If I am stuck with finding fiction books to read, the first and most sensible way is crowdsourcing. A pretty good source is looking up the book recommendation from The New York Times. That's how I come to hear about Megha Majumdar.
No single word better expresses the essence of what makes her debut novel a powerful one than "Burning." No less important is the way Majumdar entitles the book A Burning.
One of the main characters, Jivan, was accused of sedition in the aftermath of a terrorist attack at a railway station. A few nights after she posted a careless comment on Facebook, she was dragged up in her nightie by the police. The next morning, at the courthouse, Jivan was told by the judge the list of charges against her.
"Crime against the nation," he said. "Sedition." (Call me a coward if you will; I dare not cite Jivan’s anti-government Facebook post here.)
No more than a few hours after Jivan was arrested, she was transported from temporary lockup to the prison. I could imagine the scene she cried, my own eyes dry and throat burning. Of course, you'd read more burning stories behind bars. Take Americandi, her cellmate. She pushed a man who was trying to snatch her necklace but then fell, struck his head on the pavement and became comatose. That's how Americandi ended up in jail.
As I read on, I heard and saw more burning of scapegoats, or maybe I imagined it. Maybe.
Hands up if you know the reason for the plumage of the adult male birds to be more vibrant and ornamented than that of female?
Natural selection, I hear you say. The more beautiful male birds have been thought to be for the sake of courtship, offering an advantage whereby the feathers attract females.
Is this simply for natural selection favoring handsome males to attract their mates?
My recent reading on the subject is more positive. And less sexist than the old-fashioned male chauvinism theory. At times, it is better to look at the upper hand of drab female birds. I rather like the idea of female birds preferring a drab plumage for their own advantage. Ah, think about the usual role of female birds to raise the young, and conspicuous plumage at a nest can make both the female and the nestlings more vulnerable to predators.
In other words, females need a camouflage or dull attire to stay safe.
Essays of Helen Macdonald, an award-winning naturalist, are exemplary pieces of heart-tugging writing about hawfinches, cuckoos, orioles, magpies, swifts, barn owls and many wildlife.
My recent reading of her Vesper Flights had prepared me to immerse myself in the thrilling details of spotting birds. An inchoate attempt with instant gratification. The happiness and the spectacle I've discovered with my camera has held me spellbound.
I watched in awe today afternoon in Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve, populated by songbirds. And so I listened agog when their aerial appearance swelled my heart out of all proportion to the size of my viewfinder. It was thrilling. If there is a better way to conclude a birdwatching walk than seeing a bright grass-green leafbird with a plumage tinge of cobalt-blue, then I don't know it.
