NEW PALTZ, ROASTED SAMOSA OF KRISHNA KITCHEN AND ANDRE MALRAUX (1901-1976

                                           

                                           

                                            

                                         

NEW PALTZ, ROASTED  SAMOSA OF KRISHNA KITCHEN AND  ANDRE MALRAUX (1901-1976)

“Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.” .........Andre Malraux

For the weekend ( 28th June,2024)   , we arrived in  New Paltz,a small town and a  tourist place;   about one and half hour's car drive from Jersey city  . It is our third visit to New Paltz. It was cold and rainy . I like the  small, cosy and touristy  shops of this lovely town more particularly the Indian vegetarian food served by Krishna Kitchen restaurant.  Apart from Khichdi,  Idli ,Dosa and other dishes ,one gets  delicious  Samosas  served with mouthwatering tamarind and dates chutney.  This restaurant has innovated Samosa making by  roasting it  in oven instead of deep frying. No oil at all .  The filling is fantastic with green peas , boiled potatoes, Anardaana, boiled cashew nuts, coriander leaves. cinnamon,small  ginger pieces.The restaurant is run by three like minded friends ( two Americans and one Indian immigrant ) who are members of Hare Rama Hare Krishna sect. Amazing food .

I also  visited the book shop opposite to the restaurant known as," Inquiring Minds" where one can also buy old books in perfect condition for anything below 5 US Dollars. I bought two books; " Essays of Andre Malraux "and " Central Asian Paintings From Afghanistan to Sinkiang". Started reading " Essays of Andre Malraux"  who  has been identified with some of the most notable events of contemporary history: the Chinese Revolution, the development of Communist Russia, the Spanish Civil War, the struggle against Nazism, the French Resistance Movement, and the “resurgence” of France under the Gaullist presidential monarchy. In 1945-46 he joined the provisional government of Charles de Gaulle. From 1959 until 1969 Malraux was minister for cultural affairs. He retired to a suburb of Paris, where he continued to write until his death.
Malraux is unique among contemporary novelists in having played a major personal role in the sort of political adventure he describes . While it was not he, but Sartre, who popularized the term engagement (commitment), he seems to have practiced commitment in a much more impressive way than Jean Paul Sartre, long before Sartre became prominent. He also expressed the concepts of the “Absurd” and “Existentialist Man,” well in advance of the time when these terms became part of common parlance.  He produced several large volumes about the function of art in the history of mankind. For all these reasons, he might be hailed as the most representative humanist of his time who was denied Nobel prize .

ALBERT CAMUS AND MALRAUX

They were contemporaries, brilliant and original.  In 1935,  Camus was a student when he heard Malraux in his university in Algeria .Camus told a friend ‘you can't believe , how much I admire André Malraux.’

After attending a private screening of Malraux’s poignant film based on his Spanish war novel, Man’s Hope, Camus exclaimed, ‘I was overwhelmed. What a joy to be able to admire something wholeheartedly.’ When he finally met Malraux through their mutual friend, the writer and journalist Pascal Pia, Camus added, ‘I spent a fascinating hour with a person full of tics, feverish and disorganised, but with an amazing intelligence.’
Malraux had praised Camus’s The Stranger (The Outsider )  and The Myth of Sisyphus for powerful ideas and persuasive technique: ‘I read L’Etranger first. The theme is very clear. . . . It is obviously something important. The strength and simplicity of the means, which end up forcing the reader to accept the character’s point of view, are all the more remarkable given that the fate of the book depends on how convincing this character is. And what Camus has to say, what he has to convince us about, is not insubstantial.’ Malraux added

But the two friends inevitably had serious political disagreements. Malraux, a fellow traveller, justified Stalin’s Purge Trials and the slaughter of his Anarchist allies in Spain as necessary measures in the fight against fascism.Malraux opposed French colonialism in Algeria; Camus was loyal to the cause of the French settlers in that country. These difference were  the subject of heated discussions inside Cafe de Flore , a restaurant frequented by Sartre, Camus, Malraux and almost  all the artists ,writers and intellectuals living in Paris during those days.

The Nobel Prize committee refused to honour Malraux for being  closely connected to de Gaulle .When informed that he’d been awarded the Nobel Albert Camus repeatedly said, ‘I wish Malraux had got the prize. He deserved it more than I did,’ and insisted that Malraux ‘would have won it if it wasn’t for his politics.’
Camus’s early death at the peak of his fame sanctified him while Malraux, closely associated with de Gaulle, was demonized by the Left.

(Avtar Mota )

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