.There's a lot of biography in this - the childhoods of the referred authorities are given - all leading to the title of the book (the catchy "Twice-Born"), meaning the interviewees were 'reborn' by going back to the true Indian roots of thousands of years ago. But what does it really mean? These guys are influential hypocrites given a platform by Taseer. It's all talk, soundbite, and then Taseer's reaction on the soundbite, his theories about the soundbite, trying to find some mystical reason for the soundbite and his aversion to the environment of the interviewees, creating another soundbite. It's soul-souffle', instragammable (oh, the shots of Benares, Domhai festival and Shivam!) and tweetable ("India does not have freedom of thought because of West's monetary system and multinational companies") and guaranteed international talk show circuit outrage (a good looking author full of 'responsible shaming,' watched by millennials who have the attention-span and insight of a 2-year old). I also did not like the 'Alice in Wonderland' feel of the project: Taseer goes around towns, rivers, offices, houses without research or any idea of the people, place, culture. It felt like one big giant reel of U.S. Admiral James Stockdale during vice presidential debate in 1992: 'Who Am I? What Am I Doing Here?' What is relatable is the feeling that people who get educated in private or non-government schools are less patriotic, less religious-minded and given more respect than the government-schooled, lower economic class, who are brimming with inner-city culture and sense of brotherhood/ community, both representing the divide between haves and have-nots ("To be modern is to renounce India"; "the conflict is not between tradition and modernity, it is between modernity and spirituality."), but most of these interviewees were born rich or in 'elitist / religious-hawk' neighborhoods and have always had special class-status through religion. What have they missed out on? So even that argument is lost in the noise of 214 pages. Nevertheless, a guy should do research before going to Benares (or anywhere else). The book is post-Trump narrative non-fiction (translation: wing it).Also, for all the outrage, shame and whining that Taseer displays over injustice of class system while hanging around Hindu religious fanatics, makes me wonder whether it occurred to him to go wash a public toilet, or work as a vendor or pick up garbage from street or be a farmer for a little while, to cut the distance he feels that exists between the ones born of superior class and the ones considered untouchable! It's very dandy to be a watcher of wrongs, instead of being a fixer. Does he expect a fundamentalist Brahmin to change his ways or is he searching for enlightenment through them? He's looking at the wrong place. It's very easy to write a book about some ill-mannered woman in an Italian restaurant scolding a waiter - a scene which can and does occur all over the world but which Taseer blames on Modi's India! His outrage is elitist in itself, borne out of airy fairy laments in swanky joints.His view of India comes across as that of an expat's, not a citizen's.Maybe the problem lies with me - I just don't 'get' it (a very cool sentence in the book somewhere is "Colonization of India by Indians themselves" - a statement which is true for every country on planet earth where multiple systems of economy and education and privilege exist, not just a capitalistic one). (I am not even going to go into the whole culture vs. civilization dribble that occurs at the end of the book......oh what the hell: "In Thomas Mann's view, Germany stood for culture, France for civilization. Culture is horror, Civilization is Logic. Bharat is culture. India is civilization." - if you agree with such philosophical mumbo jumbo, this book is for you).Lo and behold! The synopsis Taseer lays out at the end: "I feared that India was in danger of making a catastrophic decision about her future. The country was at a special boiling point: the right quantity of uprooted semi-urbanized men; the right kind of populist strongman; the right level of ignorance and heightened expectations, resentment and anger; the right fantasies about the past - who knew what little achievement of nation building and democracy might not yet be sacrificed at the altar of a future too bright to behold?" (translation: Lane: 'Your mission should you choose to accept it, I wonder did you ever choose not to. The end you always feared is coming and the blood will be on your hands. The fallout of all your good intentions.' Cue: Friction by Imagine Dragons. Hunley: 'You had a terrible choice to make at Berlin, one life over millions, and now the world is at risk......') This book is paranoia, rage and fear that engulfs a clueless traveler. Still, thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I liked reading it.