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GillianFlynn

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DanielSilva

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Emily Giffin

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JessWalters

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CherylStrayed

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Bill OReilly, MartinDugard

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NewYork Times5

ARVIND P. DATAR

A RUN SHOURIES Falling OverBackwards:An essay against reservations and against judicial populism , now

in a new edition, is an outstandinganalysis of reservations in educationand employment and some lamentabledecisions of the Supreme Court.

After Ind epend ence, eve ry politica lparty, for reasons of political expedi-ency, has done exactly what the Consti-tution did not want them to do. Everysensible check in the Constitution hasbeen done away with and every sensible judgm ent over ruled by a con stitutio nalamendment. Not surprisingly, eachamendment was passed with almost noopposition. The dream of the foundingfathers of a casteless society has beenturned into a nightmare of a caste-rid-den society. And our politicians will notrest content till they further divide thealready divided nation along religiouslines as well.

Over the years, reservations up to 50per cent have come to stay 15 per centfor Scheduled Castes, 7.5 per cent forScheduled Tribes and 27 per cent forOther Backward Classes. In Tamil Nadu,the reservation is as high as 69 per cent.In no other country is affirmative actionpractised on such a massive scale.

These percentagescan be justified if the beneficiaries have been identified ona scientific basis.Shourie exposesthe ar-bitrarymanner in which the MandalCommission identified OtherBackwardClasses.The realtragedyis notthattheMandalreportis flawed,butthattheSupreme Court,by a majority, upheld it,despite noticing its glaring mistakes.Theminorityjudgments rightlypoint outthree things:nosurveywas done to find out whether the 3,743 castes,identified asbackward, hadadequate representation inthe services;only 0.06 percentof the villages were sur- veyed; and only 406 of 3,743casteswere subjected to anykind of socio-educationalfield survey.

The great jurist H.M.Seervai regretted the steepfall in the quality of judg-ments involving constitu-tional law and remarkedthat the judgments of the six majority judges in the Man-

dal case had reached rockbottom. But the Mandal verdict had itssilver lining: it held that reservationscould not be extended to promotions,that unfilled reserved posts could not becarried forward beyond 50 per cent, andthat a ceiling of 50 per cent must be im-posed for reservation. These simple

safeguards were also sacrificed at thealtar of populism by further consti-tutional amendments. Onceagain, what was even moretragic was that theseamended provisions wereheld to be constitutionally valid by the S uprem e Court. O ne won-ders what Seervai would have said aboutthe later judgments.

Shouries scholarly examination of several decisions of the Supreme Court will be the env y of any jur ist. In caseafter case, he points out untenable ob-servations made by judges of the highest

court that would embarrasseven a politician. His logic isfaultless and he clearlydemonstrates that theSupreme Court, has, regret-tably allowed dilution of constitutional safeguards.

Most citizens are un-aware of the fact that reser- vations ca n, and do, ac tuallycross the 50 per cent limit. If a Scheduled Caste or aBackward Class candidatesucceeds on merit, he canclaim the job or college seatin the open category. Con-sequently, one extra seatgets allotted to the reservedcategory. Suppose there are

100 seats in a college with 51seats in the open category and 49 seatsin the reserved category. If 15 candi-dates from the reserved category get ad-mission in the open category becausetheir marks are above the prescribedcut-off limit, then the seats for the for- ward cate gory get red uced by 15. T he

reserved category candidates will thenget 64 seats. Shourie points out the dev-astating consequences of our reserva-tion policies. In Kerala, 20,000 candi-dates applied for 700 medical seats. Togain admission, the forward class candi-date had to get a minimum rank of 412, whereas a L atin Cath olic backwa rd classcandidate got in with a rank of 2,653 anda Scheduled Tribe qualified with a rankof 14,246. In the services, the statisticsare equally shocking. For example, inKarnataka, in certain governmentdepartments, 80 per cent of the chief engineers are from SCs and STs. Of thereserved category and general categoryengineers who joined in 1982, theformer became assistant engineers in1991, while the latter did not reach thatgrade till 2012.

The Supreme Court requiredcandidates from the creamy layer tobe excluded from reservation. Thus,

children of wealthy parents, albeitbelonging to a backward class, shouldnot be given the benefit of reservation.Shourie once again shows how severalstates have made a mockery of even thissalutary safeguard.

The last chapter titled Epilogue orsuicide by a thousand cuts is particu-

larly engrossing. Shourie has exam-ined recent high court and SupremeCourt decisions on reservations forreligious minorities, on the uphold-ing of three constitutional amend-ments and the appalling verdict inthe Indian Medical Association

case where a bench of two judg es sim ply ign ored the

judgm ents o f bench es of fi ve, se venand eleven judges.

On June 27, 1961, Pandit JawaharlalNehru expressed dismay at the mannerin which reservations were being made.Writing to chief ministers, he warnedthat India would become second- orthird-rate if reservations were made oncommunal considerations. Nehru wasalso shocked to note that promotions were also m ade on cas te consid eration sand warned: This way lies not only follybut disaster.

It is a pity that every political partyseems determined to drive this countryin reverse gear. With elections due in2014, the demand for reservations alongreligious lines and in the private sector will be made ag ain. Shou ries mas ter-piece courageously exposes the uglytruth about reservations. No one deniesthe need for affirmative action. Povertyis a crippling handicap and the law hasto step in to create a level-playing field.But there is absolutely no justification

for reservations that are exclusivelybased on caste. What hope can acountry have whose leaders knowingly, wilfully an d delibera tely choos e thepath of folly and disaster.

ArvindDatar is a senioradvocate, Madras high court

Affirmative ActivismArun Shourie examines the other side of reservationsI NEEDAN ANSWER

Did thehand rise out ofthegrave?THEQUERISTASKS Butfirsta wordaboutthemannerin which whattheyaskis setoutin thefollowingpages:so thatnothingmaybe lostintranslation,so tosay,the questionsand answers,includingtheir spellings and grammar,aregivenexactlyasthey appearin theofficialweb-site ofthe DarulIfta,DarulUloom,Deoband.Togetback tothe querist, heasks,

Iwouldliketorefertobook Fadaail-e-Hajj (Eng-lishversion)by Shaykhal HadeethMaulanaMoham-madZakariyyapublished byKutub KhanaFaiziLa-hore,Pakistan,on Section 9;Manners of Ziarat, storyno9,astoryaboutSyedAhmadRifaee( rahmatullahi alaih) whichperforma hajjand ziarahrasulullahgrave.On thegrave,he reciteda coupleof poem.Af-terthat,the sacredhandof rasulullahcameoutofthegraveand thesyedkissedit.Itis said thatthe occasioniswitnessedby 90,000people.My question,1.canItrustthestorybecauseaswhati knew,deadpeoplecannotat anycircumstancesbe brought alive. So,candeadpeoplebecome alive? 2.The 90,000witnessess isalsoseem superflousas canpeople withthathugenumberseethe handof rasulullahcomesoutfromthegraveand kissedbythe syaikh?Tome,thestoryismerely sufismin naturewhichlaypeoplelikemecouldpotentiallymisunderstoodabout thestory andbrought forward falsestoryto other.OnlyAllahknowsbest.

The Ulema ofthe DarulUloom,Deoband,the in-stitutionthatis often referredtoas theAl-Azhar of theEast,answeras follows:

Answer: 23583Jul28,2010(Fatwa:1118/L=306/tl=1431)Thiseventdoesnotbelongtotasawwuf (mysti-

cism), ratherthepeople sawthe holyhand comingoutoftheblessedgravewiththeirnakedeyes.Itisprovedthatthe deadcan bealive withthe permissionofAllah.ThebookTazkiraShah AbdurRahim Dehlavi...,publishedfrom Al-FurqanLucknow,con-tainsa bookletwiththe title MurdonKi ZindonSe HamKalami .In thisbooklet,HadhratMaulanaManzoorNomani... hassubstantiallyprovedin detailthatthe deadcan talkto thosewhoare alive.Forde-tails,study thesame.

Allah (Subhana WaTaala ) (MightyandGreat)knows BestDarulIfta, DarulUloom Deoband

Thatisnotafatwaissuedinthemiddleages.Itwasissuedon 28July2010.Twopointsare worthyof no-ticehere:what theUlema ofthis highauthorityre-gard asfact,and whattheyregardas proofof thatfact.

Thatsomethingiswrittenina bookto theeffectthat90,000personswitnessedthe hand rise outofthegrave1,400years agois bothnecessaryand sufficientforthemtomaintainthatthehanddidindeedriseoutofthegrave;thata bookletwrittenby MaulanaMan-zoorNomanisaysthatthedeadcantalktothelivingestablishes thatthey canindeedtalk.

E X C E R P T

THEWORLDOFFATWAS(REVISED ANDUPDATEDEDITION)ARUNSHOURIEHarperCollinsPages: 776Rs699

FALLING OVERBACKWARDS(NEW EDITION)ARUNSHOURIEHarperCollinsPages:506,Rs499

C

R S A S I K U M A R

SUDEEP PAUL

I T WILL godownas oneofthearchironiesof Anglo-Americanliteraturethatjust aboutthe timethereputationofMartin Amis asthebigdaddy ofEnglishletterswassealedfora coupleof generations,hiscareerasanovelisthadtobegivenupforlost.Till hereturned withThe PregnantWidow (2010),whichmany,includingthis reviewer,had cele-brated, andnot without apparentcauseat thetime,as theintimation of Amiss late style.A couple of yearslater, Amisis backwitha state-of-the-nationnovelabout thenationand thestatehe hasrecentlyleft.Given Amisandfamilysdeparturefor NewYork, LionelAsbo cannothelpbut soundthenotes ofdisappointmentand dis-gust.Englandjustdidnot getAmisJr.Hethoughthe alwaysgotEng-land.But dontread LionelAsbo forthestateofEngland.

LionelAsbo(A-S-B-O:Anti-So-cialBehaviourOrder),the lottolout,theEast Endlow-life,whosuddenlyrisesto celebrityby winning 140mil-lionin theNationalLotterywhiledo-inghis choresin prison, pronouncedmyth miff . Fullpossessive pronouns your, their, my still madeguestappearancesin hisEnglish,and hedidntinvariablydefy grammaticalnumber(theywas,andsoon).Buthis verbal prose and his accent were insteepdecline.Untila coupleof yearsagoLionelpronouncedLionel Li- onel.Butthesedayshepronounced

Lionel Loyonel,oreven Loyonoo. A writer loves even her most loath-somecharacters and,despitethe factthatthe stateof Englandis thestateofits language,Lionelevokes bothaffectionand abhorrencein hiscre-ator.Which,thereadercansafelyas-sume,is Amiss lastword onEngland yet. For all the psychotic violence andthechilli-charged psychopathicpit-bullshe goesout debt-collectingwith,Lionelis a pettycriminal,and not very successful at that. He has turnedstupidityinto an artby steadfastlyre-fusingto usehis intelligence.For his18th birthday,hehad hislastnamechanged fromPepperdine toAsbo inhonourofthecourtorder.

Itis Lionels half-Trinidadian,dark-skinnednephew DesmondPepperdinethatAmisheapshisaf-fection on,to thepointofsentimen-tality.The novelbeginsin2006withfifteen-and-a-halfyears oldDess let-tertoanagonyauntinLionelsfavourite tabloid,Morning Lark, with grammar and spelling only a tadbetterthan hisanti-dad,counter-fatheruncle.An orphan,Desis notonlythemoralbutalsothelinguisticantithesisof Lionel devotedto hisConciseOxford,witha hungerfor et- ymology and learning languages, get-

tingdistinctions inhis A Levels,graduatingtolanda jobina paper,anddreamingof beinga parentwithhissweetheartDawn.

A summary, of course, cannot do justice to the London borough of Distonvis-a-visits realcounter-parts.For, LionelAsbo isnotmerelysatire.It iscaricaturedrivento suchexcess thatthe distortionsand depar-tures,whileveryAmisly funny,makeusreconcileourselvesto therealisa-tionthatwe maybehu-mourless afterall,handicappedin thehead,or mentallychal-lenged,to quoteAmisfromhis1984Observer pieceNo LaughingMatter (compiledinThe WarAgainstClich ,2001).Thetroubleisthatthe challengewins,everytime,handsdown.Thehumourlesshavenoideawhatisgoingonandcantmakesenseof anything atall.Thechallengewins,not be-causethe bookis replete with our beloved and de-spisedAmisms,butbe-causeit isinexplicably

dated Amisaloneknowswhy weakening thereby the purpose of satire.A lotteryby post,O Levels(discontinuedmorethan 20yearsago),milkstillsuppliedin bottles,lettersto agonyauntssent, again,by post,etc,etc? Andthe Englishdontreallytalkon theircell-phones,dothey?

Buttoreturntotheplot,and Li- onelAsbo offersafullyfleshedoutone.The reaction offriends,family,

society(to saynothingofthe media)to Lionelslotteryluck isnot justthestateoftheEnglishbutanenduringtruthabouthuman nature.Li-onelcan,anddoes,getejected fromone poshhotelafteranothertillheendsupinonecater-ingto unhinged (Lionel was declared uncon-trollableat 18monthsandearned hisfirst Asbo at three years)rockstars,criminally in-clined footballersandsimilarnear-Asbos.Hebuysagarishcountryhouse,getsa glamorousgirlfriend (Threnody),

orderschampagnein pintglassesandmakesa messeatinglobsters.Whatdrivesthetensionoftheplot,how-ever,is Dessoriginal sin:the affair with his grandmother.

DessmotherCillawas12 whenhe wasborn, Cillasmother (GrannyGrace)was12 when shewasborn.InDiston,peopledontlive longandgenerationstend tooverlap.Lionelis22 in2006, BeatlemaniacGrace39,andshadowed byAlzheimers.

Lionel,ever intenton keeping hismotherchasteand himself comicallyanti-carnalexceptfor pornon hisMac,willperhapskillDesifhe findsout.ButitisonlyafterGraceispackedoffto anold-agehomeandherrecollectionsresemblethe cryptic DailyTelegraphcrosswordsshe wasonceobsessedwith,that thedangercomeshome:whenhermemoryre-turnsaftera boutof dementia,shemostlyrecalls hersexual adventures.HowlongwillDes holdout?

Londonsurbantragicomedy is vintage Amis (every section of thebook inverts thecultsongWhoLettheDogsOut?).AfterJohnSelfandKeithTalent,you wontbe surprisedbyLionel Asbo,the chav.Diston, where everything hated everythingelse,and everythingelse,in return,

hatedeverythingback,is familiarterritory.So isalmost everythingelse.Fromthe beginning,the Amis-nessofAmisisallovertheplace,cele-brating,as Amismust,his wieldingof Englishprose. Andyet, Money(1984)and LondonFields (1989)willstillbecitedashisbestworks.Des,asamoralinsertion,inhabitsa vacuum where the sights and sounds of the world of young men and womendontenter.Besides,whatare thechances ofa Distonlad,with Lionelforhis guardian,of educatingandself-sophisticatinghimself?

LionelAsbo isDickensian(inci-dentally,Dessschool isSqeers Free),andAmishasbeenwritingaboutthe working classes for four decades. Yet,hecontinuestobe attackedforit,fortrying toempathiseand imagine where empathy and imaginationdontwork.In a recentinterviewtoDavidWallace-Wells,Amis findsitallso contemptible,and asksif crit-icsand otherdetractors wanttoghettoisethe workingclassas a sub- ject. About the intentions of theliterati,one suspectsAmis isright.Unfortunately,using Desfor poetic justice against historicald eprivationsgrossly exaggeratesthepower ofthe written word, even Amiss. MaybeEngland didntdeserveAmisJr. Heremains,in Brooklyn,Englandsfinest critic.But hisfictionhasntgoneanywheresince1989, exceptforthebriefand brilliant, butrarelymen-tioned,meditativecrimethriller NightTrain (1997).

Something is AmisLionel Asbo is less the state of England and more Martin Amiss parting gesture

LIONELASBO:STATE OF

ENGLANDMARTIN AMISJonathanCapePages: 276Rs550