India’s Westernized elite, cut off from local traditions, want to write a full stop in a land where there are no full stops. From that striking insight Mark Tully has woven a superb series of stories.
These stories explore everything from communal conflict in Ahmedabad to communism in Calcutta, from the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad (probably the biggest religious festival in the world) to the televising of a Hindu epic. Throughout, he combines analysis of major issues with a feel for the fine texture and human realities of Indian life. The result is a revelation.
REVIEWS
In everything he writes, Tully’s sympathy for and knowledge of India shines through… He is, indeed, incomparable among foreign observers of that bewildering, maddening, utterly enchanting medley of peoples. - Geoffrey Moorhouse in the Guardian
An unsentimental tribute to India by its best-loved Englishman. A lifetime’s travels by the BBC’s India correspondent are crystallized into a series of essays that throw more light on this vast, tragic-comic country than anything since V S Naipaul’s Area of Darkness. -Paul Gogarty in the Sunday telegraph
The ten essays, written with clarity, warmth of feeling and critical balance and understanding, provide as lively a view as one can hope for of the panorama of India -K Natwar-Singh in the Financial Times
Wonderful…whether describing a village wedding or a 15 million-strong religious festival, he’s a brilliant reporter…this book is essential reading for anyone interested in a civilization mainly punctuated by question marks. -Piers Brendon in the Mail on Sunday |
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