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| torilaure |
Posted
on 07-Sep-02 11:26 PM
As far as I know this is the first published review of The State of Nepal. The review is published in today's Kathmandu Post Reveiw of Books. The link is :
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kpost_html/kp_editorial.htm#Exploring Nepal
Exploring Nepal
By Genevieve Lakier
State of Nepal, a recently published collection of articles on Nepal’s contemporary history and political and economic future, edited by Kanak Mani Dixit (of Himal fame) and Shastri Ramachandaran, is a book quite unafraid to make an argument. Or, in fact, several. This is one of its strengths - even if it means that there may be no one who agrees with all of the articles. But the editors have done an admirable job of choosing and sustaining a wide variety of voices and styles, while nonetheless ending up with a volume which has a coherency and style all its own. Suitable both as a very good overview for newcomers to Nepal, and as an intervention into the most complex issues besetting the nation today, this book should be appreciated by bideshis trying to figure things out, by the interested, invested Nepali public, and by those involved and responsible for the debates themselves. The only indications in the articles that they were written for a lay audience comes in the inclusion of a Suggestions for Further Reading section at the end of each piece, and in the careful attention paid by almost all authors to explaining, generally very clearly, the history behind the contemporary politics of whatever issue they are writing about. But this is itself a useful practice for all levels of analysis and argument. The multiple versions of the same half century of Nepali history one gets reading through the book provide a richer history of the nation than any one author could perhaps provide.
Unlike most ‘introductory’ books on Nepal, this volume is focused more on the dynamic political, economic and to a lesser extent social history of the country than on its eternal and unchanging culture. It is in fact aptly named: Nepal’s state, both as problem and as promise, appears prominently in almost every piece, revealing again — as some authors point out — how state-centric this nation continues to be, in an age when elsewhere around the globe the state is supposed to be a dying or dead creature. The authors acknowledge the tremendous failures of the Nepali state — both before but especially after multiparty democracy returned in 1990. But, in a reassuring and refreshing change from the despair that usually greets the question of Nepal’s future, most articles do not end with the doom and gloom of the failed state, but start from there. And State of Nepal bursts with ideas, suggestions and dreams about where to go now. Almost every author in fact asserts the central importance of their particular topic for Nepal’s political, economic and social well-being, while reassuring the reader that if their sometimes admittedly difficult and demanding advice is accepted, major changes can and will occur in Nepal for the better. For example, after a rather depressing overview of the economy’s miserable failure to capitalize on early post-democracy achievements, Sujeev Shakya, nonetheless manages to conclude his detailed account of the post 1990 economy with the inspiring belief that 'when [his] formula is tried, the Nepali economy is sure to respond with surprising energy [192].'
The kind of solution most often suggested is one which minimizes the role of the state, and dreams of a Nepal in which the state, in Dipak Gyawali’s words, acts only as 'an institutional resource that adjudicates wisely between the forces of the market and the Nepali citizen with his or her core values of justice [232].' This is, in fact, a rather old-fashioned high liberal vision of the state as the passive protector of the rights of the far more active individual and market. One might call this the new left if not for the fact that it is not so new and, in other contexts and times, not so left. In the age of globalization on one hand and anti-globalization on the other, Nepal’s homegrown intellectuals favor neither, but dream of the capitalist welfare state of post WWII Europe. This is not to say it is not a very good dream, but that history comes with its own baggage. Nonetheless, the only way to get a social welfare state is to believe in such a possibility, and what most articles in the collection end up pointing out is the potential of Nepal’s people to do just that. They repeatedly and in many voices suggest the need for Nepalis themselves to stop looking for benevolent protectors and to start imagining and building — and safeguarding, through the development of sound institutions, both in state and civil society — their tomorrow themselves. Agree or disagree, but if State of Nepal manages to inspire those who read it to get involved in the debates on the table, even if only by annoying them sufficiently, it will have served its purpose well and brought the bright future many of its optimists so tantalizingly suggest one step closer to reality.
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| ashu |
Posted
on 08-Sep-02 12:40 AM
Yes, Amar.
This is the kind of review -- bland and vague with a tepid "you guys have done a good job" -- that I myself, as a potential reviewer, was ambivalent about writing.
My ambivalence increased when I started to think critically about the book, and
found myself strongly disagreeing with the writers, most of whom seem heavy on
descriptions and light on analyses.
Then I worried that I might alienate these authors (most of whom I know well) if I
went public with my take on their ideas.
[An example: Even this reviewer writes above, about the chapter on economy, that if Nepal were to try out Mr. Sujeev Shakya's prescriptions [just what are those precriptions, the reviewer does not tell us!], "the Nepali economy is sure to respond
with surprising energy".
I have nothing against Mr. Shakya [who's just starting as a Humphrey Fellow at Boston University; it's just that when accountants like him start making such grand declarations, I, as a reader, get skepetical and have to ask for hard evidence that support his arguments, and when I see nothing but descriptions after descriptions and little analyses, you can't blame me, a mere reader, for being disappointed.
Aside: Why is that in Nepal the debates about the ecnomy are dominated NOT by economists but by accountants? This is a puzzle for me.]
At any rate, thanks to all your suggestions (Arnico, Nepe, Amar, Biswo, BP and others) in another thread): I have been working on and off on my review of the same book,
and will take a while before I get it completed and published.
Let the debate begin.
The issue, or for that matter, the review will not be about being right or wrong. The issue is about thinking about Nepal and Nepali societies BEYOND the "introductory" level with some rigor, and so that the "invested Nepali public . . . those involved and responsible for the debates themselves" an start making better sense of contemporary Nepal.
Meantime, in my moments of despair when writing reviews, I read and re-read this review, among others, for its sheer brilliant verbal craftsmanship.
http://www.thenewrepublic.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020429&s=buruma042902
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| torilaure |
Posted
on 08-Sep-02 01:28 AM
Well said ashutosh ji,
What a co-incident. About the link in your posting, I read the review of the same book in the Kathmandu post today. What a difference. For those of you who are intrested here's the link:
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kpost_html/kp_editorial.htm
Now I'm wodering about a few things. The first is can anybody review a book? Should the review reflect the text or the spirit of the book? For example, can a person review a book on the basis of reading that book throughly without addressing (or acknowledging) the context?
I personnaly think it is not fair to the readers if a mass media publishes immature(read bland and vague) book reviews. A reviewer should be able to address the context and the spirit the writer is trying to portray. I think the reviewer should also be familiar with the writer's terrain (past and present) as well as the larger context regarding the subject of the book. Lastly, I think reviewing a book is a very big responsibility (both to the writer of the book as well as the readers of the review). So I say, mediocrity in reviewing books just shouldn't be allowed.
Just my thoughts anyway. Beg to be differed.
Amar Gurung
On a different note, I'd like to hear your views on this book review by CK Lal back in 1998:
Book or Glossy Vanity
C K Lal
Professionals crave peer recognition. Acquiring acceptance by building up a series of successes in one's chosen field of endeavor is a long, arduous and time consuming process. It's relatively easier to write a jargon-filled book to establish your credentials. The fear of being found out is not there because every one indulges in this kind of 'ritualistic scholarship' all the time. Lack of originality can easily be compensated for by copious quotes and thick bibliographies to prove that adequate 're-search' has been done. Thus, one witnesses a rush of professionals responding to the urge of getting into 'blue covers.'
To attempt to review Urban & Environmental Planning in Nepal: Analysis, Policies and Proposals by Dr. Ambika Prasad Adhikary (IUCN Nepal, 1998) is in itself giving it more attention than it deserves. If it were not for its excellent production, I would have hesitated to do it. Color printing on a thick glossy art-board cover is arresting. Overall layout of the book matches international standards. Print quality is beyond reproach, though I couldn't find printers' name anywhere in the book and am unable to say whether it was produced here or abroad. Dilip K. Munankarmi, the designer of the book, deserves all the credit for making me buy this book. Quite naturally, it's him that I blame for having prompted me into wasting two hundred rupees of my hard-earned money in buying a book that I could have easily done without.
On the credit page, author asserts that views expressed in the book are those of him and should not be construed as the official views of IUCN Nepal or IUCN. All right, but that disclaimer does not bar me from blaming either IUCN Nepal for publishing the book or the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation for supporting this enterprise. Aid-money should not be squandered away in financing ego trips of ambitious professionals. Oh, I am straying. I am supposed to discuss the content of the book.
The 'contents' page is innovative. It uses 'all caps' for chapter headings and 'all small' for sub-chapter titles. However, once inside, the chapter titles have also been demoted to small letters. Does Munankarmi have a message hidden somewhere there? Does he want readers to concentrate more on the accompanying quotes, sketches and photographs? Tables of figure, graphs and illustrations are interestingly displayed. I am having difficulty focusing upon the contents. Well, I guess I must, otherwise the Coordinator of this review page will throw this piece in the nearest waste paper basket and, in total ten-hours of my effort involved in trying to read this book, along with it.
In the first section, author says, "In this book is expected to contribute towards better understanding of urban and environmental problems in Nepal and to help in the development and implementation of practical solutions to the problems of planning and environment." The author is Ivy League quality - Harvard - with a stint each at MIT and easy going University of Hawaii. Obviously a comparatively illiterate person like me can't dare question his assumptions (The role of a book in implementation of practical solutions, understanding of urban and environment, not urban environment, issues in one slim volume), ambitions (planning and environment, development and implementation, urban and environment) or his English ( In this book is expected ... ). I am one of those who hold the view that even if a Ph.D. commits a mistake, it must be deliberate. A pundit is always right.
Let me face failure, it's extremely difficult to talk about the contents of the book. For a "better understanding of urban and environmental problems of Nepal," issues should have been analyzed in context, in content and with contemplation (The 3Cs of the jargon) for a proper diagnosis. In stead, we are given loads of generalization like "Baneshwarisation" and some more of pontificating on "Standardization" as prescriptions of all illnesses afflicting our urban centers, and even those are too Kathmandu-centric to be of any use any where else in Nepal. I give up the pretensions of a review altogether. Why discuss a book that is not meant to be read by any one? One is expected to buy this kind of books to decorate one's book-shelves.
The small-town characteristics of a thriving rumor culture still hold sway in an otherwise cosmopolitan Kathmandu. One such rumor that floated for quite a while in the circles of intelligentsia concerned IUCN. It appears that Dr. Harka Gurung and Dr. Ambika Adhikary were two of the main contenders for the post of Country Representative of that organization.
The contrasts in the personalities of these two eminent individuals are spectacular. Dr. Gurung is an ethnic non-caste Hindu, an earthy geographer, a former politician, a prolific writer, shows up in Nepali topi and talks about his travels in Nepal rather than Naples. In short, he is a man one would like to have tea with. On the other hand, Dr. Adhikary is a high-caste bahun, an aesthetic architect, a former teacher, impeccably turned out, articulating his words carefully and dropping Ivy League names meaningfully. He is just the kind of person you would like to tee off. Elite institutions like IUCN prefer the latter types and publish books that can be inscribed upon by their high profile authors on the golf courses in between holes so that holes can be made in deep pockets while raising funds for a cause. This book can serve that implicit purpose exceedingly well.
Finally, I regret having taken up the responsibility of reviewing this book. I am not a very good critic because I like to be liked. To be praised, one must praise and I must make one last ditch effort in that direction. If you want to buy some items of interior decoration, pick up this book along with the crystal ash trays, bone-china flower-vases and jade figurines. This book will look good on your carved coffee table and will show your class. It has been thoughtfully produced in soft-cover so that you can get it hard-bound in leather by hand before having it monogrammed in gold. However, like all precious possessions, this book should be handled with care and never opened if possible. At least, not unless absolutely necessary to show the biography of the author on the back cover to adulatory guests.
See the power of this book? It has made me fill sentence after sentence with 'I' and 'me'. Vanity rubs off as easily as the gloss on expensive covers. That's the highest accolade one can give to a book of collection of rehashed essays published to impress rather than inspire.
(C K Lal is waiting to defend his Master's thesis on Urban Planning at the Institute of Engineering, TU)
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| ashu |
Posted
on 08-Sep-02 11:43 AM
Amar,
That review of CK Lal is an UNFAIR one.
Instead of reviewing the book, all Lal did was review the author in a
devoid-of-context manner.
Disclosure: Lal was a student of Adhikari, and, at the time, in 1998, he was pursuing a Master's in Urban Planning at the Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk, where Adhikari
also taught.
So, those sympathetic to Adhikari can say: That the review amounted to nothing more than a revenge upon his teacher by an articulate student!!
In early 1999 (when I was briefly in Kathmandu), Lal justified the review, in the course of a presentation at Martin Chautari, saying that, well, similar things happen in the West too: that reviewers review authors' lives too.
The fallout of the review?
Two things:
First, this review was among a series of essays that eventually led to CK Lal's being "banned" from writing anything for The Kathmandu Post. V V here can
probably add more to this.
Second, Ambika Adhikari -- who holds a Doctorate in Design (D.Des) from Harvard's Graduate School of Design -- ko career in Nepal started to take a nose-dive for a
variety of reasons (not to be discussed here) soon after this review got published. Soon, Adhikari went back to Canada, from where he had come back to Nepal.
Suffice to say that there were many architects and urban planners in Kathmandu
who were simply delighted to read Lal's this review, and then watch Adhikari's subsequent fall from grace due to a variety of other factors.
What was that German word again?
Schadenfreude (as in: a malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others.)
I, for one, lost a modicum of respect for Lal on account of this review.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| HahooGuru |
Posted
on 08-Sep-02 07:11 PM
CK Lal: See the power of this book? It has made me fill sentence after sentence with 'I' and 'me'. Vanity rubs off as easily as the gloss on expensive covers. That's the highest accolade one can give to a book of collection of rehashed essays published to impress rather than inspire.
---
YEs, I told in some other thread that SEXY Book cover and wrong reader
will be troublsom to you. Reviewer did his job in his perspective. The publisher
should have hired another HENCHMAN to publicize the book. Well, both
author and reviewer including publisher were ruined because of mismatch
between reviewer, writer/author and publishers. Would that book published
by Ratna Pustak Bhandar, that would surely be different review. Using public
money, with in-suffcient in-house editing will be great disastor to your life
long achievements. ....... If you (any reader) want to be reviewer, be
sure that you will not ruined, in other context, be sure your readers get
the right message well if your review is representation of the content of
the book. Well, if the publisher/authors are big biz. house / very powerful
then, the TKP like publisher of Book reviews will force you to quit the job
at TKP. Because TKP seems to get a lot of advertisement (paid articles)
from IUCN, as it happens from NGO/INGOs, who let Adv. be published
in nations leading newspapers to make sure that no thing gets published
against them, i.e. backyard gang up. It seems CK La had highest trust
in TKP and no one dared / cared to edit his review (well, its called
when you have lack of resouce, you venered go to market unglued).
That is why we have editorial board. (I was also member of editorial
board of journal of a professional society, whose monthly issue had
circulation of 42,000 copies, and total budget spent on publishing
this circulation was half million dollar, no editors were paid staff except
half dozen regular staffs. what I mean here is editing is center and
core issue to avoid conflicts. I have seen closely the fellow editor who
was in-charge-of-book reviews. Book review is really a tough job
specially in a dveloped society, where you have to take responsibility
on each word you annex after "BOOK REVIEW" title. When you lack
resources, you can find ruined . .. ...)........................
CK Lal in this review is "BRUTALLY HONEST".
After reading Book review by CK Lal, I am not dissatisfied with him, I
just feel that the book went to wrong person. Munankarmi made
very SEXY / SEDDUCTIVE Title, to make CK Lal waste his hard
earned (his one day salary at HMG/Road Department) . Well, I am not
sure how far, Ashu is right in saying that
"So, those sympathetic to Adhikari can say: That the review amounted to nothing more than a revenge upon his teacher by an articulate student!!,"
I wonder whether thsoe sympathetic to Adhikary are close coteire of AA..... I
wonder whether this is just a propaganda to ruin CK Lal for being brutally
honest and CK Lal being associated to Pulchowk Campus and while AA was
also there. ..................... I am looking forward to read it, in opposite
to CK Lal's advice and see things from my perspective. . . .. . Most of the
reports I have seen published by ICIMOD to many NGOs are just transferrring
the sponsoring country's tax payers money into wrong account. CK Lal has
passed a great message to those TAX payers.
HG
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| HahooGuru |
Posted
on 08-Sep-02 07:54 PM
What Ambika Adhikary would have done to avoid such BRUTAL review.
1. He would have asked someone to edit it, in the context of Nepal. Not
foreign editor (peer reviewers) before deciding it be published ...
2. I think it is legal responsibility to put Printers name. Since IUCN seems
to be NGO/INGO they have monopoly of overtaking local laws. .....
3. Ambika Adhikari wrote book? For what purpose? Because there
was budget, or because there was need of book or becasue he is
really capable of writing book on the specialized topic. It seems to
after reading following line "
Soon, Adhikari went back to Canada, from where he had come back to Nepal."
He was in Nepal or writing book just because he had budget. If he was
deserved author, why could not he defend ? Leaving Nepal, after his
contract (??) with IUCN is over, is like he was in Nepal to ruin the budget.
He should have given counter arguments to justify his book, stayed in
Nepal and proved that CK Lal like reviewers should not .......... Was
there any attempt in this regard? ........... Nigeru no imi was anata
ga machigai desu. Bhagnu ko matlab ho you were wrong.
4. As a author, he would have invited prospectus reviewers and readers...
a short workshop on that book ... if had some budget. Publisher had
put price tag on book means, it was possible. And explained his books
briefly, so that peoples won'T get wrong on you why you published the
book ....
5. Instead of waiting for Kathmandu Post to get reviewed by CK Lal, the
publisher would have asked TKP directly and requested to review the
book ... and get claraified all the CK Lal's accusations and published
in balanced form: positive points and negative points. Clearly giving a
message who should buy this book, whether this book is a reference
material i.e. good for book selve /show case books (once in year or once in a
life time rferences ... ), or whethr the book is good for text book. Well,
the book had SEXY cover page, and important key words: ktm, nepal ...
which caught CK Lal as if it as text book (as a student).... I am sure if
CK Lal had read the book borrowed from Library, he would have different
feeling ... provided he is not prejudiced (being a TKP reviewer, I don't think
he is prejudiced, but, he was brutally honest). ....
...........
Anyway, buying book and reading it is not equal reading Sajha.com . Even
in Sajha.com we don't have 100% freedom and free stuffs. We are getting
Sajha.com free of charge, of course there are some sponsors very far from us,
e.g. San. . . ... . . San is sponsoring because he has users .... San is sponsoring
this site because We call him "great San ... you are Great".... This is how
world is survived. If you turn this coin upside down, world will be hell ..... So,
publishers and writers should no never think that they have monopoly of
publishing anything they like. before that its better to check for whom
they are writing, and make sure that enough editing is done to avoid
the book goes to wrong reader. If a book goes to 99 target readers, but,
1 wrong reader, I think the result will be disastorous ... the 99% of negative
proganda that will be effective in creating negative impact will be from that
1% wrong reader. Here, that 1% wrong reader was again a reviewer who
had high readership ..... Its like going to Ziare and getting a yellow fever,
and returning to Japan, entering without letting immigration knows it, and
going to office next day riding a congest train .... What will happen to Tokyo?
Who is responsible here?
1. the guy TARO went to Zaire, without appropriate precautions i.e. without amunition
i.e. available now.
2. That guy infected .... knowing or unknowingly .... being allian he had more chances
to get infected than a Zaire citizen.
3. Returned to Japan. .. No check in Immigration, .... easy access to Japan..
Immigration officer (i.e. TKP) allowed him without check. Trusted him being a
Japanese he must have gone through ammuniton before reaching Zaire.
4. He could have gone to Hospitl and asked for confirmation. (CKL would
have asked others to verify what will happen if he publishes ... it).
5. Tokyo metropolitan got large number of infected peoples .... (AA lost his
readers).
6. The root cause was found, and TARO was punished and asked for liability.
Now suffering from After math TraUMA "CK Lal was ejected out of TKP
Book review section" .. . . .. .. Well, TARO tried to explain that he did not know
the things about Yellow Fever was so deadly, powerful, his employer had
handed over him some manual on this, but, he took it lightly .....
.... Have enjoyment .... Like authors, book reviewing is also challenging job,
and it can ruin your life if select a wrong book and send wrong message....
My examples here were meant to some common peoples exclusively for fun
who are my fan in reading my funny examples. Its dedicated to them. Others should
neglect, not ruin me. i.e. my review on CK Lal's review. Heheheheh...
I behaved like god of the gods.... reviewer of the reviewer .....
HG
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