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zach_l's review
4.0
A fascinating, informative, and often entertaining read! Somewhere between academic historian and memoir, the author has provided lots of facts and historical context to the empires around the Indus (primarily in modern-day Pakistan) while weaving in some more recent history. Her own journey up the river is at times stressful to read given the complexities of the journey. Taking off a star because at times the writing was unnecessarily pretentious in word choice (I felt like I needed a glossary for English as well as non-English words) and also the map/image choices seem poorly planned for following the journey.
prahlad's review
3.0
Good book with an interesting structure: it is a travel book where the author travels up the river and back in time, tracing many interesting events along the way. My favourite part of the book was the discussion on the River Saints, and on Guru Nanak.
Overall, the book starts strongly, but tends to drag towards the end. The author focuses a bit too much on her own "quirky" personality while describing certain events, which tends to grate.
Overall, the book starts strongly, but tends to drag towards the end. The author focuses a bit too much on her own "quirky" personality while describing certain events, which tends to grate.
ayushinayak's review
5.0
I had bought this book last year on a whim, read it for a couple of days in a dispassionate manner, and could never complete it. Not even my spirit could tell what I was upto in 2015. But one thing happened for sure and that was a deep understanding of the author's intentions behind this book. It's like her wanderer, discoverer spirit was speaking to mine. And even when I had given this book a back bench in my brain's stadium, I could hardly forget it. And, so as this year I decided on a more organised approach to things including setting up deadlines for book completion and honest reviews, this book made a comeback in the form of a book I started in 2015 but could never complete, a backlog in short. Only it didn't feel like one.
So, here goes the real review: This book is an account of a journalist intent on scaling the river Indus through it's course, but there's a catch: she does it from it's destination to the source. Yes. And as even a 5th grader could tell, she had to cross the hinterlands of Pakistan, POK and finally Ladakh. The first stretch of her journey covered polluted cities of Pakistan which in turn were polluting the river followed by visits to a few islands with minimal resources and heavy dependence on the river. Again this was followed by the course through Afganistan with many a case of illegal border trespassing undertaken by her. The book was laden with different Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu anecdotes from centuries forgotten and covered by the sands of time and tide, in this case too literally. She went back to Pakistan through some of its Pashto speaking people settled on Indo-Pak border on the Pakistan side, whom even the Gods have forsaken travelling all the time on foot. Upon entering India she visits Kashmir and then Ladakh to the final origin of river Indus with a deep sense of loss due to the exploitation done on this river said to be the very first as the Earth came to being to it's current shape a million years ago.
This book leaves me with a want to travel and take the same course undertaken by the author and an excitement to get started reading further travel accounts. Happy read definitely.
Adigos.
So, here goes the real review: This book is an account of a journalist intent on scaling the river Indus through it's course, but there's a catch: she does it from it's destination to the source. Yes. And as even a 5th grader could tell, she had to cross the hinterlands of Pakistan, POK and finally Ladakh. The first stretch of her journey covered polluted cities of Pakistan which in turn were polluting the river followed by visits to a few islands with minimal resources and heavy dependence on the river. Again this was followed by the course through Afganistan with many a case of illegal border trespassing undertaken by her. The book was laden with different Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu anecdotes from centuries forgotten and covered by the sands of time and tide, in this case too literally. She went back to Pakistan through some of its Pashto speaking people settled on Indo-Pak border on the Pakistan side, whom even the Gods have forsaken travelling all the time on foot. Upon entering India she visits Kashmir and then Ladakh to the final origin of river Indus with a deep sense of loss due to the exploitation done on this river said to be the very first as the Earth came to being to it's current shape a million years ago.
This book leaves me with a want to travel and take the same course undertaken by the author and an excitement to get started reading further travel accounts. Happy read definitely.
Adigos.
usmanbaig's review
4.0
4.5 Stars. “Empires of Indus” is, with its successful blend of travel and history, as fascinating and fluid of a book one can hope for. I particularly enjoyed the parts about the Indus in Pakistan(naturally) as the author’s perspective, though inevitably laced with her personal prejudices and biases, about the things and phenomenon we take for granted is refreshing due to her not being a native. History has always excited me, specially one which diminishes the human scale of time, and this coupled with the grandeur of the described geography surrounding the Indus around its source made this book a uniquely enjoyable read for me and(I hope) others who give it a go.
tbr_the_unconquered's review
5.0
So let man consider of what he is created:
He is created of water pouring forth. ~ Qur'an
This piece of text above from a religious scripture is but a reverberation of an undeniable fact that life began in water and that is sustained by water. Most creation myths and the science behind evolution also nod their heads in assent about these seemingly god like powers of this confluence of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. It was then only natural that the first forms of human habitation took root near large water bodies. The much touted civilizations of legend all had their roots planted firmly near rivers or lakes and oceans. This is the story of one such river that could have boasted of some of the earliest civilizations being its offspring, had it a tongue ! But the river's lack of communication skills is solved with this amazing travelogue by Alice Albinia.
While I did call this a travelogue in my earlier sentence, it would be narrowing this book down to almost nothing which is an insult to the book. The travel part of it is perhaps the background of a series of chapters that cover history, archeology, politics and the havoc humans unleash on nature. The one factor that felt the most effective was the way the chapters were constructed. The author travels backward in time from the river's end point to its source as she tells us the story of this mighty river. This is a storyline that extends from 1947 to 50 million years ago. As we travel back through the river we witness the freedom of India and Pakistan from the British, the ensuing communal riots, Pakistan's current state of affairs, Afghanistan and its relation with the Taliban and as we near the source, Alice takes us into Tibet and the Chinese effect on it. In a space of almost 300 pages, the author travels almost all of Asia's most important nations. The characters we meet are equally maginificient : We travel through Pakistan to understand the myth of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the impact it has had on the nation, get to know the first river conquests of the British East India company which led them to the conquest of India, meet Sufis, understand African inclusions into the population of Pakistan, meet Guru Nanak and witness the emergence of the Sikhs, hear the Pathans and the legends of the Khyber Pass, the rise and fall of Buddhism, following the footsteps of Alexander The Great, comprehend the roots of the Rig Veda, ponder over the civilizations of Mohenjedaro and Harappa and finally nearing the source of the Indus we meet the neolithic and paleolithic humanoids. It is a journey across the length and breadth of human history and in her simple, efficient prose Alice Albinia captures the soul of this river and these legends that surround it.
It is rather ironic to know that India derives its name from the river Indus which is now almost completely in Pakistan : the uneasy relation of neighbors with a long history behind them. What I found most alluring in way of the author's writing was her dispassionate approach to history and religions which lay a lot of facts bare that are otherwise enshrouded in a lot of religious paraphernilia.
There are two images that will stay with me for long from this book. The first is about a statue. This is one of a Maitreya Buddha which stood on a lonely,wooded hillside in the Swat area of Pakistan. With minimalistic prose, the author tells us of the beauty of this serene image on the mountainside. It is only later that we know that in 2007, extemists dynamited this statue and drilled away its head and shoulders. An artifact that had stood untouched since before the time of Prophet Muhammed was thus reduced to dust in a few hours.
The second is the river Indus itself. A massive body of water that has withstood countless years is now slowly but surely deformed by man made incursions. Another example of our single minded march to make more space for the forthcoming waves of population that weakens the foundations of Earth itself. The author sums it up best by saying :
I feel sad for the river: for this wild and maginificient, modern, historic, pre historic river; for this river which was flowing for millions of years before humans even saw it; for this river which has nurtured the earth since the land rose from the ocean.
Very highly recommended for the travel enthusiasts and the history buffs. I am floored !
He is created of water pouring forth. ~ Qur'an
This piece of text above from a religious scripture is but a reverberation of an undeniable fact that life began in water and that is sustained by water. Most creation myths and the science behind evolution also nod their heads in assent about these seemingly god like powers of this confluence of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. It was then only natural that the first forms of human habitation took root near large water bodies. The much touted civilizations of legend all had their roots planted firmly near rivers or lakes and oceans. This is the story of one such river that could have boasted of some of the earliest civilizations being its offspring, had it a tongue ! But the river's lack of communication skills is solved with this amazing travelogue by Alice Albinia.
While I did call this a travelogue in my earlier sentence, it would be narrowing this book down to almost nothing which is an insult to the book. The travel part of it is perhaps the background of a series of chapters that cover history, archeology, politics and the havoc humans unleash on nature. The one factor that felt the most effective was the way the chapters were constructed. The author travels backward in time from the river's end point to its source as she tells us the story of this mighty river. This is a storyline that extends from 1947 to 50 million years ago. As we travel back through the river we witness the freedom of India and Pakistan from the British, the ensuing communal riots, Pakistan's current state of affairs, Afghanistan and its relation with the Taliban and as we near the source, Alice takes us into Tibet and the Chinese effect on it. In a space of almost 300 pages, the author travels almost all of Asia's most important nations. The characters we meet are equally maginificient : We travel through Pakistan to understand the myth of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the impact it has had on the nation, get to know the first river conquests of the British East India company which led them to the conquest of India, meet Sufis, understand African inclusions into the population of Pakistan, meet Guru Nanak and witness the emergence of the Sikhs, hear the Pathans and the legends of the Khyber Pass, the rise and fall of Buddhism, following the footsteps of Alexander The Great, comprehend the roots of the Rig Veda, ponder over the civilizations of Mohenjedaro and Harappa and finally nearing the source of the Indus we meet the neolithic and paleolithic humanoids. It is a journey across the length and breadth of human history and in her simple, efficient prose Alice Albinia captures the soul of this river and these legends that surround it.
It is rather ironic to know that India derives its name from the river Indus which is now almost completely in Pakistan : the uneasy relation of neighbors with a long history behind them. What I found most alluring in way of the author's writing was her dispassionate approach to history and religions which lay a lot of facts bare that are otherwise enshrouded in a lot of religious paraphernilia.
There are two images that will stay with me for long from this book. The first is about a statue. This is one of a Maitreya Buddha which stood on a lonely,wooded hillside in the Swat area of Pakistan. With minimalistic prose, the author tells us of the beauty of this serene image on the mountainside. It is only later that we know that in 2007, extemists dynamited this statue and drilled away its head and shoulders. An artifact that had stood untouched since before the time of Prophet Muhammed was thus reduced to dust in a few hours.
The second is the river Indus itself. A massive body of water that has withstood countless years is now slowly but surely deformed by man made incursions. Another example of our single minded march to make more space for the forthcoming waves of population that weakens the foundations of Earth itself. The author sums it up best by saying :
I feel sad for the river: for this wild and maginificient, modern, historic, pre historic river; for this river which was flowing for millions of years before humans even saw it; for this river which has nurtured the earth since the land rose from the ocean.
Very highly recommended for the travel enthusiasts and the history buffs. I am floored !
hadiya's review
I wanted an easy general in to the huge corpus that is Indian history before I waded into some of the classics. And the premise was great: travel through the history of the Indian subcontinent by following the meandering Indus river.
The history was well-told and gave small peeks into parts of Indian history I had not before known and now want to read more about, such as the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, or the pre-partition history of the Sindh, among many.
But as Albinia took us through her own travels as she moved up the Indus River, the blandness of her perspective and her subjective biases started to become more obvious as I read on.
Obviously, I expected some inevitable bias, and I was even warned of it. But I didn't realize just how much there was. There's "some inevitable bias" and then there's this book.
I was doing quite okay until a particular chapter that made me very angry. Albinia is following the Indus river up, and in that quest has now smuggled herself into Afghanistan (despite many people warning against it). At this time, the American government has already intervened and displaced to some extent the reign of the Taliban. She writes:
<blockquote>
I also meet several of the women who have publicly taken off their burqas -- the aspiring politician, the TV presenter, the Education Department official -- and are now, for the first time in years, politely asking men to treat them as equals.
</blockquote>
Really? So what exactly have these women been doing till now? Twiddling their thumbs waiting for America to rescue them? I get that in Afghanistan these burqas were forced upon women by the Taliban, but they couldn't have been asking to be treated equally with their hijabs on as well? That Albinia has chosen to reduce the burqa to a tool that oppresses women in one slick sentence tells us all we need to know about the depth and nuance of her writing.
Throughout the book Albinia essentially uses the burqa as a vehicle for her own ends, putting it on when she needed anonymity or mobility, and taking it off to shock people with her true identity. Meanwhile, she uses her whiteness to gain entrance to locations and interview people that brown women would never be able to access, without once acknowledging it. Despite living in India and Pakistan for many years, she still has no understanding of her own privilege nor the struggle and effort women in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have endured for their own rights. At no point does it occur to her that just because her relationship with the burqa is purely transactional, women in that region could have a different experience. And this is the woman who is supposed to give us a balanced, well-researched history of the Indian subcontinent.
There are hints throughout the book of her white feminism, Eurocentrism, her arrogance when speaking to people in the region she travels, and her Islamophobic biases. She also consistently relies on the hospitality of people around her -- even staying with a family for 20 days for free -- without ever acknowledging that hospitality as a kindness or an instance of the culture. I'm only pointing that out because she frequently complains about the people she is around and that are helping her. So yeah, not balanced.
Anyway, I couldn't get past page 196. For anybody looking to read this book, don't. Despite the different historical arcs being interesting, the narrator is insufferable. And if she can't give the Indian subcontinent with its vast and complex history even an attempt at nuance and empathy, then she's just reinforcing what other British and white writers have done in the past 400 years. And frankly, in 2021, I don't think we need to tolerate that shit.
The history was well-told and gave small peeks into parts of Indian history I had not before known and now want to read more about, such as the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, or the pre-partition history of the Sindh, among many.
But as Albinia took us through her own travels as she moved up the Indus River, the blandness of her perspective and her subjective biases started to become more obvious as I read on.
Obviously, I expected some inevitable bias, and I was even warned of it. But I didn't realize just how much there was. There's "some inevitable bias" and then there's this book.
I was doing quite okay until a particular chapter that made me very angry. Albinia is following the Indus river up, and in that quest has now smuggled herself into Afghanistan (despite many people warning against it). At this time, the American government has already intervened and displaced to some extent the reign of the Taliban. She writes:
<blockquote>
I also meet several of the women who have publicly taken off their burqas -- the aspiring politician, the TV presenter, the Education Department official -- and are now, for the first time in years, politely asking men to treat them as equals.
</blockquote>
Really? So what exactly have these women been doing till now? Twiddling their thumbs waiting for America to rescue them? I get that in Afghanistan these burqas were forced upon women by the Taliban, but they couldn't have been asking to be treated equally with their hijabs on as well? That Albinia has chosen to reduce the burqa to a tool that oppresses women in one slick sentence tells us all we need to know about the depth and nuance of her writing.
Throughout the book Albinia essentially uses the burqa as a vehicle for her own ends, putting it on when she needed anonymity or mobility, and taking it off to shock people with her true identity. Meanwhile, she uses her whiteness to gain entrance to locations and interview people that brown women would never be able to access, without once acknowledging it. Despite living in India and Pakistan for many years, she still has no understanding of her own privilege nor the struggle and effort women in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have endured for their own rights. At no point does it occur to her that just because her relationship with the burqa is purely transactional, women in that region could have a different experience. And this is the woman who is supposed to give us a balanced, well-researched history of the Indian subcontinent.
There are hints throughout the book of her white feminism, Eurocentrism, her arrogance when speaking to people in the region she travels, and her Islamophobic biases. She also consistently relies on the hospitality of people around her -- even staying with a family for 20 days for free -- without ever acknowledging that hospitality as a kindness or an instance of the culture. I'm only pointing that out because she frequently complains about the people she is around and that are helping her. So yeah, not balanced.
Anyway, I couldn't get past page 196. For anybody looking to read this book, don't. Despite the different historical arcs being interesting, the narrator is insufferable. And if she can't give the Indian subcontinent with its vast and complex history even an attempt at nuance and empathy, then she's just reinforcing what other British and white writers have done in the past 400 years. And frankly, in 2021, I don't think we need to tolerate that shit.
quech87's review
5.0
One of the best travel literature I have read in a long time. Part travelogue part history, this is the story of author`s journey upstream on Indus from Karachi on Arabian sea to its source in Tibet. Like any good travelogue it travels not only in space but also in time.
The author meets interesting people like the Sheedis and the Kalash who are remnant of another time in the region while also touching upon people who once influenced the region or vice versa like the early Buddhists, Alexander, the Aryans, the civilization of Harappa & Mohenjo Daro.
The author meets interesting people like the Sheedis and the Kalash who are remnant of another time in the region while also touching upon people who once influenced the region or vice versa like the early Buddhists, Alexander, the Aryans, the civilization of Harappa & Mohenjo Daro.
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