The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy

The core themes in Tolstoy’s novella ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich‘ cover the immutable and attendant realities of aging viz. sickness and death. Over the last three decades, I have read this powerful story thrice and it has always thrown up not only newer perspectives but reinforced old ones which have been silently aligning with my own life experiences.

Sickness is peculiar in the impact it has on human beings. It not only brings suffering but it also makes the afflicted extremely inward focused. So inward that even kind, keen, sympathetic attendants find it difficult to draw a distinction between “self absorption” and “selfishness” of the sufferers. This inwardness leads to a kind of behaviour in all the people involved with the afflicted which is mutually alienating or perceived as alienating and gives birth to resentment and poisoning of relationships. On the other hand aging and sickness also bring death which creates a great fear of unknown. The dying begin to intuitvely understand the enormous and frightening loneliness in death. It is against this backdrop that Tolstoy draws a moving portrait of the life trajectory of Ivan Ilyich – a successful law official in the 19th century Russia. The suffering brings Ivan to the doorstep of the great puzzling conundrum of all human existence and as a corollary casts a self-doubt on his conduct in life he led till so far:

“So what’s it all about? What’s it for? It’s not possible. It’s not possible that life could have been as senseless and sickening as this. And if it has really been as sickening and senseless as this, why do I have to die, and die in agony? There’s something wrong. Maybe I didn’t live as I should have done?’ came the sudden thought. ‘But how can that be when I did everything properly?’ he wondered, instantly dismissing as a total impossibility the one and only solution to the mystery of life and death.”

Ivan fights till the end the idea that he lived a socially accepted life of corruption and even when he accepts it, it does not provide him with any comfort. It is in the final dying moments forgetting his own suffering he pays attention to the suffering of members of his family triggered by his school-going son which makes Ivan realize that the hope and comfort in forgiveness, compassion and alleviation of others suffering renders meaning to the vexing question of his life. Unfortunately, this realization also coincides with his end. The person who provides real comfort to Ivan with a positive attitude is his servant Gerasim when he says: “We’ve all got to die one day. Why shouldn’t I give you a hand?’ and Tolstoy extends this when he adds: “This was to say there was a good reason for not making a fuss about helping out: he was doing it for a dying man and he hoped that when his time came someone would help him out in the same way.” The surprising thing is that Gerasim is recognised as being different in his approach but it appears that Tolstoy does not make Ivan learn anything from Gerasim. Tolstoy also does not make his thoughts explicit on what should be an ideal course for life which makes death and suffering acceptable and render a comforting meaning to existence. As I read, I felt that he leaves that for the reader to think for herself.

There is a great mastery in the way Tolstoy focuses both on the internal and external worlds of Ivan and people around him. His prose has a photographic quality to it – everything is seen, nothing is missed and depicted with clarity. A good example of that is Tolstoy’s unmissing attention to the behaviour of the pouffe chair when Ivan’s friend Pyotor and Ivan’s widow Praskovya Fyodorovna are having a conversation in the house where Ivan is lying dead. There are a good number of examples like that in the book where the detailing is impressive.

‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich‘ is a short read but raises many serious questions about the meaning of living, dying and suffering. It clearly does not provide convincing answers to these vexing questions of our existence. However, in raising them and putting them forth in front of us with a clarity matched by very few books, it secures for itself a special place in the minds of its readers.

Structure of a Ghazal

Ghazal is the mainstay of Urdu poetry. It has been a growing regret for me of recent times that I did not pay much attention to this form of poetry before, more so because the region I come from offered me some natural opportunities and exposure to understand this form which I ignored. However, thanks to cine lyricist and man of letters Javed Akhtar, I had an opportunity to understand the structure of a ghazal for the first time recently. Here is the structure as I understand it from his lecture:

The foundational element of a ghazal is a SHER. A sher is a couplet with rhyming words known in Urdu language as QAFIYAH. A sher is complete in itself and has no relation to the sher that is preceeding it or succeeding it. However, a bunch of shers come together to form a GHAZAL. It is not necessary that the rhyming words of a sher should always occur at the end of the lines of the couplet. A distinguishing feature of some ghazals is that some of the shers also have what is called RADEEF. Radeef is the last word of every rhyming line in a piece of poetry and it gets repeated in the shers of a ghazal. RADEEF is not compulsory but desirable. QAFIYAH comes before the RADEEF. A good example of QAFIYAH and RADEEF is given below in one of Mirza Ghalib’s famous shers/ghazals

दिल-ए-नादाँ तुझे हुआ क्या है (Dil-e-nadaan thujhe hua kyaa hai)

आख़िर इस दर्द की दवा क्या है (Aakhir is dard ki davaa kyaa hai)

(O innocent heart what has happened to you? Finally, what is the remedy for this pain?)

The repetition of क्या है (Kya Hai…. What is it?) at the end of each line of the sher is radeef and the rhyming words हुआ (Hua – in the first line) and दवा (Dava in the scond line) is qafiyah.

The first sher/couplet of a ghazal is called MATLA (मतला’) which will have both qafiyah and radeef. Matla means horizon in urdu language. The shers/couplets that follow matla need not have qafiyah but will invariably have radeef. Then there is MAKTA which is the sher in which the poet’s name occurs. Each sher in a ghazal is an eclectic thought, feeling or an idea and that makes each sher quotable on its own. Remembering an entire ghazal is not a precondition to quoting a sher for a sher is complete in itself. A study done on the poetry quoted in Indian parliament shows that more than 90% are shers from various ghazals. So much for othering Urdu by pairing it with Muslims and Islam !!

All of the above is structural but it does not end here. A ghazal is also full of metaphors, symbols and some ethereal and intoxicating circumlocution and ellipticism. The words carry with them a literal meaning but the soul or the core is the figurative meaning which is something else: subtle yet hard hitting and far removed from the literal meaning of the words employed. The hero of a ghazal is typically an Aashiq (lover) or a Rndh (Drunkard) and the villains are Naseh (the person who determines/tells what is good and what is bad), Sheik/Moulvi (Priest), Zahid (Puritan), Muhtajib (Moral Police). A good place in a ghazal is a Maikhaana (Tavern) and a bad place is a Masjid (a mosque but broadly meaning a place of worship: There is a inherent scepticism for religion and its limitations to address human condition in ghazals).

To check my understanding of the structure of a ghazal, I took “Mere rashk-e-qamar tu ne pehli nazar…..” – the very popular ghazal-qawwali written by Urdu poet Fana Buland Shehri, composed and sung by the inimitable Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Saab and marked the structural elements of a ghazal and found that everything falls in line to a large extent.

My first fan mail and the response to it

To Sir With Love – E.R.Braithwaite

E.R. Braithwaite‘s ‘To Sir With Love’ is a special book for me. It is that book which planted in me the desire to read and explore literature. I first read it in 1985 as a first year engineering graduate and have re-read it over the weekend after nearly three decades. The allure and impact of the book, if any, has only increased. My own life experiences in the intervening thirty years and the many wonderful people I met, I believe, have contributed to the improved reception of the book.

The novel is set in post war Britain, when Braithwaite – a qualified engineering graduate, finding himself unemployed on account of racial discrimination is forced to take up the job of a teacher at Greenslade Secondary School in the rough East London area. This sets off a journey of multiple transformations: in himself and his students through learning and exploring, in discovering love, in realizing the ways of the world, in adjustment and accommodation, in the great happiness of contributing and its reciprocation and in gratitude. Braithwaite paints a memorable and inspiring picture of the transformative role of a good and sensible teacher in the lives of children. Braithwaite also gives us a glimpse of gaps in the school education system of his times which I felt are enormously relevant to us even today. There is a sustained and convincing depiction of deep-rooted and difficult-to-eradicate prejudices in the society he lived in – the templates and abstractions of which are all around us and if any more pronounced in the societies that we live in today.

The narrative flow of the book is absorbing and comes across as extraordinarily sincere and full of understanding. There are many interesting characters in the book some of whom I felt are oustanding role models of courage, empathy and defiance. I especially liked the vision and empathy of headmaster Mr. Florian towards the underprivileged children of his school and his patient coaching of all his colleague teachers, Miss. Clintridge for her rubbing humour and ability to stand-up for the right, Pamela Dare for her dignified vulnerability, The Belmonts who treat Braithwaite with affection and without prejudice and for the unnamed old man Braithwaite meets at St. James’s Park (in London) who hands him some wonderful life-advice.

I enjoyed reading this book immensely and like with all good books I read, it brought me to a central question I often ask myself about the utlity of reading good fiction: Do books make any difference to me as an individual? I do not think I can answer that question in positive affirmation. However, I can say with certainty that they made me aware of the possibilities of superior forms of conduct and behaviour in my life which I can hopefully imbibe. The relevance of ‘To Sir With Love‘ lies in reinforcing these possibilities with a gentle yet unmatched emphasis.

Storytelling on a virtual platform: ‘The Reluctant Orchid’ – Arthur C. Clarke

As part of our ongoing story reading sessions, we read today Arthur C Clarke‘s ‘The Reluctant Orchid.’

Hercules, a diminutive young man with a personality which is at odds with his name is a social recluse with a great passion for growing orchids in his fine conservatory. His only living relative is an amazon like wealthy aunt – heavy, obstreperous, given to loud talking, fast cars, grooming huge dogs and excessive smoking. Hercules hates and wants to keep her away from him. He chances upon a rare orchid which as he nurtures to its full potential realises has carnivorous tendencies. Given his dislike for his aunt, Hercules slowly develops a plan to offer her to the orchid and seek his revenge. He plans meticulously and on the planned day leads his aunt to the orchid. Given her nature, Hercules’s aunt in no time tames the orchid and befriends it. The growing friendship between the orchid and aunt brings her more often to Hercules’s house defeating the original purpose of Hercules.

Clarke starts the story on an ominous note but puts a nice humorous twist towards the end. It is a light-hearted but well narrated tale which the children enjoyed.

A small excursion into Chinese Sci-Fi scene

Been googling a bit about the science fiction scene in China and what I am finding there borders on being shockingly impressive. There are many talented writers from China who are gaining world-wide following and this trend is not just confined to one writer like Liu Cixin whose ‘The Three-Body Problem‘ has been a runaway success to the point now Netflix is making a movie out of it. My view is that Liu is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other writers who have made and are making their own mark in this genre. Chen Qiufan, Xia Jia, Ma Boyong, Hao Jingfang, Tang Fei, Cheng Jingbo and Ken Liu are some of them.

Ordered a copy of Ken Liu‘s ‘The Paper Menagerie‘ and been reading the stories included therein. Some stories have just blown me away….. The imaginative quality in the stories is strange and stunning.

Where does this vitality, energy and inventiveness to produce such imaginative fiction come from? I feel it comes from a confidence in its culture, long history and an education system that makes room for ideas.

Googling about China’s science fiction scene was akin to playing minesweeper… you are forced to start blindly by clicking a square and suddenly a whole lot of other squares open up (if you are a bit lucky) and the play zone starts to get clearer, logical and yet tantalizing with possibilities of either winning or losing. A lot has opened up for me on the Chinese Sci-fi scene…… at least 3-4 years of reading life has been added.

Chinese sci-fi writers have become regulars at the Hugo and Nebula awards.

I am genuinely excited.

Storytelling on a virtual platform: ‘The Better Part of Wisdom’ – Ray Bradbury

As part of our ongoing story reading sessions we read Ray Bradbury‘s ‘The Better Part of Wisdom.’ This story belongs to his collection of short stories ‘Long After Midnight.’

Tim Kelby is crossing his autumn years and suspects death is round the corner. He undertakes to visit all his relatives and friends across UK for one last time. As part of his visits, he meets his orphaned grandson Tom in Tom’s Dublin house which he shares with his friend Frank. The meeting with the two affectionate young friends triggers fond memories of his brief but extremely joyous and memorable friendship in his twelfth year with a wandering young gypsy boy on the shores of Dublin. The old man confirms with his grandson that his friendship with Frank is of the same order that he has had with the gypsy boy and leaves the next day. On the way out he meets Frank, who assures him of being a steadfast friend to Tom.

I chose this story for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is a very different story from the regular wonderful stories that Ray wrote. Secondly, it has one of the finest elliptical descriptions of friendship I ever read. I was very apprehensive if children would like a story of this nature but a majority of them votes for it in no uncertain terms.

Storytelling on a virtual platform: ‘None Before Me’ – Sidney Carroll

As part of our ongoing story reading sessions we read Sidney Carroll’s ‘None Before Me.’ I found this story from the anthology called ‘Timeless Stories For Today and Tomorrow’ thoughtfully put together by Ray Bradbury.

John Olney Gresham is a rich, lonely, wealthy and miserly connoisseur. His house is a virtual museum with exquisite artifacts collected from all over the world. Given his appetite to buy, many dealers make a beeline to him to sell their wares. Pegerine is one such dealer who sells him a 5-foot tall exquisitely architected doll-house with multiple rooms and beautifully crafted little people in it. Gresham’s fascination for this doll house turns from deep liking to a kind of obsession. He begins talking to the little people as if they were humans and slowly a God-complexion develops in them. He begins to think and feel that he is God for them and that their fates are in his hands. One day while re-organizing the doll house, Gresham finds a small statue of Madonna in the doll-house and he gets completely enraged with the thought that the dolls have a God of their own while he was obsessed with the thought he was their God. Mad with anger he destroys the doll-house to rubble. The next day when his servants come to see him in his room they find him dead in a pool of blood. The narrator tells us that it was the hand of God that killed him.

It is an interesting and a tad spooky tale. I chose this story for the excellent quality of its narrative. Sidney Carroll’s description of Gresham’s gradual descent into obsession is very well done. Children had expressed mixed feelings about this story. While they said it is a good and interesting story, they were not enthralled or wowed by it.

I have begun to see challenges in diversifying the author base but that is something I have to manage in building a 500 story database for anyone who wants to initiate similar reading groups from my experience.