Sharjah Book Fair & Free Book Thamashas

Sharjah Book Fair has already started and has about 900+ publishers participating in it. It is happening at Sharjah Expo, near AlTawun Mall. Many well known authors from India including Arundathi Roy, Benyamin, Sethu have participated in this year's fair.

Fair Dates: Nov 7 till 17. Time: 10 am to 10 pm and on Fridays, 4 pm to 10 pm.
(Try to give a visit...)

Hall No.5 and Indian Publishers

Last week, I went for the fair and directly walked into Hall No. 5 where the Indian Publishers have kept their stalls. The India stall area was crowded. When I entered, the first thing I saw was the stalls of DC Books and Penguin Books. I was very happy to find the stalls crowded with people of all age. It included children, grand mothers and all of them were very enthusiastic. There were Amar Chitra Kathas (in English and Malayalam) which were welcomes by children and adults warmly. I overheard the conversation of a boy who looked like as if he is 9 or 10 to his mother which was as below.

"Mom, How many Amar Chithra kathas can I take? And I'm so confused now which one to take. Can you help me..?
"Sure.. First you select and then, lets sort later"
"Hey... Mammaa... You know the story you told me last week is here - the Shakunthala's. I'm ging to keep one for myself"

Okay.. So what is there in the conversation?

1. When I was 9 or 10, I have read Amar Chitra Kathas, Panchathanthras and all as if I was participating in a reading competition. That was the enthusiasm I had over stories and books. Here also, I could feel the same enthusiasm. Kudos to that child and his parents.

2. My Great Grand Mother (whom I called Muthassi) had told many stories to me when I was a child. She used to start this way "There lived a King who was...." or "Once upon a time, there was a fox who could..." or "Years ago, there was a small child named as Prahlad who..." or "There was a crow who was so greedy and wished to...". This helped us to fly in an imaginative world where I drew and painted all these characters... But my cousins, who are 10 years younger to me did not hear much stories. But they have seen Pokemon and has played Bey Blades. And here, also I could see that story telling has not completely gone from our houses. That child's mother tells him stories. Wow!!! That's good.

Similar to this, I (over)heard many conversations. Some people even asked me to suggest a book for them. I had a chat with many others while standing on the queue for the billing who shared with me the recent books they have read. Overall, it was a good experience.

Once out of the DC and Penguin books stalls, there were many other small stalls which sold books in English, Malayalam, Hindi, Arabic and few other regional languages. There were many books for children including stories, books of antonyms, grammar books, drawing books, etc.

But, for every good, there should be a bad thing as well.
And here is that...

A "free" book from Sharjah Book Fair.

I was walking through the stalls and there were few men standing with some books in their hand. One of them offered me a book which he told has "truth" inside. First, I said "No, Thanks". But he insisted me to read that book and gave me one. I was about to reach my purse when he told that the book is "free". Then he told me to read the book completely and not to put it in waste basket. So I just replied, "So you think that this book is not worthy to fit my bookshelf? Then, why do you offer me?". Then he said, " Read it completely. And think about it. You may change completely".

The book is in Malayalam and named as "Mokshathinte margam " (മോക്ഷത്തിന്റെ മാര്‍ഗ്ഗം)  written by M.M.Akbar published by "Niche of Truth ".
I read the entire book and thought over it. It was so hard to find any truth in it. But there was something which I could find - "Few narrow minded people are trying hard to shatter the religious harmony among Indians through these "free" "(non-)truth" books.."

So what's there in the book?
It talks about religion and few ideas from the 3 main religions in India - Hinduism, Christianity and Islam.

In the preface itself, the book says that there is a creator for the whole world who has given Quran. And some people do not realise and therefore, Niche of Truth tries to propogate it.

Before I get in to the topics dealt in the book, let me try to tell you a story which you know already. Everyone know what Ramayana is... Let's say there are few who have not even read or heard The Ramayana in their life. So I'm here to say the story of Ramayana in few sentences to them. Here is it:

"There was a King Dhasaratha who had 4 sons. One day Rama was asked to go to exile for 14 years by Dasaratha due to the pressure from one of his Queen and Rama went to the forest with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman. Then, he went to Lankapuri, a wealthy and beautiful land, which was ruled by  Ravana who was a Brahmin by birth. Rama fought with Ravana and killed him. Then after exile, he comes back and ruled his father's kingdom."

And then I ask a question to my listeners of Ramayana "See.. how cruel Rama is ... He killed the King of a wealthy Land. He must be the greedy king who the history has ever seen.. And people call him "Purushothaman" which means the best Purushan (man). And some people even bow before him...

There was no mention of Ravana kidnapping Sita. There is no mention of the Ravana's rule in his kingdom.

So now, there are 4 main types of listeners for any story.

1. The ones who are hearing the story for the firt time and takes in what the nicely spoken person says.
2. The ones who heard the story for the first time, get the real story from some one but, still not willing to accept the real story as their master or friend has told the other way.
3. The ones who heard the story for the first time but does a proper research and tries to know if the said thing is true. And accepts the real truth.
4. The ones who already knew the real story.

Why did I say this before getting in to the contents of "Mokshathinte Margam"?

Because I belong to the 3rd category of listeners. I'm not a big follower of any book and I believe that all books are for good. I don't like to grab and swallow just one book and preach about it. I believe knowledge is vast. I believe that Free thinking is required and accept what you like and discard what you do not.

I think my dad belong to Category 4. With a sarcastic smile, he rejected the book and told me " And after reading this free book, you'll come to know that it is stupid and you have wasted your time.

Yes. It was indeed stupid and was a waste of time. But, I'm wasting more time here to warn others about such a book.

Okay.. Now we'll get into the contents of the 59 page - book  in few words.

It first says about the "Other world" (Para lokam) or Heaven from verses taken from Hinduic scriptures, the Bible and the Quran. Next, it talks about the messengers and they directly get in to the last messenger.

First, from Hinduic Scriptures, the author have chosen Bhavishya Purana (which means future of the history), which is one among the 18 Puranas. He says that there is a mention of Islamic Prophet Mohammed. He is called as Mahamada in it. The author first talk about the first line in which the name Mahamada appears. Then, he says that Mahamada is Mohammed, the Islamic Prophet.
Then, he takes another few lines from the same Purana which talks about the characteristics of his followers  But, in the translation, he wisely omits few words like "Paisachya" and includes few other words like "Swine". Also note that he jumped from the first 2 lines to the verses which says the characteristics.

Simlar kind of translations were hear from Zakir Naik, the biggest lier of the century.

If he really believes in Bhavishya Purana, then it says that the King BhojaRaj and Mahamada (Prophet as per M.M. Akbar, The Niche of "Non-Truth", Zakir Naik and few others) worshipped Shiva Linga in the desert. Shiva says that there is a land contaminated by "Mlechhas" (wicked, non-Aryan) where no dharma exists. A demon named Tripura who was burnt to ashes has come again there as Mahamada is now doing demon-like activities. There is a city of pilgrimage known as Madina. The illusion-expert (may be Maya) Mahamada then tells Bhojaraj that Bhojaraj's religion is the best but still, I'm going to establish a terrible and demoniac religion by the order of the Lord. he symptoms of my followers will be that they first of all will cut their genitals, have
no shikha, but having beard, be wicked, make noise loudly and eat everything. They should eat animals without performing any rituals. This is my opinion.They will be called as musalman, the corrupter of religion. He told that demonoic religion wil be founded by himself and ghost (Mahamada) went back.

But as per M.M. Akbar, Mahamada finds a religions which has good dharma and his followers cut genitals, grow beard and eat everything except Swine. (Where did this Swine come from????? huh...)

In my research, I heard one lecture which said that these lines are added later to Bhavishya Puranam. But, no evidence with me. If the verses are written by Revered Veda Vyasa, he must be a great person who predicted all these 5000+ years ago.

Now the listeners of category 1 and 2 are very happy about the translation in 'Mokshathinte Margam' and continues to believe in whatever the author says. They are more happy to hear that 5000 years ago the revered Vyasa muni has told about Islam and Prophet.

And now M.M. Akbar says that the same Prophet is mentioned in Vishnu Purana as "Kalki" who is the incarnation of Vishnu.

Then M.M. Akbar tries to translate Bible in the way he likes.

Wow!!!!!!!!!
And next, he talks about all good things about Prophet and Islam. Then one heading is about Quran. He mention that it is the best book (He mention it as ലക്ഷണ യുക്തമായ വേദ ഗ്രന്‍ഥം).

Then he talks about the concept of Monotheism and ideas from different religions. Again, he has quotes from Hinduic scriptures, Bible before he get into Islam. From Hinduic scriptures, he uses one Sloka from Rig Veda, three or four from Swethasthorapanishad and one from Mundakopanishad and so on.. From Bible, he has explanations for few lines from both the new and old testaments. Then he go on explaining about the prayer style followed in Islam supported by Few Quranic verses.

To understand the real meaning of most of the Slokas, you have to know the situation. Not just for Slokas, it is applicable for books, movies, etc. The situation is explained in the preceding verses. But for M.M. Akbar, it is not like that. He never talks about situation and just about the verse and tries to point that the verse is wrong or he misinterprets the verse. Category 1 and 2 listeners are satisfied!!!!!!

To understand Monotheism in Hinduism, the concept of Brahman in Hinduism, the idol worshipping and the reason behind it, Mr. M.M. Akbar has to grow from the land of lies and mistakes. Sanathana Dharma followed by Hindus believe that God Brahman cannot be described. But, the God's essence is there in every creature - living or non-living - in this world. In few people, "Daivikathwam" or God-factor is high. When you believe that you'll never harm any other creature. And if you do pooja (prayers) to any idol whom you consider as Brahman with sincerity and goodness, it reaches real Brahman.

Anyways, Im sure about one thing.
M.M. Akbar is one person who strongly believes in Vedas and Puranas. Because, to talk about Prophet, he took support from Puranas though he misinterpreted them.

M.M. Akbar has heard Zakir Naik's lectures and took those few verses which Zakir Naik said. He has not read any Veda or Upanishad mentioned and he has no idea about Sanskrit. Instead, copied and pasted from somewhere to come to his conclusion.

എന്റെ പൊന്നു എം. എം. അക്ബര്‍ സാറേ... ഇങ്ങനെ മതം പരത്താന്‍ ഇതെന്താ മത്സരമാണോ? അതിനു നുണകളുടെ കൂട്ട് വേണമോ? കഷ്ടം..

And dear brother who has given me the book and asked me to read and think over it,
I read the book completely and thought over it. If I get a chance to rename this book, then I would rename "മോക്ഷത്തിന്റെ മാര്‍ഗ്ഗം " as "തെറ്റിദ്ധാരണ പരത്തുന്ന മാര്‍ഗ്ഗം", "എങ്ങിനെ കല്ലു വെച്ച നുണ പറയാം ?"

I believe that words are sharper than sword and therefore it has to be used diligently.
Book Fairs helps in promoting the reading habit but, there are few people who tries to use it the other way.

Beware!!!!!

I may not be liked by category 1 and 2 listeners as they might have read or heard the verse 9:29 from Quran which says, "Fight those from among the people of the Book, who believe not in ALLAH, nor in the Last Day, nor hold as unlawful what ALLAH and HIS Messenger have declared to be unlawful, nor follow the true religion, until they pay the tax considering it a favour and acknowledge their subjection." because I do not call my God as Allah but follow the true Sanathana Dharma and do not believe in messenger or last judgement day"