Akhtar's autobiography must inspire others!

Now that Pakistan pace ace Shoaib Akhtar's book, Controversially Yours, is virtually assured of bestseller status, will other players take inspiration to write autobiographies? Here are some title suggestions... 

Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar's recent and controversial autobiography made me think. If he can 'write' a book, why not Indian Test cricketers?

Here are suggestions for autobiography titles:
The Great Wall of India, My Very Very Special Story, Viru's Gunning for a Six, Yuvi's Six Appeal and Saving for a Raina Day.

The English way
At least nine cricket books were written after England regained the Ashes in 2005. I wonder how many will be written after Andrew Strauss' men dethroned India to reach the No 1 Test ranking. Some zany ideas for autobiography titles for them: Eat, Pray and Cook, It Rings a Bell, My Broad, Broad Ways, Swann Song, Waltzing with Strauss, Fox Trott and Flint off his game?

Some ideas for Australian Test cricketers: Fast bowler Trent Copeland getting a wicket off his second ball in Test cricket at Galle inspired me with this novel notion. Why not title his biography, Cope Lands a Winner? Then I saw Peter Siddle in the Australian dressing room sitting between Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey. The title of his bio/ghosted autobiography sprung to my mind: Siddle in the Middle.

Full report here Mid-day

Home and the world

Internationally acclaimed playwright Girish Karnad's autobiography Adaadata Ayushya stands tall in the Kannada literary world. The writer tells Deepa Ganesh that autobiographies are of little worth if they do not seek to speak the truth

“Nenapugalannu nevarisuvudu” is a beautiful, lyrical phrase meaning “caressing memories”; the dreaminess of this utterance can douse the past in a romantic haze. But for Girish Karnad this poetic phrase is used as a disclaimer in his recently-released autobiography “Adaadata Ayushya.” One of the most definitive works of Kannada literature, “Adaadata Ayushya” is not merely a chronicle of events; rather it is a facing up to one's self. This unusual piece of literature sparkles with the bluntness of truth.

“If Dr. Madhumalathi Gune had turned up at the hospital the day when my mother went for an abortion, I wouldn't have existed” Karnad writes in the very first pages, offering the book to the memory of the doctor. The moment of shock and how it quietly altered one's notion of life, in a way, sets the tone for how the “self” is unravelled in the rest of the narrative.

Full report here Hindu

Michael Caine eyes literary future

Hollywood veteran Michael Caine is planning to write a novel after he completes the next Batman film. The-77-year-old Oscar-winner says he is sick of lawyers telling him that he cannot write about certain things in his autobiography and wants freedom as a writer. Caine just released his second autobiography The Elephant to Hollywood, and he has promised his fans that his next book will be a work of fiction, Entertainment Weekly reported.

"I love writing so much that once I'm finished with Batman, I'm going to write fiction.

"When I was writing my first book, I talked with Kirk Douglas, who had written one of his own. I told him that the lawyers were always saying, 'You can't say that or you'll get sued'. He said to me, 'Write fiction, Michael. You can tell the truth.' Isn't that a great line?"

Marketing students asked to sell Bapu's bio

Professor feels the book is undervalued, while its demand increases pre-Gandhi Jayanti

The Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal (BSM) at Tardeo regularly sells a hundred copies of Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, My Experiments With Truth.

Recently however, there was a different demand for this organisation that is committed to propagating Gandhi's literature, when Professor Dr P S Prasad of Powai-based institute, NITIE called in asking for 10,000 copies of the book.

Prasad, a faculty of marketing at the institute, has assigned the 180 students of the final year the task to sell the book across the city.

Starting today (Gandhi Jayanti), these students will be seen selling the autobiography at various places in the city including streets, railway stations, and corporate offices, among others.

When asked about the inception of the idea, Prasad said, "Gandhi's book is 24-karat truthfulness. In the educational institution, we have a curriculum but the technique is missing.

Full report here Mid Day

Gandhi's autobiography is among top sellers

At a time when the country is ridden with violence, corruption and deceit, it would surprise many to know that Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, which gives the message of truth, non-violence and peace, is one of the top-selling books, says a Gandhian.

"This is true since 257,000 copies were sold last year," says TRK Somaiya, programme co-ordinator, Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, an organisation that promotes Gandhian principles.

"And to spread the message of peace of the Mahatma today, when his 141st birth anniversary will be celebrated across the country, more than 15,000 copies of Gandhi's My Experiments with Truth, an autobiography, will be sold by management students of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering at Mumbai's shopping malls, offices, schools and colleges," he said.

The demand for the book went up in 1984 after the release of Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi, at around the same time the Gandhi Book Centre started. Today, the Centre has 250 titles on Gandhi, in different languages. Though sales of these books went down for a while, Somaiya says they have recently increased. "It went up after the release of Bollywood film Lage Raho Munnabhai which dwelt with Gandhian ideals," he said.

Full report here Gulfnews

A self-serving account

Somnath Chatterjee served as a member of the Indian Parliament for most of the period from 1971 to 2009, having been elected on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) symbol every time. It was on the basis of an understanding between the CPI (M) and the United Progressive Alliance in 2004 that he was elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Five years later, he has, in his autobiography titled Keeping the Faith, vented his ire on the party that nurtured him and was instrumental in his holding the constitutional post that he so obviously relished. But that is not the real problem with his self-serving account. It is his tirade against Prakash Karat, the General Secretary of the CPI(M), that is in poor taste, subjective, and over the top.

DETAILED
In a long parliamentary career, Chatterjee made several speeches in Parliament, some of which have been reproduced in this book. He spoke forcefully against communalism and the tragic happenings in Ayodhya in 1992 and Gujarat in 2002. He was sharply critical — and rightly so — of the infamous Emergency regime of 1975-77 and of the authoritarian tendencies of the Congress party. As Speaker, he introduced measures intended to enhance the visibility of Parliament and improve the efficiency of its functioning. Chatterjee's parliamentary contributions do merit appreciation. Chatterjee is very conscious of his contributions, especially as the Speaker, and treats the reader to detailed accounts of practically each and every one of them. In a book of about 400 pages, appendices take away nearly 140 , with his speeches in Parliament occupying most of this space. One can take a generous view of all this as being appropriate in an autobiography. It is in his treatment of the events (inside and outside Parliament) related to the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal and the vote of confidence the UPA government sought in 2008 that Chatterjee becomes enormously subjective and departs from even elementary norms of courtesy and civil language.

Full report here Hindu

Musings of a libertine monk

The charming, bite-sized opinions of one of Indian journalism’s legendary provocateurs have sting, but no surprise

Absolute Khushwant
 The Low-Down on Life,
Death and Most Things
In-Between
Khushwant Singh with
Humra Quraishi
Penguin
Rs 250; Pp 200

In a novel, the writer sells the reader a story; in reportage, his or her powers of perception and analysis. In the realm of autobiography and memoir, it might be said, one sells oneself. The more dramatic one’s life experiences and the more divergent one’s beliefs from the mainstream of the culture, the more readers one wins. The writer Khushwant Singh, now 95, has always enjoyed the persona of a professional provocateur, as suggested by the very title of his widely syndicated column With Malice Towards One and All. The purpose behind his writing, he tells us in Absolute Khushwant, has always been “to inform, amuse, provoke”.

He certainly does so in his new book, an engaging, if somewhat uneven, collection of opinions and reminiscences on various subjects, transcribed by journalist Humra Quraishi. Long-time readers of Singh are unlikely to be surprised by any of his stances. He continues successfully to cast himself as part-monk and part-libertine, rising at 4am, working through the day, always keeping himself gainfully occupied, speaking truth to power and avoiding idle pursuits, while simultaneously enjoying his drink and his gossip sessions, keeping his sexual life alive in mind if not in the flesh, recalling his many affairs and vigorously contesting (while also clearly enjoying) his public image as a dirty old man, accepting it finally as the price to be paid for his candour. “Usually, writers are an interesting and colourful bunch,” he writes—and clearly, he has set out his stall to be the most interesting and colourful of them all.

Full report here Mint

Please think of the country: Somnath

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has called upon all intelligent and articulate young people not to repeat what a bright young woman had told him decades ago: "I would want to be anything but a politician." "Please think of the country. Nothing is more important," Chatterjee advised the new generation, making a pitch to them to get active in politics.

He was speaking after the release of his book, Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a Parliamentarian (HarperCollins India), by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in Delhi on Saturday, August 21 evening.

Chatterjee did not disappoint the capacity audience, which included UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Speaking on his relations with the CPM, which had expelled him from the party after he had refused to toe its line on the confidence motion tabled by the government in the last Lok Sabha, he said: " I thank the CPM for making me their candidate in 11 elections.

But when the party found that I had become unsuitable, I never questioned them, I never filed an appeal to review ( the decision)." The Prime Minister, in his speech, acknowledged the grace with which Chatterjee scripted his political journey.

Full report here India Today

Like any other woman

Nalini Jameela, author of The Autobiography of a Sex Worker (2007; extracts below) and the forthcoming The Company of Men: The romantic encounters of a sex worker is a former sex worker in Kerala who has for years worked to organise other sex workers and ensure that they are treated with respect. She recently spoke with Jayasree A K about her efforts to mitigate the stigma attached to sex work and the individuals involved in it. Translated from the Malayalam by the interviewer.

Why do you identify yourself as a sex worker even though you are also a writer, a human-rights activist and documentary filmmaker?
First, all my achievements came through sex work. It was my sole means of livelihood for many years. I cannot negate it. Second, I consider sex work a dignified job like any other. If I want to speak for other sex workers, I have to identify with them. Another reason is that my viewpoint can be authentic only when I talk about sex-work issues as a sex worker myself. But I have also had to cope with stereotyped images of a sex worker. A woman programme officer with Doordarshan once told me, ‘I had a very different picture of Nalini Jameela. You look like my mother.’ That lady expected a middle-class ‘mistress’ like ‘Susanna’ [an upper-middle-class vampish character in the eponymous Malayalam film], because of my popularity as a sex worker-cum-writer.

How did you go forward with organising collectives of sex workers?
The collectivisation of sex workers was inevitable with the beginning of the spread of HIV/AIDS. Earlier, we were hidden from sight, which led to our exploitation. With the HIV epidemic, it became imperative that we organise, and this also provided an opportunity to bring our issues into the open. I started my organisational activities with Jwalamukhi, a collective of sex workers in Thrissur, Kerala, in 1999. Though this was an HIV-prevention project we took it beyond that, emphasising the sex worker’s identity and penetrating into mainstream society. When invited to speak about our issues at public meetings, we responded by organising open debates in which people from different walks of life could participate. For example, we invited the director and lead actress of the film Susanna for a discussion, when we realised that the film was supportive of our movement. This has helped to mainstream sex workers’ issues.

Interactions with the mainstream were particularly significant in Calcutta and Sangli [in Maharashtra]. The movement received support from various interest groups because many brothels exist there and are, to a certain extent, accepted as part of the socio-cultural milieu. In the case of South India, where brothels are scattered, women are strong but do not get space for articulation. But support groups and individual human-right defenders have played a positive role in mainstreaming sex workers. Collectives of sex workers had also been formed in other parts of India, and networking with them gave us more strength. For the last few years, I have also worked in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and there is now a trade union for sex workers in Karnataka with which  I am associated.

Full report here Himal 

On the half-tones of truth

It is perhaps an acknowledgement of whatever fairness is left in the system that C.G. Somiah managed to make it to the top echelons of the Indian Administrative Services without ever swerving from his values and convictions. Born in 1931, Somiah joined the IAS in 1953, beginning in Orissa and ending up in Delhi. It was from his father, a forest officer to whom he was deeply attached, that he internalised the value of honesty. Later, he forged a similar companionship with his wife, Indira, whose counsel he seeks in tricky work situations.

But one wishes he was more introspective on some of the situations he describes. His struggle against the politician-contractor nexus on tendu leaves, for instance, which he won to a limited extent, is now a more serious problem in Orissa, stained with the blood of Maoist and state violence.

There are other passages that break through these self-imposed boundaries. Returning from Koraput, after the inauguration of a chromium factory, he reflects: “On the way back we passed by the Sunabeda where once a virgin forest stood!.... Instead of the twinkling lights of the new township, my eyes could only see the ancient forest that once occupied this land with majestic trees. This is the forest that I had once helped to uproot to make way for the township.” This ambivalence of the administrator, bereft of a universally accepted vision of development, still lingers. On the other hand, his spare style ensures that there is no sensationalising of the many exciting matters of state that could certainly have turned the book into a bestseller.

Full review here Outllook 

We want to live as women, and we want our dignity: A Revathi

“All I ask is that you accept as worthy of respect what you’ve all along considered unnatural and illegal. We want to live as women and if we are granted the facilities that will enable us do so, we will live as other women do,” writes A Revathi, a transgender activist, in her autobiography, The Truth About Me, published by Penguin Books, India, the first of its kind to be written by one belonging to the third sex, a hijra.

The book will be launched officially in the city on August 6 at Reliance Time Out, 74, Ground Floor, Prestige Feroze building, Cunningham Road at 6.30 pm.

Revathi is the former director of Sangama, an organisation for sexual minorities that started working for greater awareness and education of issues related to sexual minorities in August 1999. “After beginning work at Sangama, I came to realise that I am not alone, and I need not be ashamed of who I am anymore. In fact, I now proudly proclaim that I am a complete woman,” Revathi said.

Full report here DNA

Voicing the woman within

Revathi, in her autobiography The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story, is able to look back at her traumatic life with a surprising degree of equanimity

“Listen, I am not diseased. I consider myself a woman, but I possessed the form of a man. I wanted to rid myself of that form and live as a complete woman. How can that be wrong?”

The question sounds straightforward and the answer simple when A. Revathi asks. But a hijra who is gawked at as a freak every time she steps into public space and encounters brutality every step of the way knows that it is often the simplest questions that elude answers.

Revathi's autobiography, The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story (Penguin, Rs. 299), is an attempt to pose this question and draw the readers into a discussion by laying bare her experiences of 50-odd years, which often seem to cross the borders of human endurance.

Starting with her childhood in a village near Namakkal in Tamil Nadu, where she was born Doraisamy, the book takes the reader through her long and treacherous emotional and physical journey seeking a life of dignity.

To be able to live as a woman, to escape the constant violence by her family and community, Revathi ran away to Delhi and later to Bombay to join communes of hijras. She eventually found her calling as an activist of the community in Bangalore, where she now works for the organisation Sangama.

Full report here Hindu

Ode to a singer

My Life & My Thoughts – K.J. Yesudas’ comprises articles by Yesudas that have been translated into English by K.V. Pisharady

K.J. Yesudas' mesmerising voice has won him many fans. One such fan is K.V. Pisharady. An employee of the Kerala Public Service Commission, he has compiled and translated into English articles written by Yesudas in Malayalam.

The articles written by Yesudas from the 1960's to 2007, has the singer tracing his journey in music, his struggles in life, his philosophy… And it is likewise in the book My Life & My Thoughts – K.J. Yesudas, Pisharady's ode to the singer. The book released by Ayaan Publications has Yesudas voicing his opinions on various subjects in specially allotted chapters.

Autobiographical
Says Pisharady: “The book is actually an autobiography of sorts of the singer. It has everything – right from his formative years to his views on religion and god, career and marriage, to his concern for the environment. What I like about the book is the singer's philosophical musings. The photographs that are a part of the book were obtained from Tharanginisari and from photographer Leen Thobias, who has been documenting the singer's life through his snapshots.”

Full report here Hindu

Resul Pookutty's autobiography released

“I am a humble cinema boy,” goes the first line of Oscar winner Resul Pookutty's autobiography Sabdatharapadam (The milky way of sound), which was released by Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan Mumbai on May 13.

The first copy of the sound engineer's autobiography was handed over to music composer A. R. Rahman and eminent lyricist Gulzar.

The event, aptly named ‘Sound of music' was organised by the Malayala Manorama and Penguin, publishers of the book. In his address, Jacob Matthews, Executive Editor of Malayala Manorama described Pookutty as “one of the most creative men of our times.” This was the first time someone had made music the theme of his autobiography.

Full report here Hindu

Susan Boyle to release her autobiography

Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle has signed a deal to write her autobiography.

The autobiography titled 'Woman I Was Born To Be', will be published by Transworld in the autumn. She will tell the incredible story of how her voice catapulted her from obscurity after she shocked the world on last year's Britain's Got Talent contest on which she eventually finished runner-up, Daily Mail online reported.

The 49-year-old Scottish singer whose career has been guided by music mogul Simon Cowell, has also seen the downside of fame after struggling with the pressures of appearing in the public eye.

Boyle, whose debut album 'I Dreamed A Dream' has been a massive worldwide hit and already netted her royalties of 4million pounds, said, "When I strutted on to the stage for that audition, I was a scared wee lassie, still grieving for my mother, not caring how I looked. I think I've grown up a lot in the last year, become more of a lady, and I'm not so frightened any more."

Full report here PTI

REVIEW: Changiya Rukh

REVIEW

Changiya Rukh: Against the Night
Balbir Madhopuri
translated from the Punjabi by Tripti Jain
OUP
Rs. 395
Pp.216
ISBN: 9780198065500,
Hardback

Blurb 
The first Dalit autobiography in Punjabi to appear in English, Changiya Rukh means a tree lopped from the top, slashed and dwarfed. Balbir Madhopuri uses it as a metaphor for the Dalit robbed by a tradition that places every sixth Indian beyond touchability. Significantly, by bringing forth fresh branches and leaves, the lopped tree proves its innate worth through defiant resilience.

Set in the village of Madhopur in Punjab, the work leads most centrally to the question of how a man conducts himself among people who either do not understand him or would like to see him in the slush where they think he belongs. Madhopuri’s vision is both melancholy and honest as he captures and sensitively portrays the plight of his community despite all constitutional and legislative measures. But in the end, this real life story of a Dalit’s rise from bonded labourhood to the editorship of a socio-economic journal is one of triumph of resistance, of achievement, and of hope.

Perceptively introduced and contextualized by Harish Puri, this book will appeal to students and teachers of caste studies, Indian literature in translation, comparative literature, and translation studies.

Review
Against the night... Hindu
... is the first Punjabi dalit autobiography to appear in English translation. Excerpts...
D uring this phase of terrorism in which brother was killing brother, another incident disturbed me a great deal. One of our relatives informed us, “The Sardarni I work for as a sweeper had one day happily told me, ‘Sister, Khalistan is about to be created. That would be great. The Hindus will all leave, and you people will live with us in Khalistan!'”

We all listened intently to her, our questioning eyes were fixed on her face as she went on, I said, ‘Sardarni it would be great for you, but will we also get some land? Then again, why are you insisting that we should stay here with you in Khalistan? For us, Hindus and Sikhs are the same. Do you really love us so much Sardarni …?'

“Then?” We had to hear what came next.

‘Then what!' She said, ‘We like you that is why I am telling you! Who will clean and sweep for us in Khalistan?'

Autobiography of Malayalam writer released

Malayalam writer and critic M K Sanu's autobiography Karmagathi was released by Justice V R Krishna Iyer in Kochi on Friday by handing over a copy to Cusat Vice-Chancellor Ramachandran Thekkedath.

Describing Sanu as the 'Raja Rishi' of the state, Iyer said that people could learn a lot from the life of Sanu, who was his longtime associate.

Iyer exhorted people to read the book which would help them imbibe the ideals followed by M K Sanu.
He also expressed happiness that the book has been released when the state was observing the centenary celebrations of EMS Namboodiripad who was closely associated with Sanu.

Stating that Sanu master was committed to educating society, Justice Iyer said the writer devoted most of his time for the benefit of the common man. Sanu was not only a master of Malayalam, but also a scholar of English and had an profound knowledge in German and French literature.

Full report here New Indian Express