At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, a new nation was born. It has seventeen major languages and 22,000 distinct dialects. It has over a billion individuals of every ethnic extraction known to humanity. It has a population that is 32 percent illiterate, but also one of the world’s largest pools of trained scientists and engineers. Its ageless civilization is the birthplace of four major religions, a dozen different traditions of classical dance, and three hundred ways of cooking a potato. Shashi Tharoor’s India is a fascinating portrait of one of the world’s most interesting countries—its politics, its mentality, and its cultural riches. An eloquent argument for the importance of India to the future of America and the industrialized world, the book flows with the energy and erudition that distinguished his prize-winning novels. A New York Times Notable Book, this work of remarkable depth and startling originality combines elements of political scholarship, personal reflection, memoir, fiction, and polemic, all illuminated in vivid and compelling prose.
For More Than Four Decades After Gaining Independence, India, With Its Massive Size And Population, Staggering Poverty And Slow Rate Of Growth, Was Associated With The Plodding, Somnolent Elephant, Comfortably Resting On Its Achievements Of Centuries Gone By. Then In The Early 1990S The Elephant Seemed To Wake Up From Its Slumber And Slowly Begin To Change Until Today, In The First Decade Of The Twenty-First Century, Some Have Begun To See It Morphing Into A Tiger. As India Turns Sixty, Shashi Tharoor, Novelist And Essayist, Reminds Us Of The Paradox That Is India, The Elephant That Is Becoming A Tiger: With The Highest Number Of Billionaires In Asia, It Still Has The Largest Number Of People Living Amid Poverty And Neglect, And More Children Who Have Not Seen The Inside Of A Schoolroom Than Any Other Country. So What Does The Twenty-First Century Hold For India? Will It Bring The Strength Of The Tiger And The Size Of An Elephant To Bear Upon The World? Or Will It Remain An Elephant At Heart? In More Than Sixty Essays Organized Thematically Into Six Parts, Shashi Tharoor Analyses The Forces That Have Made Twenty-First Century India And Could Yet Unmake It. He Discusses The Country S Transformation In His Characteristic Lucid Prose, Writing With Passion And Engagement On A Broad Range Of Subjects, From The Very Notion Of Indianness In A Pluralist Society To The Evolution Of The Once Sleeping Giant Into A World Leader In The Realms Of Science And Technology; From The Men And Women Who Make Up His India Gandhi And Nehru And The Less Obvious Ramanujan And Krishna Menon To An Eclectic Array Of Indian Experiences And Realities, Virtual And Spiritual, Political And Filmi. The Book Is Leavened With Whimsical And Witty Pieces On Cricket, Bollywood And The National Penchant For Holidays, And Topped Off With An A To Z Glossary On Indianness, Written With Tongue Firmly In Cheek. Diverting And Instructive As Ever, Artfully Combining Hard Facts And Statistics With Personal Opinions And Observations, Tharoor Offers A Fresh, Insightful Look At This Timeless And Fast-Changing Society, Emphasizing That India Must Rise Above The Past If It Is To Conquer The Future.
Who killed twenty-four-year-old Priscilla Hart? This highly motivated, idealistic American student had come to India to volunteer in women’s health programs, but had her work made a killer out of an enraged husband? Or was her death the result of a xenophobic attack? Had an indiscriminate love affair spun out of control? Had a disgruntled, deeply jealous colleague been pushed to the edge? Or was she simply the innocent victim of a riot that had exploded in that fateful year of 1989 between Hindus and Muslims? Experimenting masterfully with narrative form in this brilliant tour de force, internationally acclaimed novelist Shashi Tharoor chronicles the mystery of Priscilla Hart’s death through the often contradictory accounts of a dozen or more characters, all of whom relate their own versions of the events surrounding her killing. Like his two previous novels, Riot probes and reveals the richness of India, and is at once about love, hate, cultural collision, the ownership of history, religious fanaticism, and the impossibility of knowing the truth.
Shashi Tharoor delivers an incisive biography of the great secularist who—alongside his spiritual father, Mahatma Gandhi—led the movement for India’s independence from British rule and ushered his newly independent country into the modern world. The man who would one day help topple British rule and become India’s first prime minister started out as a surprisingly unremarkable student. Born into a wealthy, politically influential Indian family in the waning years of the Raj, Jawaharlal Nehru was raised on Western secularism and the humanist ideas of the Enlightenment. Once he met Gandhi in 1916, Nehru threw himself into the nonviolent struggle for India’s independence, a struggle that wasn’t won until 1947. India had found a perfect political complement to her more spiritual advocate, but neither Nehru nor Gandhi could prevent the horrific price for independence: partition. This fascinating biography casts an unflinching eye on Nehru’s heroic efforts for, and stewardship of, independent India and gives us a careful appraisal of his legacy to the world.
Supremely personal, yet always probing and analytical, this brilliant collection of essays is part memoir, part literary criticism. 'A fluid and powerful writer, one of the best in a generation of Indian authors" (New York Times Book Review), Shashi Tharoor, the acclaimed author of six books, all published by Arcade, is once again at his provocative best.
India: The Future is Now is an inspiring vision of India, by her young parliamentarians. These nation-builders provide a perspective on a wide range of sectors: from technology to infrastructure, healthcare, education to environmental issues. The contributors prove how even the biggest problems can be solved by exercising bold, ambitious measures. We need to rest our faith in them. After all, these young parliamentarians are the ones who will chart the course of this nation's future. At once vigorously analytical and vividly written, India: The Future is Now is a must for anyone interested in India and its role in World economy and as a flag bearer of democracy and peace.
Interest in India has never been greater. Here Shashi Tharoor, one of the subcontinent’s most respected writers and diplomats, offers precious insights into this complex, multifaceted land, which despite its dazzling diversity of languages, customs, and cultures remains—more than sixty years after its founding—the world’s largest democracy. He describes the vast changes that have transformed this once sleeping giant into a world leader in science and technology, a nation once poverty-stricken that now boasts a middle class of over 300 million people—as large as the entire population of the United States. Artfully combining hard facts and statistics with opinion and observation, Tharoor discusses the strengths and weaknesses of his rapidly evolving homeland in five areas—politics, economics, culture, society, and sports—and takes a fresh look at the world’s oldest civilizations and most populous countries.
Who Killed Twenty-Four-Year-Old Priscilla Hart? And Why Would Anyone Want To Murder This Idealistic American Student Who Had Come To India To Volunteer In A Women S Health Programme? Had Her Work Made A Killer Out Of An Enraged Husband? Or Was Her Death The Result Of A Xenophobic Attack? Was She Involved In An Indiscriminate Love Affair That Had Spun Out Of Control? Or Was She Simply The Innocent Victim Of A Riot That Had Exploded In That Fateful Year Of 1987 Between Hindus And Muslims? Shashi Tharoor Experiments Brilliantly With Narrative Form, Chronicling The Mystery Of Priscilla Hart S Death Through The Often Contradictory Accounts Of A Dozen Or More Characters. Intellectually Provocative And Emotionally Charged, Riot Is A Novel About The Ownership Of History, About Love, Hate, Cultural Collision, Religious Fanaticism And The Impossibility Of Knowing The Truth.
In this award-winning novel, Tharoor has masterfully recast the two-thousand-year-old epic, The Mahabharata, with fictional but highly recognizable events and characters from twentieth-century Indian politics. Nothing is sacred in this deliciously irreverent, witty, and deeply intelligent retelling of modern Indian history and the ancient Indian epic The Mahabharata. Alternately outrageous and instructive, hilarious and moving, it is a dazzling tapestry of prose and verse that satirically, but also poignantly, chronicles the struggle for Indian freedom and independence.
Indians are often proud of the ‘Unity in Diversity’ adage that is commonly used to describe the country’s ethos. However, diversity in India has most often brought about an array of conflicts—the most significant between Hindus and Muslims—some of which continues to this day. ‘Hinduism’, the term most commonly associated with India, actually embraces an eclectic range of doctrines and practices, from pantheism to agnosticism and from faith in reincarnation to belief in the caste system. It is a religion without fundamentals. And yet, Hindu fundamentalism is one of the biggest threats that secular India faces today. So how is one to make sense of this country? Read on as Shashi Tharoor, eminent thinker and writer, analyses the many inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies that make up India in ‘Unity, Diversity, and Other Contradictions’.
A household name throughout India, B. R. Ambedkar is one of the country’s most important figures, second only to Mahatma Gandhi. He played a major role in drafting the constitution for a newly independent India and led the fight against caste-based discrimination. Ambedkar was born into a Dalit caste (the so-called ‘untouchables’), but his academic brilliance saw him study at Columbia University and London School of Economics. As a politician, he fought to overturn centuries of discrimination and promoted liberal constitutionalism in a traditionally illiberal society. He did more than anyone to articulate a cogent and enduring case for the principles of democracy in a country emerging from imperial rule. This book is also a reminder of how far the practice of politics has strayed from the high standards Ambedkar set – of intellectual distinction, policy positions animated by serious scholarship, the infusion of moral values and the upholding of democracy for the many, not just the privileged few.
This touching and funny collection of stories showcases Tharoor’s daunting literary acumen, as well as the keen sensitivity that informs his ability to write profoundly and entertainingly on themes ranging from family conflict to death. In the title story—written in a lonely hotel room in Geneva soon after the author began his work with the United Nations—a young Indian orphan is on his way to visit America for the first time, and his anguish and longing in the airplane seem hardly different from those of any American child. Tharoor’s admiration for P. G. Wodehouse makes “How Bobby Chatterjee Turned to Drink” a delightful homage, while “The Temple Thief,” “The Simple Man,” and “The Political Murder” bring to mind O. Henry and Maupassant. His three college stories, “Friends,” “The Pyre,” and “The Professor’s Daughter,” are full of youthful high jinks, naïve infatuations, and ingenious wordplay. “The Solitude of the Short-Story Writer” is a smart, self-aware, Woody Allen-esque exploration of a writer’s conflicted relationship with his psychiatrist.
&Lsquo;Well-Balanced, Informative And Highly Readable&Rsquo;&Mdash;Amartya Sen India: From Midnight To The Millennium And Beyond Is An Eloquent Argument For The Importance Of India To The Future Of The Industrialized World. Shashi Tharoor Shows Compellingly That India Stands At The Intersection Of The Most Significant Questions Facing The World Today. If Democracy Leads To Inefficient Political Infighting, Should It Be Sacrificed In The Interest Of Economic Well-Being? Does Religious Fundamentalism Provide A Way For Countries In The Developing World To Assert Their Identity In The Face Of Western Hegemony, Or Is There A Case For Pluralism And Diversity Amid Cultural And Religious Traditions? Does The Entry Of Western Consumer Goods Threaten A Country&Rsquo;S Economic Self-Sufficiency, And Is Protectionism The Only Guarantee Of Independence? The Answers To Such Questions Will Determine What The Nature Of Our World Is In The Twenty-First Century. And Since Indians Account For Almost One-Sixth Of The World&Rsquo;S Population Today, Their Choices Will Resonate Throughout The Globe. Shashi Tharoor Deals With This Vast Theme In A Work Of Remarkable Depth And Startling Originality, Combining Elements Of Political Scholarship, Personal Reflection, Memoir, Fiction, And Polemic, All Illuminated In Vivid And Compelling Prose.
The Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller on India's experience of British colonialism, by the internationally-acclaimed author and diplomat Shashi Tharoor 'Tharoor's impassioned polemic slices straight to the heart of the darkness that drives all empires ... laying bare the grim, and high, cost of the British Empire for its former subjects. An essential read' Financial Times In the eighteenth century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. The Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalised racism, and caused millions to die from starvation. British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor takes demolishes this position, demonstrating how every supposed imperial 'gift' - from the railways to the rule of law - was designed in Britain's interests alone. He goes on to show how Britain's Industrial Revolution was founded on India's deindustrialisation, and the destruction of its textile industry. In this bold and incisive reassessment of colonialism, Tharoor exposes to devastating effect the inglorious reality of Britain's stained Indian legacy.
Early Stories From The Award-Winning Author Of The Great Indian Novel The Five-Dollar Smile Is A Collection Of Stories Of Young Love And Disaffection, Adolescent High Spirits And Youthful Traumas; There Are Also Stories, Written With The Energy And Passion Of Youth, Which Deal With Very Adult Subjects: Death, Dishonour, Deceit, Loss, Hypocrisy, Family, Honour, The Exacting Price Of Success And The Astonishing Power Of Compassion And Love. Sensitive, Compelling And Persuasive, These Stories, Written For The Most Part In Shashi Tharoor S Late Teens And Early Twenties, Reveal An Already Formidable Talent. Rounding Off The Collection Is A Marvellously Inventive Play Set In The Time Of Mrs Gandhi S Emergency. The Five-Dollar Smile Confirms The Praise Lavished On Shashi Tharoor All Over The World For His Writing.
This has been a time of unprecedented change in the country. The transformation of India's politics, economy, foreign policy, media, civil rights, governance and a myriad other aspects of our society and government has been swift and disruptive, sometimes brutally so. Narendra Modi, the nation's new Prime Minister, and his Bharatiya Janata Party, dominate the political scene, as the Congress once did, and are attempting to change the way we work, think, pray and conduct ourselves as citizens of the planet's most populous democracy. There are signs that the nation is moving in directions that will benefit its people-the economy has begun to revive, its foreign policy appears to be purposefully pursuing a visible place in the world, polls show that a significant percentage of the nation's youth are optimistic about the future; at the same time, there are serious concerns about the rise of majoritarianism and religious fundamentalism (often, this is one and the same thing), a disquieting intolerance of free speech, dissent and religious freedom; moreover, there appears to be no end to corruption, hate speech, criminals in politics, terrorism, violence against women, bureaucratic lethargy, governmental incompetence, endemic poverty, environmental degradation, and a host of other problems that India has been struggling to overcome for decades. What does the future hold? Is the promise of good times a mere illusion? Have we forgotten the democratic, humane, secular and liberal values that our founding fathers endowed us with? Are high-speed trains and missions to Mars eclipsing the vital need to achieve universal literacy, eradicate poverty, and provide food, shelter and health-care for all? Shashi Tharoor, one of our most distinguished and insightful writers, attempts to answer these and other important questions and demystify the complex issues that have been thrown up by the ongoing transformation of the nation. After chronicling India's transformation over the years in several previous books, he brings his insights into Indian society, economics and politics up to date in wide-ranging short essays that extend the narrative right up to the present time. Lucid, brilliantly argued, balanced and illuminating, India Shastra is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand today's India
Shashi Tharoor Began Reading Books Enid Blyton S Noddy Series When He Was Three. By The Time He Was Ten, He Had Published His First Work Of Fiction, Operation Bellows, A Credulity-Stretching Saga Of An Anglo-Indian Fighter Pilot. In Between Were Years When He Read A Book A Day. And In The Years Since, He Has Published Eight Books And Written For Many Indian And Foreign Publications. Bookless In Baghdad Brings Together Pieces Written Over The Past Decade By This Compulsive Reader And Prolific Writer On The Subject Closest To His Heart: Reading. In These Essays On Books, Authors, Reviews, Critics, Literary Festivals, Literary Aspirants, Empire, And India, Tharoor Takes Us On A Delightful Journey Of Discovery. He Wanders The Book Souk In A Baghdad Under Sanctions Where The Middle-Class Are Selling Their Volumes So That They Can Afford To Live; Analyses The Indianness Of Salman Rushdie; Discusses P.G. Wodehouse S Enduring Popularity In India; And Drives Around Huesca Looking To Pay An Idiosyncratic Tribute To George Orwell. There Are Excursions Into The Pitfalls Of Reviewing, Explorations Of The Anxiety Of Audience Of Indian English Writers, And A Wicked Account Of How Norman Mailer Dealt With A Negative Review.
Shadows across the Playing Field tells the story of the turbulent cricketing relations between India and Pakistan through the eyes of two men - Shashi Tharoor and Shaharyar Khan - who bring to the task not only great love for the game, but also deep knowledge of subcontinental politics and diplomacy. Shashi Tharoor, a former UN under-secretary-general and man of letters, is a passionate outsider, whose comprehensive, entertaining and hard-hitting analysis of sixty years of cricketing history displays a Nehruvian commitment to secular values, which rejects sectarianism in sports in either country. Shaharyar Khan, a former Pakistan foreign secretary, is very much the insider, who writes compellingly of his pivotal role as team manager and then chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board at a time when cricket was in the forefront of detente between the two countries. In their essays, the two authors trace the growing popularization of cricket from the days of the Bombay Pentangular to the Indian Premier League. They show how politics and cricket became intertwined and assess the impact it has had on the game. But above all, their book is a celebration of the talent of the many great cricketers who have captivated audiences on both sides of the border. If politics and terrorism can at times stop play, the authors believe that cricket is also a force for peace and they look forward to more normal times and more healthy competition.
The Hindu Way: An Introduction to Hinduism, the new book by bestselling author Shashi Tharoor, whose last three books have sold over a quarter of a million copies in hardback, is the perfect introduction to one of the world's oldest, largest and most complex religions. Although there are hundreds of books on Hinduism, there are only a few which provide a lucid, accessible, yet deeply layered account of the religion's numerous belief systems, schools of thought, sects, tenets, scriptures, deities, rituals, customs, festivals and philosophies. This book is one of them.
Across the seas, the winds blow between two lands, whispering back and forth what is seen, heard, tasted, smelt, felt in each place: the green trees, the tropical heat, the lush rain, the peoples of enterprise and culture, the aromas of different flavours and more. A Monsoon Feast is the point at which these winds intermingle, their conversation celebrating the best of what Singapore and Kerala (India) have to offer. "A Monsoon Feast" comprises seven short stories by renowned writers from Kerala and Singapore that provide deep insights on the various concerns and ways of life of both communities. The collection, featuring a foreword by author and poet Professor Kirpal Singh, includes stories by well-known author Shashi Tharoor, Commonwealth Writers’ Prize-winning author of twelve books, including "The Great Indian Novel", and inaugural Singapore Literature Prize winner and popular author Suchen Christine Lim. Also featured are works by authors Felix Cheong, Jaishree Misra, O Thiam Chin, Anjali Menon and Verena Tay. A unique literary collaboration, "A Monsoon Feast" intimately connects the reader to the heart of two similar and yet different cultures.
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