Entertainment
Learning how to deal with history — from three women writers (Column: Bookends)
By Vikas Datta
The human propensity to go full tilt at windmills, a la Don Quixote, is not limited by gender — as anyone seeing Indian news channels focusing on a forthcoming film can attest. Among other grievances, a section of women protesters deemed “Padmavati” an attack on royalty (in republican India, no less), underlining how many of us can do much with history — except learn from it. Even when there are some worthwhile woman guides.
The field of letters is one where, for the past century-and-a-half, there has been more equality than in the real world. Mystery, horror, thrillers, history, travelogues — there has been scarcely any sphere or genre where women writers have not left their mark. Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, J.K. Rowling et al are not exceptions but just the tip of a vast iceberg.
And from this gigantic but hidden edifice, let us acquaint ourselves with three magnificent woman writers of the past century. All were well-regarded in their own day though not as much now, given the shortness of human memory and the deluge of works, but despite their varied styles and issues dealt with, offer valuable lessons to deal with history — in fact and fiction.
Let us begin with fiction first. “Daughter of Time” (1951), the most famous work of Scottish author Josephine Tey, deals with a very controversial issue of English history.
Tey was physical training teacher-turned-novelist Elizabeth MacKintosh (1896-1952), who began writing mysteries in the mid-1920s, taking the name of her great-great-grandmother. Another of those genteel but intricately-plotted mysteries the British do so well, the series, featuring Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, amounted to half a dozen books, with the final one discovered and published posthumously. Of the five published during her lifetime, the first four dealt with the period in which they came out (c.1929-51), but “The Daughter of Time” focused on a historical crime — the fate of the “Princes in the Tower”.
It has Grant, confined to a hospital bed with a broken leg and already bored, when a visitor suggests a diversion to occupy his mind, giving him pictures of some historical figures and asking him to determine if they were guilty of the offences held against them. Among them is the much-maligned King Richard III (r.1483-85), who is accused of murdering his nephews to succeed to the throne after his brother. However, Grant has a gut feeling that says otherwise, and with the help of an American researcher who provides him historical documents, using his detective skills, and testing his theories on attending doctors, nurses and other visitors, he builds a strong case why the unfortunate king — whose remains were only found recently — was blamed.
But Tey’s objective is not to exculpate a medieval monarch but rather show how history is constructed, and certain versions of events are believed to be the truth, without any evidence and/or any logical plausibility, with our present-day protagonist also coming to understand how great myths or urban legends — that so many of us believe — prevail.
A more contemporary focus is taken by fellow Scotswoman Helen Clark MacInnes (1907-1985), who started out as a librarian but became the “Queen of Spy Writers, with 21 novels between 1941 and 1984, initially set in World War II before switching to the Cold War.
MacInnes not only had her first two books getting filmed within a year of their publication even as WWII raged, but the second — “Assignment in Brittany” (1942) — also became recommended reading for spies/secret agents. About a British officer inserted into Nazi-occupied France to obtain some vital information by impersonating an influential local, it is marked by her meticulous research, evocative descriptions — and also different treatment. Though not entirely avoiding stereotypes (brave British/cruel Germans), it takes a more nuanced view of human motivations in wartime and the perils of judging someone on only one pre-conceived notion.
And finally, in non-fiction, there is journalist, author and literary critic Dame Cicely Isabel Fairfield (1892-1983), or Rebecca West as she is better known. A fierce opponent of any form of totalitarianism, including that of “majority” opinion, which, she found, was only too ready to turn on minorities and individuals on the flimsiest of evidence and mass frenzy, West wrote a host of novels, works of literary criticism and reportage — of which we must single one.
Combining reportage, travelogue and shrewd political analysis, her massive (nearly 1,200 pages) “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon” (1941) is unsurpassed as a portrait of Yugoslavia and the various strands — Serbs, Croats, Bosnians — that made up the fractious country. Foreseeing both the extreme ethnic violence there during the coming world war and as well as in the 1990s, it is also universally timeless as a warning of how an exclusivist, rabidly nationalist and unconscionably violent frenzy can be whipped up, sustained and unleashed to wreak havoc on common people.
There are many more lessons and teachers but only if we are ready to accept there is nothing exceptional about our history, which is just another version of the human experience and our path already travelled — with danger signs posted.
(Vikas Datta is an Associate Editor at IANS. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at [email protected])
–IANS
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Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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