Reviews of the latest books from and on Southasia

Seasons of Flight
by Manjushree Thapa
Penguin/Viking, 2010

When Thapa's The Tutor of History was published, in 2001, it was hailed as the first significant novel to be written by a Nepali author in English. It has been a long wait for the author's next novel, but Seasons of Flight has been well worth the wait. A nice change of pace, this slim novel does not deal with politics, except as background. Prema, a young Nepali woman from a remote village, wins a 'diversity visa' to the US and migrates to Los Angeles. Finding work as a home-care attendant for the elderly Esther, Prema gets involved in an intense, live-in relationship with the divorced Luis, the son of a Guatemalan immigrant father and a WASP mother. She finally breaks off the relationship for reasons she cannot explain clearly, just as she cannot fully understand why she left Nepal in the first place. Dealing sensitively with the dilemmas faced by immigrants who find themselves at home neither in their land of origin nor in their adopted country, Thapa avoids the temptation to make larger political or social statements about the two societies.

A simple tale simply told, Thapa's lucid prose describing Prema's confused thoughts and emotions rings true to life, and is the novel's most significant strength. The device used to bring the book to a conclusion – Prema finding a purpose to her life in her efforts to protect a rare type of butterfly – is unconvincing, but this is a minor blemish in a near-perfect performance. (Vidyadhar Gadgil)

Burma VJ: Reporting from a closed country
directed by Anders Østergaard
Dogwoof, 2009

To have gotten out unharmed with just the first five minutes of this recent documentary, shot almost entirely on the ground during the Burmese popular uprising of August-September 2007, would have been a filmmaking coup. A lone, middle-aged demonstrator is standing outside the UN's central headquarters in Rangoon, holding a sign. No one is coming out to see him. Finally, after a few tense minutes, a small white car drives up. With no fanfare, four plainclothes intelligence officers slowly get out, gently take away the demonstrator's sign, bundle him into the car, and they're gone – zip.

Easily forgotten in this incredible few minutes is the journalist behind the camera, who stood across the street before, during and after the scene unfolded, and then saw that the footage was smuggled out of the country. He is never named, nor are the other video journalists (the 'VJs' of the title) in his network, which functions through the auspices of the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma – a radio/television network that since 1992 has broadcast such footage, but has nothing to offer its risk-taking journalists on the ground beyond an international voice. Nonetheless, the material that they are able to shoot clandestinely – from within bags, from under shirts – again offers a retroactively cogent, and narrative, understanding of the dizzying weeks of the so-called Saffron Revolution.

In the process, the few shots of the video cameras themselves are able to subtly highlight the incredible power of recording devices, and the people who use them. Indeed, as the demonstrations get started, swarms of intelligence officials too are seen with video cameras prominently in hand, offering inherent warnings to protesters that what happens today will be seen again tomorrow. Yet that is perhaps one of the most uplifting messages of Burma VJ, as a document of a little-seen time can retain its full power years later. 'Film over there,' one giddy passer-by tells the cameraman as the protests climax, pointing to a large building filled with thousands of cheering supporters. The generals regained power shortly thereafter, but those people are still there. (Carey L Biron)

10 Tactics for Turning Information into Action
Tactical Technology Collective
March 2010

Facebook, Twitter, blogs and mobile-phone videos on YouTube have become crucial tools of communication during crises, whether the 2004 Tsunami, the 2007 Burmese protests, the 2008 Mumbai attacks or, more recently, the ban of some 1000 websites in Pakistan. Inevitably, and understandably, the global public momentum garnered by these events rapidly fizzles out as rehabilitation efforts plod along, protests are brutally stamped out, and shocked cities return to their routines. But even after the international attention subsides, committed activists continue to listen, mobilise and make available critical information, all the while relying heavily on such new technologies. This new package of 15 flashcards (10 offering tactics and five providing background information) and a 50-minute documentary provides an overview of how exactly technology can be used in such situations. Two such offerings are particularly useful: snapshots of innovative and successful movements across the world; and details on open-source technology currently available. (Surabhi Pudasaini)

Sprint of the Blackbuck: Writing on wildlife and conservation in South India
edited by S Theodore Baskaran
Penguin, 2010

This collection exposes the endangered status of a very rare creature: the excellent prose writer. While peripatetic in their range, these essays follow the members of the Madras Naturalist Society, the gender ratio of which is alarmingly disproportionate (only female member observed) and with a majority who are relatively long in the tooth. Fortunately, a few elegant broadcasts amidst the dry brush of this book can be heard. Janaki Lenin, for instance, catalogues the surprisingly bountiful fauna that come to occupy the shrubs outside her home, mapping the overlap of the domestic with the wild. Overall the pieces are far too dry and uninspiring. 'A Census in Anamalia Wildlife Sanctuary' from 1986, for instance, cursorily explains the method and findings, but leaves no context or longitudinal comparison. Clearly many of these pieces were written for an audience of peers. Spread as they are over two decades, one wonders why the solicitors had not asked this dedicated community to write fresh reappraisals and reflections. Now, it satisfies no niche, neither the scholar nor the casual reader. (Alston A D'Silva)