Carnatic Summer by Sriram. V ; Published by East West Books (Madras ) Pvt Ltd ; Pages 311 ;Price Rs. 295/
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Close on the heels of “Great Masters of Carnatic Music “ by Indira Menon, I have with me another book of the same genre. It is again about Carnatic musicians. The author has impeccable credentials. Sriram is currently contributing Editor of Sruti,the classical music journal. He is co-author of a Quiz book on Carnatic music and writes regularly on music in Indian Express and Madras musings. Along with Sanjay Subrahmanyan he is running a website on music.
He has culled out twenty Carnatic musicians of the 20th Century who were top performers marking a high noon in this art form entitling the book to be appropriately christened “Carnatic Summer ”. The introduction is a consummate summary of the history of this art from Sarangadeva to Purandaradasa. Kshetragna, Venkatamakhin, the benign Tanjore kings, the reign of the Classical trinity and the giants of twentieth century, some of whom we were lucky to hear.
We have a veritable galaxy including a dozen vocalists, four violinists, one Nagaswaram vidwan, one flautist and two percussionists. Their lives and lifestyles which had an impact on their art are succinctly covered. Since copious material is available on the major artists—like M.S , Semmangudi, Chembai, etc I shall concentrate on those about whom not much is known or written. Rightly has the author written, ‘If Carnatic music is still heard all over the world and makes an emphatic and grand statement of survival each year during the annual December session in Chennai it is because of these great men and women, powerful personalities who bore the art form aloft amidst crisis and threats.”
I shall begin with a story on Madurai Mani Iyer. He had a house on Luz Church Road just behind a bus stop which was called “Mani Iyer Stop”. During the time he resided there, the Paramacharya of Kanchi happened to pass that way with his entourage.
He stopped outside Mani Iyer’s house. The Paramacharya was well received and he asked for Mani Iyer and was informed that he had not yet bathed that day and was hence indoors as regulations demanded that nobody could appear before the seer before taking bath first. The Acharya called out Mani Iyer and blessed him saying that his music was his mode of worship and he need not worry about worldly rituals and observances. What great piety !.
Papanasam Sivan treated D.K.Pattammal as his daughter and he suggested that she should sing the song ‘Desa Seva Seyya Varir’. The song was enormously popular with Pattammal’s emotional rendering, Kalki’s lyrics, and Papanasam Sivan’s tune. In 1949,Vazhkai of AVM saw the debut of Vyjayanthi Mala plus Pattammal singing Bharata Samudayam Vazhgave. This rendition was accorded a national song status. Attending a Pattammal concert was akin to a slow boat ride, taking in the beauties of the roadside with the mind in a state of complete relaxation. Her music was deceptively simple and appealed directly to the heart.
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan visited Chennai in 1952 and took the city by storm. He developed great respect for M.L.Vasanthakumari whose performances he attended. Once on his way back to Bombay, the Khan discovering that M LV was also in the same train, moved over to her compartment and the two performed an impromptu jugalbandi to the delight of fellow passengers, taking turns in singing svaras between the tunnels in the Poona –Bombat ghat section!.
Dwaram Venkataswami Naidu was one of the greatest violinists of Carnatic music. He was extremely near-sighted almost to the point of blindness. Among many of his admirers were Sarojini Naidu, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, S,Radhakrishnan and Rabindranath Tagore. So impressed was Tagore that he sang Rabindra Sangeeth to Dwaram’s accompaniment. Dwaram was the first violinist to be conferred Sangitha Kalanidhi in1941. To relocate him from Andhra to Madras a Sammana Mahotsav was arranged and a princely sum of Rs.35,000 was collected. Dwaram accepted this award provided Rs 2,000 was given to his guru, Venkatakrishnayya and another Rs 2,000 to a violinist who had written damagingly about him in the 1920s but was now sick and requiring help. Compassion was his hallmark.
During the 1954 visit of Yehudi Menuhin to India Dwaram attended his performance with Dr.P.V.Rajamannar. At the end of the programme Rajamannar took him backstage to introduce him to Menuhin. Dwaram wanted to touch Menuhin’s instrument and possibly play on it as well. But the latter did not agree. The upset Rajamannar arranged a concert of Dwaram’s the very next day and invited Menuhin to attend the same. At the end of the performance Menuhin was so amazed at Dwaram’s virtuosity that he walked up to him, took him by his hand and apologized for his brusqueness the previous day. The two spent the entire evening together and Dwaram was not only allowed to touch Menuhin’s violin but also play on it to his heart’s content.
T.Chowdiah believed that the violin was of Indian origin and cited the unusual sculpture in Agastyeshwara temple depicting a lady playing an instrument with a bow like the violin of today. Chowdiah abandoned the four stringed violin substituting it with one of seven strings and christened it sapta tanthi. On one memorable occasion, at the end of a spectacular performance by Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Chowdiah was so delighted that he hoisted the vocalist on his shoulders and danced a jig all around the concert hall.
The Chowdiah Memorial Hall in Bangalore is shaped in the form of a violin—a fitting tribute to one of the greatest violinists of India.
Another great violinist was Kumbhakonam Rajamanikkam Pillai. “Mummanigalum Manikkamum” was how the handbills would describe the concerts of G N B as vocalist, Rajamanikkam Pillai on the violin and Palghat Mani Iyer on the mridangam and Palani Subramania Pillai on the kanjira. The ruby in the above was the violinist. A very painstaking artist, it was a measure of his ambition to succeed that Rajamanikkam ascended the platform on a day when his wife was in the throes of labour back home. At the end of the programme a visibly pleased Muthiah Bhagavathar presented Rajamanikkam with a set of violin strings along with customary gifts. Nestling among the strings was a telegram which announced the birth of his child. In Tamizh, violin strings and telegrams are both referred to as Thanthi. This reflected Muthiah Bhagavathar’s sense of humour and penchant for punning. Among Pillai’s earliest students was the vocalist and film star M M Dandapani Desigar. Flute Mali had great affection for him and once Mali had come to perform but could not enter the hall due to milling crowds. Pillai gathered the 12-year old Mali, placed him on his shoulders and began striding towards the entrance. Using his enormous paunch as a rudder he shoved his way to the stage with admirable ease and deposited Mali on the stage. He was Mali’s violinist that day.
T N Rajarathnam Pillai was a bohemian character who dominated the Carnatic music world for half a century. He was unique in his rendering of ragas on the nagaswaram and he was one of the unsurpassed geniuses of his time. A man who lived king-size, he also had five wives and drank himself to early death. He got rid of his tuft and adopted the modern hairstyle and refused to follow the accepted practice of nagaswarm vidwans performing bare-chested and came in silk kurtas and shawls.
When Semmangudi was asked to list the great geniuses of Carnatic music, he thought of three names—Flute Mali, T N Rajarathnam Pillai and Palghat Mani Iyer. Mali was a child prodigy.
Mani Iyer’s teaming with Mali was historic and the two made great music for many years. The combination of the two geniuses and the music they produced together has been described as unparalleled
extra-ordinary and incredible. They were made for each other. Mali redesigned his flute, making its reed thicker and its bore smaller to produce a strong and rich tone. He used flutes with eight holes.
Mali was greatly respected by the seniors of the music world. Chembai who was fond of him played the violin while Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer accompanied them on the mridangam at a Tyagaraja Vidwat Samajam performance. When during a performance at the R R Sabha , Mali was disturbed by T L Venkatarama Iyer and Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer chatting loudly in the front row, he publicly admonished them over the mike. And when they did not stop, Mali ended his own performance by playing the mangalam at once !. Mali was one of the victims of the ‘bottle’.
Palghat Mani Iyer was pure genius and he alone had the ability to weave a magic spell on his audience with his mridangam. Respect for him bordered on fear. Continuously researching on ways and means of improving the mridangam, he perfected the instrument as know it today. The long list of artists he accompanied includes every name worth its salt. He formed close relationship with GNB and Alathur Subbier. In 1966, the Madras Music Academy honoured him with the Sangitha Kalanidhi, departing from the tradition for the first time honouring a mridangist. Mani Iyer’s last words were that he had to leave for a concert of Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar with Dakshinamurthy Pillai accompanying him on the kanjira. Could be a concert for the Gods in their Heavens!.
An added feature is a comprehensive glossary noted for brevity and clarity.
The volume under review is indeed a goldmine, rich in anecdotes and presenting in one volume the growth of Carnatic music and capturing heights of glory with artists of a rare calibre and stature. All students and lovers of Carnatic music will profit greatly by carefully reading this valuable book.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
M.S.SUBBULAKSHMI
M S – A Life in Music by T. J. S. George; Published by Harper & Collins Publishers ; Pages 303 ;Price Rs 495/-
************
TJ S George is an Eminence Grise in the world of Indian Journalism, who began his career in “Free Press Journal “, rose on to become “Founder—Editor” of “Asiaweek” and is presently with the New Indian Express. George blazed a new trail with his highly lauded biography of V. K. Krishna Menon. Later on he wrote two more books –the first on the father of Modern Singapore—Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore. He covered the Hindi Film Industry with a captivating volume on “The Life and Times of Nargis.”
The book under review is George’s foray into the world of Carnatic Music and what better subject than the Magnificent and Serene M.S.Subbulakshmi ?. M S represents the highest achievement in Carnatic music by one who transmuted melody into bhakti.
Madurai, the temple town, connected with Agastya Muni, the seat and fount of “Sangams” was the place from where were born the “Mother” “M.Shanmukhavadivu” and the daughter “ M.S Subbulakshmi”. The “M” in the initials of both the names was more than a geographical formality. It was an umbilical chord that bound them with Culture.
Subbulakshmi attracted attention transcending music itself. She grew into an unique phenomenon in Tamil culture, combing the vitality of Dravida heritage with the rich resonance of Sanskritic traditions. M S honoured the ancientness of tradition, anchored her art on a spiritual basis and absorbed the best in others while developing her own distinctiveness.
M S was one of three children of Shanmukhavadivu, the other two being an elder brother M.S.Shaktivel and a younger sister M.S.Vadivambal. M S only had a pet name—Kunjamma or Kunju. Shaktivel became adept in playing Mridangam. Vadivambal, took after her mother and became a Veena player of promise. M S, however, excelled in Veena and Mridangam and got special attention of her mother. The first Guru to teach M S was Madurai Srinivasa Iyengar. Two others succeeded—Seithur Sundaresa Bhattar and Mayavaram Krishna Iyer. Subbulakshmi was a little over nine when her mother asked her to sing at gathering organized by a cycle shop—which eventually became the huge T V S ( T V Sundaram ) conglomerate. A talent-spotter in the audience approached the family with an offer of cutting a gramophone record—which was promptly accepted. The song H M V recorded under its Twin Brand was “Marakata Vadivu” in Chenchuruti raga, praising Madurai Meenakshi. The label on the record read :“ Song by Madurai Subbulakshmi, age 10 years.”. The singer says at the end of the song. “I am Madurai Subbulakshmi”.
Shanmukhavadivu used to take her two daughters for programmes in the courts of the wealthy and influential. One of them sought the hand of Vadivambal-- a millionaire Bhashyam Iyengar. Soon after the marriage Vadivambal died of pneumonia at the young age of 22. Meanwhile M S had moved over to Madras. A quick succession of events catapulted her to eminence. She won recognition in citadels of music and started making it big in the movies.
M S achieved laurels at 16 at the Kumbakonam Mahamahom in 1932. Here she was lauded by veterans like Tiger Varadachari, Muthiah Bhagavathar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer told M S, “ Child, you carry the Veena in your throat”. She followed this up by storming the male bastion—The Madras Music Academy during 1932-33. At the young age of 17 M S had become a Musical Star.
Enter Thiagaraja Sadasivam. In the year 1936 when she was 20 Sadasivam who was 34—senior to her by 14 years entered her life. He was already married and had two children, whom M S brought up as her own. Sadasivam and M S got married in 1940 and lived happily for 57 years till Sadasivam passed away at his 95th year. George has eloquently summed up the connection between the duo. “Never did a couple fill each other’s life as completely as Sadasivam and M S did. Never did another husband visualize, orchestrate and control his wife’s career as decisively as Sadasivam did. Never did a man transform a woman’s life as totally as Sadasivam transformed M S’s. Without Sadasivam M S might just have been a face in the crowd, a great voice among several voices. With him she became “Queen of Music”, a title bestowed by Jawaharlal Nehru. If M S made melody, Sadasivam made M S. If music was M S’s career, M S became Sadasivam’s career. Never did a husband and wife owe more to each other than Sadasivam and M S did.”
The author leads us step by step to M S’s ascent to glory under the watchful direction of Sadasivam. He has devoted an entire chapter to M S’s foray into Filmdom and it makes wonderful reading. The husband carefully introduces his wife to the tinsel world with K.Subramanyam’s “Seva Sadanam”. This and the next venture “Shakuntalai” found M S an essentially classical singer. It was after the completion of “Shakuntalai” that M S would get married to Sadasivam. She acted in only two more films—“ Savithri” and “Meera” ( in Tamil and Hindi ). Sadasivam rung down the curtain on M S as an actor after “Meera”. She devoted the rest of her life to becoming a singer-saint as laid down by Sadasivam.
Some of the songs sung by M S in ‘Savithri” proved all–time hits. The greatest was “ Broohi Mukundeti” of Sadasiva Brahmendra in Kurunji raga. Sadasivam used to recount how artists and technicians in ‘New Theatres’ at Calcutta flocked to hear M S whenever there was a recording and they included K.L.Saigal. Kanan Bala, Pahari Sanyal and Pankaj Mulick.
They would request her to sing favourite songs . About “Meera” it was rightly said, “M S did not act. She became Meera herself in the film “. Sarojini Naidu appearing at the end of the Hindi version declared, “She is not an interpreter but Meera herself.”
Sadasivam had a close circle of great friends—Kalki Krishnamurthy, C.Rajagopalachari, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Rajaji had approved of and blessed Sadasivam’s marriage to M S. The couple came under the spell and protection of the Paramacharya of Kanchi who accepted the couple as his life-time bhaktas. He gave the highest tribute to M S—“Whatever she is, she is like Brindavan Tulasi “. The Sadasivams , in turn, venerated him as God. This equation underscored Society’s acceptance of M S’s transformation into an Iyer wife.
The remarkable attribute of M S is that her repertoire included compositions of Tulsidas, Surdas, Kabir and Guru Nanak. She spent a lot of time in learning thumris and khayals from stalwarts like Siddheshwari Devi of Benaras and Dwijendarlal Roy of Calcutta.
“Bhakti “ became the hallmark of M S. The art of singing which she perfected acquired a new direction by getting soaked in Bhakti which welled up in her heart every time she sang a composition or sloka expressing intense Bhakti for God. Her rendering of Suprabathams, Vishnu Sahasranamam, Bhaja Govindam and Hanuman Chalisa are actually representative of her oeuvre. MS single-handedly transformed the culture of morning prayers across South India.
Sadasivam made M S a world phenomenon arranging concerts at Edinburgh, Paris, Moscow culminating in the ultimate recital at United Nations. In the last venue she sang a Rajaji composition—“Kurai Ondrum Illai”—I have no regrets.
Mahatma Gandhi was so much fascinated by her voice that once he conveyed a request that she should sing for him the Meera Bhajan
“ Hari Tum Haro”. Unfortunately, she had not learnt this song and conveyed her regrets. Later the same evening another message came from Gandhiji that he would prefer to hear the song spoken by M.S than sung by anyone. Sadasivam arranged immediately for a composer and overnight she learnt the song, recorded it and sent the same to Bapuji. It was played for him on his birthday on 2nd October 1947. A few months later, the radio announced the shocking news of Gandhiji’s assassination. This was followed by the rendering by M.S of the Meera Bhajan. M.S swooned on hearing it and for over a year she would not attempt to sing “Hari Tum Haro”.
M S lived a full life with awards heaped on her from all over the globe. All these she placed at the feet of her Lord and Mentor Sadasivam. To everyone’s lasting regret the Bharat Ratna was awarded to her a little after Sadasivam’s passing away. It was an appropriate reward for his life-time struggle to keep M S always at a Pinnacle. Dr Radhakrishnan declared, “Her music is a gift of the Gods which she placed at the service of the Nation.”
One of the most poignant scenes in the book is the passing away of Sadasivam which will bring tears to the eyes of the readers. It is worth recalling in full. “On 19, November 1997 Sadasivam felt something he had never felt before—fluctuating fever and some breathlessness. Reluctantly, he agreed to go to a nursing home for a check-up. He would be back home in three days, he assured his family. The hospital diagnosed his condition to be pneumonia. On the morning of 21November, he asked for the three rows of Vibhuti to be applied on his forehead with customary punctiliousness. Coffee arrived from home as per his specifications—dark, hot and sweet, but sipping the brew was not easy, what with the tubes emerging from an oxygen cylinder claiming closer attachment. As the hours of discomfort passed desultorily, an aide noticed his eyes turning glassy. M S was sent for. As she entered the room, Sadasivam looked at her, smiled and held her hand. Looking, smiling and holding hands, his eyes glazed over and the breathing stopped. It was so quiet a passing that it took a few moments for those around him to realize that Sadasivam was no more.”
One word that frequently cropped up in the language of those who met M S in her later years was “Glow “. Everyone talked about how she glowed from within. She was one who had found “Serenity”. An aura of “Grace” surrounded her.
T J S George has enabled us to share that Glow to a great extent and his work deserves to be read by all rasikas, lovers of music and lay persons.
************
TJ S George is an Eminence Grise in the world of Indian Journalism, who began his career in “Free Press Journal “, rose on to become “Founder—Editor” of “Asiaweek” and is presently with the New Indian Express. George blazed a new trail with his highly lauded biography of V. K. Krishna Menon. Later on he wrote two more books –the first on the father of Modern Singapore—Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore. He covered the Hindi Film Industry with a captivating volume on “The Life and Times of Nargis.”
The book under review is George’s foray into the world of Carnatic Music and what better subject than the Magnificent and Serene M.S.Subbulakshmi ?. M S represents the highest achievement in Carnatic music by one who transmuted melody into bhakti.
Madurai, the temple town, connected with Agastya Muni, the seat and fount of “Sangams” was the place from where were born the “Mother” “M.Shanmukhavadivu” and the daughter “ M.S Subbulakshmi”. The “M” in the initials of both the names was more than a geographical formality. It was an umbilical chord that bound them with Culture.
Subbulakshmi attracted attention transcending music itself. She grew into an unique phenomenon in Tamil culture, combing the vitality of Dravida heritage with the rich resonance of Sanskritic traditions. M S honoured the ancientness of tradition, anchored her art on a spiritual basis and absorbed the best in others while developing her own distinctiveness.
M S was one of three children of Shanmukhavadivu, the other two being an elder brother M.S.Shaktivel and a younger sister M.S.Vadivambal. M S only had a pet name—Kunjamma or Kunju. Shaktivel became adept in playing Mridangam. Vadivambal, took after her mother and became a Veena player of promise. M S, however, excelled in Veena and Mridangam and got special attention of her mother. The first Guru to teach M S was Madurai Srinivasa Iyengar. Two others succeeded—Seithur Sundaresa Bhattar and Mayavaram Krishna Iyer. Subbulakshmi was a little over nine when her mother asked her to sing at gathering organized by a cycle shop—which eventually became the huge T V S ( T V Sundaram ) conglomerate. A talent-spotter in the audience approached the family with an offer of cutting a gramophone record—which was promptly accepted. The song H M V recorded under its Twin Brand was “Marakata Vadivu” in Chenchuruti raga, praising Madurai Meenakshi. The label on the record read :“ Song by Madurai Subbulakshmi, age 10 years.”. The singer says at the end of the song. “I am Madurai Subbulakshmi”.
Shanmukhavadivu used to take her two daughters for programmes in the courts of the wealthy and influential. One of them sought the hand of Vadivambal-- a millionaire Bhashyam Iyengar. Soon after the marriage Vadivambal died of pneumonia at the young age of 22. Meanwhile M S had moved over to Madras. A quick succession of events catapulted her to eminence. She won recognition in citadels of music and started making it big in the movies.
M S achieved laurels at 16 at the Kumbakonam Mahamahom in 1932. Here she was lauded by veterans like Tiger Varadachari, Muthiah Bhagavathar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer told M S, “ Child, you carry the Veena in your throat”. She followed this up by storming the male bastion—The Madras Music Academy during 1932-33. At the young age of 17 M S had become a Musical Star.
Enter Thiagaraja Sadasivam. In the year 1936 when she was 20 Sadasivam who was 34—senior to her by 14 years entered her life. He was already married and had two children, whom M S brought up as her own. Sadasivam and M S got married in 1940 and lived happily for 57 years till Sadasivam passed away at his 95th year. George has eloquently summed up the connection between the duo. “Never did a couple fill each other’s life as completely as Sadasivam and M S did. Never did another husband visualize, orchestrate and control his wife’s career as decisively as Sadasivam did. Never did a man transform a woman’s life as totally as Sadasivam transformed M S’s. Without Sadasivam M S might just have been a face in the crowd, a great voice among several voices. With him she became “Queen of Music”, a title bestowed by Jawaharlal Nehru. If M S made melody, Sadasivam made M S. If music was M S’s career, M S became Sadasivam’s career. Never did a husband and wife owe more to each other than Sadasivam and M S did.”
The author leads us step by step to M S’s ascent to glory under the watchful direction of Sadasivam. He has devoted an entire chapter to M S’s foray into Filmdom and it makes wonderful reading. The husband carefully introduces his wife to the tinsel world with K.Subramanyam’s “Seva Sadanam”. This and the next venture “Shakuntalai” found M S an essentially classical singer. It was after the completion of “Shakuntalai” that M S would get married to Sadasivam. She acted in only two more films—“ Savithri” and “Meera” ( in Tamil and Hindi ). Sadasivam rung down the curtain on M S as an actor after “Meera”. She devoted the rest of her life to becoming a singer-saint as laid down by Sadasivam.
Some of the songs sung by M S in ‘Savithri” proved all–time hits. The greatest was “ Broohi Mukundeti” of Sadasiva Brahmendra in Kurunji raga. Sadasivam used to recount how artists and technicians in ‘New Theatres’ at Calcutta flocked to hear M S whenever there was a recording and they included K.L.Saigal. Kanan Bala, Pahari Sanyal and Pankaj Mulick.
They would request her to sing favourite songs . About “Meera” it was rightly said, “M S did not act. She became Meera herself in the film “. Sarojini Naidu appearing at the end of the Hindi version declared, “She is not an interpreter but Meera herself.”
Sadasivam had a close circle of great friends—Kalki Krishnamurthy, C.Rajagopalachari, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Rajaji had approved of and blessed Sadasivam’s marriage to M S. The couple came under the spell and protection of the Paramacharya of Kanchi who accepted the couple as his life-time bhaktas. He gave the highest tribute to M S—“Whatever she is, she is like Brindavan Tulasi “. The Sadasivams , in turn, venerated him as God. This equation underscored Society’s acceptance of M S’s transformation into an Iyer wife.
The remarkable attribute of M S is that her repertoire included compositions of Tulsidas, Surdas, Kabir and Guru Nanak. She spent a lot of time in learning thumris and khayals from stalwarts like Siddheshwari Devi of Benaras and Dwijendarlal Roy of Calcutta.
“Bhakti “ became the hallmark of M S. The art of singing which she perfected acquired a new direction by getting soaked in Bhakti which welled up in her heart every time she sang a composition or sloka expressing intense Bhakti for God. Her rendering of Suprabathams, Vishnu Sahasranamam, Bhaja Govindam and Hanuman Chalisa are actually representative of her oeuvre. MS single-handedly transformed the culture of morning prayers across South India.
Sadasivam made M S a world phenomenon arranging concerts at Edinburgh, Paris, Moscow culminating in the ultimate recital at United Nations. In the last venue she sang a Rajaji composition—“Kurai Ondrum Illai”—I have no regrets.
Mahatma Gandhi was so much fascinated by her voice that once he conveyed a request that she should sing for him the Meera Bhajan
“ Hari Tum Haro”. Unfortunately, she had not learnt this song and conveyed her regrets. Later the same evening another message came from Gandhiji that he would prefer to hear the song spoken by M.S than sung by anyone. Sadasivam arranged immediately for a composer and overnight she learnt the song, recorded it and sent the same to Bapuji. It was played for him on his birthday on 2nd October 1947. A few months later, the radio announced the shocking news of Gandhiji’s assassination. This was followed by the rendering by M.S of the Meera Bhajan. M.S swooned on hearing it and for over a year she would not attempt to sing “Hari Tum Haro”.
M S lived a full life with awards heaped on her from all over the globe. All these she placed at the feet of her Lord and Mentor Sadasivam. To everyone’s lasting regret the Bharat Ratna was awarded to her a little after Sadasivam’s passing away. It was an appropriate reward for his life-time struggle to keep M S always at a Pinnacle. Dr Radhakrishnan declared, “Her music is a gift of the Gods which she placed at the service of the Nation.”
One of the most poignant scenes in the book is the passing away of Sadasivam which will bring tears to the eyes of the readers. It is worth recalling in full. “On 19, November 1997 Sadasivam felt something he had never felt before—fluctuating fever and some breathlessness. Reluctantly, he agreed to go to a nursing home for a check-up. He would be back home in three days, he assured his family. The hospital diagnosed his condition to be pneumonia. On the morning of 21November, he asked for the three rows of Vibhuti to be applied on his forehead with customary punctiliousness. Coffee arrived from home as per his specifications—dark, hot and sweet, but sipping the brew was not easy, what with the tubes emerging from an oxygen cylinder claiming closer attachment. As the hours of discomfort passed desultorily, an aide noticed his eyes turning glassy. M S was sent for. As she entered the room, Sadasivam looked at her, smiled and held her hand. Looking, smiling and holding hands, his eyes glazed over and the breathing stopped. It was so quiet a passing that it took a few moments for those around him to realize that Sadasivam was no more.”
One word that frequently cropped up in the language of those who met M S in her later years was “Glow “. Everyone talked about how she glowed from within. She was one who had found “Serenity”. An aura of “Grace” surrounded her.
T J S George has enabled us to share that Glow to a great extent and his work deserves to be read by all rasikas, lovers of music and lay persons.
M.S.SUBBULAKSHMI
M S – A Life in Music by T. J. S. George; Published by Harper & Collins Publishers ; Pages 303 ;Price Rs 495/-
************
TJ S George is an Eminence Grise in the world of Indian Journalism, who began his career in “Free Press Journal “, rose on to become “Founder—Editor” of “Asiaweek” and is presently with the New Indian Express. George blazed a new trail with his highly lauded biography of V. K. Krishna Menon. Later on he wrote two more books –the first on the father of Modern Singapore—Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore. He covered the Hindi Film Industry with a captivating volume on “The Life and Times of Nargis.”
The book under review is George’s foray into the world of Carnatic Music and what better subject than the Magnificent and Serene M.S.Subbulakshmi ?. M S represents the highest achievement in Carnatic music by one who transmuted melody into bhakti.
Madurai, the temple town, connected with Agastya Muni, the seat and fount of “Sangams” was the place from where were born the “Mother” “M.Shanmukhavadivu” and the daughter “ M.S Subbulakshmi”. The “M” in the initials of both the names was more than a geographical formality. It was an umbilical chord that bound them with Culture.
Subbulakshmi attracted attention transcending music itself. She grew into an unique phenomenon in Tamil culture, combing the vitality of Dravida heritage with the rich resonance of Sanskritic traditions. M S honoured the ancientness of tradition, anchored her art on a spiritual basis and absorbed the best in others while developing her own distinctiveness.
M S was one of three children of Shanmukhavadivu, the other two being an elder brother M.S.Shaktivel and a younger sister M.S.Vadivambal. M S only had a pet name—Kunjamma or Kunju. Shaktivel became adept in playing Mridangam. Vadivambal, took after her mother and became a Veena player of promise. M S, however, excelled in Veena and Mridangam and got special attention of her mother. The first Guru to teach M S was Madurai Srinivasa Iyengar. Two others succeeded—Seithur Sundaresa Bhattar and Mayavaram Krishna Iyer. Subbulakshmi was a little over nine when her mother asked her to sing at gathering organized by a cycle shop—which eventually became the huge T V S ( T V Sundaram ) conglomerate. A talent-spotter in the audience approached the family with an offer of cutting a gramophone record—which was promptly accepted. The song H M V recorded under its Twin Brand was “Marakata Vadivu” in Chenchuruti raga, praising Madurai Meenakshi. The label on the record read :“ Song by Madurai Subbulakshmi, age 10 years.”. The singer says at the end of the song. “I am Madurai Subbulakshmi”.
Shanmukhavadivu used to take her two daughters for programmes in the courts of the wealthy and influential. One of them sought the hand of Vadivambal-- a millionaire Bhashyam Iyengar. Soon after the marriage Vadivambal died of pneumonia at the young age of 22. Meanwhile M S had moved over to Madras. A quick succession of events catapulted her to eminence. She won recognition in citadels of music and started making it big in the movies.
M S achieved laurels at 16 at the Kumbakonam Mahamahom in 1932. Here she was lauded by veterans like Tiger Varadachari, Muthiah Bhagavathar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer told M S, “ Child, you carry the Veena in your throat”. She followed this up by storming the male bastion—The Madras Music Academy during 1932-33. At the young age of 17 M S had become a Musical Star.
Enter Thiagaraja Sadasivam. In the year 1936 when she was 20 Sadasivam who was 34—senior to her by 14 years entered her life. He was already married and had two children, whom M S brought up as her own. Sadasivam and M S got married in 1940 and lived happily for 57 years till Sadasivam passed away at his 95th year. George has eloquently summed up the connection between the duo. “Never did a couple fill each other’s life as completely as Sadasivam and M S did. Never did another husband visualize, orchestrate and control his wife’s career as decisively as Sadasivam did. Never did a man transform a woman’s life as totally as Sadasivam transformed M S’s. Without Sadasivam M S might just have been a face in the crowd, a great voice among several voices. With him she became “Queen of Music”, a title bestowed by Jawaharlal Nehru. If M S made melody, Sadasivam made M S. If music was M S’s career, M S became Sadasivam’s career. Never did a husband and wife owe more to each other than Sadasivam and M S did.”
The author leads us step by step to M S’s ascent to glory under the watchful direction of Sadasivam. He has devoted an entire chapter to M S’s foray into Filmdom and it makes wonderful reading. The husband carefully introduces his wife to the tinsel world with K.Subramanyam’s “Seva Sadanam”. This and the next venture “Shakuntalai” found M S an essentially classical singer. It was after the completion of “Shakuntalai” that M S would get married to Sadasivam. She acted in only two more films—“ Savithri” and “Meera” ( in Tamil and Hindi ). Sadasivam rung down the curtain on M S as an actor after “Meera”. She devoted the rest of her life to becoming a singer-saint as laid down by Sadasivam.
Some of the songs sung by M S in ‘Savithri” proved all–time hits. The greatest was “ Broohi Mukundeti” of Sadasiva Brahmendra in Kurunji raga. Sadasivam used to recount how artists and technicians in ‘New Theatres’ at Calcutta flocked to hear M S whenever there was a recording and they included K.L.Saigal. Kanan Bala, Pahari Sanyal and Pankaj Mulick.
They would request her to sing favourite songs . About “Meera” it was rightly said, “M S did not act. She became Meera herself in the film “. Sarojini Naidu appearing at the end of the Hindi version declared, “She is not an interpreter but Meera herself.”
Sadasivam had a close circle of great friends—Kalki Krishnamurthy, C.Rajagopalachari, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Rajaji had approved of and blessed Sadasivam’s marriage to M S. The couple came under the spell and protection of the Paramacharya of Kanchi who accepted the couple as his life-time bhaktas. He gave the highest tribute to M S—“Whatever she is, she is like Brindavan Tulasi “. The Sadasivams , in turn, venerated him as God. This equation underscored Society’s acceptance of M S’s transformation into an Iyer wife.
The remarkable attribute of M S is that her repertoire included compositions of Tulsidas, Surdas, Kabir and Guru Nanak. She spent a lot of time in learning thumris and khayals from stalwarts like Siddheshwari Devi of Benaras and Dwijendarlal Roy of Calcutta.
“Bhakti “ became the hallmark of M S. The art of singing which she perfected acquired a new direction by getting soaked in Bhakti which welled up in her heart every time she sang a composition or sloka expressing intense Bhakti for God. Her rendering of Suprabathams, Vishnu Sahasranamam, Bhaja Govindam and Hanuman Chalisa are actually representative of her oeuvre. MS single-handedly transformed the culture of morning prayers across South India.
Sadasivam made M S a world phenomenon arranging concerts at Edinburgh, Paris, Moscow culminating in the ultimate recital at United Nations. In the last venue she sang a Rajaji composition—“Kurai Ondrum Illai”—I have no regrets.
Mahatma Gandhi was so much fascinated by her voice that once he conveyed a request that she should sing for him the Meera Bhajan
“ Hari Tum Haro”. Unfortunately, she had not learnt this song and conveyed her regrets. Later the same evening another message came from Gandhiji that he would prefer to hear the song spoken by M.S than sung by anyone. Sadasivam arranged immediately for a composer and overnight she learnt the song, recorded it and sent the same to Bapuji. It was played for him on his birthday on 2nd October 1947. A few months later, the radio announced the shocking news of Gandhiji’s assassination. This was followed by the rendering by M.S of the Meera Bhajan. M.S swooned on hearing it and for over a year she would not attempt to sing “Hari Tum Haro”.
M S lived a full life with awards heaped on her from all over the globe. All these she placed at the feet of her Lord and Mentor Sadasivam. To everyone’s lasting regret the Bharat Ratna was awarded to her a little after Sadasivam’s passing away. It was an appropriate reward for his life-time struggle to keep M S always at a Pinnacle. Dr Radhakrishnan declared, “Her music is a gift of the Gods which she placed at the service of the Nation.”
One of the most poignant scenes in the book is the passing away of Sadasivam which will bring tears to the eyes of the readers. It is worth recalling in full. “On 19, November 1997 Sadasivam felt something he had never felt before—fluctuating fever and some breathlessness. Reluctantly, he agreed to go to a nursing home for a check-up. He would be back home in three days, he assured his family. The hospital diagnosed his condition to be pneumonia. On the morning of 21November, he asked for the three rows of Vibhuti to be applied on his forehead with customary punctiliousness. Coffee arrived from home as per his specifications—dark, hot and sweet, but sipping the brew was not easy, what with the tubes emerging from an oxygen cylinder claiming closer attachment. As the hours of discomfort passed desultorily, an aide noticed his eyes turning glassy. M S was sent for. As she entered the room, Sadasivam looked at her, smiled and held her hand. Looking, smiling and holding hands, his eyes glazed over and the breathing stopped. It was so quiet a passing that it took a few moments for those around him to realize that Sadasivam was no more.”
One word that frequently cropped up in the language of those who met M S in her later years was “Glow “. Everyone talked about how she glowed from within. She was one who had found “Serenity”. An aura of “Grace” surrounded her.
T J S George has enabled us to share that Glow to a great extent and his work deserves to be read by all rasikas, lovers of music and lay persons.
************
TJ S George is an Eminence Grise in the world of Indian Journalism, who began his career in “Free Press Journal “, rose on to become “Founder—Editor” of “Asiaweek” and is presently with the New Indian Express. George blazed a new trail with his highly lauded biography of V. K. Krishna Menon. Later on he wrote two more books –the first on the father of Modern Singapore—Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore. He covered the Hindi Film Industry with a captivating volume on “The Life and Times of Nargis.”
The book under review is George’s foray into the world of Carnatic Music and what better subject than the Magnificent and Serene M.S.Subbulakshmi ?. M S represents the highest achievement in Carnatic music by one who transmuted melody into bhakti.
Madurai, the temple town, connected with Agastya Muni, the seat and fount of “Sangams” was the place from where were born the “Mother” “M.Shanmukhavadivu” and the daughter “ M.S Subbulakshmi”. The “M” in the initials of both the names was more than a geographical formality. It was an umbilical chord that bound them with Culture.
Subbulakshmi attracted attention transcending music itself. She grew into an unique phenomenon in Tamil culture, combing the vitality of Dravida heritage with the rich resonance of Sanskritic traditions. M S honoured the ancientness of tradition, anchored her art on a spiritual basis and absorbed the best in others while developing her own distinctiveness.
M S was one of three children of Shanmukhavadivu, the other two being an elder brother M.S.Shaktivel and a younger sister M.S.Vadivambal. M S only had a pet name—Kunjamma or Kunju. Shaktivel became adept in playing Mridangam. Vadivambal, took after her mother and became a Veena player of promise. M S, however, excelled in Veena and Mridangam and got special attention of her mother. The first Guru to teach M S was Madurai Srinivasa Iyengar. Two others succeeded—Seithur Sundaresa Bhattar and Mayavaram Krishna Iyer. Subbulakshmi was a little over nine when her mother asked her to sing at gathering organized by a cycle shop—which eventually became the huge T V S ( T V Sundaram ) conglomerate. A talent-spotter in the audience approached the family with an offer of cutting a gramophone record—which was promptly accepted. The song H M V recorded under its Twin Brand was “Marakata Vadivu” in Chenchuruti raga, praising Madurai Meenakshi. The label on the record read :“ Song by Madurai Subbulakshmi, age 10 years.”. The singer says at the end of the song. “I am Madurai Subbulakshmi”.
Shanmukhavadivu used to take her two daughters for programmes in the courts of the wealthy and influential. One of them sought the hand of Vadivambal-- a millionaire Bhashyam Iyengar. Soon after the marriage Vadivambal died of pneumonia at the young age of 22. Meanwhile M S had moved over to Madras. A quick succession of events catapulted her to eminence. She won recognition in citadels of music and started making it big in the movies.
M S achieved laurels at 16 at the Kumbakonam Mahamahom in 1932. Here she was lauded by veterans like Tiger Varadachari, Muthiah Bhagavathar, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer told M S, “ Child, you carry the Veena in your throat”. She followed this up by storming the male bastion—The Madras Music Academy during 1932-33. At the young age of 17 M S had become a Musical Star.
Enter Thiagaraja Sadasivam. In the year 1936 when she was 20 Sadasivam who was 34—senior to her by 14 years entered her life. He was already married and had two children, whom M S brought up as her own. Sadasivam and M S got married in 1940 and lived happily for 57 years till Sadasivam passed away at his 95th year. George has eloquently summed up the connection between the duo. “Never did a couple fill each other’s life as completely as Sadasivam and M S did. Never did another husband visualize, orchestrate and control his wife’s career as decisively as Sadasivam did. Never did a man transform a woman’s life as totally as Sadasivam transformed M S’s. Without Sadasivam M S might just have been a face in the crowd, a great voice among several voices. With him she became “Queen of Music”, a title bestowed by Jawaharlal Nehru. If M S made melody, Sadasivam made M S. If music was M S’s career, M S became Sadasivam’s career. Never did a husband and wife owe more to each other than Sadasivam and M S did.”
The author leads us step by step to M S’s ascent to glory under the watchful direction of Sadasivam. He has devoted an entire chapter to M S’s foray into Filmdom and it makes wonderful reading. The husband carefully introduces his wife to the tinsel world with K.Subramanyam’s “Seva Sadanam”. This and the next venture “Shakuntalai” found M S an essentially classical singer. It was after the completion of “Shakuntalai” that M S would get married to Sadasivam. She acted in only two more films—“ Savithri” and “Meera” ( in Tamil and Hindi ). Sadasivam rung down the curtain on M S as an actor after “Meera”. She devoted the rest of her life to becoming a singer-saint as laid down by Sadasivam.
Some of the songs sung by M S in ‘Savithri” proved all–time hits. The greatest was “ Broohi Mukundeti” of Sadasiva Brahmendra in Kurunji raga. Sadasivam used to recount how artists and technicians in ‘New Theatres’ at Calcutta flocked to hear M S whenever there was a recording and they included K.L.Saigal. Kanan Bala, Pahari Sanyal and Pankaj Mulick.
They would request her to sing favourite songs . About “Meera” it was rightly said, “M S did not act. She became Meera herself in the film “. Sarojini Naidu appearing at the end of the Hindi version declared, “She is not an interpreter but Meera herself.”
Sadasivam had a close circle of great friends—Kalki Krishnamurthy, C.Rajagopalachari, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. Rajaji had approved of and blessed Sadasivam’s marriage to M S. The couple came under the spell and protection of the Paramacharya of Kanchi who accepted the couple as his life-time bhaktas. He gave the highest tribute to M S—“Whatever she is, she is like Brindavan Tulasi “. The Sadasivams , in turn, venerated him as God. This equation underscored Society’s acceptance of M S’s transformation into an Iyer wife.
The remarkable attribute of M S is that her repertoire included compositions of Tulsidas, Surdas, Kabir and Guru Nanak. She spent a lot of time in learning thumris and khayals from stalwarts like Siddheshwari Devi of Benaras and Dwijendarlal Roy of Calcutta.
“Bhakti “ became the hallmark of M S. The art of singing which she perfected acquired a new direction by getting soaked in Bhakti which welled up in her heart every time she sang a composition or sloka expressing intense Bhakti for God. Her rendering of Suprabathams, Vishnu Sahasranamam, Bhaja Govindam and Hanuman Chalisa are actually representative of her oeuvre. MS single-handedly transformed the culture of morning prayers across South India.
Sadasivam made M S a world phenomenon arranging concerts at Edinburgh, Paris, Moscow culminating in the ultimate recital at United Nations. In the last venue she sang a Rajaji composition—“Kurai Ondrum Illai”—I have no regrets.
Mahatma Gandhi was so much fascinated by her voice that once he conveyed a request that she should sing for him the Meera Bhajan
“ Hari Tum Haro”. Unfortunately, she had not learnt this song and conveyed her regrets. Later the same evening another message came from Gandhiji that he would prefer to hear the song spoken by M.S than sung by anyone. Sadasivam arranged immediately for a composer and overnight she learnt the song, recorded it and sent the same to Bapuji. It was played for him on his birthday on 2nd October 1947. A few months later, the radio announced the shocking news of Gandhiji’s assassination. This was followed by the rendering by M.S of the Meera Bhajan. M.S swooned on hearing it and for over a year she would not attempt to sing “Hari Tum Haro”.
M S lived a full life with awards heaped on her from all over the globe. All these she placed at the feet of her Lord and Mentor Sadasivam. To everyone’s lasting regret the Bharat Ratna was awarded to her a little after Sadasivam’s passing away. It was an appropriate reward for his life-time struggle to keep M S always at a Pinnacle. Dr Radhakrishnan declared, “Her music is a gift of the Gods which she placed at the service of the Nation.”
One of the most poignant scenes in the book is the passing away of Sadasivam which will bring tears to the eyes of the readers. It is worth recalling in full. “On 19, November 1997 Sadasivam felt something he had never felt before—fluctuating fever and some breathlessness. Reluctantly, he agreed to go to a nursing home for a check-up. He would be back home in three days, he assured his family. The hospital diagnosed his condition to be pneumonia. On the morning of 21November, he asked for the three rows of Vibhuti to be applied on his forehead with customary punctiliousness. Coffee arrived from home as per his specifications—dark, hot and sweet, but sipping the brew was not easy, what with the tubes emerging from an oxygen cylinder claiming closer attachment. As the hours of discomfort passed desultorily, an aide noticed his eyes turning glassy. M S was sent for. As she entered the room, Sadasivam looked at her, smiled and held her hand. Looking, smiling and holding hands, his eyes glazed over and the breathing stopped. It was so quiet a passing that it took a few moments for those around him to realize that Sadasivam was no more.”
One word that frequently cropped up in the language of those who met M S in her later years was “Glow “. Everyone talked about how she glowed from within. She was one who had found “Serenity”. An aura of “Grace” surrounded her.
T J S George has enabled us to share that Glow to a great extent and his work deserves to be read by all rasikas, lovers of music and lay persons.
Monday, December 8, 2008
THE MAN WHO MADE LISTS---BOOK REVIEW
THE MAN WHO MADE LISTS--ROGET’S THESAURUS BY JOSHUA KENDALL; PUBLISHED BY G.P.PUTNAM’S SONS; PAGES-297; PRICE-US $25.95
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An event of profound importance in the history of the English language was a dinner party on June 6, 1928, held in the Goldsmith’s Hall near St Paul’s Cathedral, London. It was attended by 150 persons each monumentally distinguished in achievement and standing. It attracted the nation’s brightest and most wise—a stellar gathering of intellect. There were two bishops, three vice-chancellors, a dozen peers of the realm, 27 knights, Sir Ernest Rutherford, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Sir Henry Newbolt and J.R.Tolkien. The Prime Minister of England Stanley Baldwin proposed a toast to the Editors and Staff of the Oxford English Dictionary—twelve mighty volumes brought out after 70 years of labour. The Dictionary had 15,490 pages of single-spaced printed text with 414,825 words. There were 1,827,306 illustrative quotations. Rightly did the Prime Minister declare that the Oxford English Dictionary is the greatest enterprise of its kind in history.
Next only in importance and significance is the work of one man—he dedicated his whole life to this and he is Peter Mark Roget who is known for his “Thesaurus”. The book under review deals with both the life of Roget and his achievement. Roget (1779-1869) was a British physician, natural theologian and lexicographer. He is best known for publishing, in 1852, the “Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.”
Roget’s 250,000-word treatise was the culmination of his lifelong pursuit, begun in his childhood notebook, to organize the animate world. Incorporating the research of countless specialists in zoology, physiology and anatomy, Roget had produced a work whose comprehensiveness was breathtaking. He divided his treatise into four classes of physiology—Mechanical Functions, Vital Functions, Sensorial Functions, and Reproductive Functions.
“Specious phraseology could disseminate the seeds of prejudice and error”, according to Roget. “If the masses could learn to use language better, they might be able to right much of what was wrong with the world.” By organizing not just words but all ideas—knowledge—Roget believed that he was highlighting God’s achievements.
//
Peter Mark Roget was born in London. His obsession with list-making as a coping-mechanism was well-established by the time he was eight years old. The son of a clergyman, Roget studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. His life was marked by several incidents of sadness. His father and his wife died young. One uncle who held the highly respected position of Solicitor General of England committed suicide in Roget's presence. Roget struggled with depression for most of his life. His work on the thesaurus arose partly from an effort to battle depression.
One cannot but express awe at the quality of personalities involved with Roget. He studied “Natural Philosophy” under Dugald Stewart whose illustrious pupils included the novelist Walter Scott and two prominent future Prime Ministers, Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell. Roget worked with or under James Watt ( inventor of the steam engine), Humphrey Davy( inventor of Miner’s Safety Lamp),Jeremy Bentham (economist and father of Utilitarianism principle). The strength of his intellectual powers was apparent at a very early period of his life; he was remarkable from his infancy for his insatiable thirst for books, and for his indifference to the common objects of amusement, which usually captivate children.
Roget retired from professional life in 1840 and about 1848 began preparing for publication the one work that was to perpetuate his memory. This was the catalogue of words organized by their meanings, the compilation of which had been an avocation since 1805.. During his lifetime the work had twenty-eight printings; after his death it was revised and expanded by his son, John Lewis Roget, and later by John's son, Samuel Roget.
Roget helped found the School of Medicine at the Manchester University. He was also one of the founders of the Medical and Chirurgical Society, which later became the Royal Society of Medicine. He was a secretary of the Royal Society. He was charter member of a prestigious society, the Athenaeum Club, co-founded by Walter Scott. So esteemed was the club that Charles Dickens would regard his own election in the mid-1830s as a major milestone in his career.
He wrote numerous papers on physiology and health, a two-volume work on phrenology and articles for several editions of Encyclopedia Britannica.
These activities would be more than enough for most men, but Roget's insatiable thirst for knowledge and his appetite for work led him into many other fields. He played an important role in the establishment of the University of London. He showed remarkable ingenuity in inventing and solving chess problems and designed an inexpensive pocket chessboard. Among Roget’s achievements was the invention of a machine which finally became the familiar Zeotrope, using hand-drawn pictures. This heralded the advent of Motion Pictures.
Roget was the focus of the play "Synonymy" by Randy Wyatt. It tells the story of a graduate student named Gordon who rents out the last known residence of Roget to inspire him as he works on his dissertation regarding the English language and Roget's Thesaurus. The building, which was soon to be torn down, created a gateway in which Gordon found himself travelling back in time and meeting Roget and his daughter.
Roget’s work was inspired by two earlier texts; the ancient Sanskrit “Amarakosha” (380 A.D ), the very first arrangement of words by subjects, followed by the French “Pasigraphie” (1796 A.D).
Joshua Kendall, the author, is a language enthusiast and an award winning journalist who writes for Business Week and Boston Globe. His book is a thorough exploration of a lexicographer’s life and mind. He has a keen eye for detail and he tells in a gripping manner the story of an astounding person who made an astounding impact on culture. The book is a carefully devised narrative that brings out the history behind the Thesaurus which has become a constant companion to all who love and respect English.
P.P.Ramachandran,
An extract from Roget’s Thesaurus for those who have not seen it. The word I have chosen is “Exclusive”.
exclusive
ADJECTIVE:
1. Not diffused or dispersed: concentrated, intensive, undivided, unswerving, whole. See COLLECT, EDGE, PART. 2. Catering to, used by, or admitting only the wealthy or socially superior: fancy, posh, swank, swanky. Informal : ritzy. See PLAIN. 3. Not divided among or shared with others: single, sole. See INCLUDE. 4. Singled out in preference: choice, chosen, elect, select. See CHOICE, INCLUDE
**********************
An event of profound importance in the history of the English language was a dinner party on June 6, 1928, held in the Goldsmith’s Hall near St Paul’s Cathedral, London. It was attended by 150 persons each monumentally distinguished in achievement and standing. It attracted the nation’s brightest and most wise—a stellar gathering of intellect. There were two bishops, three vice-chancellors, a dozen peers of the realm, 27 knights, Sir Ernest Rutherford, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Sir Henry Newbolt and J.R.Tolkien. The Prime Minister of England Stanley Baldwin proposed a toast to the Editors and Staff of the Oxford English Dictionary—twelve mighty volumes brought out after 70 years of labour. The Dictionary had 15,490 pages of single-spaced printed text with 414,825 words. There were 1,827,306 illustrative quotations. Rightly did the Prime Minister declare that the Oxford English Dictionary is the greatest enterprise of its kind in history.
Next only in importance and significance is the work of one man—he dedicated his whole life to this and he is Peter Mark Roget who is known for his “Thesaurus”. The book under review deals with both the life of Roget and his achievement. Roget (1779-1869) was a British physician, natural theologian and lexicographer. He is best known for publishing, in 1852, the “Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.”
Roget’s 250,000-word treatise was the culmination of his lifelong pursuit, begun in his childhood notebook, to organize the animate world. Incorporating the research of countless specialists in zoology, physiology and anatomy, Roget had produced a work whose comprehensiveness was breathtaking. He divided his treatise into four classes of physiology—Mechanical Functions, Vital Functions, Sensorial Functions, and Reproductive Functions.
“Specious phraseology could disseminate the seeds of prejudice and error”, according to Roget. “If the masses could learn to use language better, they might be able to right much of what was wrong with the world.” By organizing not just words but all ideas—knowledge—Roget believed that he was highlighting God’s achievements.
//
Peter Mark Roget was born in London. His obsession with list-making as a coping-mechanism was well-established by the time he was eight years old. The son of a clergyman, Roget studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. His life was marked by several incidents of sadness. His father and his wife died young. One uncle who held the highly respected position of Solicitor General of England committed suicide in Roget's presence. Roget struggled with depression for most of his life. His work on the thesaurus arose partly from an effort to battle depression.
One cannot but express awe at the quality of personalities involved with Roget. He studied “Natural Philosophy” under Dugald Stewart whose illustrious pupils included the novelist Walter Scott and two prominent future Prime Ministers, Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell. Roget worked with or under James Watt ( inventor of the steam engine), Humphrey Davy( inventor of Miner’s Safety Lamp),Jeremy Bentham (economist and father of Utilitarianism principle). The strength of his intellectual powers was apparent at a very early period of his life; he was remarkable from his infancy for his insatiable thirst for books, and for his indifference to the common objects of amusement, which usually captivate children.
Roget retired from professional life in 1840 and about 1848 began preparing for publication the one work that was to perpetuate his memory. This was the catalogue of words organized by their meanings, the compilation of which had been an avocation since 1805.. During his lifetime the work had twenty-eight printings; after his death it was revised and expanded by his son, John Lewis Roget, and later by John's son, Samuel Roget.
Roget helped found the School of Medicine at the Manchester University. He was also one of the founders of the Medical and Chirurgical Society, which later became the Royal Society of Medicine. He was a secretary of the Royal Society. He was charter member of a prestigious society, the Athenaeum Club, co-founded by Walter Scott. So esteemed was the club that Charles Dickens would regard his own election in the mid-1830s as a major milestone in his career.
He wrote numerous papers on physiology and health, a two-volume work on phrenology and articles for several editions of Encyclopedia Britannica.
These activities would be more than enough for most men, but Roget's insatiable thirst for knowledge and his appetite for work led him into many other fields. He played an important role in the establishment of the University of London. He showed remarkable ingenuity in inventing and solving chess problems and designed an inexpensive pocket chessboard. Among Roget’s achievements was the invention of a machine which finally became the familiar Zeotrope, using hand-drawn pictures. This heralded the advent of Motion Pictures.
Roget was the focus of the play "Synonymy" by Randy Wyatt. It tells the story of a graduate student named Gordon who rents out the last known residence of Roget to inspire him as he works on his dissertation regarding the English language and Roget's Thesaurus. The building, which was soon to be torn down, created a gateway in which Gordon found himself travelling back in time and meeting Roget and his daughter.
Roget’s work was inspired by two earlier texts; the ancient Sanskrit “Amarakosha” (380 A.D ), the very first arrangement of words by subjects, followed by the French “Pasigraphie” (1796 A.D).
Joshua Kendall, the author, is a language enthusiast and an award winning journalist who writes for Business Week and Boston Globe. His book is a thorough exploration of a lexicographer’s life and mind. He has a keen eye for detail and he tells in a gripping manner the story of an astounding person who made an astounding impact on culture. The book is a carefully devised narrative that brings out the history behind the Thesaurus which has become a constant companion to all who love and respect English.
P.P.Ramachandran,
An extract from Roget’s Thesaurus for those who have not seen it. The word I have chosen is “Exclusive”.
exclusive
ADJECTIVE:
1. Not diffused or dispersed: concentrated, intensive, undivided, unswerving, whole. See COLLECT, EDGE, PART. 2. Catering to, used by, or admitting only the wealthy or socially superior: fancy, posh, swank, swanky. Informal : ritzy. See PLAIN. 3. Not divided among or shared with others: single, sole. See INCLUDE. 4. Singled out in preference: choice, chosen, elect, select. See CHOICE, INCLUDE
THE MAN WHO LOVED CHINA--BOOK REVIEW
THE MAN WHO LOVED CHINA BY SIMON WINCHESTER; PUBLISHED BY HARPER COLLINS; PAGES 316; PRICE -$27.95.
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Simon Winchester, is a British author and journalist who began as a geologist and worked on oil-rigs in Africa. As a journalist he was kept prisoner by the Argentinian forces in the Falkland Islands. His book on the Oxford English Dictionary—“The Professor and the Madman” is a classic work in history. His other books “A Crack in the Edge of the World”, “Krakatoa”, “TheMap that Changed the World” were all on the New York Times Best Sellers list. SimonWinchester was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire ( O B E ) by Queen Elizabeth in 2006.
The book under review “The Man Who Loved China” is about the British biochemist and Chinese scholar Joseph Needham . Joseph Needham was one of those rare persons who are so good at so many things that they astonish us. Cambridge-educated in anatomy, physiology and chemistry, Needham became the West's leading authority on Chinese history. Needham "succeeded, as few others are ever privileged to do, in making a significant and positive change to mankind's mutual understanding.”
A simple listing of the British professor's fascinations would fill pages and would include auto mechanics, irrigation, horticulture, public health, military and political science, and Chinese calligraphy. His stupendous work, "Science and Civilisation in China", the product of 50 years of research and writing, fills 23 huge volumes. His collaborators are completing five more.
Winchester concentrates on Needham's flamboyant and eccentric character and those parts of his life which were filled with action, adventure and famous people. At Cambridge University, he pursued scientific research in biochemistry and women with equal avidity. In 1924 he married Dorothy Moyle, another biochemist, and they maintained an open marriage, which lasted until her death more than 60 years later. In 1937, Needham took as his lover, Lu Gwei-djen, a brilliant biochemist from Nanjing, and Moyle accepted her into their marriage. That arrangement, too, lasted until Moyle died and Needham married Lu. She introduced Needham to China's language and culture at a time when Japan's invasion of the country focused the West's attention and sympathy on the country.
Once Needham landed in China, he launched the research project that became the obsession that dominated the rest of his life -- the discovery and recognition of China's many early technological achievements. His research began the day he arrived in the country and ended only with his death.
Most of the narrative, however, covers Needham's adventurous and dangerous three-year stay in China during World War II. It was exciting times for him, filled with hardships, but he also met and befriended scientists, scholars, government and military leaders including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. Both his work and these contacts gave him access for his research and he found evidence everywhere of the early development of sophisticated technology.
Despite his support for the Chinese revolution it was his passion for the country's past that captured him. As his research turned up early advances in Chinese science, Needham documented and made widely available to the rest of the world, the extraordinary accomplishments of an important culture.
Needham's life was a great deal more than scholarly. He was an explorer, adventurer, and womanizer whose wife and mistress remained friends for 50 years while he carried on affairs with other women in other countries. He was a communist who never joined the party — but he nearly lost his academic standing when he was taken in by a scientific hoax, organized by leaders of the Soviet Union and designed to make it appear the U.S. had committed biological warfare during the Korean War.
The love affair between Joseph Needham and Lu Gwei-djen, propelled events that would change dramatically the Western world's perceptions of China. As his mistress for life, she taught him the meticulous art of Chinese calligraphy. In studying her language, he fell in love with a country he had never seen. The outcome was the historical tome that Winchester regards, along with the Oxford English Dictionary, as one of the great intellectual achievements of all time.
Cambridge and the British Diplomatic Corps sent Needham to China to assess what the Chinese universities needed to pressure the Churchill government to provide it. It was the beginning of a lifelong quest to know everything about China and write it all down. For the rest of his life he worked "all in the consequence of his love for a Chinese woman ... to change the way the people of the West looked on the people of the East."
A puzzle often identified by historians as "Needham's question," and central to much of his work is this: Why did China, having given the world its earliest understandings of the pure sciences, having invented printing, gunpowder, the wheelbarrow, the fishing reel, chain-pumps, the magnetic compass and hundreds of other practical devices at a pace "unmatched by the world's other great civilizations including the Greeks" suddenly shut down in the 1500s? Why did this enormous country become isolated and xenophobic, just when modern science and industry began blooming in the West? Needham struggled with this mystery for decades, without a solution that suited him. According to Needham the riddle is of less consequence these days. The more urgent need, Winchester writes for both himself and Needham, is to understand as much as possible of "everything, good and ill, about the awe-inspiring, terrifying entity that is today's new China," as it moves in the direction of world supremacy.
Needham was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and the British Academy. Under the Royal Society’s direction, Needham was the director of the Sino-British Science Co-operation Office in Chonquing from 1942 to 1946. Needham collaborated with the historian Wang Ling , who solidified Needham's passion for Chinese scientific history.
After two years' tenure as the first head of the Natural Science division at UNESCO in Paris- indeed, it was Needham who insisted that Science should be included in the organisation's mandate — he returned to Gonville and Caius College in 1948, when Cambridge University partially funded his Science and Civilisation in China series. He devoted much energy to the history of Chinese science until his retirement in 1990, even though he continued to teach biochemistry until 1966. He also supported the controversial Chinese communist claims of American biological warfare as an inspector from 1952 to 1953 in North Korea during the Korean War He was banned by the American government from entering into American borders for 25 years. According to Simon Winchester "Needham was intellectually in love with communism; and yet communist spymasters and agents, it turned out, had pitilessly duped him." (, p. 212).
Needham suffered from Parkinson’s disease from 1982, and died at the age of 94 at his Cambridge home. In 2008 the Chair of Chinese in the University of Cambridge was endowed in honour of Joseph Needham.
Simon Winchester’s book reads like a thriller and is as fascinating as the life of his hero. The eminent bio-chemist and Chinese scholar has been extraordinarily lucky to get a biographer whose work will be an unique account of a person and a country , both great achievers.
P.P.Ramachandran
******************************
Simon Winchester, is a British author and journalist who began as a geologist and worked on oil-rigs in Africa. As a journalist he was kept prisoner by the Argentinian forces in the Falkland Islands. His book on the Oxford English Dictionary—“The Professor and the Madman” is a classic work in history. His other books “A Crack in the Edge of the World”, “Krakatoa”, “TheMap that Changed the World” were all on the New York Times Best Sellers list. SimonWinchester was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire ( O B E ) by Queen Elizabeth in 2006.
The book under review “The Man Who Loved China” is about the British biochemist and Chinese scholar Joseph Needham . Joseph Needham was one of those rare persons who are so good at so many things that they astonish us. Cambridge-educated in anatomy, physiology and chemistry, Needham became the West's leading authority on Chinese history. Needham "succeeded, as few others are ever privileged to do, in making a significant and positive change to mankind's mutual understanding.”
A simple listing of the British professor's fascinations would fill pages and would include auto mechanics, irrigation, horticulture, public health, military and political science, and Chinese calligraphy. His stupendous work, "Science and Civilisation in China", the product of 50 years of research and writing, fills 23 huge volumes. His collaborators are completing five more.
Winchester concentrates on Needham's flamboyant and eccentric character and those parts of his life which were filled with action, adventure and famous people. At Cambridge University, he pursued scientific research in biochemistry and women with equal avidity. In 1924 he married Dorothy Moyle, another biochemist, and they maintained an open marriage, which lasted until her death more than 60 years later. In 1937, Needham took as his lover, Lu Gwei-djen, a brilliant biochemist from Nanjing, and Moyle accepted her into their marriage. That arrangement, too, lasted until Moyle died and Needham married Lu. She introduced Needham to China's language and culture at a time when Japan's invasion of the country focused the West's attention and sympathy on the country.
Once Needham landed in China, he launched the research project that became the obsession that dominated the rest of his life -- the discovery and recognition of China's many early technological achievements. His research began the day he arrived in the country and ended only with his death.
Most of the narrative, however, covers Needham's adventurous and dangerous three-year stay in China during World War II. It was exciting times for him, filled with hardships, but he also met and befriended scientists, scholars, government and military leaders including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. Both his work and these contacts gave him access for his research and he found evidence everywhere of the early development of sophisticated technology.
Despite his support for the Chinese revolution it was his passion for the country's past that captured him. As his research turned up early advances in Chinese science, Needham documented and made widely available to the rest of the world, the extraordinary accomplishments of an important culture.
Needham's life was a great deal more than scholarly. He was an explorer, adventurer, and womanizer whose wife and mistress remained friends for 50 years while he carried on affairs with other women in other countries. He was a communist who never joined the party — but he nearly lost his academic standing when he was taken in by a scientific hoax, organized by leaders of the Soviet Union and designed to make it appear the U.S. had committed biological warfare during the Korean War.
The love affair between Joseph Needham and Lu Gwei-djen, propelled events that would change dramatically the Western world's perceptions of China. As his mistress for life, she taught him the meticulous art of Chinese calligraphy. In studying her language, he fell in love with a country he had never seen. The outcome was the historical tome that Winchester regards, along with the Oxford English Dictionary, as one of the great intellectual achievements of all time.
Cambridge and the British Diplomatic Corps sent Needham to China to assess what the Chinese universities needed to pressure the Churchill government to provide it. It was the beginning of a lifelong quest to know everything about China and write it all down. For the rest of his life he worked "all in the consequence of his love for a Chinese woman ... to change the way the people of the West looked on the people of the East."
A puzzle often identified by historians as "Needham's question," and central to much of his work is this: Why did China, having given the world its earliest understandings of the pure sciences, having invented printing, gunpowder, the wheelbarrow, the fishing reel, chain-pumps, the magnetic compass and hundreds of other practical devices at a pace "unmatched by the world's other great civilizations including the Greeks" suddenly shut down in the 1500s? Why did this enormous country become isolated and xenophobic, just when modern science and industry began blooming in the West? Needham struggled with this mystery for decades, without a solution that suited him. According to Needham the riddle is of less consequence these days. The more urgent need, Winchester writes for both himself and Needham, is to understand as much as possible of "everything, good and ill, about the awe-inspiring, terrifying entity that is today's new China," as it moves in the direction of world supremacy.
Needham was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and the British Academy. Under the Royal Society’s direction, Needham was the director of the Sino-British Science Co-operation Office in Chonquing from 1942 to 1946. Needham collaborated with the historian Wang Ling , who solidified Needham's passion for Chinese scientific history.
After two years' tenure as the first head of the Natural Science division at UNESCO in Paris- indeed, it was Needham who insisted that Science should be included in the organisation's mandate — he returned to Gonville and Caius College in 1948, when Cambridge University partially funded his Science and Civilisation in China series. He devoted much energy to the history of Chinese science until his retirement in 1990, even though he continued to teach biochemistry until 1966. He also supported the controversial Chinese communist claims of American biological warfare as an inspector from 1952 to 1953 in North Korea during the Korean War He was banned by the American government from entering into American borders for 25 years. According to Simon Winchester "Needham was intellectually in love with communism; and yet communist spymasters and agents, it turned out, had pitilessly duped him." (, p. 212).
Needham suffered from Parkinson’s disease from 1982, and died at the age of 94 at his Cambridge home. In 2008 the Chair of Chinese in the University of Cambridge was endowed in honour of Joseph Needham.
Simon Winchester’s book reads like a thriller and is as fascinating as the life of his hero. The eminent bio-chemist and Chinese scholar has been extraordinarily lucky to get a biographer whose work will be an unique account of a person and a country , both great achievers.
P.P.Ramachandran
THE LAST LECTURE--BOOK REVIEW
THE LAST LECTURE BY RANDY PAUSCH ; PUBLISHED BY HYPERION ; PAGES 207; PRICE -$ 21.95
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Randy Pausch was an American professor of computer science, human computer reaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a best-selling author who achieved worldwide fame for his " The Last Lecture" speech at Carnegie Mellon University.
//
This has been brought out in a book form by his friend Jeffrey Jaslow.
Pausch was an assistant and associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science from 1988 until 1997. In 1997, Pausch became Associate Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design, at Carnegie Mellon University. He started the Building Virtual Worlds course at CMU and taught it for 10 years. He worked with Google, Adobe, Electronic Arts (E A) and Walt Disney Imagineering, and pioneered the Alice Software Project. Pausch was the author or co-author of five books and over 70 articles.
The Pittsburgh City Council declared November 19, 2007 to be "Dr. Randy Pausch Day." In May 2008, Pausch was listed by Time magazine as one of the World's Top-100 Most Influential People.
Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and after an unsuccessful attempt to halt it he was told in August 2007 to expect a remaining three to six months of good health On July 25, 2008, Pausch died at his 47th year. He is survived by his wife Jai, and their three children, Dylan, Logan and Chloe.
Pausch delivered his "Last Lecture", titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” at CMU on September 18, 2007. This talk was modelled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk," i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"
During the lecture, Pausch was humorous, alternating between wisecracks, insights on computer science and engineering education, advice on building multi-disciplinary collaborations, working in groups and interacting with other people, offering inspirational life lessons, and performing push-ups on stage.
His " The Last Lecture" has attracted wide attention from the international media, became an Internet hit, and was viewed over a million times in the first month after its delivery. On October 22, 2007, Pausch appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show where he discussed his situation and recapped his "Last Lecture" for millions of TV viewers. The Walt Disney owned publisher Hyperion has paid $6.7 million for the rights to publish a book about Pausch called The Last Lecture co-authored by Pausch and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Zaslow.
Each year at a series known as The Last Lecture, a Carnegie Mellon University faculty member is asked to deliver what would hypothetically be a final speech to their students before dying. It is a wonderful tradition in which both speaker and listeners take a moment to reflect upon what matters most in this life. In September 2007, the speaker, 47-year-old computer science professor and father of three, Randy Pausch, didn't have to imagine that he was confronting his imminent demise because, in fact, he was. Pausch had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and, at the time of his Last Lecture, had only been given three to six months to live. Pausch's speech, entitled "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," was every bit inspirational as the man himself. Rather than focusing on dying, it was a speech about living, about achieving one's dreams and enabling the dreams of others, about truly living each day as though it were your last.
With a desire to elaborate on his ideas in print form, but not wanting to take precious time away from his children, Pausch, a self-avowed efficiency nut, spent fifty-three daily bike rides on his cell phone headset conveying his thoughts to Zaslow who helped shape the stories into book form.
The book under review is a slender book that can be read in two or three sittings. The book overflows with stories and aphorisms. Randy Pausch recounts fulfillment of his childhood dreams and the principles he learned along the way. Pausch's strong beliefs included inter-alia "life's brick walls are there to show us how badly we really want something," the notion that "experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted," and a quotation from the Roman philosopher Seneca who said that "luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." Pausch is a thoroughly entertaining storyteller and presents the highlights of his brilliant career bursting with the joy of living even as a cloud of death was enveloping him. The book deals with his struggles with cancer taking it as a challenge he must and will overcome. He has great faith in creative solutions and he refuses to be buckle under any threat—even to his life.
Though Pausch wrote this book for his three children to hear him after his departure the book’s wisdom is of universal value. Reading this swan-song will help resuscitate the lagging and lapsing faith in humanity. Pausch will rank with Helen Keller, Stephen Hawking and other great persons who were struck by serious ailments but overcame them by sheer will power. “The Last Lecture” is one of the great inspirational works of the twenty first century.
P.P.Ramachandran
*****************************
Randy Pausch was an American professor of computer science, human computer reaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a best-selling author who achieved worldwide fame for his " The Last Lecture" speech at Carnegie Mellon University.
//
This has been brought out in a book form by his friend Jeffrey Jaslow.
Pausch was an assistant and associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science from 1988 until 1997. In 1997, Pausch became Associate Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design, at Carnegie Mellon University. He started the Building Virtual Worlds course at CMU and taught it for 10 years. He worked with Google, Adobe, Electronic Arts (E A) and Walt Disney Imagineering, and pioneered the Alice Software Project. Pausch was the author or co-author of five books and over 70 articles.
The Pittsburgh City Council declared November 19, 2007 to be "Dr. Randy Pausch Day." In May 2008, Pausch was listed by Time magazine as one of the World's Top-100 Most Influential People.
Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and after an unsuccessful attempt to halt it he was told in August 2007 to expect a remaining three to six months of good health On July 25, 2008, Pausch died at his 47th year. He is survived by his wife Jai, and their three children, Dylan, Logan and Chloe.
Pausch delivered his "Last Lecture", titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” at CMU on September 18, 2007. This talk was modelled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk," i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"
During the lecture, Pausch was humorous, alternating between wisecracks, insights on computer science and engineering education, advice on building multi-disciplinary collaborations, working in groups and interacting with other people, offering inspirational life lessons, and performing push-ups on stage.
His " The Last Lecture" has attracted wide attention from the international media, became an Internet hit, and was viewed over a million times in the first month after its delivery. On October 22, 2007, Pausch appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show where he discussed his situation and recapped his "Last Lecture" for millions of TV viewers. The Walt Disney owned publisher Hyperion has paid $6.7 million for the rights to publish a book about Pausch called The Last Lecture co-authored by Pausch and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Zaslow.
Each year at a series known as The Last Lecture, a Carnegie Mellon University faculty member is asked to deliver what would hypothetically be a final speech to their students before dying. It is a wonderful tradition in which both speaker and listeners take a moment to reflect upon what matters most in this life. In September 2007, the speaker, 47-year-old computer science professor and father of three, Randy Pausch, didn't have to imagine that he was confronting his imminent demise because, in fact, he was. Pausch had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and, at the time of his Last Lecture, had only been given three to six months to live. Pausch's speech, entitled "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," was every bit inspirational as the man himself. Rather than focusing on dying, it was a speech about living, about achieving one's dreams and enabling the dreams of others, about truly living each day as though it were your last.
With a desire to elaborate on his ideas in print form, but not wanting to take precious time away from his children, Pausch, a self-avowed efficiency nut, spent fifty-three daily bike rides on his cell phone headset conveying his thoughts to Zaslow who helped shape the stories into book form.
The book under review is a slender book that can be read in two or three sittings. The book overflows with stories and aphorisms. Randy Pausch recounts fulfillment of his childhood dreams and the principles he learned along the way. Pausch's strong beliefs included inter-alia "life's brick walls are there to show us how badly we really want something," the notion that "experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted," and a quotation from the Roman philosopher Seneca who said that "luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." Pausch is a thoroughly entertaining storyteller and presents the highlights of his brilliant career bursting with the joy of living even as a cloud of death was enveloping him. The book deals with his struggles with cancer taking it as a challenge he must and will overcome. He has great faith in creative solutions and he refuses to be buckle under any threat—even to his life.
Though Pausch wrote this book for his three children to hear him after his departure the book’s wisdom is of universal value. Reading this swan-song will help resuscitate the lagging and lapsing faith in humanity. Pausch will rank with Helen Keller, Stephen Hawking and other great persons who were struck by serious ailments but overcame them by sheer will power. “The Last Lecture” is one of the great inspirational works of the twenty first century.
P.P.Ramachandran
THE WAR WITHIN--BOOK REVIEW
THE WAR WITHIN BY BOB WOODWARD; PUBLISHED BY SIMON &SCHUSTER; PAGES 487; PRICE U S $ 32/-
******************
The decline and fall of President Richard Nixon was the result of the patient work of two young journalists—Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Much water has flown down the Potomac since Nixon and we are currently witness to the darkest days in American History under President Bush. One of the two enterprising journalists mentioned above, Bob Woodward has become the historian of the Bush era with four books to his credit on this period.
Bob Woodward has worked for The Washington Post since 1971. He, with Bernstein bagged the Pulitzer Prize for the reporting on the Watergate scandal. Woodward was described as “the best pure reporter of his generation, perhaps ever.” and “the most celebrated journalist of our age.” He has established himself as the best reporter of our time. He may be the best reporter of all time.
The question of what sort of wartime President George Bush has been runs through Woodward’s latest book which is the fourth in his running account of the Bush government’s conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The series began with a generally positive assessment of Bush the President in “Bush at War” and has moved down to levels of disenchantment in “Plan of Attack” and ‘State of Denial”. The weight of evidence, given in the latest volume results in a verdict that is distinctly unhappy.
The heart of the book under review deals with the conception and execution of "the Surge," the infusion of additional U.S. troops that appears to have stabilized the security situation in Iraq, creating an opportunity for President Nouri Maliki's government to begin to assert itself. The success of this strategic shift is a significant issue in the current presidential campaign.
The book states that Bush’s decision in January 2007 to send about 30,000 more troops to Iraq—the Surge—was not the primary factor behind the step drop in violence. According to Woodward four factors that reduced the violence were covert operations, the military build-up, anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada-al-Sadr’s decision to rein in his Mahdi Army and the “Anbar Awakening” in which Sunnis joined Americans in fighting Al-Quaida in Anbar province in western Iraq.
More important is a hyper-secret new programme that has allowed U.S. forces to identify, locate and kill huge numbers of the insurgency's leaders, including members of al Qaeda. When military and White House officials learned that Woodward knew of the secret program, they asked that he withhold any details because publication would endanger the operation and compromise its use elsewhere. White House has come out openly against Woodward and challenged his version. The author argues that the diminution of violence in Iraq owes a great deal to the so-called Anbar Awakening, in which the tribal sheiks in that crucial Sunni-dominated province have turned on al Qaeda and aligned themselves with the U.S. and the new central government. Woodward points out that the success in Anbar began long before the Surge with the Marines' successful counterinsurgency efforts on the Syrian border. The result of those efforts reached critical mass at about the time the surge began.
A second front in the war rages at the highest levels of the Bush administration. Woodward delineates for us the tensions, secret debates, distrust and determination within the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the Intelligence Agencies and the U.S. Military headquarters in Baghdad. What is provided is a lucid account of the distress and uncertainty within the Bush administration from 2006 to date.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff conduct a secret enquiry and Bush too conducts a secret strategy review that keeps the military out. The administration’s strategy reviews continue in secret, partly because public disclosure would harm Republicans in the November 2006 elections for Congress. The book provides an exhaustive account of the struggles of Gen, Petraeus, who has taken over in Iraq during the bleakest and most violent periods of the war.
After the Democratic gains that November, Bush's doggedly loyal National Security Adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, convened a secret White House task force that cut the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon out of the loop and went to retired military generals -- mainly the Army's former vice chief of staff, Gen. Jack Keane -- for strategic advice. It was a decision that, according to Woodward, has left America's top military commanders demoralized ever since. The result of Stephen Hadley’s secret consultations was the Surge, a concept the Joint Chiefs had opposed from the start. In essence, their argument was that, even if the Surge succeeded in reducing violence, the U.S. might end up a loser because it would increase the Iraqis' dependence on American military forces. Even Petraeus, who emerges from Woodward's account as a formidable and honorable warrior, agreed on that point. He met privately with Bush immediately after his Senate confirmation. The President called his decision to order the surge "a double down.". Petraeus responded "Mr. President, this is not double down,This is all in." The Surge, sent 30,000 additional soldiers and marines to Iraq to bolster basic security in Iraq in the hope of creating conditions conducive to political reconciliation in Iraq. The result, according to Gen. Petraeus is “fragile and reversible”.
Woodward has harsh things to say about Bush’s leadership style. “For at least seven months during 2006 Bush had known that the existing strategy in Iraq was not working. No matter how he tried to dress it up with positive language, and sugarcoating it to the American public, he was losing the war. But somehow he set no deadlines, demanded no hurry, avoided any direct confrontation with Secretary of Defence Rumsfield, Gen.Pace or Gen.Casey about the need for change.For years, time and again, President Bush has displayed impatience, bravado and unsettling personal certainty about his decisions. The result has too often been impulsiveness and carelessness and, perhaps most troubling, a delayed reaction to realities and advice that run counter to his gut.”
More interesting is the disclosure that about May 2006 U.S. Military and intelligence agencies launched a series of operations “that enabled them to locate, target and kill key individuals in extremist groups such as al-Queda, the Sunni insurgency, and renegade Shia militias.”
Bob Woodward’s book is indispensable reading for those interested in the Iraq war and the bumbling and dangerous leadership provided by President George Bush militias.” It is journalism at its peak."
P.P.Ramachandran
******************
The decline and fall of President Richard Nixon was the result of the patient work of two young journalists—Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Much water has flown down the Potomac since Nixon and we are currently witness to the darkest days in American History under President Bush. One of the two enterprising journalists mentioned above, Bob Woodward has become the historian of the Bush era with four books to his credit on this period.
Bob Woodward has worked for The Washington Post since 1971. He, with Bernstein bagged the Pulitzer Prize for the reporting on the Watergate scandal. Woodward was described as “the best pure reporter of his generation, perhaps ever.” and “the most celebrated journalist of our age.” He has established himself as the best reporter of our time. He may be the best reporter of all time.
The question of what sort of wartime President George Bush has been runs through Woodward’s latest book which is the fourth in his running account of the Bush government’s conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The series began with a generally positive assessment of Bush the President in “Bush at War” and has moved down to levels of disenchantment in “Plan of Attack” and ‘State of Denial”. The weight of evidence, given in the latest volume results in a verdict that is distinctly unhappy.
The heart of the book under review deals with the conception and execution of "the Surge," the infusion of additional U.S. troops that appears to have stabilized the security situation in Iraq, creating an opportunity for President Nouri Maliki's government to begin to assert itself. The success of this strategic shift is a significant issue in the current presidential campaign.
The book states that Bush’s decision in January 2007 to send about 30,000 more troops to Iraq—the Surge—was not the primary factor behind the step drop in violence. According to Woodward four factors that reduced the violence were covert operations, the military build-up, anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada-al-Sadr’s decision to rein in his Mahdi Army and the “Anbar Awakening” in which Sunnis joined Americans in fighting Al-Quaida in Anbar province in western Iraq.
More important is a hyper-secret new programme that has allowed U.S. forces to identify, locate and kill huge numbers of the insurgency's leaders, including members of al Qaeda. When military and White House officials learned that Woodward knew of the secret program, they asked that he withhold any details because publication would endanger the operation and compromise its use elsewhere. White House has come out openly against Woodward and challenged his version. The author argues that the diminution of violence in Iraq owes a great deal to the so-called Anbar Awakening, in which the tribal sheiks in that crucial Sunni-dominated province have turned on al Qaeda and aligned themselves with the U.S. and the new central government. Woodward points out that the success in Anbar began long before the Surge with the Marines' successful counterinsurgency efforts on the Syrian border. The result of those efforts reached critical mass at about the time the surge began.
A second front in the war rages at the highest levels of the Bush administration. Woodward delineates for us the tensions, secret debates, distrust and determination within the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the Intelligence Agencies and the U.S. Military headquarters in Baghdad. What is provided is a lucid account of the distress and uncertainty within the Bush administration from 2006 to date.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff conduct a secret enquiry and Bush too conducts a secret strategy review that keeps the military out. The administration’s strategy reviews continue in secret, partly because public disclosure would harm Republicans in the November 2006 elections for Congress. The book provides an exhaustive account of the struggles of Gen, Petraeus, who has taken over in Iraq during the bleakest and most violent periods of the war.
After the Democratic gains that November, Bush's doggedly loyal National Security Adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, convened a secret White House task force that cut the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagon out of the loop and went to retired military generals -- mainly the Army's former vice chief of staff, Gen. Jack Keane -- for strategic advice. It was a decision that, according to Woodward, has left America's top military commanders demoralized ever since. The result of Stephen Hadley’s secret consultations was the Surge, a concept the Joint Chiefs had opposed from the start. In essence, their argument was that, even if the Surge succeeded in reducing violence, the U.S. might end up a loser because it would increase the Iraqis' dependence on American military forces. Even Petraeus, who emerges from Woodward's account as a formidable and honorable warrior, agreed on that point. He met privately with Bush immediately after his Senate confirmation. The President called his decision to order the surge "a double down.". Petraeus responded "Mr. President, this is not double down,This is all in." The Surge, sent 30,000 additional soldiers and marines to Iraq to bolster basic security in Iraq in the hope of creating conditions conducive to political reconciliation in Iraq. The result, according to Gen. Petraeus is “fragile and reversible”.
Woodward has harsh things to say about Bush’s leadership style. “For at least seven months during 2006 Bush had known that the existing strategy in Iraq was not working. No matter how he tried to dress it up with positive language, and sugarcoating it to the American public, he was losing the war. But somehow he set no deadlines, demanded no hurry, avoided any direct confrontation with Secretary of Defence Rumsfield, Gen.Pace or Gen.Casey about the need for change.For years, time and again, President Bush has displayed impatience, bravado and unsettling personal certainty about his decisions. The result has too often been impulsiveness and carelessness and, perhaps most troubling, a delayed reaction to realities and advice that run counter to his gut.”
More interesting is the disclosure that about May 2006 U.S. Military and intelligence agencies launched a series of operations “that enabled them to locate, target and kill key individuals in extremist groups such as al-Queda, the Sunni insurgency, and renegade Shia militias.”
Bob Woodward’s book is indispensable reading for those interested in the Iraq war and the bumbling and dangerous leadership provided by President George Bush militias.” It is journalism at its peak."
P.P.Ramachandran
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