The name of the book would invoke interest in anyone. The
author’s fame, although not yet as much as a novelist, is pervasive. A man
rooted in Kerala, born in London , who studied in
Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi India
The book turned out to be an engaging read. That he is a
very eloquent writer he made it clear from the beginning- words flowed
smoothly. If I had to point out two reasons why you should read it, they would
be:
1. It is a collection of essays and you can choose to skip
one if you don’t find it interesting and move on to the next (no, I didn’t do
that) without missing the link.
2. It is about India- India
In his book, Shashi is able to portray a very true picture
of India
Tharoor takes up the subject of the tale of an extraordinary
transformation of an equally extraordinary nation that has been able to evoke
deference from rest of the world, both secretly and candidly, for a wide
spectrum of reasons. He clearly believes in the importance of Indian middle
class in this transformation. Tharoor outlines the evils that made India India
Of the current social evils, he has been vehemently vocal
about the politics over Hindutva by a vengeance-seeking group of vandals who
have no understanding of arguably the most tolerant religion in the world.
Tharoor laments, among several others, the rising challenge of illiteracy, the
graph that challenges to beat China in terms of population, the falling trend in
wearing saris (taking into account
the difficulties it poses), the increasing belief in superstitions amongst the
“educated” and the increasing re-naming of cities, roads and railway stations!
Tharoor is also proud of the fact that India has a Bangalore
(ah, Bengalooru), that cellphones are selling like hot cakes in India, that it
still produces brilliant minds that rule the Silicon Valley half a world away
and how we all are minorities in this country (a very interesting conclusion he
has repeatedly harped upon) with more differences than similarities and still
manage to stay together in harmony.
Besides, Tharoor writes about the ever-increasing craze over
a game he is equally mad about- cricket. And of course, he mentions the
Bollywood heroes who are worshipped not just in India Ajanta caves, the legacy of St. Stephen’s College, Sunil
Gavaskar, the attitude of Indians towards NRIs and the mushrooming of
call-centers with equal ease.
He turns out to be a great fan of Gandhiji, equally of
Nehru, not as much of Indira and somewhat of ‘Congress’. But he also points out
the flaws with each of them. He is indebted to the individuals that made India
India: from Gandhi to Tagore, from a not-so-known nun Mariam Thresia to the
genius Ramanujan, from the savant Amartya Sen to his beloved family.
A polymath himself, Shashi has indeed done a wonderful job,
his wide knowledge about the country he considers his despite not having lived here
for quite some years, exuding all over the place in his book. Of course, Shashi
hasn’t listed the solutions to all the evils marring the face of this nation
but has indeed done a brilliant research on the root-cause analysis of several
of them. The best thing about him is- you can’t research and write things you
don’t care about- so, his concerns are genuine, unlike most other politicians
of our age. Cheers to his vision of India
PS: To find out the reason behind the title of the book,
read it.
