Author offers insight into Pakistani religion
“The Crow Eaters”
Bapsi Sidhwa
Milkweed Editions
By Bryan Peterson
Staff Reporter _
First published in 1981, Bapsi
SidhwaVTheCrow Eaters” has been
revived as the second book in Milk
weed Editions’ “Alive Again!” se
ries.
Milkweed is a thriving press in
Minneapolis dedicated to preserving
works of literature and art that might
otherwise be lost between the finan
cial considerations of overly conser
vative mass market publ ishers and the
limited printings of small presses.
Sidhwa’s heritage straddles both
Pakistan and India; she now lives in
the United States. Drawing on her life
experiences, Sidhwa has helped pre
serve the fragile Parsec community in
India in this and other writings.
The book’s title refers to a deroga
tory term given to the Parsecs, a reli
gious sect that is trying to survive in a
Pakistan full of other religions and is
about to have India partitioned off
from it.
Moving from 1901 to 1940, the
book centers largely on Faredoon
(Freddy) Junglcwalla in his rise from
a small-time merchant to a widely
respected and influential man in his
community.
In this loosely connected series of
talcs, the reader slowly finds a re
markably rich and complex individual
living in a similarly rich and complex
community.
Part hero and part scoundrel,
Freddy follows his country through
the unimagined changes wrought by
the 20th century. Much like the patri
archal figure in “Fiddler on the Roof,”
Freddy is lorn between the demands
of tradition and those of change as he
builds a family and a business.
Readers also witness the struggles
of the Parsecs, and find them to be like
most religions. Like any Western sect,
the Parsecs have their extremists,
hypocrites, and occasionally, those
with sincere devotion.
And, like many individuals in the
West, Freddy has his foibles. He in
structs his family in morals by quot
ing English adages, often misquoting
them in the process. At the same time,
Courtesy of RCA Records
Me Phi Me’s debut album, “One,” is rap/hip-hop music with
a message.
Nonconformist forges
acoustic frontier in rap
Me Phi Me
“One”
BMG/RCA
“Space. The final frontier. These
arc the voyages of the Me Phi Me.”
And so starts the debut album of Me
Phi Me.
Me Phi Me is breaking through in
a new style that includes acoustic
guitars and harmonicas shared with
groups such as Arrested Development
and The Disposable Heroes of
Hiphopracy.
“We stand forindividualily”ispart
of “the Credo” of Me Phi Me. “One”
isan album explaining the philosophy
of this artist.
Nonconformity is the main idea
played out in “One”.
In .. and I Believe (the Credo),”
it is said, “Get together but never
conform to others again/We got our
own brain/So I don’t need yours/Bc
cause alone I am a powerful force.”
The lines arc backed by samples
from Ladysmith Black Mambazo. But
let’s not forget that this is a hip-hop
album. Periods also show up from
James Brown and Sly and the Family
Stone.
However, live instruments arc fa
vored throughout the disc. The drums
are high powered, especially on the
tracks “Dream of You” and “... and
I Believe (the Credo)."
“Pu’ Sho Hands 2Gctha” isa party/
dance-oriented track. This style
doesn’t work for Me Phi Me. He needs
to stick to songs with a message.
When the only things the rhymes have
to speak of is the funky music, the
lyrics seem incorrect.
The listeners get to sec
homelessness from the homeless
person’s pointof view in “Black Sun
shine.” This is one of the album’s best
tracks with solid drums, acoustic gui
tar and a voice echo — all used to
create deep feelings.
Another solid track is the album's
firstsinglc,“SadNcwDay.”Thissong
was well received on the pop and R &
B charts.
“It Ain’t the Way It Was” isa song
about having a relationship with an
older woman. Listeners arc urged to
look at each individual for his or her
maturity and not just age.
Throughout the album, Me Phi Me
breaks into “Poetic Moments” and
has short verse about individuality
and positive living.
Me Phi Me is a man trying to break
the molds of rap, and he has done a
good job. His acoustics musically set
him into a new category of rap, just as
his lyrics set him out as an individual.
— Greg Schick
he regularly exerts his growing influ
ence in certain manners that arc not
quite exemplary.
Freddy sceshimself as working for
the good in his ceaseless wheeling for
position, currying of favor and secur
ing of interests.
At one point, he collects 50,000
rupees from a fellow Parsec to pay a
10,000-rupee bribe to a police officer
to release the fellow’s son on drug
smuggling charges. Freddy then dis
tributes the balance among Parsec
charities.
Freddy summarizes himself while
lecturing the wayward son of a friend,
“The first rule one must observe is to
respect the law. You can never run
from it... though you may gel around
it!”
Sidhwa docs not let Freddy steal
the show, interesting as he is. Many of
the book’s tales revolve around other
members of his family, each of them
strong people in themselves and in
relation to Freddy.
Also connecting the tales is a vi
brantstrand of bawdy humor, as when
the tomboy daugfttcr of an English
civil servant tries to pull the loincloth
off Freddy’s Hindu gardener.
Such antics help enliven the Parsec
culture, but they arc balanced by the
griefs and sorrows experienced by
I__I
Courtesy of Milkweed Editions
Bapsi Sidhwa, an English-language novelist from Pakistan,
writes about a Parsee family from India in her book, “The
Crow Eaters.”
Freddy and his family at other limes.
The result is a full, variegated de
piction of Parsec culture and some of
its more remarkable, if fictional, char
acters.
In reality, the Parsecs arc a threat
ened culture whose numbers arc di
minishing and whose traditions arc
slowly being compromised.
With “The Crow Eaters,” Sidhwa
has done much to further her “wish to
portray the robust spirit and exuber
ance that have served the Parsecs so
well since their migration to India as
refugees 1,300 years ago.”
Country western Top 10
1. “Jesus and Mama,” Confeder
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2. “No One Else on Earth,”
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3. “Cafoon the Comer,” Sawyer
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Source Cashbox magazine
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