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SMG Sportingly Spoilsport
Wadhwaney refuses to deify Gavaskar and treats him as an ordinary mortal, portraying, along with his achievements and positive personality traits, the darker shades, or the warts and moles. Whether it is the controversy involving Bishen Singh Bedi’s axing in 1981, the treatment meted out to Dilip Doshi or the Gavaskar-Lillie run-in at Melbourne, the author does not mince words. There are other issues, too, wherein the cricketing legend’s penchant for intrigue and pretence has been underscored. This is a book that would interest all those who are enamoured of all things cricket – both on and off the field. After all, what could be more absorbing than an incisive writing, garnished with anecdotes, on a cricketing legend like Gavaskar. Knowing Dil Das
But there are other tales, too; of the pleasant, and not so pleasant, interactions with people belonging to upper castes, which show Das observing all the then extant rules of Hindu hierarchy. These give us an idea of how the village society used to function in the Himalayan foothills and, most probably, still does. For example, when a Brahmin friend invited Das to have tea with him, Das accepted the offer but on a neutral ground – where it was not a taboo for a Brahmin or a ‘low-caste’ person to enter. Alter has skillfully coalesced history, anthropology, biography and sociology to come up with a book that should be of great interest to common readers as well as research-scholars. You are not Alone
Soon, his father is transferred to Mumbai where Sanjay does most of his schooling in an up-market school. As he grows up, Sanjay turns obese, and becomes infatuated with a well-built classmate. But, things turn raw when he is bullied and sexually molested by some of the boys in his school. Mirchandani has written
a sensitive and absorbing account of a homosexual. Section 377 or not,
it is well known that our society has still to accept gays as its own.
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I
Alter
is a son of a missionary and teaches anthropology in America. During
his childhood days in India, he had become friends with a ‘low-caste’
doodhwala named Dil Das. Over a period of time, Alter became
interested in the fascinating tales that Das used to narrate. Mostly
autobiographical in nature – typically dwelling upon shikar-related
adventures; these tales were a mix of fact and (perhaps) fantasy. Das
talked of having gone on hunting expeditions with kings, politicians
and other upper-class huntsmen. Nevertheless, the author discerned in
these narratives glimpses of history that you would not find in any
standard textbook or even other published records.
This
novel, written in first person, recounts the tale of Sanjay Sanghavi,
a seventy five year old gay person. It starts with his childhood in
Singapore where, as a four year old, the ‘tendency’ begins to
manifest itself. The child shows interest in Barbie dolls and feminine
dresses and feels uncomfortable with masculine behavior. 