The second section of the book deals with the challenges of financial regulation and its relationship with monetary policy. The discussion revolves around the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) which failed in early 2023. The SVB was a successful new age financial institution, with a clientele drawn from the technology and startup sectors. Established in 1983
Kumar-Rao skilfully offers readers a deep and thorough understanding of the fragile landscapes using extensive investigative journalism and vivid descriptions of challenging circumstances.
The richly textured sections on semi-urban and rural Bangladesh are remarkable for visual details. Imagine this: A ‘gora’ missionary holding a bundle of dirty clothes is lowering himself gingerly into a scum-covered pukur to wash himself and his garments. The steps are broken and slippery and a large, cheering audience of locals is shouting instructions! Here is another
Yaar Mera… besides being the tale of Partition pathos and the lost world of syncretic culture is also an account of a father-son relationship. We get to see an entirely other side to this relationship through the depicted voyage and the numerous conversations between the duo that go into the construction of the memory which wasn’t easy to recollect and be given shape to in the textual form.
Readers who feel that they are missing something here in this almost comically polarized, existentialist formulation between dying and tea-drinking have every right to feel puzzled.For there is a hidden allusion here to Albert Camus,
Most of these stories are those of survival and not lofty heroism. Put in vulnerable and helpless situations, where solutions lie beyond their control, the courage and maturity of the characters come across in their resilience, tolerance and acceptance, despite their flaws. As readers, we witness a growth in our own empathy and understanding of the conditions of being a refugee.