The Age of Kali

My third Dalrymple book and again has not let this reader down. His travel writing stands out in that he can write his own descriptions of his observations or he can let just let the conversation with whom he is talking to speak for itself within the narrative. What a superb writer.

Subcontinent history and culture is not a strong point for me other than a few online items, a bit of news via SBS here in Australia and also being a cricket lover I am very aware of the superb players the subcontinent has produced and its population's love of the game being fanatical. While reading A History of India by Romila Thapar I began The Age of Kali as I kind of breaker mid-way. I have not been able to put this one down and will get back to the history itself shortly. The subtitle of this one is Indian Travels and Encounters. I might have had Sub-continent instead of Indian, as Dalrymple travels to both Pakistan and Sri Lanka and even has an aside to Réunion. Though published in 1999 this is still a relevant read for anyone wishing to understand the tumultuous politics of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The title is important. Dalrymple decided The Age of Kali after the Indian detonation of their nuclear device, with some seeing this as a sign of the age of Kali.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Yuga

Broken up into 6 parts, the author describes his subchapters as peripatetic essays, and they certainly are. With that there is something for anyone that has an interest in the Sub-continent, be that political, religious and cultural. The only area missing is Bangladesh, my only complaint.

Part 1 North has 5 subchapters. The first The Age of Kali Dalrymple discusses and goes to the Northern state Bihar where caste hatred and warfare was on the rise to the point of being endemic. Corruption was rife. It still is. I found a headline that said “Living Example Of Corruption In Bihar” after a recent bridge collapse.

Part 2 In Rajasthan has 3 subchapters. The third Sati Mata told the story of an 18-year-old bride burning on her young husband's funeral pyre. This happened in 1987 and there was a trial lasting 10 years after the authorities charged 32 men. All were found not guilty. The young bride, Roop Kanwar had a shrine built for her not long after her death and within a fortnight 750,000 people came to worship at her there.

Part 3 The New India has 2 subchapters. The second Finger Lickin' Bad: Bangalore and the Fast Food Invaders told of the backlash to western fast food in Bangalore. A Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet was smashed to smithereens as part of a backlash at India economic liberalisation. Considering Cricket and the railways were imports from another culture and are now more Indian than the empire they were exported from, this backlash made fascinating reading. I had a quick check and there are at present about 20 KFC's in Bangalore.

Part 4 The South has 3 subchapters. The third Parashakti is about the devotees of this goddess who has many other names. Dalrymple meets a Mr Venugopal who explains that the women at a temple have the devil inside them and Parashakti will tame those devils.


Part 5 On the Indian Ocean has 3 subchapters. The second Up The Tiger Path tells of Sri Lanka brutal civil war, with Dalrymple travelling to a devastated Jaffna and meeting some usually secretive leaders of the Tamil Tigers. About 20 years back I had a drink in a Parisian café and was served by a Tamil Refugee. He had been refused entry into Australia he told me, but France had welcomed him. The only thing he missed was Cricket. Did I know Shane Warne he asked? Only from the TV was the reply. He had no interest in the Civil War but talked Cricket with a sense of loss.

Part 6 Pakistan has 4 subchapters. The first Imran Khan: Out for a Duck explains to the reader just how popular Imran Khan was (and still is to this day) in Pakistan. Revered would be too soft a word. I am of the opinion that non Cricket playing nations have no understanding of Imran Khan and his status to the Pakistani people. I would suggest he makes Trump, just an example, look an utter light weight politically in terms of the loyalty of his supporters and general popularity that reaches superstar status unrivalled. This recent item in The Guardian is worth a read.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/24/future-pakistan-young-voters-imran-khan-cricketer-politician
This subchapter is about Imran Kahn at the start of his political career in 1989. His political party failed to win a seat at the next election. After the release of this book he rose to power as Prime Minister and has joined the many other Pakistani PMs who have had a difficult time in a country steeped in tribalism, nepotism and endemic corruption.


This for me is a very good book to read about events, places and people from late last century from the various areas of the subcontinent. It is travel writing with journalism mixed in at its apex. The stories told have stood the test of time in that they relate to the past from the subcontinents culture, history and politics with the thoughts of the lowliest village voice through to the high and mighty. It shows the rapid transition in some areas that is changing a conservative past. If anything I now have a better understanding of the present rise of the lower castes into the higher echelons of the Indian political elite, an understanding of the mix that is tribalism in Pakistan that permeates all life and also why the Sri Lankan Civil war was what it was.

Recommended to anyone with an interest in travel and the Subcontinent.