I was burned by the Dork book which I had to abandon, I picked this one up because I thought the podcasts on Indian history were really good and filled a gap.
But it was a mistake, I can think of hundred things wrong with this book starting right with its treatment, narration, content and general laziness, not to mention glaringly obvious factual errors, More on this later. Any book with that many things wrong does not deserve to be bothered about, I'd imagine it would merit a special sort of dunce to actually like this book, for he must have read very few books, if at all,
Indians apparently exchange a lot of 'India facts' in emails that are dubious and without proof, Sidin shamelessly constructs a few pages of baloney around these spurious facts wearing a pretend investigative hat with hacks of irrelevant personal stories, godawful narrative tone peppered with street standard jokes and a few homework assignments to complete this so called history book.
A book built by googling stuff is neither a book nor history, It's riding one horse too many,
Let me give you an example, consider these paragraphs from the first chapter on plastic surgery:
'Each issue of The Gentlemans Magazine came with a few pictures, and the Octoberedition was embellished with three.
Two were unremarkable: a Picturesque view of Lullintgon Church, in Somersetshire, and one page of Accurate plans of the keeps of Chilham and Canterbury Castles, The third was something quite different: A portrait illustrative of a remarkable chirurgical operation, The illustration features a Maratha man called Cowasjee, Cowasjee looks quite splendid in it, He is dark, lean and quite muscular, He wears a turban and is barechested except for a cloth over one shoulder, He also has the doleful eyes of a St, Bernard .
But one thing is beyond dispute: the Cowasjee story of Octoberset in motion a series of events that changed medical science forever, Its impact was so immediate and so widespread that it is considered a milestone in the history of European surgery in general, and plastic surgery in particular, '
First,October edition of Gentleman's Magazine, could not come with one, never mind three pictures, Because the first basic camera was not developed untilyears later, so there were no pictures in the world, not even on a frame on any wall, forget mass publication in magazines.
What Sidin so disingenuously describes are hand drawn sketches! Yes, sketches, that you can find on google,
This is a huge deal of difference, given the spurious misleading description, especially if you are taking upon yourself to examine claims and counterclaims,
Secondly and far more importantly, Cowasjee's story did not set into motion a series of events that changed medical science forever ! Good Lord! So called Plastic surgeries were being performed in India and elsewhere for ages.
There are quite a lot of stories I'm sure googlable about East India Company doctors spending time in India to try and learn various graft procedures practiced by indigenous doctors.
Nevertheless, there is enough evidence to say many other civilisations, esp, The Egyptians knew of plastic surgery, hell they might have been even doing mastectomy with reconstruction, What the Cowasjee's story did was to hasten the experimental process of plastic surgery that coincided with the larger general bloom of interest in surgical field of the times, So essentially Sidin attributes a greater significance to an event that he is declaredly examining , without even bothering to ask one medical historian or surgeon! A series of such stories is this book.
He might as well just put his thoughts in an email and forwarded it to everyone,
Two for the effort, however dictated it is, India. A land where history, myth and email forwards have come together to create a sense of a glorious past that is aweinspiring, . . and also kind of dubious, But that is what happens when your future is uncertain and your present is kind of shittyit gets embellished until it becomes a totem of greatness and a portent of potential.
Sidin Vadukut takes on a complete catalogue of India's Greatest Hits and ventures to separate the wheat of fact from the chaff of legend, Did India really invent the zero Has it truly never invaded a foreign country in over,years Did Indians actually invent plastic surgery before those insufferable Europeans The truth is more interestingand complicatedthan you think.
The humor mostly falls flat, Could've been an essay. I did learn a few new things though, A few days ago I was searching for some books that dwell on ancient India, . to gather some knowledge on the Vedas, the Upanishads and other ancient Indian text, The thing I was looking was for some concrete ideas on what is this mythical things called the 'Indian Culture', How much of what we today 'know' as Indian Culture can be traced back to when India was really the World Guru in everything, For instance, Indian women today are expected to wear Ghunghat, But for my recollections of watching episodes after episodes of Indian Epic texts like Ramayana and Mahabharata adopted into TV series as a kid, I never saw any of the many damsel in distresses observing ghunghat/purdah.
Infact the upper body garments resembled something of a corset infact a few inches short in length altogether, Naturally , the bornconfused and curious me acquired more levels of confusion and curiosity, So was ghunghat/purdah adopted from the muslim invaders Was ancient India really the ultimate free, liberal society where women could wear what they like and sex could be spoken of not just in drawing rooms but temple premises as well Can I Bitchslap anyone who next time comes and gives me gyan about how ideal Indian women should behave and throw my newly acquired knowledge at their moronic faces
I'm yet to gain some concrete knowledge on that front.
But my efforts of finding books that pertain to such subjects or somewhere in the ballpark brought me this, The Skeptical Patriot by Sidin Vadukut, columnist, writer, blogger and the current managing editor of Livemint, com. Vadukut gives a two fuck flying rat's ass about my Bitchslap aspirations, Yet, I would recommend almost everyone okay anyone who has a decent sense of humor to read this book, Vadukut's journey is different from mine, Did India really invent the zero Were we the nation from where some of world changing concepts in mathematics, medicine and science in general originate Were we really the Swiss of the ancient world, not having bothered to worry ourselves in the senseless pursuits of invading other countries
The book as Vadukut explains, is not a treatise in history.
it's more of an pophistory read, To delve into the world of ancient anecdotes, research by researchers who researched into the works of other researchers to find facts and sometimes just for the heck of it.
The facts Vadukut states are not fabricated or fiction they all are valid, And what he infers from those facts and the statements he makes make absolute sense, Ofcourse some may differ. Then read the book to differ, And to top it all Vadukut has some serious comic timing something I sense seasoned journalists acquire over the course of their rather boring, mundane and badlypaying careers, No seriously look at Manu Joseph and now him,
So read the book, You might love it. In which case you owe me nothing because I didn't write the book, Just keep me posted The articulation is unconventional and so is the approach to revisiting some historical events, The author has the courage to term the legal system in India as "uncommonly inefficient", He goes on to add that "For most Indians, courts are bottomless pits of misery where you only go when you want to make sure that your law suit never achieves closure".
He doesn't even spare his own clan, the journalists : "In the mind of Indian public, journalists currently occupy a position of respect somewhere between pond scum and Ebola virus", He calls history an " enigmatic mistress who likes to keep her lovers on their toes", One may disagree with some of the conclusions that the author arrives at but the book makes for a very interesting read, . There is a rare compliment as well before he concludes as admits "that the textbooks have vastly improved since my days in school" It was a nice book which debunked a lot of "facts" that i had taken to be true simply because of how popular they are.
At times i felt that it got a bit too heavy and sort of infodumped on the readers but otherwise it was a good read,
I agreed with some points and disagreed with otherspersonal opinions but have to admit that the research was well done and the format was easy to understand and read.
One thing which i found particularly funny was the popular "facts" that were put at the end of chapterfor a brief minute, i believed the facts to be true despite knowing that they were not and that in and of its self highlights how easily misinformation can spread.
The author's inimitable style of writing does make this book a breezy read, To read on Brahmagupta,Taxila,Persepolis and other such esoteric topics without yawning itself shows what the author has done here, Yet,two major complaints
, The author has got his basic research wrong, He laments about the lack of NCERT material on postindependence history but there is indeed a good text book on the same topicth standard book for political science which covers all topics from mandal politics to wars with China and pakistan.
He has missed this book totally, For a book which relies a lot on research,this is a major goof up,
. Too much of diversions into irrelevant episodes like the Crippen case show that Sidin has filled pages up to make it apage book, With more editorial stringency, this book could have been trimmed down to aroundpages, Sidin Vadakut through this book might have just spawned a genre of 'Indian Popular history', I really do hope that it has and it wouldn't be wrong naming it Vadakutan history, There is so little written about Indian history which is neutral, in depth and fun that it was about time some one came up with Vadakutan history, If you hate history you should read this book and realize why people love history and that it is indeed fun, A myth is far truer than a history, for a history only gives a story of the shadows, whereas a myth gives a story of the substances that cast the shadows.
The Sceptical Patriot, as the title explains, explores the truth behind the various myths related to India, From the discovery of zero to the discovery of plastic surgery, from whether India has invaded a foreign nation in the past millennium to the extent of India's riches in the PreBritish era.
The author goes about searching for these 'truths' in an inquisitive manner and along the way he gives anecdotes from his own life, with a writing style full of humour and wit.
One realises that our past can be complicated and not so straightforward as we would like to think, Instead of offering a definite verdict, the author encourages you to read and explore more,
The early chapters about the discovery of Zero or the Chola empire are indeed fascinating, While some chapters do drag a bit without reaching a satisfying conclusion in the end, But the The Sceptical Patriot's pace keeps you engaged till the end, Much of the myth busting is backed by research, though in some cases you wish the author would had offered more insights,
The closing chapter of the book talks about how History is not a manifesto for action, a list of crimes to be avenged, a litany of positions to be reversed or a collection of rights to be wronged.
Overall, the book is an enjoyable read, If you enjoy History or Trivia, you will enjoy this book, The Sceptical Partiot can be categorized a history book if you are the type to categorize Rap as classical music, This well researched book is one fast, quirky and interesting read for every one of us Internet Indians,
Taking up the most famous "India Facts" from forwards/whatsapp msgs sent around Independence day to revive patriotism, the author investigates the annals of history, Sidin also manages to fit in his trademark humor in this nonfiction,
As to the content, the skepticism surrounding facts including invention of zero and plastic surgery are explored across centuries and manuscripts, Can't help but feel some point of view judgement of author finds it's way into the presentation, Not to mention anecdotes from the author's personal life, some of which serve as mere breaks from narratives welcome of course, You can disagree, debate or do your own research, but you cannot claim lack of effort from the author,
Few chapters maybe a tad slow and lesser of the showmanship of the firstchapters, The last few chapters on why this book and the relevance of History, sure touch a chord with the sleeping patriot, The author has much more depth to writing and definitely better at presenting palatable nonfiction at least compared to his fiction
Brave effort by the entire team Enjoyable read
I liked the flow of the author's language.
I liked the initial chapters more, I guess at some point, we all ask whether these quotes and facts we hear are for real, And Indians are the kings of glorifying their past, So essentially, this is a book that explores some of these 'facts' and quotes about india we come across often, The author painstakingly read through a lot of material to eatablish facts, And for that, a huge laud of applause, "History, it turns out, is far more complicated and interesting than it looks, "
Let me begin this review with a disclaimer before I'm accused of bias, None of the praise that might be directed towards this book stems from the admiration I have for Mr, Vadukut's columns amp travelogues in Mint where he's an editor and none of the criticisms I might point out are influenced by my dislike of the extravagance that Indulge is.
Before you start wondering what that was all about, let me clarify right away, "The Sceptical Patriot" is very much a book about bias the biased selves we Indians tend to slip into every time someone famous or notsofamous says about the supposed achievements of our country, depending on who it is amp what has been said.
And it is this very bias that often results in a sense of pride that is somewhat misplaced on many occasions Sidin Vadukut's first work of nonfiction is an exploration into the validity of some of these very instances.
"The Sceptical Patriot" starts off with an introduction titled "Extensive Disclaimers" in which Vadukut proceeds to tell us how a speech and a blogpost by former Chief Justice of India Markandey Katju, a parliamentary discussion and a string of patriotic mail forwards were the inspiration behind writing this book.
He explains his approach in this truthseeking quest amp the limitations of his research while exhorting the reader to keep an open mind amp even question the approach itself if one should find it necessary.
Vadukut dedicates the first seven chapters to seven such individual 'great India facts' in this book beginning with the most popular ones, An investigation into the legend of Sushruta, the world's first known plastic surgeon, leads him to connect links to the marketing strategies of an American pharma giant, the world's firstknown magazine and a murder mystery in the NorthWestern Frontier Province of undivided India.
His fascination in the history of the Chola empire results in him questioning the authenticity of the oftquoted 'fact' that India were far too polite to invade another country or kingdom.
But surely Indians were the ones who invented the zero amp the radio Vadukut discovers they did and then, they probably did not, His search for the truth about India being the wealthiest nation before the British took over reveals that the only source for the claim itself stands on shaky ground amp the Empire perhaps can be absolved of some of the accusations.
The argument of Sanskrit being the best language for computer programming is exemplary of the Indians' love for the approval of NASA scientists while Takshashila's now in Pakistan claim to fame as being the site of the world's oldest university might not be the onehorse race many perceive it to be.
Besides the 'facts', there are also the oftmentioned quotes outlining the greatness of India amp the wickedness of the muchmaligned Lord Macaulay, As the author looks into the original versions of these quotes as such, instances of omission, excision amp even misrepresentation as in the case of the Macaulay one begin to surface leaving the reader to make his own conclusions.
In one chapter towards the end of this book, Vadukut stresses upon the need to approach history with skepticism, While talking about the history textbooks in most of the Indian schools, he laments the lack of important postindependence events such as theIndoChina War or the Kashmir problem in them, which he believes will only ensure that the prejudices of earlier generations will continue to prevail among
the current amp upcoming ones.
In the final chapter, the Sceptical Patriot read, the author explains the point of writing this book by revealing the epiphanies he'd had during the process of research amp writing, which in brief serves the purpose of social commentary amp provides some muchneeded insight on the idea of being Indian, the need for history to take lessons for the future amp an open society being the prerequisite to provoking and promoting intellectual discussion.
What distinguishes this book from any other book aiming to sift fact from fiction is the author's recounting of past experiences from his life to explain his interest in a particular legend.
Or citing anecdotes amp analogies to shed more light on his own approach at times even to counterquestion it, Every chapter ends with a 'fact score card', which tries to mark the possible validity of each 'fact' on a scale oftowhile offering a modified amp reconciled version of the same that is much closer to the actual findings.
At the time of writing, the election season in India is finally over amp looking back at it just a little bit, one cannot have missed out on the unabashed distortion of historical facts amp legacies, often going to the extent of rewriting even the geography of the nation.
While it's too late to change the outcome this time around, "The Sceptical Patriot" will have accomplished its objective if it induces the reader to be inquisitive every time he or she hears something that sounds dodgy amp hollow.
I'm going withto,for "The Sceptical Patriot" by Sidin Vadukut, Laced with the trademark wit amp humour of the bestselling Dork Trilogy and the muchloved Cubiclenama columns, it is a funny, enjoyable amp sensible if somewhat superficial book on the Indian outlook towards pophistory.
If you're looking for the big summer read that will engage amp enlighten your mind, your search ends here, Highly recommended.
P. S. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher amp I solemnly maintain that my review was in no way influenced by the same, .