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The Nehrus and the Gandhis: An Indian dynasty The Nehrus and The Gandhis An Indian Dynasty Tariq Ali Picador India Price: Tk 420 Available at: Words n Pages For anybody who is interested in South Asian fiction, Tariq Ali’s ‘The Nehrus and the Gandhis—An Indian Dynasty’ is a must read. The story of the politics of the partition of 1947 was so important in shaping the history of not only India, but that of the other countries around it, and the one family who was behind it all, is told in Ali’s typical crisp style, with staggering insights and straightforwardness.    From Jawaharlar Nehru, his daughter Indira, to Sanjay, Rajiv and most recently Sonia Gandhi, this family has continued to define all the parameters of India’s political development. This story is about the rise of communism, the break out of communalism, and capitalism—that monster which never fails to lose its grip on any nation of the world—whether it uses it, or exploits it. The ugliness of caste wars, the violence in the absence of secularism, and the forces of imperialism come across as clear messages of a nation gone awry, and the gap of what it should have been and what it is remains vast.    From that crucial year to now, this book remains relevant to understand the formation of polity, the demarcation of democracy, and the power struggles of one family. Faster paced than any drama, this is an intense read. As a South Indian poet wrote during the furore that followed after colonisation;        …..The audience started to leave,    The accursed gang, sensing this,    Shouted ‘Socialism!’    …………    But amidst the infernal din,    The looting of the people went on    – MRH Intimacy Intimacy, Hanif Kureishi ISBN 0-571-22214-5, Tk 528 Available at: Words n Pages 'It is the saddest night, for I am leaving and not coming back’—so starts Hanif Kureishi’s pitiless, blunt, passionate, heart wrenching novel of the ending of a relationship. In an almost painful dissection of male sexual restlessness, Kureishi manages to break every illusion that we build for ourselves, yet he does it in such poetic, beautiful prose that the reader does not feel let down.    Those complex and elusive emotions that married couples are bound to feel at some points in their lives are told in words that remain, in reality, as elusive as the emotion themselves. He writes in narrative style: Tonight my predominant emotion is fear of the future. At least, one might say, it is better to fear things than to be bored by them, and life without love is a long boredom….tonight, don’t worry, I will set the record crooked.    Kureishi, through his protagonist, speaks about the void left in so many ways by the ideas and idealism of the sixties and the inability to live up to those ideals because of the absence of personal and political maps in the nineties. A short novel, this story takes a long time to read because each and every line makes you think, think again, and yet again. At one point, he says ‘A breakdown is a breakthrough is a break out. That is something.’    It is indeed.    — MRH Being Cyrus Being Cyrus (2005) Directed by Homi Adajania Starring: Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Saif Ali Khan Genre: Comedy/Drama/Thriller There are times when piracy can be annoying: I bought ‘The Mistress of Spices’ and with much excitement (even though we did know it was going to be trashy, we wanted to watch Aishwariya I guess), we sat down to watch it. It turned out that once you put the DVD in, it was actually ‘Being Cyrus’ that was being played.    Thinking to return it (for some inexplicable reason I still wanted to watch Ash), I didn’t pay attention, until one afternoon, I was truly bored and thought, why not? I have since then made up my mind not to return it ever, because its truly one of the best psychological thrillers, with a star studded cast, great acting, and suspense that does end with the big surprise of a ‘whodunnit’ totally unpredictable.    Debutante director Homi Adajania delves into the life of a mysterious Parsi family: the Sethnas. The villain, Cyrus, is played by Saif Ali Khan, for whom this role must have been a challenge, being far removed from his usual happy-go-lucky roles, but he rose to it brilliantly. Naseeruddin Shah and Dimple Kapadia hardly need an introduction, and both were stellar in their performances. The cinematography is eerie, and provides a perfect touch to this thriller. ‘Being Cyrus’ is about the macabre, twisted intricacies of the human mind, and a movie which leaves you thinking.    — MRH Prime Prime (2005) Directed by Ben Younger Starring: Meryl Streep, Uma Thurman, Bryan Greenberg Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama Ben Younger’s film ‘Prime’ is one of those snapshots-in-time that have gained so much popularity in recent years. It’s not high drama, but realistic, emotive, and gently humorous, exploring human relationships and their many complications (nothing quite as complicated as relationships). Though it doesn’t have breathtaking pace, and your attention can even wander at places, it does have that easy feel.    Starring two of the hotties of Hollywood, Meryl Streep, and Uma Thurman, who vie for the love of the same guy (not the conventional way though), because the former is the mother, and the latter, a savvy career woman just gotten out of a recent divorce. Just to make things a little thrilling, Uma plays a 37 year old, while the gentleman in question is but a child aged twenty two, with all the throbbing but untold feelings that only a painter that age can have. And, the twist is that the mother is Uma’s psychiatrist.    Without giving too much away, its funny to watch the emotions on Streep’s face, as slow realisation hits her, that this woman, who she was helping out and counselling, is actually getting cosy with her own son. If one tries to intellectualise this, it’s a very Freudian take on mother-son-son’s lover relationships. If one doesn’t, its quite simply, quirky.    — MRH The glamorous reporter, the cannibal tribes and a six-year-old meal Wa-Wa photographed last year. Deep within the jungle of Indonesia’s Papua province live the Korowai people, one of the last tribes on earth to practise cannibalism. And the person destined to be killed and eaten next is Wa-Wa, a six-year-old boy believed to be possessed by evil spirits blamed for the sudden death of his parents.    That, at least, was the story broadcast by Australia’s Channel 9 network in May, reaping an audience of two million for its tabloid current affairs show 60 Minutes. It was the highest-rated episode this year, and Nine’s bitter rival, Channel 7, which runs a similar- style programme, Today Tonight, was green with envy.    This week a Channel 7 crew, led by Today Tonight’s glamorous host, Naomi Robson, was detained by immigration authorities in Jayapura, the Papuan capital. Indonesian officials said the Australians had flown to the province on tourist visas instead of applying for a special permit required to work there as journalists.    It was assumed by some they had gone there to film a story about the activists waging a decades-long fight for independence from Indonesia. But it soon transpired that Robson and her four-man team were planning to rescue Wa-Wa from the jaws of death - and give Today Tonight a much-needed boost.    Instead, they found themselves front-page news in Australia, as they were deported in a humiliating blaze of publicity. But as they flew back to Sydney via Bali yesterday, the battle between the two commercial networks, which are engaged in a cut-throat ratings war, was only just beginning.    It was not mere bad luck that the crew were picked up as soon as they arrived in Papua, Channel 7 claimed. Seven’s director of news and current affairs, Peter Meakin, said someone at Channel 9 had tipped off the authorities. And that someone, it was hinted, was Ben Fordham, who made the original programme.    According to Seven, the Indonesians were told that Robson’s team were members of the proindependence Free Papua Movement, and were planning to kidnap children. That was not all. Fordham allegedly offered $100,000 Australian dollars (pounds 40,000) to a local “fixer”, Paul Raffaele, and a guide, Cornelius, to dissuade them from assisting Channel 7. Meakin said: “I think the phrase was ‘name your own price’.” Channel 9 was consulting its lawyers after the allegations were broadcast on Today Tonight.    Meanwhile, Papuan experts in Indonesia and Australia said that the Korowai has not practised cannibalism for many decades.    Pula Makabory, a Papuan human rights worker, said: “The cannibalism era has stopped since the Bible was delivered in West Papua. That was before I was born. There are no people eating people anymore.”    Chris Ballard, an anthropologist at the Australian National University, agreed. He called the Channel 7 mission farcical, “akin to wandering about Baghdad asking about Paris Hilton”. Dr Ballard told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC): “To have these clowns wandering around the landscape on so-called missions of mercy is a tragedy. It’s laughable. The real cannibals in this are the commercial networks, who are trying to consume each other’s audiences and each other’s market share.”    It was the latest controversy to dog Robson. Earlier this year she was forced to deny claims that she had a Winnebago camper van parked outside the Tasmanian mine where two men were trapped underground, just so she could fix her hair and make-up.    Last week, Channel 7 viewers complained about her coverage of the death of Steve Irwin, the television naturalist. Robson was filmed outside Irwin’s Australia Zoo, in Queensland, wearing a khaki outfit of the type that was his trademark, and with a live dragon lizard perched on one shoulder. Her image has also been dented by leaked tapes of her in the Today Tonight studio were she is heard swearing nine times in 15 seconds and poking fun at fat people while doing her make-up.    In Papua, the plan was to rescue Wa-Wa from his village and take him to foster parents in Jaya pura, while filming every step of the operation. The crew reportedly spent an anxious night in a luxury hotel after being detained. A picture of Robson in a local restaurant, heavily made-up, appeared on the front pages of Australian newspapers yesterday.    Meakin stood by his claim that Channel 9 sabotaged the mission, saying he had “substantive evidence”, including notes of conversations between Mr Raffaele and the network. Nine’s head of news, Gary Linnell, called the allegations “false and reprehensible”. Meanwhile, Wa-Wa, who may or may not be facing death at the hands of cannibals, appears to have been forgotten.    A spokesman for Unicef, the UN children’s agency, told the ABC that Papua province had one of the world’s highest infant mortality rates. He said that children there needed to be immunised against common diseases, protected against malnutrition and given access to clean water. He did not mention cannibalism.    Copyright 2006 Independent Newspapers UK Limited