A Time of Madness

Peacock at the Rambagh 

Nice Tiger

Bottoms Up!

We attended some great sessions today many of the dealing with the madness of the world. The day started with a brilliant panel of experts discussing "The Great Partition". This refers to the partition in 1947 of the Sub-Continent when India and Pakistan gained their independence from Great Britain (later East Pakistan split from Pakistan creating Bangladesh). The results of the partition were disastrous: millions of people uprooted from their homes, massive killings and atrocities on all side, the creation of two states that subsequently fought 3 wars. It is an ugly story that continues today. The questions are foundational to the angst both people feel.

We have read many books - histories, fictional accounts and biographies about this traumatic time. There exists in the mind of all who reflect on it a continual consideration of alternative theories: could somehow partition been avoided by employing a loose federation? Could the partition been accomplished with less loss of life? What caused the madness and the killings? Which leaders were responsible and why did they allow the bloodshed to continue? The guilt of England in not protecting people during the massive migrations. None of these issues and many more have been put to bed, it is such a complex story. 

There is tremendous amount of academic scholarship underway to try and understand the multitude of reasons this unfolded the way it did. The issue of minority rights of Muslims living within Hindu India, the issue of Hindus within Muslim Pakistan was vexing and has never been adequately solved. The disposition of Sikh dominated Punjab, the problems on the east with Bengal all were discussed. The violence against women perpetrated during the madness.  The panel brilliantly discussed these issues. We loved it. One interesting note was the desire to eventually have a museum directly on the border to commemorate the agony of the partition. Boy will that be a contentious undertaking if it is to say anything meaningful.

The next session was on the new book: Silk Roads a New History of the World, by the historian Peter Frankopan. I have read this book and thought it was fantastic. Peter has turned our usual European Centric view of history on its head, focusing on the trade routes of the Silk Roads between China and Europe as the critical story of the last 2000 years. Europe was a sideshow, having few resources and constantly having violent wars. These wars allowed it to eventually create superior weaponry that eventually gave it its power.

The history of the West’s intervention in the mid-east, trying to dominate both the routes and the natural resources has been uniformly disastrous. The Silk Roads have constantly been shifted as transportation and the desire for goods changed. The railroads, the Suez Canal all changed the Silk Roads, yet the commerce continues. With China building new ports and islands, the Silk Roads story is not complete. It was a dynamic presentation.

The next presentation we attended was based on the book: The Young Lawrence. This is a new book about Lawrence of Arabia from his troubled youth to just before the start of the First World War. Call it Lawrence Almost in Arabia. I have read several biographies of Lawrence and enjoyed this perspective on his life. Among other things, Lawrence has had more biographies written about him then any other person of the 20^th century except Churchill. He is endlessly interesting. Scholar, Archeologist, Mid-east expert, champion of the Arab cause for independence, solider, troubled soul and the First Media Superstar in the World. Lowell Thomas made a movie of his exploits after the war that was seen by millions, making him this celebrity par excellence. He was short unlike Peter O’Toole. He did die in a motorcycle at the age of 46. If you want to read a really excellent biography I would recommend: Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson.

The next session was on the Arab Spring. The panel objected to the name because many of the countries in revolt against authoritarian rulers aren’t even Arab. Nonetheless the name has stuck. The big questions are: was it a good thing or bad thing, how will it all shake out, what was the cause, are the people of the region better or worse off? Heavy questions with no clear-cut answers. The experts on the panel think the Gulf States especially Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, etc. are dominos ready to fall.

The panelists all think America is behind everything bad, with one exception. There has been universal praise for the nuclear arms deal with Iran. We have heard it many different contexts from many different panelists. Everyone thinks Iran now has a opportunity to play a major and more constructive role in the Mid-East.

One strange outcome of the Arab spring, is the plight of the Palestinians has been pushed to the background. The governments are more obsessed with keeping their own power with a dual fear of their own populations revolt and the threat of ISIS, they don't have time for the Palestinian question. Much of the Arab Press is owned by the formerly rich Gulf states and has turned their direction towards ISIS, because of the threat it poses. 

The role of religion and rise religious fundamentalists is of great concern. One great quote I liked was: "In the interval between the death of the old order and the birth of the new order it is a time of madness". There was a passionate discussion of the role of women in Muslim society. The biggest applause of the session was when someone called Donald Trump a Fucking Fascist. He is not popular in this neck of the woods. The decline of oil prices will do much to topple these governments as the oil rich Gulf States face their own turmoil and won't be able to support the poorer states in the region. It is going to get ugly! The struggle for freedom and self-expression is a long one. We won't know how this plays our for decades.

The last panel was on the Kama Sutra. I was typical of the several thousand people listening to a lecture on his new book: The Book of Love by James McConnachie. It is history of the rediscovery of Kama Sutra. When asked by the author for a show of hands how many have heard of the book, all hands were raised. When he asked how many had read the book, almost none were raised (including mine). The author dispensed with several misapprehensions about the Kama Sutra. There are no pictures in it. It is not a sacred text. Most surprisingly, although written in the 3^rd century, it was basically lost until the early 19^th century when one of the few remaining copies was rediscovered by British and Indian Scholars. The book is the telling of that tale.

After this last session we returned to our hotel, John and Shumon came over and joined us for drinks and dinner.