Review of India: A Sacred Geography

India: A Sacred Geography by Diana L Eck
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

India: A Sacred Geography is a lyrical account of the sacred places in India. Although it was not Eck's intent (and she expresses anguish at Hindu nationalism), she inadvertently proves that India is a nation based in Hindu culture by highlighting the interconnectedness of sacred places in India.

Each chapter is illustrated by maps with a level of detail appropriate to the subject matter. I have faulted other books on India for their poor maps, but not this book.

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Review of Water: Asia's New Battleground

Water: Asia's New Battleground by Brahma Chellaney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an ambitious, nay, overly ambitious book. Brahma Chellaney covers inter- and intra-state water conflicts across Asia (including the Middle East!)

Riverine issues have interested me since I traveled along the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra River in Tibet and India. No wonder why Tibet matters so much to China: by controlling Tibet, China controls the headwaters of the great rivers of Asia. Chellaney devotes a whole chapter to the Tibetan Plateau. Sadly, but in time-honored Indian fashion, India ceded its advantages to India.

The maps in this book are not particularly useful and illustrative of the text.

Water: Asia's New Battleground won the 2012 Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Book Award.

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Hair and the clash of cultures

The March 2009 issue of the fashion and beauty magazine Allure featured an article The Locks Market about the global trade in human hair to make wigs and hair extensions. It focuses on the Tirumala temple in India, where Hindu women have their hair shorn as a gesture of humility and thankfulness.

Tirumala

The article describes the process that the hair undergoes from being shorn to being made into extensions. The hair changes hands from temple auctions to Indian hair brokers who sell it to Indian factories that sort, clean, and fumigate hair, which in turn sell it to wig and extension makers in Italy or Tunisia. Then the finished products are sold to distributors all around the world.

It’s a fascinating read, but it’s only part of the story. Orthodox Jewish women often cover their heads with a wig. A rabbinical ruling forbade the purchase and wearing of wigs from hair that came from Hindu temples such as Tirumala, which are regarded as polytheistic and idolatrous. These rulings also apply to getting rid of the wigs – one cannot sell them, as it only perpetuates the trade. When Orthodox Jewish women in New York discovered that the human hair in their wigs came from Hindu temples, they destroyed the wigs by burning them.

This article is cross-posted at The Style Page.  Afrobella links to it in her article Where Does Your Hair Come From?

Ganges

I was channel surfing (who says that the gene for channel surfing is on the Y chromosome?) and discovered a 3-part documentary called Ganges being shown on the Travel Channel. This documentary was produced by the BBC.

Rivers of India

One recurring theme was the co-existence of humans and animals, whether it was thieving macaques in Rishikesh or ducks being herded. The most interesting part featured fishermen using tethered otters to chase fish  [VIDEO] (not that I support tethering creatures that were meant to swim free). The otters were kept hungry in order to chase fish. Once the fishermen made their haul, they lifted up the wooden framed net to make sure that the otters didn't get in. However, the otters were treated to the leftovers.

Otter fishing on the Ganges

India never looked so picturesque. While the ecological problems were discussed, we were not presented with images of pollution and misery. Instead, we were treated to images of the Gangetic dolphin swimming in the waters of the Ganges.

Gangetic dolphin

While I have not listened to NPR's radio documentary The Ganges: A Journey into India (broadcast in April 2008), it is evident from the text descriptions that NPR had a need (or an agenda?) to portray India as a problem country.

The Beeb's TV documentary Ganges may be purchased at Amazon.com.

Readers might be interested in the three-CD set Ganga: Music of the Ganges, which features folk music from Gurmukh to the Bay of Bengal, available now through Amazon.com.

NOTE: The Bahu of Bengal is an Amazon.com affiliate and receives a small commission for sales on Amazon.com via this blog.

Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia

Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia by Thant Myint-U
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a travelogue: the first third covers Thant Myint-U's travels through Burma; the second third, his travels through Yunnan province in China; and the final third, his travels in India - New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), and finally, India's northeast.

Burma borders Yunnan Province and India's northeast, and connects India and China. Because it also borders the sea, it might also end the isolation of the land-locked Yunnan province and India's northeast. China has invested more aggressively in Burma than India, and insurgencies in its northeast hinder India from increasing its influence in Burma.

Map of Myanmar (Burma)

I regard Kolkata as a second home, as my in-laws live there, and I resent the popular characterization of Kolkata as a poor god-forsaken city rescued only by a European nun (Mother Theresa). For this reason, I appreciate Thant Myint-U's chapter on Kolkata.

If Thant Mying-U's name sounds familiar, it is because he is the grandson of former UN Secretary-General U Thant.
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