Author: Shobha De
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 456
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780143102588
Description
This is a story about India.
It all began when, viewing the breathless preparations for independent India's 60th birthday celebrations--and poised then on her own sixth decade—Shobhaa Dé was struck by the thought: 'Surely my life has taken the same trajectory as the country's?' In an intimate confession to her readers, she answers that question, and many more: Does India really deserve to congratulate itself? Has it lived up to the early promises it made to its people? Does the author believe in India herself?
Surveying the many images of the country, Dé points out that for every truism about India the opposite is also true: India as the land of the meek; India as inheritor of the earth; India gherao-ed by distinctly unfriendly neighbours; Indians fleeing to jobs in the West and then racing right back to a better life; Indians who ape their erstwhile colonizers and yet cling irrationally to tradition.
In a departure from anything else she has written, Shobhaa Dé lasers in on Indian people and their place in the larger human society, pointing out her country's historical failings and equally historical glories. Admitting to our knee-jerk reactions to much of what is happening at home and in the world, Dé reasons, nevertheless, that the nation has earned superstar status, and with humorous argumentativeness, she convinces the reader that India is not about to lose its glow.
Contents
Right Between the Eyes
Children know the Truth
why question Miracles
Am I a Tightassed Schoolmarma ?
Indians are
Sex Machines
Meet My Mrs
Indians are Peace-Loving
'Myself Shobha De. What is your Good Name ?'
Only After a Fashion
Mere Paas Maa Hai
On the Face of It
One Indra Nooyi Does not a Revolution Make
Parde Ke Peechhe
Revolution - Andolan
Watch Out the Naxalites are Here
"Has Anyone Seen a Policeman ? Anyone ?"
Who is Afraid of Mayawati ? WELL , Nearly Everyone
But When You Say 'India' - what Pops Up ?
Help they are Turning Me into a Gizmo
Netagiri, Goondagiri, Gandhigiri
Nazar Na Lag Jaaye
Epilogue
Glossary