Still recovering from decades of abuse, the preserve launches campaign to become financially sustainable — and to escape closure.
A single pink sock, caked with mud, lies crumpled on the ground in Turkey Creek Nature Preserve, just a few yards from the water's edge. Charles Yeager — a bearded man whose khaki shirt, embroidered with the preserve's logo, reminds one of a park ranger — groans as he stoops to pick it up.
There's nobody at Turkey Creek today. It's a Monday, which means the preserve is closed to the public. (It's also closed on Tuesdays and after 5:30 p.m. the rest of the week.) On these days, the entrance to the preserve is blocked by a large wrought-iron gate with a sign warning away potential trespassers.
Among other things, this day off allows Yeager, the sole manager of the 466-acre stretch of land in Pinson, time to clean up the remnants of the weekend's visitors. Turkey Creek receives an estimated 130,000 visitors yearly, which is calculated by a road counter at the preserve's entrance. That's significantly higher, Yeager says, than the 40,000 visitors per year Turkey Creek received when he started working there in 2012.
As Yeager walks through the preserve, picking up a small collection of bottle caps and rusted pull-tabs, he worries aloud that a time will come when those gates have to be closed for good. There are eight months left for the preserve to meet a fundraising goal of $500,000.
Turkey Creek has already secured approximately $300,000 of that money in grants and private donations over the past two years. That money will go toward the construction of an on-site pavilion — to host educational programs, but also to be rented out for weddings and similar events — in a bid to make the preserve financially sustainable.
But in order to access that $300,000, the preserve also needs to show that it has three years' worth of operational funding. The fundraiser hopes to raise that remaining money though small donations from individual donors. If the preserve doesn't raise that amount, it loses the $300,000.
"People aren't just going to give us money and then have us close down and have this building that they paid for that nobody can occupy or use," Yeager says.
Yeager lives at Turkey Creek and spends 80 to 90 hours per week maintaining it. He's the only employee, and part of the funds raised will go toward his salary. He's paid to work 35 hours a week; the rest of his work is volunteered time. In many ways, he's the sole reason Turkey Creek stays open at all. The state owns the land, but it's promised to close it to the public if there's no one there to maintain it.
Charles Yeager, the manager of Turkey Creek Nature Preserve. Photo by Sam Prickett.
By the 1980s, the property had become a dumping ground. Photos taken during cleanup efforts show piles of used tires and trash bags scattered throughout the falls area at the heart of what is now the preserve. It had also become a site for illicit activity such as drug deals and prostitution, aided by the property's relative isolation. There were even murders — in 1995, an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old were shot and killed on the property.
In 1998, the Jefferson County Commission began considering Turkey Creek as a different kind of home for criminals, proposing the construction of a $50 million, 900-person, moderate-security prison on the site. The property's proximity to a wastewater treatment plant was one reason, but the commission was largely drawn to the property as a prison site for the same reason criminals had been: it was isolated.
This photo taken during a 1997 volunteer cleanup effort at Turkey Creek shows the effect of years of abuse. Photo courtesy of the Turkey Creek Nature Preserve.
But Pinson residents took notice of the county commission's plans — and took action. In response to the proposed prison, several residents started the Society to Advance the Resources at Turkey Creek (START) to attempt to protect the land. The group — which, according to Turkey Creek's website, boasted 7,000 members — attempted to get the land protected by Alabama's Forever Wild Land Trust, a state program established in 1992 that acquires land for public use and protects it from future development.
But Forever Wild's board turned START's proposals down, citing the derelict state of the property — still covered in trash from years of neglect and abuse — as well as the fact that the property was still divided into three different properties — with three different landowners.
The Jefferson County Commission abandoned plans for the prison at Turkey Creek in late 1998, but START continued its efforts, organizing clean-ups of Turkey Creek that resulted in 300 tons of trash being removed from the property's falls area alone. In 2001, START partnered with the Freshwater Land Trust, a Birmingham-based nonprofit that worked to obtain and combine the properties that would eventually become the preserve. By 2003, the Freshwater Land Trust had obtained all 466 acres of land, combined it into one property, and once again nominated it for protection by Forever Wild — and this time, it was approved unanimously.
The Freshwater Land Trust sold the land to Forever Wild for $2 million — and after it had recouped the costs of acquiring the land, it put the remaining amount into a bank account to use in setting up the preserve.
Turkey Creek operates on roughly $80,000 per year — a shoestring budget, Yeager says. Half of that comes from a slew of partners: the City of Pinson, the Jefferson County Commission, the Alabama State Lands Division, and the Friends of Turkey Creek. Another $15,000 to $20,000 comes from the annual Darter Festival. But the remainder of that budget comes largely fundraising efforts.
A large part of the preserve's annual budget, goes toward Yeager's salary. Roughly $6,000 per year goes toward paying for utilities so that the preserve's office can have power and running water. Then there's fuel for the preserve's pickup truck, Kawasaki MULE, lawn mowers, weed eaters, and chainsaws. ("Trees come down a lot," Yeager says.) Plus there has to be money to pay for repairs when there's vandalism, to pay for replacements when visitors steal signage — and to pay for all those garbage bags. "Those get expensive," he says.
But finding funding for Turkey Creek has been made difficult, ironically, by the same entities that keep the preserve open. Because the preserve exists on land owned by the state, any money it could earn from charging admission would go directly to the state's general fund, not to the preserve.
That inability to charge admission means that the preserve instead has to compete for foundation grants — but that, too, is limited by an entity that keeps the preserve running: Birmingham-Southern College.
While Forever Wild was able to purchase and ensure the protection of Turkey Creek lands, it did not have the resources to actively manage it — so in 2009, the Southern Environmental Center, an educational facility that exists on Birmingham-Southern College's campus but is financially independently from the college, agreed to take on the task of setting up the preserve's operational side.
"The key there was the opportunity to have this as a field laboratory for BSC students in [the college's] urban environmental studies and biology programs," Yeager says. He's a graduate of Birmingham-Southern himself (as is, full disclosure, the author of this article).
The Southern Environmental Center co-manages the preserve — a role that, in addition to organizing educational programs at the preserve, involves bookkeeping and providing Yeager's employment benefits — but because the center, and thus the preserve, are part of Birmingham-Southern's 501(c)3, Turkey Creek is often restricted from applying for financial grants for which the college is also competing.
That doesn't mean that Turkey Creek has been completely unsuccessful in getting grant money — in addition to the $300,000 the preserve has raised for the new pavilion, foundations have funded several restoration projects for the preserve, as well as the construction of a greenhouse on adjacent property — but it does limit their already sparse ability to lobby for funding.
Yeager stands at the place where the planned pavilion at Turkey Creek will be built. Photo by Sam Prickett.
One small step in that direction is the greenhouse project, which was sponsored by foundation grants. The greenhouse sits on private land, owned by the Freshwater Land Trust, which sits adjacent to the preserve — Forever Wild restricts all development on preserve property — which means that Turkey Creek can keep the money it makes from selling plants out of the greenhouse. That's a small financial help, but the planned pavilion project would be the preserve's biggest step toward sustainability.
Even so, Yeager says the planned development will have "the lowest impact possible" on the environment. The planned site has been clear of trees for half a century, so none will have to be cut down for construction. "We're not going to have a negative impact on the ecology there," he says.
In addition to the pavilion, there's a planned parking lot — this accounts for $50,000 of that $500,000 goal — as well as a planned space for restrooms, something the preserve doesn't have yet. The restrooms will also help the preserve be able to handle large classes of students — the lack of those facilities "is a big deal, and that discourages a lot of groups from being able to come out," Yeager says. They also help with the pavilion's secondary goal of being able to host weddings and similar private events.
Fundraising for Turkey Creek has been particularly challenging, Yeager says, because "it is a complex situation" to communicate to the public. But maintaining the status quo, he adds, is no longer an option.
As he turns to head back to his office, Yeager stops to look at a plastic Coca-Cola bottle floating in the creek, trapped in an indentation in the falls by a shallow eddy of water that spins it around and around. It's been there since the previous evening, left there by a careless swimmer. Yeager considers the spinning bottle for a moment, sighing.
To donate to Turkey Creek Nature Preserve, click here.
Good article, Sam. I learned a lot about a beautiful spot in Jefferson County. I have never been there and knew almost nothing about it.


As you age, your body changes.
Lets' face it. We're all getting older. And with age come changes. Changes that aren't always welcome.
Some people gain almost 1/3 more fat than they had when they were younger. That fatty tissue accumulates around your internal organs, while the layer of fat underneath your skin gets thinner (less fat under your skin creates wrinkles).
Men and women gain weight differently. Men continue to gain weight until they reach about age 55. Women gain until around age 65. But after these ages, both men and women start to lose weight. They lose lean muscle, which weighs more than fat. Fat starts to replace the lost muscle.
Then there are changes like stretch marks from weight gain or pregnancy. Wrinkles and sagging skin from a loss of collagen. Sometimes there is hair loss. And don't forget scars, age spots, grey hair, and fingernail ridges. Doesn't sound so good, does it?!
You're not alone if you're looking for improvement - if you're hoping to look your best as the years accumulate.
Many people spend time more time on grooming because it makes them feel good about themselves.
They want to make a good impression.
They try to set a good example for their children.
A study by Wong and Penner in 2016, even found that attractive individuals (both men & women) earn roughly 20% more than people of average attractiveness. But in women especially, that can translate to grooming. Wong, a sociologist, told the Washington Post, "For women, most of the attractiveness advantage comes from being well groomed. For men, only about half of the effect of attractiveness is due to grooming."
It's not clear exactly why the Wong & Penner study worked out like it did. Maybe we see attractive people as more intelligent, or likable - the so called halo effect. Or perhaps it's a way for us to show others that we care what they think. To my way of thinking, it really doesn't matter. What does matter is how you feel about yourself and what makes YOU happy.
And to that end, the changes you see in your body don't have to be bad! There are lots of ways to improve the things you don't like.
Healthy lifestyle choices will make a big difference in how quickly you age. Using sunscreen daily, regular exercise, a healthy diet, and limiting alcohol and tobacco - even meditation - will make you look and feel better.
There are also lots of treatments to help you minimize the things that aren't improved by diet and exercise. CoolSculpting can treat the stubborn fat that you just cannot get rid of. Micro-needling is very effective on wrinkles and scars. J-Plasma can treat wrinkles and dark spots. Airbrush makeup can temporarily cover imperfections. And for those looking for a longer term solution, there's always plastic surgery.
These days, how you age and how your body looks as you age, really is a choice! Our blog is here to help! Allow us to be your trusted resource for the most effective cosmetic & wellness treatments.


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Helton stays
Jon MaletzAspen, CO Colorado
I thought I had been burned by baseball's hot stove.For nearly a week one of the league's pre-eminent first basemen was dangled in front of my beloved Red Sox. It was a virtual certainty: Todd Helton – probable Hall of Famer Todd Helton – was leaving the Mile High City for Fenway.A host of journeymen have manned the corner for the Sox in recent years so my elation, while premature, was hardly unfounded. And all it was going to cost – I thought – was two aging players with expiring contracts. Start printing the No. 17 home and road jerseys and painting those "Shelton (Conn.) loves Helton" signs. Start pondering a name change, Hilton, N.H. Was this a tease? Hot stove discussions typically are.As quickly as they heated up, the talks ended as abruptly as a Rockies season come October. The main point of contention: Boston was not willing to part with two young, vastly unproven arms.Helton is staying put in Denver, MLB's equivalent of the witness protection program. Heartburn accompanied my disappointment – until I took a moment to reflect.Sure, Helton is a lifetime .333 hitter – tops among all active players – and would be the best first baseman since Mo Vaughn nearly a decade ago. Still, recent history indicates his career is in sharp decline. His batting average dropped 45 points from 2004 to 2006, and so, too, have his home run and RBI productivity. Take into account that his numbers might deflate further at sea level and, with 90 million remaining on Helton's contract through 2011, it's understandable that Boston was indifferent about making the deal.What about those two prized arms with whom the Sox could not find the heart to part? Boston native Manny Delcarmen surrendered 68 hits and 32 runs in 53 innings last season. And Craig Hansen, the highly touted Big East pitcher of the year in 2005, didn't fair much better, giving up 32 runs in 38 innings and recording a 6.63 ERA. Apparently Boston isn't concerned that Delcarmen's already a Tommy John recipient or that he gave up seven earned runs in 1 1/3 innings in August – to the Royals. Delcarmen is 24 and Hansen just 23. Young power arms are at a premium these days (we saw how things worked out with Jonathan Papelbon last season). Are these guys the future? It's hard to say, but the Red Sox need as many options in their bullpen as possible. The thought of Julian Tavarez closing games this summer is enough to activate my gag reflex.But let's not get caught up in this deal's logistics or the dollars and cents. Could Helton help Boston? Most likely. Could the move have furthered his career? Absolutely. Moreover, I saw this as an opportunity to save a high-caliber, high-class player from the the sport's doldrums. The 33-year-old has toiled in obscurity for 10 seasons and has played on a winning team only once – a lackluster 82-80 campaign in 2000. The player who has three times finished in the top 10 in MVP voting remains largely unrecognizable to the casual fan.Helton's willingness to waive his no-trade clause may be a hint that not all is kosher in the land of Coors. But seriously, who wouldn't want to play for a perennial power instead of a perennial disappointment? Would you rather play alongside Manny Ramirez or Manny Corpas? Helton continues to say all the right things. He repeatedly insists he is content and is bent on bringing a championship to Denver. In a recent interview, he even referred to the Al Davis adage, "Just win, baby," to describe the future of the organization. "Just be mediocre, baby," would've been more appropriate. Rockies CEO Charlie Monfort says he wants to produce a winner, but what has he done this offseason? He signed Jeremy Affeldt, who posted a 5.26 ERA with the Royals, and agreed to a contract with beleaguered catcher Javy Lopez, among others. Lopez batted below the "Mendoza Line" for 18 games before the Red Sox waived him. Pitcher Jason Jennings was unloaded for a utility man and a young pitcher with a history of arm problems. What's next? Is management thinking of coaxing Dante Bichette out of retirement? Some things never change. New England would have welcomed Helton much like Denver embraced Ray Bourque. But for now, Helton has his free time in October and the Rockies have their franchise player and his gargantuan contract hanging over their heads. While the relationship has yet to yield success, all indications are that both sides are happy recent trade talks soured – for now. We'll see you in the All-Star Game, Todd, but not in the playoffs.Jon Maletz (aka "The Hammer") can be reached jmaletz@aspentimes.com.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I want make a dictionary from a text file of: layer name,layer file location and then loop through is making variables called the layer name and assigning them arcpy.mapping.Layer(r"layer file location"). I am new to Python, how do I put in the variable name where the layer file location is supposed to be correctly and can I do that?
#Pull in a dictionary from reading text file.
#Note:Have a text file ready named file.txt that contains lines of: layer name,layer file location.
#Assign the values in the text file to the dictionary.
#Make the variables from the layer name and assign them a file layer.


Nintendo Pocket Football Club18 was first released in Japan on Game Boy Advance. I take it your intention was to recreate the excitement of a football match where you don't want to miss a second of the action.18. Nintendo Pocket Football Club: A football management simulation game released in May 2006 in Japan on Game Boy Advance. The game allowed players to create and train up their own football team.
Yes, that's right. The players would run constantly around the whole pitch in a realistic manner... By realistic, I don't mean that the graphics made it look like a real game. I mean that when the players shot at goal, you would think "That was so close!" just like in a real football game. The opposition would then go on the counter-attack. I was aiming to recreate the way the action swings from one team to the other with that heart-racing excitement peculiar to football.
So you were trying to create a game where the action unfolds just as it does in a real football match.
But you did it in a very condensed way.
Yes. A football match lasts 90 minutes, and simply reproducing that wouldn't have worked as a video game. So I made a single match last about eight minutes, upping the intensity and condensing all the action into this timeframe.
How did you feel that first Nintendo Pocket Football Club game turned out?
It was the first game I'd made that I hadn't programmed myself. The programmer who worked on it was incredibly dedicated, and I felt that the action during the football matches turned out really well.
It successfully captured that all-important excitement of a real football game, the thing that makes you want to keep watching.
I would say so, yes. But watching the matches wasn't the only fun part of the game. It was very important to identify which other elements relating to those matches could be incorporated into the gameplay.
For instance, if I had made it along the same lines as a baseball management game, it would have turned into a simulation that was all about making money. That would have made the game into something that didn't have a direct connection with the enjoyment of a football match.
So you felt that the game shouldn't just be about making lots of money and signing good players.
Right. I did consider making it into a game where you just train up your players, but there were already games like that, and I didn't feel that it was quite what I was aiming for. In the end, I settled on the idea of making it a game where you were given specific objectives.
When you play a match, you'll find out which aspects of individual players' performances need improvement. You are then tasked with improving these things, and you can then train players to hone their abilities.
That's right. Then once you've trained up your team, it makes you really eager to get on with the next match.
What made you adopt that sort of system?
Well, when you play against someone else and just can't win, it's very frustrating, as you can appreciate.
That's why it might seem more fun to choose an opponent who's not as good as you. But if you just choose weak opponents, the number of teams you can play against will be limited. The system used in the game means that if you take on tougher opponents, you'll be able to achieve a lot more of your objectives.
That means that even if you struggle to win, you'll still get a lot out of those matches.
That way your team will improve.
Right. That was the central system we used when making the first game.
Ah, there's something I wanted to ask... Development on the new Nintendo Pocket Football Club title began on Nintendo DS, didn't it?
Yes, that's right. That game was released in May 2006, and Nintendo DS had already come out in Japan in late 2004.
While we were working on the game, there was discussion of whether or not we should rework it and release it for Nintendo DS, but in the end we thought the priority was to get it out for Game Boy Advance. But then after releasing it, we realised it would be best to remake it for Nintendo DS.
When I make games, I really take my time, and I sincerely apologise for that.
During the lengthy development process for this game, as you shifted from Nintendo DS to Nintendo 3DS, what new elements did you add, and what parts of the game did you enhance?
One of the new elements we added was the network connectivity.
On Game Boy Advance, the only way you could create a network was by using the Link Cable. But on Nintendo 3DS, you have both StreetPass19 and SpotPass20, and this means that the range of network options available has increased dramatically.19. StreetPass: A feature that allows users who enable it to walk around with their Nintendo 3DS system turned on to exchange certain game data with other Nintendo 3DS users whom they pass on the street that also have StreetPass enabled.20. SpotPass: A feature in the Nintendo 3DS system that when activated, the system will receive various information and content from Nintendo when near a wireless internet access point.
That's right, and that's the single aspect of the game I spent most time thinking about. I wanted to come up with the best ways to utilise this functionality and enhance the game.
Developing the game for Nintendo 3DS meant that it wouldn't just be computer-generated teams you'd be playing against, but also teams trained up by other players. This adds to the fun of watching games, doesn't it?
Yes, it does. Also, if you've already transferred the data ahead of time, there's no need for real time connectivity between players.
So you don't have to wait for a convenient time for the other player. You can enjoy playing a match whenever you like.
Exactly. In Derby Stallion, there was something called the Breeders' Cup where you could race against horses reared by other players, and that proved to be really exciting. That's why I was keen to do something similar with Nintendo Pocket Football Club.
In addition to the fun of taking on other players' teams, there is also the league match system to enjoy. You start by selecting the area where you live and then competing to represent your town or city. Loyalty to a team has always been a big part of football. Were you conscious of that fact?
Editor's note: In the European version, users select a European country in which to base their team.
Yes, I was. Network functionality opens up all manner of possibilities, and I really like the idea of StreetPass, for instance, connecting the whole of Japan, from north to south.


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St. George family sues Little League over bunk bed fall, head injury: 'He's not doing well'
Maryclaire Dale
A Utah boy who suffered a serious head injury after falling from a bunk bed during last month's Little League World Series in Pennsylvania has returned home from the hospital and his family is suing the league and the company that made the bed.
Easton Oliverson, 12, of St. George, Utah, suffered a skull fracture and bleeding on the brain in the Aug. 15 fall at a players dormitory in Williamsport. He has since had three operations and battled a staph infection, the family's lawyer, Ken Fulginiti, said Tuesday.
"He's not doing well. The more recent development, after a third craniotomy, is seizures. It's been a long road," Fulginiti said. Easton had been hospitalized in Pennsylvania and Utah before his discharge last week, he said.
Making Utah history:Snow Canyon Little League becomes first team from Utah to reach Little League World Series
Previous coverage:Utah Little League player injured in fall as Snow Canyon team readies for World Series
The negligence lawsuit, filed by Jace and Nancy Oliverson on Friday in Philadelphia, said there was no railing on the top bunk. Neither Little League International nor Savoy Contract Furniture of Williamsport immediately responded to messages seeking comment.
Dad hopeful of 'full recovery':Little Leaguer with head injury returning home to Utah
Read more:How Washington's Little League community has rallied behind teammate's HSP diagnosis
Easton, a pitcher and outfielder with the Snow Canyon team from Santa Clara, in southwestern Utah, fell in his sleep, Fulginiti said. The lawsuit seeks more than $50,000 for the boy's care, along with punitive damages.
"They really appreciate all the support they've gotten throughout the nation," Fulginiti said. "But they're struggling to focus on the family. They have two other kids and it's a lot."
Lake Shasta water level rises 60 feet during January Arizona lawmakers seek to spend $360M more to widen I-10 between Phoenix, Tucson if feds don't chip in 'A family that has been shattered' – Bremerton teen gets 14-year sentence in murder case Roundup: Rain adds up; 3 nabbed in alleged thefts Jurupa man who joined U.S. Capitol riot sentenced
Jace Oliverson was an assistant coach on the baseball team, while Easton's younger brother Brogan was an alternate who was tapped to take his place after the fall. Snow Canyon was eliminated after two losses.
"I've always been a firm believer of prayer and the power that comes with it, and I feel like if people continue to rally around us that he will make a full recovery," Oliverson told KSL-TV after the accident. "Right now it's slow. They keep telling me it's a cross-country race."
Read the full complaint:


What happens when boiler level switches are not dependable and you are responsible? It might be hard to get a good night's sleep when nuisance false switch trips or worse, no safety switching when it is absolutely required become a reality. Mercury switches are supposed to be a thing of the past, and other replacements seem to still have performance problems.


English Exercise on Punctuation | Improve your spoken English. Learn English.
1. We did not like her voice. However we kept quiet during the show.
2. I don't know Dinesh. In fact I haven't even heard his name.
3. Ms.Kiran Bedi the IPS Officer was the chief guest.
4. Kiran Bedi was born on 9'"June,1949 in Amirstar Punjab India.
5. Mr. Ramesh the new Principal of our school is a very friendly person.
i am waited for in egypt said the swallow my friends are flying up and down the nile and talking to the large lotus flowers soon they will go to sleep in the tomb of the great king swallow little swallow said the prince will you not stay with me for one night and be my messenger the boy is so thirsty and the mother so sad I don't think i like boys answered the swallow.
3. Good news have been received by the Head Quarters.
4. One of the boy looks happy.


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Home » India » Murali Vijay and wife Nikita welcome their third child
Murali Vijay and wife Nikita welcome their third child
by Priyanka sarangi
Written by Priyanka sarangi
Murali Vijay who is a well known batsman of the Indian Cricket team seems to be on cloud nine as he announces that he and his wife Nikita welcomed a child off lately. Vijay kept his fans informed and hooked by uploading an image with his eldest son holding newborn in his hands. The Indian Cricket team batsman has struggled a lot to find an appropriate place in the limited overs sides and then he became the India's first choice opener in Test Cricket. He was last seen playing for India team in their Test series that was against Australia. This sportsman was slated to play in the Indian Premier League 2017 but was one of the many Indian players who ruled out due to injuries from the long home Test season that preceded the tournament.
If we take a look at Murali Vijay's Twitter account where he captioned the picture as, "Two Rockstars!! One introducing the other to the world. Feeling Blessed,".Vijay has two more children – a son and a daughter – with Nikita with whom he got married in the year 2012. As he was still recovering from the injury so he did not make an appearance in India's Test series in Sri Lanka. As his replacement Shikhar Dhawan was chosen as the Delhi batsman and scored centuries in both Test that he played. If reports are to be believed then we get to know that he will be seen playing for India when they embark on a tour on a tour of South Africa before which he will play for Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy opener.
Two Rockstars!! One introducing the other to the world 🌍. Feeling Blessed🙏. #grateful #lovetoall #moretolife pic.twitter.com/1dPJtSpcK9
— Murali Vijay (@mvj888) October 2, 2017
We bless the child with good fortune and happiness and a good health to the mother!!
UPSC CMSE notification released regarding the changes in syllabus and exam pattern
Taj Mahal blacked out from U.P Paryatan-Apaar Sambhavanaayein
Priyanka sarangi
Journalist by profession, music lover by passion. Love to write and edit content on different topics of entertainment beat. Love to travel but only with my favorite people.


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Bombay Stories
I must admit upfront that I went into reading Saadat Hasan Manto's Bombay Stories almost entirely blind. I have not read Salman Rushdie. I have read, perhaps, two short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri. I might shamefully add that I really only remember the barest details of Gandhi's life and deeds. I can say, in the humblest of humblebrags, that I did read Intizar Husain's Basti, a book I certainly might not have if not for its inclusion on the "2013 Best Translated Book Award longlist":http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=6532. That book, more than anything, made me somewhat—an emphatically underlined, italicized, all-caps, incorrectly-used quotation marked "SOMEWHAT"—more educated of the events surrounding India and Pakistan's violent schism in the 1940s.
But perhaps you are on equally unfamiliar terrain. Or perhaps not: maybe you were one of the many who read Beyond the Beautiful Forevers, which would most likely make you yet more knowledgeable of India in the 20th century than I, because I didn't read that one either (by the way, this is the part of the review where I wow you with my credentials). However, if I were a betting man, I would wager that I am in the majority when it comes to the American readership in regard to South Asian literature: an absolute novice.
It is precisely why I jumped at the chance to read this collection. I could barely know less about the Indian subcontinent if I tried. But the point of reading international fiction at all, as far as I'm concerned, is precisely to experience and learn about a place, a culture, a history of which I am only dimly aware. I can only imagine that this is true for many of you, who so adventurously clicked on the link to get here. Great job, by the way! You and I are going to be good friends, I can tell. And for the Manto-educated, fan or otherwise, surprised to see him getting some attention today: I'm going to be ignoring you. Sorry about that.
Because Manto is a big name in the Urdu and Urdu-adjacent literary world, but perhaps not so much in the English-speaking world. Hopefully, that world is going to be getting a little bigger soon. Because guess what Mantonians (a name I just coined, but you can have it!): you're already part of the club. You get to bask in the warm glow of already being part of something bigger than yourself. Go ahead, continue to bask. I'm going to keep talking to the neophytes.
Novicehood is underrated in reading culture. No one wants to seem ignorant or out of the loop, but there are few feelings greater than the discovery of something revelatory. And after all, we aren't all born familiar with all the great writers and their works, no matter how much that guy at your book club might pretend otherwise. This is how we learn. We seek out the unknown, absorb it, and become something more. So let's have an honest chat about this Saadat Hasan Manto, proud tyro to tyro.
Manto was born in 1912 in what is now India, and lived a brief but eventful life, passing away at just 43 from complications stemming from his raging alcoholism. But during that relatively short time, he produced a prolific output of short stories, essays, and radio and film scripts; he is even credited with writing the screenplay for India's first full color film. He was a translator and a journalist, and a Communist sympathizer, though he was considered too temperamental and iconoclastic to be truly associated with any particular group. He was condemned by many leaders of the dominant literary movement of the time, and clashed with the government multiple times over his writing, too. Both considered his work to be obscene. The Pakistani government upheld a ban on Manto's work on television and radio even on the 50th anniversary of his death.
What made his work such a lightning rod for controversy? Though relatively quaint by today's standards, Bombay Stories shows the seedy underbelly of the great Indian city. Prostitutes, pimps, gangsters, and actors are the primary focus of the stories on display here. Prostitutes in particular were a source of endless fascination for Manto: the vast majority of the stories included in this collection feature or star a prostitute in some way, shape, or form. There were hordes of them in Bombay at the time; the stories here make it seem like they were practically unavoidable, or at least, unavoidable if you were Manto.
Despite the poverty that most of them suffer, the prostitutes featured in Manto's fiction are not shameful creatures to be pitied by their johns or the reader. It might be hard to call Manto particularly progressive or (dare I even say it) feminist, but Manto as a writer treats these women with compassion, respect, and dignity. They are almost always portrayed as vibrant beings, full of life and love. In most cases they are the most recognizably human characters in his stories.
In "Ten Rupees," a fifteen-year-old girl, prostituted by her own mother, is sent off on a drive with three middle-aged men. As a reader, your heart instantly fills with dread; this is the kind of situation where very bad, very dark things happen. But the girl's precocity—she is described as acting more like a thirteen year old—saves the day. Her childish enthusiasm for car rides and singing pop songs so utterly charms the men that they forget all about what they came to do. The only shame is that while this story ends with the girl innocently returning the money to the men this time, her and her mother's abject poverty will ensure that this probably won't be able to happen again. In "The Insult," a prostitute, who has just been insulted by a potential client exclaiming "Yuck!" upon meeting her, finally has had enough of her policeman john, who not only does not pay for her services, but "borrows" money from her, finally kicks his sorry, duplicitous butt to the curb. Vivacious and strong, the prostitutes here are human beings just trying to make it through another day with their heads held high. The only woman who seems to receive any particular disdain for cashing in on her sexuality is not a prostitute, but a hopeful actress in the story "Janaki," who attempts to sleep, it seems, with anyone who might help get her to the top. Extramarital sex is a-okay with Manto, both as a business transaction and as a form of love and passion . . . as long as it's not being used for selfish reasons? Again, the sexual politics on display here are not quite 21st century but they seem to be presented fairly and accurately, if not downright compassionately. Manto was certainly no misogynist.
At his best, Santo is an animated and amiable storyteller. He writes like a smutty uncle getting nostalgic—and a little tipsy—at the family party. The tone is conversational, focusing on the people animating and bringing life to the world. Authorial intrusions are common in many of these stories, as if Santo himself really was telling these stories in person over a round of drinks. In one story, he interrupts a particularly long description of one of his characters, claiming: "Anyway, enough of this. If I go into such detail, I'll fill page after page and the story will get boring." The translators calls these authorial asides a prelude to future post-modernist sensibilities, a suspiciously pseudo-"Manto"-like narrator with biographical details very similar to the real deal. One might call it that; I call it someone who knows how to tell a good yarn.
Which isn't to say that Santo doesn't know how to get real. As mentioned above, the 1940s were a very serious, very dangerous time to be living in the Indian subcontinent. Only "Mozelle" really brings these dangers to the forefront, in which a Sikh man (neither Hindu nor Muslim), with the help of an old Jewish love, tries to rescue his current fiancée, stuck in a Muslim neighborhood after a curfew enforced during the heights of sectarian violence. In "Hamid's Baby," a married man impregnates a prostitute, and when he can't kill the baby from the inside, decides to do the deed himself after the baby is born. But the translators note that Manto's most famous stories are his darkest, the ones fueled by the inescapable separatist violence of the times, stories such as "Open Up," "Cold Meat," and "Toba Tek Singh"—none of which appear in this collection. Ostensibly this is due to the fact the stories collected in this collection are all linked by their setting, Bombay—the one place, the translators argue, Manto felt the most at home. Most of the included stories, they note, were written well after he had moved from Bombay and into today's Pakistan, as if he were longing for his lost home. "Bombay fiction," they also argue, becomes a notable sub-genre of Indian literature itself, all thanks to Manto. As a naif in the ways of Indian/Pakistani literature, I cannot say whether this is true or not. It is a bit disappointing that as readers we don't get full a picture of Manto as a writer, but it's not necessarily a bad thing either, really. Those stories can be read elsewhere, and with this collection we do get a more well-rounded view of his work, and frankly, it's all rather entertaining to boot.
Weaving its way through this depiction of Bombay is the issue of wealth disparity, notably just as much a problem then as it is now. But it's never a focus really of any of these tales. Manto himself swung from swimming in rupees to reportedly writing a short story per day just to get by. He mentions the depravity in passing, but he writes knowing that his stories have places to go, and he is raring to get there. Again, it's the people, the characters that make up Bombay, that are ultimately more interesting to Manto as a writer. Still, the chills run down one's spine:
This happened back when I was dirt poor. I was paying nine rupees a month for a room that didn't have water or electricity. The building was horrific. Gnats fell from the ceiling in thousands, and rats were everywhere, bigger than any I've ever seen, so big the cats were scared of them.
There was only one bathroom in the chawl and its door was broken. The women of the building—Jewish, Marathi, Gujarati, and Christian—would gather there in the early morning to fill their buckets with water. The women would get together first thing in the morning and go to the bathroom where they would form a wall in front of the door and then one by one, they would bathe.
Still, Manto can't help but cast his judgmental eye, even as he's distracted by his own stories:
She lived near Byculla Station in an extremely dirty neighbourhood dotted with garbage heaps that served as an open toilet. The city had built tin shacks there for the poor, and I won't mention the nearby high-rises because they have nothing to do with this story, only that in this world there will always be the rich and the poor.
But Manto, you sly devil, you do mention those high-rises and we are so glad you did. Manto was criticized by the literati for simply depicting the stark realities of life, instead of then using those horrors to fuel his fiction as a way to instigate change. They saw him as simply wallowing in the filth, shooting the breeze with the underclass instead of finding ways to improve their situation. Manto apparently—justifiably, entertainingly—felt it was enough to present the world as it really was, and not to dress it up with a shiny, fake idealism.
Bombay Stories does present a detailed picture of the city in the mid-century, and it's the people of the city that give it its life. Manto saw those lives, profoundly comic and tragic in equal force, and captured them at a time and place that I know I, for one, knew little about. It is simply marvelous that half a century later and halfway around the world, we get to see it again. Despite those distances and the differences in cultures, Bombay Stories reminds us of what it is to be human in an at times unforgiving yet hopeful world. An accessible, entertaining introduction to South Asian literature.
Tags: review
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