An Unexpected Diversion - My Hobbit Habit

People have books they like to read time and again and mine was The Hobbit. And The Trilogy. It was somewhere a little before 1969. My father had returned from a posting in Boston, I think. And he had brought the set back with him. It was literally a set, set within an elegant cardboard five-sided box. As I cannot find a free to share picture of that experience, I offer you a preview of the first book of the series from Amazon:

My father told us the stories, a little bit at a time, every day, when he got home from work. And they were among the first books that I read. I continued to re-read them annually, well into the years of motherhood when I read them aloud to my son.

But, first of all, let me tell you what a hobbit is. A hobbit is like a small person, except that hobbits have furry feet. And they live in a hole in the ground. In fact, that is how the whole concept began. Apparently, Prof Tolkien was quite upset with the nonsense a student had written and he wrote as comment: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." But it was 

Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

The Hobbit can be read alone and some feel that it might be better to read it after tackling The Trilogy. For The Hobbit can be perceived by some as a book for children. Indeed, one can read all of them at any age but Disney and ilk have used business sense to convince some of us that there are books for each age as well as for each gender.

The very first chapter of The Hobbit, The Unexpected Party, is a delight. Imagine how you would feel if some thirteen dwarfs and one wizard gate crashed your place and demanded to be fed. You would be fed up! And it would not be a good morning at all. Except that that is how the story sort of begins:

“Good Morning!" said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat.

Gandalf is the wizard in the story. 

"What do you mean?" he said. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"
"All of them at once," said Bilbo. "And a very fine morning for a pipe of tobacco out of doors, into the bargain.

However, the wizard appears thick skinned and Bilbo, the hobbit, decides to be firm:

"Good morning!" he said at last. "We don't want any adventures here, thank you! You might try over The Hill or across The Water." By this he meant that the conversation was at an end."What a lot of things you do use Good morning for!" said Gandalf. "Now you mean that you want to get rid of me, and that it won't be good till I move off.”

The story is bound to make you chuckle, not only at first reading but even later, when memories bubble up.

So, the dwarfs and the wizard make themselves at home in the hobbit hole and soon begin to sing: 

Chip the glasses and crack the plates!

I do hope you haven't seen the film and I do hope you won't. The book is much better.

Bilbo's heart sinks as the purpose of the party slowly manifests: to set off on a treasure hunt fraught with dangers. 

The dark filled all the room, and the fire died down, and the shadows were lost, and still they played on. And suddenly first one and then another began to sing as they played, deep­throated singing of the dwarves in the deep places of their ancient homes; and this is like a fragment of their song, if it can be like their song without their music. 

Far over the misty mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away ere break of day

To seek the pale enchanted gold.

To compound matters, Bilbo is to be a key figure in the enterprise. But I leave you to discover the joys of Tolkien's tale on your own. 

For those who are already smitten with the story, let's see what other devotees have done. A tidbit for the newbie: a hobbit is fond of food. So, it was a delight to discover AN UNEXPECTED PARTY MENU AND RECIPES. 

For music to read by, do try Music from Middle-earth.

So I leave you to gate-crash the story and hope to follow this unexpected diversion of mine with some Roast Mutton - the name of the second chapter of The Hobbit.

Psychoanalysis, a Long Poem and a Short Story - Jung, Browning, and Vonnegut

My father was a psychiatrist. Those who have some acquaintance with the field will immediately think of Freud. A few might also recall Jung. My father was averse to Freud and I have inherited that phobia. Freud appears obsessed with sex. And I admit that I have not read his works and that my bias is based on what I have heard of his theories and how I see their influence. However, as he is not the focus here, I leave you to do the digging. 

Freud, father of psychoanalysis. Google Images - CC BY-SA 4.0

When I was a child I grew up in a house where books reigned supreme and among those was Carl Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections. 

Upload by Adrian Michael - Ortsmuseum Zollikon, Public Domain

Though not without faults, Jung's was one of modern history's most intriguing minds and Memories, Dreams, Reflections presents a rare, infinitely insightful glimpse of its inner workings...

Maria Popova

Read it here. As for me, Jung brought me the concept of persona and of archetypes. Again, it's just in a crude way and so for me, persona is 

a face to meet the faces that you meet

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - T S Eliot

And as for archetypes, it is a fascinating concept. 

These archaic and mythic characters that make up the archetypes reside with all people from all over the world, Jung believed, and it is these archetypes that symbolize basic human motivations, values, and personalities. He believed that each archetype played a role in personality, but felt that most people were dominated by one specific archetype. The actual way in which an archetype is expressed or realized depends upon a number of factors including an individual's cultural influences and unique personal experiences.Jung identified four major archetypes, but also believed that there was no limit to the number that may exist.

The 4 Major Jungian Archetypes

Now, that I've dangled a morsel of psychoanalysis over you, I have to confess that Adler is whom I really want to look into at some point!

Having dragged you through your subconscious, I shall now let you down gently with a poem about murder. From the past. Browning's brooding protagonist is driven by the demons of the subconscious:

Arthur Hughes [Public domain]

Porphyria's Lover 

The rain set early in to-night,

The sullen wind was soon awake,

It tore the elm-tops down for spite,

And did its worst to vex the lake:

I listened with heart fit to break.

When glided in Porphyria; straight

She shut the cold out and the storm,

And kneeled and made the cheerless grate

Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;

Which done, she rose, and from her form⁠

Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,

And laid her soiled gloves by, untied

Her hat and let the damp hair fall,

And, last, she sat down by my side

And called me.

Robert Browning

Click on the poet's name above to read what happened next!

And from the dungeons of the past I now fling you into a far future with Kurt Vonnegut's Report on the Barnhouse Effect.

The story reflects archetypes related to war. A good tale for those of us who appear to have forgotten the cost of conflicts between countries. Listen to it here:

Patna Blues - A Breath of Fresh Air in Troubled Times

In dramas from Korea and Japan, older woman-younger man love is a popular theme. On Indian screens or Hollywood, the man has to be a little elder than the woman. Not by too much. Or he becomes villain. Who sets those barriers? Who shall love whom is an issue that plagues us. The issue is mostly social but powerfully legal at times. And most people cannot let go of thinking this is good and that is bad.  

Long Vacation

Much that has evolved faster elsewhere needs changing in Indian mindsets. More liberal laws are a hallmark of progressive civilisations. Laws that evolve to suit reality rather than archaic moralities. Abdullah Khan brings us an Indian story that dares to challenge the status quo in more than just the question of age and love.

 Dream says the first chapter and we enter the world of young Arif:

Arif shivered when a gust of wind hit him. I should have worn a jacket, he thought as he stopped his bicycle in front of a two-storeyed yellow building. He had just returned home from college. Parking his bicycle in the stairwell of the building, he pulled a notebook from its carrier and climbed up a flight of stairs. The banister of the staircase was broken in places and cobwebs hung from the ceiling.

We are transported into an India, both authentic and larger than life.  A small town youth slogs and crams for a popular Indian exam, one which holds symbolical keys to the 'kingdom' - the right to administer to the diverse needs of this unwieldy demography and geography. 

Interspersed with forbidden romance and politico-religious chaos, the novel croons the reader through all kinds of nightmare scenarios with compassion. 

Patna Blues Sings Rights, Riots, and Rites

Riots dot India's history with religious regularity. Most Indians experience one or know someone who has. Once the riots are over, we bury the issue of their being endemic. And, we have, in our vast cultural arsenal, a host of ways to never look a thing directly in the eye. Patna Blues steps delicately and warily over the debris of actual and fictional riots with a rare maturity and subtle humour that does the author much credit. The book has passages where a near riot situation simmers, evoking the ambiance without hurling brick-like judgement.  

Communal riots - Ahmedabad, February / March 2002
The picture reminds me of my only view of a riot - the one in Delhi in 1984.

Around the world, riot rate has been an uneasy marker of democracy. However, we would all rather not be present at a riot. Many countries become desirable to visit or reside in where riots are rare or only seen as news from distant lands. To create a riot free environment is surely the work of good administration. In India, the IAS exam is one way to such responsibility.

Hordes of young Indians embark on this pursuit in a manner not unlike that of students in the ancient Chinese exam system. It's a kind of do or die. Years of life are wasted in unsuccessful attempts. And Patna Blues is the ballad of one such attempt.

While riots across the world erupt for a variety of reasons, in India, they are frequently due to religion. And, while much of the rest of the world has chosen to try and underplay the power of religion over day to day life, we have emerged increasingly pious and surly as a race, ever ready to riot. Here, too, Khan has used a tender touch, just enough to bring us the beauty of that cultural phenomenon: religion. And, let's not forget that, in India, even academics are undertaken as rites! With much religious 'chanting' of study material!

In urban India, it was, to some extent, quite popular to be 'secular' or even outright agnostic. However, that has rapidly changed over the past few years. In rural India, religious rites rule rigidly. The state of Bihar does not boast high literacy rates. So, one can imagine the average Bihari to be much more pious than, say, a person from Kerala, where literacy has boomed. Again, today, I'm not so sure about that. Today, in India, it pays to be pious. While religious ritualism is fascinating as cultural phenomena, we observe less crime in regions where religion is low key. Consider Japan or some of the Scandinavian lands.

In Patna Blues, there are vivid and memorable encounters with dreaded bandits. The sad truth is that this piece of fiction reflects what is daily life in much of India. Even more so today than ever before.

A historical account of life in small town India, the novel showcases the aspirations and tribulations of an average Indian small town male with gentleness and sweet candour.

Patna Blues is a must read, across the globe, for insights into the Indian psyche. Though written from a Muslim's perspective, it could just as easily be the tale of a Hindu or Christian family in India. Veiled under a tale of unrequited and forbidden love, the story sings the blues that afflict India today and, while no fingers are pointed, the message is clear: rather than complain, , it is time the average Indian studies national policies as assiduously as an IAS officer. Riots and gangsterism will become myths from the past when rights and not riots guide us.

In the meanwhile, read Patna Blues today. Abdullah Khan is a pioneering voice in Indian writing in English. A rare ease and flow make the book a page turner.