April 9, 2017

The Ocean of Churn - Sanjeev Sanyal - Book Review


The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After reading 'The Land of Seven Rivers', I was fascinated when I read that Sanjeev Sanyal has written a book focusing on Indian Ocean, a key geography oft missed out in the history books.

The author has a very interesting pattern of writing books - he knows the drawbacks of contemporary history books. History has often been looked at from a linear and singular perspective. We say that the British invaded India and ruled us for 200 years, but often miss out on other countries fighting in our territory and the Indian kings who helped the British and other happening of those times. Second, history often glorifies the victors and suppresses the losers. So, we have heroes and villains when most of them were actually people with shades of grey. Third, the western world believes only in written piece of evidence. The author believes that Oral verses continuing over centuries can't be ignored. The same stories have been spread across different countries and cultures. They might have shades of fiction, but they do have a tinge of reality as to what happened really in those times.

The book covers the happenings of events around Indian Ocean from the early human settlements to the recent world wars. He covers both sides of India as to how the western part of the country traded with the likes of the Romans, Arabs and how the eastern part traded with the likes of Indonesia or Malaysia. The trade has had a long cultural impact in many countries. Particularly the South East Asian countries still have a lot of cultural similarity with the South Indian states. There are a lot of temples spread across these countries. Temples played a key role in the trade as they acted as banks of those days.

In the later part, there is a lot of focus on Europeans as to how they started trading for Spices like Pepper and Nutmeg with the eastern countries and went on to colonize them and fight violently for territorial disputes. A very interesting aspect here is that the Europeans have often collaborated with the local kingdoms and hired mercenaries to fight the battles. So, all the while when we imagine that it was British fighting India, it was the Indians on behalf of British fighting the Indians.

The author also touches upon Religion and the way Religion helped kingdoms and tribes across history. It is little wonder that Religion still fires up people and unites them to fight for something or the other. Still lot of the Asian countries have statues of Hindu gods and they peaceful worship them before worshiping Lord Buddha or they attribute them as Pagan Gods. The trade also had a wide impact on Language. Most of the South East Asian countries have languages originating from the Brahmi Script.

The final part focuses on the World Wars and how the east Asian countries widely affected don't get mentioned anywhere in the war related documents. Many Indian soldiers fought on behalf of the British and similarly many Asian soldiers were involved and countries affected by war including the likes of Malaysia and Singapore. It is also interesting that the Indian Naval officers strike was a key reason for British to exit India as the Indian Soldiers played a key role in enabling British administer India.

It is interesting that certain landscapes got shifted from One hand to another hand during the colonial rule. In 1667, the Dutch forced the British to hand them an Island in the Indonesian Archipelago which grew Nutmegs in exchange for a big Island in North America. It was considered a big victory. The big Island turns to be Manhattan. Looks like Real Estate investments have remained tricky over centuries.

Books like this are very rare for they cover a very wide spectrum of things and gives you a very new perspective to History. If you are a history buff, get in, get immersed and come out with a refreshing view.

April 2, 2017

Visiting the iconic MCG!

Hi Guys,

On a day when Dhoni’s six sealed the World Cup for India six years before, I’m back here writing a blog post on a cricket ground. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that the first cricket ground I would walk in my life would be the Melbourne Cricket Ground or ‘The G’ as it is called simply. Despite being so close to the iconic Chepauk Stadium in Chennai, I have never been inside.

Being in Melbourne on a short official trip, we were so close yet so far from the ground on the first four days when we had to put up with the hectic office hours and meeting preparations. On the final day, we had our return flight in the afternoon. But, I and my colleague were determined to not miss the opportunity to see the historical ground.
The G - from Outside
The G was two kilometres from the city centre we stayed and we decided to walk the distance bracing the chilly morning weather. After a serene walk along the Yarra River and a beautiful bridge, we were at the stadium by 9.50 am, 10 minutes before the first official tour kicks off. The 75 minute tour costs AUD 23. For AUD 31.50, you get in a combined pass for MCG and the National Sports Museum which is also in the same complex. As we were chasing time, we opted only for the ground tour. At 10, we were introduced to our tour guide, an elderly lady from the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC). She was somewhere in her 70s or 80s, but she was the most energetic amongst the touring group and we had a tough time matching her pace (It’s a pity that I forgot her name). Along with the two of us, there were five others – two from England and three from Australia, meaning it was a group passionate on Cricket.
From the turf!
The tour started with us being let into the grass turf, where our guide explained the history of the ground and stands. The ground was established in 1853, when the settlement was just pouring in. The ground hosted the first ever test match in 1877 when 30,000 people attended the spectacle (it was a significant population of Melbourne back then). The ground has four stands – the great Southern Stand which makes a semi-circle and then Ponsford Stand, Members Pavilion and Olympic Stand which together make another semi-circle. With a seating capacity of 100,024, MCG is largest cricket ground by capacity. I have always been awestruck by the four layered seating arrangement of the MCG and that is what makes the stadium so special to me.

The Great Southern Stand - and the four layered seats!
We were slightly disappointed that the turf was being converted into an Australian Rules football turf for the AFL season that kicked off just the previous day. It would have been greater to see the ground with the cricket pitch, but still it was magnificent. After a couple of photographs for later memory, we were taken across multiple facilities across the four levels. Since, I will run into multiple pages if I describe about all of them, I am writing some of the significant ones.

While this is the home ground of the legendary Sir Donald Bradman, the MCC has made lot of credits to WH Ponsford who was overshadowed by Bradman during his hey days. This includes the stand named after him. There was names of all the players who has played for Victorian state (the state were Melbourne is located). The Home and Visitor change rooms has names of all players who has scored centuries or taken a fifer here. Bradman has scored 9 centuries here and our guide being a big fan of Bradman was going mad about it. They had pictures/photos of all the Australian teams that had travelled to England starting from the 19th century. All the statistics, pictures, photographs, artworks had to do with Test Cricket. I guess MCC recognizes only that as pure cricket.
A plaque in memory of WH Ponsford
There were lot of special amenities for the MCC members including a fine dine restaurant and a great view of the ground from the Long Hall (made in similar lines with the Lords, except that batsmen don’t walk through this one). Another special feature about the ground was the library, which our guide told is one of the best sports libraries you would come across. Anyone is free to walk in here on Weekdays and refer to the books. They have a copy of Wisden from 1916 (due to World War only one of them was published and is worth millions in value in today) and the first dictionary that had reference to cricket back in the 1600s. Of course, these are locked and are there only for display.
The Long Hall!
It was interesting to see the olden day steel benches on display and our guide was saying that with cushioned seats the facilities for spectators has very much improved. A century back, spectators were supposed to stand and watch the match in the searing heat. The ground had hosted both 1956 Olympics and 2006 Commonwealth games. There were multiple plaques and arts in memories of those events. There were lot of artworks made specifically for the 150th year of the ground.
Those ancient Steel benches!
Three stand out features to me – the ground was very accessible from the city – there was a train and tram station just outside. From city center, we were able to walk without any traffic interference. And the second one was that the entire stadium was friendly to physically challenged people including special seats for them across the stands. The final one is that they have captured and displayed the entire history of cricket in the ground and evoke strong memories out of it!
A view from the one of the ground's balconies - From Left( Practice Tennis Court, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Skyline including Eureka Skydeck, St Paul's Cathedral) and Train/Tram tracks just beside the stadium
Soaked in the history for the entire duration, it was time for us to come back to real world and rush to catch our flights back home… The G will always have a special place in my heart!


Happy Reading!!!