The Age Of Kali : Indian Travels And Encounters

In this relevant and political travelogue, it's hard to tell whether Dalrymple is playing devil's advocate in order to provoke the passions of his interview subjects, or if he can just be, at times, pigheadedly judgemental and narrow-minded. For example, he acts as if he doesn't recognize the symbolism of the first Kentucky Fried Chicken in Bangalore ("Three thousand tandoori restaurants in London don't seem to have destroyed British culture."); later, he questions Pakistan's failure to cede Kashmir to India based on India's superior military strength. But you have to realize that the persona of Dalrymple as the interviewer doesn't really matter here. His itinerary is fearless (he visits conflict zones in both Sri Lanka and Pakistan), and his approach to history/travel writing through interviewing important political figures succeeds in making modern history come to life. Selflessly, he asks the toughest questions imaginable, as if he's looking for trouble (for example, insisting on probing the intra-familial feuding in Benazir Bhutto's family). The result is an intense and colorful portrayal of India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka- revealing the conflicts between Hinduism and Islam, between tradition and modernization, and between corruption and idealism. While Dalrymple lightheartedly captures some of the colorful eccentricities of his subjects (e.g. listening to someone describe a holy man who reputedly appeared to be talking to a wall, when "if you got close enough you could hear what sounded like the wall talking to him"), at other times he ruthlessly exposes the character flaws of his subjects (at one point he describes a Tamil revolutionary in Sri Lanka as "the textbook revolutionary intellectual: quick-witted and intense, fond of gesticulation and dogmatic generalisation"; more colorfully, he portrays Benazir Bhutto ignoring his repeated attempts to interrupt her monologue with his own relevant questions). In the end it's really up to the reader to discern the truth; for example, whether integrity really is a luxury in Pakistan, where police officers take bribes to augment their below-living-wage salaries, and whether it's okay for teenage girls to be so accepting of the violence that is part of their lives in Sri Lanka. While Dalrymple's genius in this work stems from his in-depth research and use of dialogue to create lively characters, I found myself longing for the continuous narrative thread that makes another one of his works, City of Djinns, as readable as a novel and perhaps the greatest bit of travel and history writing I've read to date. But given the scope and format of this work, a series of political travelogues across the Indian subcontinent, it is right on the mark.

It is amusing that some of the most interesting and veridical commentantary on the cultural and political anarchy that is India should come from a non-Indian raconteur. Beautifully illustrated by Olivia Fraser, The Age of Kali offers a compassionate view of a nation struggling against forces both modern and ancient. William Dalrymple has written a book that is required reading for anyone interested in India's emerging role in world affairs. Hindu cosmology divides time into four great epochs, or yugs, which represent the movement from perfection toward moral and social disintegration. Many Indians today believe that they live in the Kali Yug, or Age of Kali, a period of rapidly advancing darkness marked by chaos, corruption, and decay. Not until the world is cleansed by fire will the cycle repeat itself, restoring balance. "In the Age of Kali," writes Dalrymple, "the great gods Vishnu and Shiva are asleep and do not hear the prayers of their devotees. In such an age, normal conventions fall apart: anything is possible." Despite being at the vanguard of the computer software industry and having recently joined the ranks of world superpowers with the successful test of an atomic bomb--an ominous development when one considers the state of relations with neighboring Pakistan--India remains a country firmly entrenched in the past. In much the same way that the Luddites rebelled against the first wave of industrialization, so too have many Indians, especially the more conservative followers of the Hindu religion, resorted to violence to express their dissatisfaction with encroaching Western influence. Xenophobia and intense nationalism maintain in defiance of the fast food restaurants, beauty pageants, and satellite TV stations that threaten traditional Indian values. Dalrymple's essays succeed in presenting the many disparate facets of Indian society as a whole, from the glitterati of Bombay's movie scene (otherwise known as "Bollywood") to the dispossessed women of Vrindavan who roam the streets begging alms, to the conflicts between Hindu and Muslim factions that continue to escalate in number and intensity (including the recent horrendous Gujarat massacres), to the blood feuds and political turf wars waged in Bihari, which, like Lahore and parts of Uttar Pradesh, has succumbed to the rule of drug lords and corrupt government officials, or surprisingly even to the risilient malaises such as caste system and sati -- the research is right on target. This is an amusing book, laden with factual insights about India, and is a breeze to identify with -- perhaps it takes an "outsider" to look at a kaleidoscopic country under such a prying lens. Highly, highly recommended!

Dalrymple covers a lot ground including Bahir, Rajasthan, Bombay, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa, Sri Lanka, Reunion Island, & even Pakistan: Islamabad, Peshawar. Everywhere he goes Dalrymple(with the assistance of expertly chosen guides) gives you a sense of the historical scope of each city or region from its moment of grandeur to its moment of decline, with an equal amount of scrutiny being given to recent happenings and current political trends. In India facts must be dug for amid the many fictions in circulation and Dalrymple never one to take anyones word for anything does some admirable journalistic investigation of a murder at an elite boarding school, gathers together all the conflicting eyewitness accounts a modern day sati, and he even spends some time getting cozy with the notorious Tamil Tigers whom he finds to be amazingly young(their female contingent or 'Freedom Birds' remind him of Bond girls). And he interviews a lot of memorable figures including the militant Hindu revivalist Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia and Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto(both scathing portraits) as well as many who recollect and recreate for him in conversations and tours of dusty palaces tales of unimaginable opulence and decadence of India's not too distant past. The old cities are vanishing or have vanished, existing as heaps of stone tucked between modern office buildings. The cities are modernised, there is even an Indian equivalent to silicon valley but the rural areas remain in what seems another century. Much of India is being turned upside down as the lower castes have tired of the ill treatment afforded them by the upper castes. The wealthy upper castes are not quick to let go of their privileges though and much of the countryside in areas like Bihar has become a battle zone for caste wars. It is when Dalrymple passes through this dangerous countryside which is ruled by police on the payroll of politicians with long criminal records that he thinks of the violent and dark age of Kali. In different ways the different parts of India are in the throes of monumental changes, this change often manifests itself in mysterious ways. The old ways are very much alive next to, within, and around the new ways. India has absorbed many invaders and within her borders contains many different religions, languages, races and for long periods of time there is peace and balance but in such a strictly regimented society where everyone has their allotted place and duty every change and shift makes everyone uneasy. The Moghuls for the most part peacably ruled both Muslim and Hindu, then the English ruled in their way taking over and consolodating an already existing imperial network and though the English left in 1947 their system in many ways remained in place and the full impact of their departure is perhaps just now being felt. India has restlessly begun to search for a new shape. Unfortunately an era of violence (to Dalrymple comparison with the Balkans is not an unfounded

Dalrymple's work is a real surprise. To be honest, I hadn't even heard of the author until I read (on this site) a rather poisonous reader's review of Jason Elliot's excellent book about Afghanistan (An Unexpected Light) that included a statement like, "He's no Dalrymple..."Dalrymple's travels in India are masterfully recorded. He manages to meet and talk with major figures in India's fast-changing society, including a variety of notorious and violent characters. Dalrymple investigates the slow erosion of the caste system, the increased awareness of women's rights (and the fissure that the issue has opened between urban and rural populations), the corruption and the squalor, and India's newly emerged wealth and power in a way that is both direct and sympathetic.In the earlier sections of the book (which is really a loose collection of long journalistic essays) Dalrymple investigates the subcontinent's increasingly corrupt political system and the resulting rise of the ultra-nationalist BJP, whose members often use language eerily similar to that of the Nazis in the 1930s, inciting violence and murder while attacking the Muslim minority. Given that India now has a domestic nuclear weapons program the emergence of the BJP is downright scary, and important to understand in terms of its origins.India has an increasingly powerful role to play in world affairs, and a growing middle class of technology-literate citizens. But if Dalrymple is right, it seems also to be collapsing under the weight of its own history. This book provides important insight into a culture that is otherwise too easy to ignore.

William Dalrymple is one of the best travel writers about. His book "THE AGE OF KALI" is a collection of essays written during his many travels over the years through India. Don't be deceived by the title, although Dalrymple talks about the ancient Goddess Kali, this book is not about her; it is in fact about the transition that India is going through, "the age of Kali" a time when change takes place, often not for the best. In this book he shows a side of India that perhaps many would like to avoid discussing. He talks about India's dark side, the violence, religious intolerance, the abject poverty of many people, a stronger than ever caste system along with the pain of a country struggling to find its feet in the 20th century. This is not a depressing book, far from it, Dalrymple shows the reader, that despite all the problems India has to contend with, she is a country of great beauty, great compassion and many wonders, admid all the tragedy, corruption, and heartbreak. This is not a book for the squeamish and if you want a read that romanticizes India, then this isn't for you. However, if you are looking for a book that you won't be able to put down, then this is certainly something you will want to read again and again.