Review: Left Hand of Darkness

Imagine a world where freezing arctic conditions exist all year round, Machiavellian style politics and intrigue prevail, and the inhabitants have the capability to change their gender. These are some of the conditions that face Genly Ai, a lone envoy sent to the planet Winter to offer this alien world a chance to join a trade federation of other planets.

Le Guin's novel is not a new book. It was written back in 1969, but it is well regarded as classic of science fiction. I came across it recently by chance at my local library. The androgynous genderless nature of the near-human citizens on Winter, is one of the central challenges for Ai (and the reader) to cope with, as he has no initial reference point to determine the thinking of those he deals with, and those alien thought processes change as they transform into men or women during the process of 'kemmer' - the sexual reproductive cycle of the inhabitants.

Ai's friendship with Estraven, an exiled dissident on Winter, highlights many of the personal issues that Ai must negotiate. Late on in the book, Estraven metamorphizes into a woman during 'kemmer', challenging the previous platonic basis of their relationship. Estraven's untimely demise and the subsequent grief that Ai feels is one of the more poignant incidents in this novel.

'Left Hand of Darkness' certainly makes you think at many levels, and I give this a 9 out of 10.

Images of Kashmir

A compelling visual journey...check out this beautiful website:

http://www.kashmirretextured.com/

Hell on Earth

If India is able to facilitate the exchange of nuclear technology with the United States and launch satellites into space, perhaps at a micro-level they could improve conditions at their bureaucratic outposts around the world ?

Recently I had the misfortune to have to visit the Indian Consulate in Toronto. From the outside, it looks like any other normal building in Toronto, however, it is far from 'normal' inside. Entering the main area was a scene for which the best metaphor I could apply was 'hell on earth'. Your senses are assailed by a tidal wave of brown humanity packed into a room which was designed to only hold a quarter of the people there....jam-packed like Lahore station on the eve of Partition.

The walls are adorned with yellowing tattered posters exhorting the gullible (gora tourists no doubt) to 'Visit India'. You pick a 3 digit ticket to wait in line (eg. E-95) and yet the ticket counter clock is 2 digits in length (eg. 87), and you initially think this is great - not long to go - until you realize the person standing next to you is still waiting and they have B-22, and you still have all of 'C' and 'D' to go through. And the visa application forms on the web are different from the forms you pick up there. Apparently the web version is 'incorrect' and misses such vital details like 'Father's Occupation' and 'Mother's Maiden Name'. So you spend another 15 minutes jostling with Punjabi taxi drivers and emaciated Tamil types, re-filling the visa forms all over again. And it's like bad service has been magically transported from the homeland to Canada.

Signs which read 'Do not shout at staff' are testament to the exemplary service provided by those red tape worshipping baboons sat behind the glass counters.

Making friends too easily ?

Do we accord this status far too easily to recent strangers ? Is it a reflection of our fast paced disconnected society that somebody becomes a 'friend' after only a couple of email exchanges, or a cup of coffee or the odd random chance meeting at some social gathering. Do you feel you have arrived when you can fill up an address book (when you will never see 80% of contacts in a year anyway) ?

Obviously we may have close friends and we may have casual friends, and we each set our own qualifying criteria for promotion (and demotion) between the two categories. Even what constitutes 'close friend' is questionable as how many of us have actually gone through periods of real adversity and tribulation to actually test the 'all-weather' nature of that dosti ??
A recent study suggested that it becomes progressively harder to make new friends after the age of 25. Why is that ? Maybe because power, wealth and status relationships come into play, and you're no longer judged on who you are but what you are...

Is the actual reality that each person is an island onto themself, and that friends will come and go, and your real support network is your own blood family ??

4 more years...

So Kerry lost...so what ? The American people exercised their democratic right and chose their leader.

Okay, I admit I was a little despondent watching the results roll in last night. Me and my pal, Chivas Regal, were preoccupied with the state by state breakdown of votes...the map looking increasing red, punctuated by the odd blue for the Democrats.

What struck me was how polarized US society is with an increasing widening schism between northern liberals and an assorted array of coalition partners including anti-war, pro-choice types, and southern/mid-west rural conservatives - you know the types who believe Jesus would vote for Bush...(and what's with those Floridian Cuban-Americans ??) I'm still puzzled at the workings of the electoral college system...never mind, I have another 4 years to work that one out. Now, maybe if Hilary Rodham Clinton was to run for President in 2008..that might be interesting...

Okay, so right now we have another 4 years of Bush...but irrespective of Republican or Democrat:

- 9/11 would have still happened - the future 'clash of the civilizations' is still on the table

- Saudi Arabia is still on the brink of regime collapse

- Kerry's exit strategy from Iraq would be no different from Bush's (coz there is no exit strategy)

- The huge US deficit is still there, fuelled by the import-purchasing behaviour of American consumers, and subsidized by foreign investors

- US would still not ratify the Kyoto Accord on greenhouse gas emissions

- The Hollywood machine will still globally disseminate movies which venerate the cultural values of an anglo-centric imperialist empire.

So dosto, that's my political rant for the day (or year). I shall go back to my unquestioning shell and look forward to watching another superficial episode of 'Everybody Loves Raymond' tonight, as do millions of insular Americans each night.... :)