Book Review : The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

              

I belong to a couple of interesting Book Clubs. They give me access to other passionate readers, writers and editors. They also share their eclectic taste in books, and insightful takes on the same.

At the the "NovelTea Prose and Cons" book club, we are a bunch of book enthusiasts from various cities within India. We have weekly online book review meetings which tend to get quite interactive. Since it also has some editors, its great to know their perspectives on why certain books did well when they should NOT have :)

This week we chose to read a P.G. Wodehouse classic - The Code of the Woosters. Despite being an avid reader, and a HUGE admirer of British literature, P.G. Wodehouse is one author I have never been a fan of. Thus, this was his first book that I read through!

Most Indian schools are heavily influenced by the British literature. I have grown up reading Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre, the Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie series of books. Of late, I am a big fan of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. After reading this book, I understood why the Wodehouse humor had failed to work its charm on me. His books represent the idle and privileged class of British society of the 1930s, and pack the rich vocabulary of old-school English. Its references to that period of Britain's elite is not accessible to common folks and hence not appreciated by them. It lacks the blood, sweat and toil faced by the middle class. The escapades of its wastrel main character - Bertie Wooster, seem too bland and the characters have a shaky moral ethic. What stands out though are -

1. The character of Jeeves -  his keen knowledge of psychology, and his demure manner in indirectly manipulating events and people, is an inspiration even today.
2. Wodehouse definitely has a gift of the gab! The way his characters respond to farcical situations, and to each other, bring about much comic relief. Their observations and turn of phrase provide brilliant humour, and the writing is truly worth savouring.

In this particular book, what starts off as Bertie's fear of losing his favourite aunt's gifted chef, turns into a comedy of errors at an alarming pace. I learned about the Cow Creamer for the first time. How the various characters intertwine with each other, and the events conspire such that Bertie is coerced to steal this object d'art much against his principles, the blatant about face by the female characters, is an example of excellent plot weaving! There is an interesting mix of animals like the dog and newts thrown in too. It is a testament to Bertie's love of good food and family solidarity.

Jeeves is at his best!! From masterfully manipulating all the main characters in the book, rescuing his master from disaster multiple times, ensuring a happy and just ending for all concerned, to fulfilling his own dream of world travel, he is mind blowing!

The battle of wits, and will, between master and butler is also extremely interesting to witness:)

I was also introduced to the Jeeves and Wooster series starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, who have immortalised these characters with admirable elan!

*****

The Bookaholics Pune Club meets monthly, at cafes across Pune. In August, I attended my first meetup. This one did not discuss any particular book - instead we had introduction of new members, ice-breaker games (around books), presentations by a child prodigy author and his parents' Publication House, as well as entrepreneur who has started her own platform for authors to be able to promote their self-published books! We also met a very interesting celebrity author - Manjiri Prabhu. Her experiences about her journey were an eye-opener and super inspirational !!

The Kolkata doctor case : a blot on humanity

“The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.”

~Anaïs Nin

The Kolkata rape case of a lady doctor has sparked an outrage all over India. This dastardly act has shaken the entire nation to the core. Today, a Bharat bandh has been declared as an urgent call to action to the powers-that-be. In all honesty, I have been stunned into silence by yet another soul-shattering behaviour of a few humans for a fellow human. I have been shielding myself as much as possible from the media barrage covering this case. The above quote inspired me to write something about my angst.

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There are so many aspects of this case that are disturbing: 

News channels are full of all the gory details of this case. It is available to anyone who can read, or is on social media - even adolescents and children. Personally, I would prefer my teenager to NOT know about it in such detail. I would have liked to have some control in breaking it to her piece by piece. A WhatsApp message on her phone greatly disturbed me, leading me to worry about what is being discussed at their level. I do understand that even if I may hide the news from her, it is bound to reach her through some other sources. 

 

There are so many poems, angry posts, and judgemental views all over LinkedIn and X! There is no way to mute this on my feed, nor to escape them. You skip one and immediately another crops up. 

Our country is in uproar against the difference in upbringing of boys & girls. Our patriarchal society needs an overhaul. It needs to start at the grass root level, not just at the judiciary level. Specific education should be outlined, for boys, to prevent such behaviour in future. Fathers and male guardians of the boys need to be more involved. Parenting, in general, needs to be given more focus.

Men in general are being tarred with the same brush as the criminals, which I do not think is fair. Then there is the backlash by men of "Not all men" on social media, which is only adding to the noise. Sure, chauvinism and perversion need to be separated, but men should also acknowledge the violence against women in society, instead of resorting to defensive comments. In fact, accountability needs to be taken that we have repeatedly failed as a society, and something needs to change.

Many aspects of the case regarding the WB chief minister, the medical college principal, the police investigation, vandalism of the crime scene by protesters etc. have been coming to light that point to a systemic failure rather than a one-off incident. 

Political parties are indulging in their usual blame game, trying to get as much mileage out of this as possible. It would be much more fruitful to put their heads together to arrive at an overarching constructive solution for the rampant and recurring incidents all over the country, not just this one instance.

Several petitions are afloat on various social media groups. They too describe the plight of the deceased in graphic details. While they may be facts, they are primarily being used to urge people to sign up rather than to understand the ground reality. 

There is a clamour for capital punishment for the miscreants. While this is perfectly understandable, historically it has not helped at all. Three (of four) of the convicts in Nirbhaya case had been executed, yet it did not stop this one, nor the many more during the intervening years.

Bharat bandh has been declared for Aug 21 followed by Maharashtra bandh on Aug 24 for the Badlapur cases. The first one is also around Supreme Court's recent rulings around SC/ST reservation. This follows the nation-wide doctors' strike on Aug 17 and 18 to protest this case. Protests in West Bengal have been ongoing since this horrific event came to light. In general, these strikes highlight the simmering socio-political tensions across the country. All this will lead to huge economic losses and disruption. Hopefully, it will be justified in hindsight.

These protests have been vocal and intrusive, while some others chose to express their solidarity with the victim by changing their DP on WhatsApp for a day. Folks were debating on the pros and cons of these approaches too.

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So much precious energy, and resources, are being wasted on things that are beyond control or comprehension! There is a need for someone, maybe our PM / President, to assure all that something is being done behind the scenes and the public will get to hear of it soon. The Supreme Court has gone suo moto, taking matters into its own hands. We need to await its wisdom as they conduct the investigation impartially. 

There is an outcry for the WB CM to step down - certainly there have been many mistakes made. However, I am at a loss on how that is going to help anything. And has any thought been given to what ripple effect it would have on other aspects of WB government? I see no point in getting people all riled up, even insecure, which will only cause more mayhem. 

The Government should take a poll on the primary issues bothering people. After taking due cognisance of this, it should segregate the core issue(s), and try to double down on those rather than chasing piecemeal solutions (e.g. hospitals and medical staff) only. An official statement should be issued by someone responsible rather than the media channels or word-of-mouth.

Everyone wants concrete actions to come about, but we should not forget that the root cause of this behaviour should be identified and a solution should be arrived at after deep thought. Let us not resort to band-aid solutions in our haste for justice.

7 months into my sabbatical - A photo blog

      Consistency, Mindfulness, SimplifyCreativity, Peace, Self Worth