REVIEW OF WAKE UP INDIA

Wake up India, Essays for our times is a cornucopia of  36 essays by two acclaimed scholars of our times , Dr Koshy AV and Dr. Bina Biswas.
22 of the essays in this 'extremely  idea riddled book 'have been penned by Dr. Koshy in the first part- the road to Shangri La  and 14 by Dr. Bina Biswas ,in the second part -corrective seeds ,most of these essays having the potential to wake up India from its sonorous slumber, jerk it out of  its Rip wan Winklesque sleep.


I have no qualms about conceding that  as an almost comatose citizen of my sleepy nation, some of the essays made me sit bolt upright in bed , making me knuckle  away sleep kinks from my eyes and look at the world undulating  around me with new eyes , the vision being  provided by these two scholars.

This enchanting eclectic mix ranges from themes such as reservation, ideology, poverty and class ,population and land, politics and the populace, corruption, debt, black money, the Grand Narratives ,inflation and yes  two more articles which  delve into the personality of Gandhiji, trying to answer the question whether he was a mahatma- a term Gandhi himself was never very comfortable with.

In the second chapter [ pp 4 to 16], Dr. Koshy deals at length with ideology,reiterating that ideologies tend to work only if they address injustice and aim at distributive justice across all borders , but the moment they start propounding systems, stultification starts, and they  end up" tilting at the proverbial windmills a la Don Quixote."[p12].

The piece de resistance are the twin essays- the 2oth-the specially gifted and shangrila and  21st  -Shangri La-The dream  of an autism village in India- which set the mind churning and the heart burning with the ardent desire to shake our comatose nation out of its callous indifference to the needs of the specially abled , and shame it into doing something for these special children of special parents.
With a heart -wrenching honesty, the author tells us that none has looked at the world through the lens of a differently abled child, and poignantly enough the needs of a specially abled child were revealed to him accidentally , by his son who , he says has influenced him the most in his life.
"Autism, like death  ,is a great leveller", he says and goes on to outline his dream of an autism village where money will definitely be  used for building up the edifice but happiness, love, compassion,, peace , patience mercy..... will rule  graciously and gracefully.


Part two, titled corrective seeds , has been penned equally  beautifully by Dr. Bina Biswas, which has a variety of essays  from Irom  Sharmila, Aung San Suu Kyi, Jawahar Lal Nehru Arvind Kejriwal ,Tagore- the poet eduactor ,  honesty  in today's world ,dreams vs reality of FDI, the lessons to be learnt from the first war of independence, biodiversity, E-waste,and the future of the Indian youth. 
The essay on Irom lady , in the context of her recent release and arrest is very topical. 
How many among the youth know that  this iron lady, Irom Sharmila  has been protesting against the AFSPA for the past fourteen years? Caught between the official view that AFSPA with its overriding powers of arresting and killing is  absolutely essential  and the simmering   public discontent, it is human dignity that has been mercilessly bludgeoned in this story of resilience and incredible moral courage   .The essay pleads for a repeal of AFSPA ,maintaining that" at the centre  of it all, steadfastly, inspired by the Gandhian way in a land no longer Gandhian, the Irom lady has gone on, unperturbed, to make a visible  dent in the infrastucture of India's democracy,"[p146], and unless her grievances are redressed , India will not be a democracy in the real sense.

I would  happily gift this invaluable book  to my student who asks," why reservation?", and to the one who raises a quizzical eyebrow wanting to know who Irom Sharmila is and  to the blatantly ignorant  drifter not knowing  what to do with himself, and yes to the  authorities who are in a position and have the wherewithal to convert the autism village into a reality - into Tagore' s "tangible poem", where love and compassion abounds.

Running as a common thread through these two parts is the theme of Truth, non violence, compassion and the almost obsolete values of honesty and sincerity, which even succeeds in tying the two parts beautifully into a meaningful whole.Honesty, the author  believes has almost become extinct in the present world , where we merrily turn a blind eye to injustice and a deafening silence in the face of  gross unfairness has become the accepted way  of doing things.

 The book is  addressed specially to the youth , who alas, are breathing the toxicity unleashed on them by selfishness,  in a  world  fragmented by narrow domestic walls ,which   is smouldering  in the   fires of  orchestrated hate .In the article on the youth of India co-written by Dr. Koshy and Dr. Biswas, the two scholars hope that the youth of the country will move from selfishness to altruism, and  with fearless minds tirelessly strive for perfection , and tackle the burning issues of food security,water security,rapid urbanisation and education.They hope that the youth , armed with Truth, rationality and broad visions will strive tirelessly towards a world "where  the mind is without fear,and the head is held high", "where knowledge is free"  and the "world has not been broken up into fragments  by narrow domestic walls."

Hats off to the erudite scholars for this timely and  intellectually stimulating book, and also to the  publishers Y S INTERNATIONAL who have done  a wonderful job .No , the book does not merit "any book or author burning", but yes  hints at a fiery annihilation of all negativities that have plagued our country and  our youth .
As an educationist who has been dealing with  students of all hues, I highly recommend this book for all students and hope to see it adorn the shelves of all university and college libraries.