yeahhh get their asses roy!!!

I read this book a few years ago and remember liking it a lot. Her writing is beautiful, though I did find some parts hard to get through -- I can't remember exactly why (sorry, I have a lousy memory). But it was a good book and a great one to check out if you're thinking about global policies, the spread of democracy and capitalism, and the influence of the West on Indian life.

This book is a collection of two of Roy's essays: The Greater Common Good about the Sardar Sarovar dam and The End of Imagination about India's nuclear armament. The first essay made me ashamed that I as 1) a civil engineer, and 2) an Indian was so ignorant about the repercussions of big dam projects in India. It's given me fodder for delving more into the intersection of infrastructure and equity. In the second essay, Roy's outrage at India's nuclear program now stands in stark contrast with our now tacit acceptance of this madness 20 years later. A must-read!

The most devastating short-essay. 100 pages of grief, rage and helplessness that has been unchanged in 25 years.

I really just read the second essay in the book called "The End of Imagination." It was really something that reminded me about how violent and terrifying nuclear bombs are. I feel like I've just grown complacent and accepting that the nuclear bombs exist and that we, as Americans, of course are allowed to have them more than anyone else. Because clearly we've proven that we are not a country of lunatics, we don't have genocide (anymore), or religious hatred (yeah, right).

How horrifying that more and more countries, including my own, are working on ways to absolutely obliterate other people. How I love how she states in the essay that the only way this system really works is if our enemies truly have the same fears as us (non-extinction) yet, how many uncontrollable and unimaginable tragedies have occurred due to our enemies not thinking like us at all? Not thinking that annihilation is the worst possible outcome?

It was fascinating, and even though it was mainly about India's nuclear program it was truly insightful and applicable to us all.

10 stars!

The Cost of Living, by Arundhati Roy (1999, 126pp). This is an amazing book! It comprises two stories: 1) the building of mega-dams in India and the devastation of communities impacted by the flooding of their lands; and 2) India’s and Pakistan’s development of nuclear weapons. The first is a grievous tale of government ineptness, corruption, and malfeasance, and the second is an impassioned view of the insanity of nuclear warfare. Roy’s voice fully conveys impassioned anger, rage, and frustration, directed in large measure at India’s out-of-touch and callous government but also at the western world (the U.S. is a prominent target) and its horrible influences and legacies that impact people worldwide. This is one of the best books I’ve read in years, in no small part because her criticism’s are so on point and, even though this was written 20+ years ago, is as relevant today as it was then. Arundhati’s insight, incisive observations, and understanding is stunning. (And somehow I managed to wind up with a copy signed by the author.)

When I grow up I want to be Arundhati Roy.

Tidak semua wanita menghabiskan waktunya menekuri emansipasi di setiap esai mereka. Salah satunya adalah Arundhati Roy, yang menuliskan tentang modernisasi India melalui pembangunan bendungan. Awalnya dibangun dengan tujuan for a greater good, tapi malah mempergelap kehidupan masyarakat India.

Salah satu contoh esai kritik yang baik, menurut saya dan bagi saya untuk dipelajari. Roy menilik permasalahan pembangunan bendungan tidak hanya melalui satu sudut-inilah keistimewaan esai karya Roy ini.

Another introspective and well-informed commentary on the political elite that rule India and the self-serving projects that they have promoted, under the guise of Hindu nationalism. Ms Roy is an eloquent and courageous author.

Hell hath no fury like a woman. Go, Arundhati!! I love angry women and I was actually surpised by the depth of her rage at the incompetence of "those in charge" who are cutting off their noses to spite their faces -- building dams in India to provide water and in the process basically destroying the environment and humanity that stands in the way. Man, it was great just to experience such a cathartic screed. So much that is written about injustice is done in tempered, measured tones. This was great!

Iνδία, η χώρα με τα 3.200 υδατοφράγματα και με τους 50 εκατομμύρια αστέγους και πένητες.

I’ve never really been a fan or follower of patriotism. What is a nation? Who creates it? Why do I need to champion one patch of soil and rock over another? In Cost of Living, Arundhati Roy expands on two ways the very ideas of state and patriotism that we value so highly as a society are not only false. But run contrary to our sense of community and humanity.

The first essay ‘Greater Common Good’ examines the way in which dams were used across India to create and manufacture public poverty and displacement at a scale of millions. On the other end creating private profits, monopolies and power for a small wealthy elite. All of which was pedalled under the rhetoric of it being for the greater common good of India. Only that common good was reserved for a few, at the expense of the illiterate and marginalised villagers in places like Gujarat.

The second essay ‘The End of Imagination’ focuses on the fallacious use of nuclear weapons as an affirmation of statehood, identity and defense. The false pretext under which is was celebrated as a win for India, the country that broke from the phantom of the western powers.

Here are my favourite quotes and insights from my journey into this book:

* ‘The government of India has detailed figures for how many million tonnes of food grain or edible oils the country produces...but the Government of India does not have a figure for the number of people that have been displaced by dams… at the altars of ‘National Progress’...50 million people’

* ‘The World Bank ‘s management submitted 6000 projects to the Executive board. The board hasn’t turned down a single one… Terms like ‘Moving Money’... suddenly begin to make sense.
‘India is in a situation today [1999] where it pays back more money to The Bank in interest and repayment instalments than it receives from it. We are forced to incur new debts in order to be able to repay our old ones.’

* ‘The International Dam Industry is worth $20 billion a year. If you follow the trails of Big Dams the world over, where ever you go - China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Guatemala - you’ll rub up against the same story’

* The story of how on Christmas Day in 1990, 6000 men and women walked over 1000km in protest to one such dam building project. They had their hands bound together to show they were doing so peacefully. But still they were beaten, arrested and dragged and then driven off some miles away in the wild. And even then, they simply walked back and began all over again. Orwell's words in 1984, the boot stamping on a human face - forever - came to my mind.

* 'The state never tires, never ages, never needs a rest. It runs an endless relay. But fighting people tire. They fall ill, they grow old'

* 'When the waters recede they leave ruin...People never stop growing things that they can afford to eat, and start growing things that they can only afford to sell. By linking themselves to the 'market' they lose control over their lives...Even if the market holds out, the soil doesn't'.

* 'David Hopper, the World Bank's vice-president for South Asia, has admitted that The Bank does not usually include the cost of drainage in its irrigation...because irrigation projects with adequate drainage are just too expensive... it makes the cost of a complete Project appear unviable'

* 'Of the 1 billion people in the world who have no access to safe drinking water, 855 million live in rural areas. This is because the cost of installing an energy-intensive network of thousands of kilometres of pipelines, aqueducts, pumps and treatment plants... Nobody can afford to'

* 'The only dream worth having, is to dream that you will live while you're alive and die when you're dead... To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. An never, never to forget.'

* ' Fascism is as much about people as about governments... The bomb is India. India is the bomb. Not just India, Hindu India. Therefore, be warned, any criticism of it is not just anti-national, but anti-Hindu...That's the great thing about all religious texts. You can find anything you want in them - as long as you know what you're looking for'

* 'The original inhabitants of this land were not Hindu...India's Adivasi people have a greater claim to being indigenous than anybody else, and how have they been treated by the State and its minions?