Iran in its "axis of evil" days, the memoirs of a woman MP from Afghanistan, an American observer in Pakistan, and a cricket coach who takes potshots: books of the times.
Persian perspectives
Iran, in the last decades, has made news for all the wrong reasons. Such is the mystique associated with the land that any account documenting a journey through it is worth an impulsive read. It gets even better when the travel takes place while the country is making all the wrong headlines — in this case, the moment when President George W Bush identified Iran as a peg in the “axis of evil”.
Nicholas Hagger finds himself applying for a visa in London to tour Iran at the height of such rhetoric. Hagger is told by his travel agent to mark his profession as “teacher” in the visa application. He goes a step further by cancelling plans to take his wife along, fearing war.
The whirlwind tour begins in Tehran, where public opinion echoes the sentiments of Iran’s president, that “America wouldn’t dare attack Iran”. The tension evaporates in the city of Shiraz. Set amidst lush, rolling hills and famous for its moderate climate, Shiraz is the birthplace of the legendary poet Hafez. Hafez’s ghazals used love, wine and intoxication as themes, and the author is enchanted to read them at his shrine.
At the ruins of Persepolis and Pasargadae, built by Darius the Great and Cyrus the Great respectively, one gets a glimpse of the magnificence of a birthplace of modern civilisation. Numerous academics have credited the Achaemenid dynasty with a lasting impact on the Greeks. This is the period when Zoroastrianism was at its zenith, and the author captures the story of the religion until the time when the Zoroastrians had to flee to India at the beginning of the Islamic era.
The desert city of Yazd, which has homes with cooling towers, keeps the author cool. He finds time to haggle over carpets at Isfahan, the centre of Persian carpet manufacturing. He gets the briefest glimpse of the controversial nuclear facilities at Natanz from the highway. But he is particularly enchanted by Qom, the theological heart of Iran and the birthplace of Ayatollah Khomeini, the cleric who overthrew the 2,500-year-old Persian monarchy. The trip ends in Tehran with a visit to the last Iranian monarch Reza Pahlavi’s White Palace, which contrasts with the austere one-room abode of his overthrower Khomeini.
Hagger has written extensively on cultural history, philosophy and literature. This comes through especially when he is interpreting the historic ruins at Persepolis and Pasargadae.
But, sadly, in this book he comes across as a close-minded traveller. One can forgive the white man fussing over vaccinations, but Hagger takes paranoia to a new level. He suspects his gentle and well-informed tour guide, Farhad, of belonging to the Iranian secret service. But what really sets nerves jangling is his constant fear of bearded Muslim youth. Hagger suspects them all of being kidnappers or suicide bombers. This, from a man who claims he has lectured at universities in Baghdad and Libya!
Skip Hagger’s attempts to gauge public opinion on the crisis with America and the West in general. With great effort, he tries to prompt conversations, when all the Iranians are keen to do is provide the best hospitality possible to their guest — a tradition they’ve kept up from the time of Darius the Great. But to credit Iranian hospitality, Hagger is a lot more sober on return to London. Perhaps this is the reason one hopes he won’t really be the last Western tourist in Iran.
— Anand Sankar
THE LAST TOURIST IN IRAN
Author: Nicholas Hagger
Publisher: Jaico
Pages: 261
Price: Rs 295
Freedom writer’s diary
It was a speech to remember. Delivered in late 2003 by a young Afghan social activist and newbie politician under the alias Malalai Joya (for security reasons), the 90 seconds she was given to speak rattled her country. The setting was a historic Loya Jirga (political meeting) which had been organised to debate a new constitution for Afghanistan. The 24-year-old Joya grabbed the microphone and spoke to an international audience of 500 delegates quite fearlessly. Why were the same warlords — the ones who were responsible for much of Afghanistan’s misery and destruction — present amidst decision-makers at this all-important political forum, when they should, instead, have been taken to court? she demanded to know.
Her speech was cut off as soon as the organisers realised the gravity of her words, but it was enough to have created a violent stir, winning her a wave of support, and, at the same time, more enemies. Since then, Joya has been forced to live under heavy security, and has survived several assassination attempts.
Her recently published memoir, Raising My Voice, co-authored by Canadian writer and anti-war activist Derrick O’Keefe, is a vivid recollection of a childhood spent as a refugee in Iran and Pakistan, and also covers extensively her work in Afghanistan when she returned to her country.
If there’s a common strain that runs through this book, it’s Joya’s unsparing criticism of the foreign occupation of Afghanistan throughout the country’s recent history, particularly that by the US. Even as American and European troops continue to pour into the country, now with renewed vigour in their “war against the Taliban”, Joya condemns the US for its continuous assistance to the mujahideen when the Soviets were in power in the country. In effect, the US gave birth to a faction that today comprises the same terrorists they are waging war against. Joya’s plea: leave the country alone to pick up the pieces.
Being the youngest and most famous woman MP in the Afghan parliament, Joya has been much spoken and written about in the international media. She’s known to not mince words — being steadfast, straightforward and consistent in her work, which is rooted in women’s rights, health care and education.
While starkly revealing writings on Afghanistan have flooded the market in the last few years, Raising My Voice, since it is a first-hand account, is darker and more unflinching in its approach. Joya’s revelations may not be new to a reader who has read about the country in the past, but her personal anecdotes, interspersed with descriptions of Afghanistan during its constant war, make it easier to relate to the situation by hearing about it from a true “insider”.
Taking away some of the gloom typical of the theme, Joya’s recollections of her childhood days are heartwarming, including the sheer excitement of sneaking out for ice-cream during the rule of the Taliban, and the craze around the soppy Hollywood drama Titanic.
Almost in the same breath, it seems, she describes being drawn towards rebellion and social work at an early age: Joya begins to teach young girls underground, and her relatively quick rise into politics takes even her by surprise. Despite the constant danger a life like hers would entail in Afghan politics, the platform serves her well to voice protest. It’s not easy to work against the odds. But, as Joya writes, it’s not impossible, either.
— Neha Bhatt
RAISING MY VOICE
Author: Malalai Joya with Derrick O’Keefe
Publisher: Random House
Pages: x + 278
Price: Rs 475
Playing with fire
Nicholas Schmidle arrived in Pakistan in 2006 as a fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs. He was first spotted on the Pakistani intelligence’s radar when he wrote a piece on the Pakistani Taliban for the New York Times Magazine. This book is an account of his two years in a country where another foreign journalist, Daniel Pearl, met with a bitter end.
As he roams the streets of Karachi, Gwadar and Quetta, Schmidle meets locals and elites who personify the stark contradictions of Pakistani society. So, while “ninety-nine point ninety-nine” per cent of Pakistanis rub their hands in glee at America’s troubles in Afghanistan, as quoted by one local, a full 100 per cent don’t want to have anything to do with the Taliban on Pakistani soil.
For India, the chapter on Pakistan’s repression of Balochistan is the most revealing, as also the most relevant. As the PM frantically douses all-round fires set off by the wording of the joint statement signed at Sharm el-Sheikh, Schmidle exonerates India of any involvement, laying the blame squarely on Pakistan and China for co-operating to smother the genuine Baloch demand for autonomy.
— Vikram Johri
TO LIVE OR TO PERISH FOREVER
TWO TUMULTUOUS YEARS IN PAKISTAN
Author: Nicholas Schmidle
Publisher: Random House India
Pages: 288
Price: Rs 299
A look into the future
Unless you have been stuck on an island a la Tom Hanks in Cast Away, you probably know that the future of cricket is T20. This book by former Australian coach John Buchanan offers insights into the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) first season, on- and off-the-field controversies and some comments — which haven’t gone down well — about Indian cricketers.
Buchanan takes potshots at Sachin Tendulkar (whom he deems not fit enough for T20) and Sunil Gavaskar. The chapters on Sourav Ganguly and Shane Warne are the highlight. Buchanan praises both, despite not having got along with either.
He also lashes out at cricket administrators, saying that they play with the players’ future without understanding the game. Cricket is full of uncertainties, and we are better off not knowing what the future holds. Not that Buchanan in the book has predicted it accurately.
It’s a pity the book was written before Buchanan’s ill-fated four-captain theory came into practice and his team, Kolkata Knight Riders, had their disastrous outing in the IPL. If written after IPL, it might have made a more interesting read.
— Aabhas Sharma
THE FUTURE OF CRICKET
THE RISE OF T20
Author: John Buchanan
Publisher: Orient
Pages: 191
Price: Rs 295
