On 29-May-07, at 11:40 AM, Divya wrote:
- India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond - Shashi Tharoor
Is Shashi Tharoor any good? His book's received a sound thrashing
from Amazon's reviewers, who point out that Tharoor is unable to
distinguish between his own life and the growth of the country.
http://www.amazon.com/India-Midnight-Millennium-Shashi-Tharoor/dp/
0060977531/
For example:
Well, Taroor got one thing right. When he says in the introduction
that this is a "personal account" rather than an objective attempt
at a modern history of India, that should have set the alarm bells
ringing.
"From Midnight to the Millennium" is a very long book about India's
first 50 years of independent existence. The chapters are laid out
by theme: caste, politics, economics, religion, future prospects
and so on.
But in fact, every chapter covers the same topic: Shashi Taroor.
Shashi Taroor the country boy made good, Shashi Taroor the
precocious child sage, Shashi Taroor the intellectual with too much
insight to relate to his boorish countrymen. When you notice that
the book starts with an account of a 19 year-old Shashi's brief
meeting as a student reporter with Indira Gandhi, you know what's
coming. A 400-page monologue from a guy who's been so flattered as
a genius all his life that he's forgotten what it feels like to
have to LISTEN. The two most irritating manifestations of Taroor's
ego are the repetition (if he's proud of an idea he shows it off
again and again, re-wording it each time) and the occasional clever-
clever turns of phrase that sometimes even upstage little old India.
"From Midnight to the Millennium" is twice too long.
But don't get me wrong. There's interesting material on economic
liberalisation, the Hindutva movement and political stagnation in
this book. You just have to read a lot of Shashi Taroor to find it.
Economics:
- India Unbound - Gurucharan Das
With this, too, the reader is suggested similar caution.
