Author: Santosh Desai
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 400
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9788172238643
Description
A new India is visibly emerging from within the folds of its many pasts. This new India needs to be seen with new eyes, free from the baggage of yesterday's characterizations. This is exactly what Santosh Desai, one of India's best-known social commentators, does in this warm, affectionate and deliciously witty look at the changing urban Indian middle class.
Writing as an insider, from personal experience, Desai cuts through the chaos and confusion of everyday India both yesterday and today, and suddenly, makes us see things clearly.
Holding a mirror to our inner selves, Desai makes us see what drives us, what makes us tick, what makes our hearts beat, and how our mindsets and attitudes are changing, even as the past never quite leaves us. And Desai does so in short masterful essays, written with great humour and sensitivity. A big book about small things that truly matter.
One of India's best-known social commentators and Advertising and Marketing professionals, Santosh Desai is a Columnist with several prominent publications. He writes extensively on media, popular culture, Consumer Markets and everyday life. He heads Future Brands, a branding services and Consulting Company, and was earlier the president of McCann Erickson India. Desai is a graduate in economics, and a postgraduate in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
COMMENTS:
“This is a rare and captivating book, wise and witty, on the inner lives of middle class Indians. Desai both enlightens and entertains through his insight, elegant writing and disarming Humour.”
--- Sudhir Kakar, psychoanalyst and author, most recently, of Mad and Divine : Spirit and Psyche in the Modern World
“Delicious and full of brilliant and insightful observations. This is a fine and enjoyable study of the Indian middle class!”
--- Nandan Nilekani, chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India and former CEO and MD of Infosys
“Santosh Desai writes with wit and wisdom-a rare combination. He shines the torch on ourselves, making us laugh, agonize and shudder, but all with a delightfully light touch. It is remarkable how Desai is able to draw profundity from the simplest everyday observation. This is surely a gift.”
--- Dipankar Gupta, sociologist
“This book puts together the seemingly insignificant details that collectively help explain the enigma called India, in a manner that only Santosh Desai could. His observations and insights are erudite, entertaining and magically real. This book is total paisa vasool and much more.”
--- Kishore Biyani, Group CEO, Future Group
“This book is charming, thorough, funny and thoughtful. No aspect of new India's popular culture escapes its scrutiny. It isn't just for newcomers to India, but also for all Indians who want to make sense of the bewildering sea of change that we are in the middle of.”
--- Rama Bijapurkar, author of We Are Like That Only-Understanding the Logic of Consumer India
“This is a rare and captivating book, wise and witty, on the inner lives of middle class Indians. Desai both enlightens and entertains…”
--- Sudhir Kakr, Psychoanalyst
“… full of brilliant and insightful observations. This is a fine and enjoyable study of the Indian middle class.”
--- Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India
“Santosh Desai… Shines the torch on ourselves, making us laugh, agonize and shudder, but all with a delightfully light touch.”
--- Dipankar Gupta, Sociologist
“The book puts together the seemingly insignificant details that collectively help explain the enigma called India, in a manner that only Desai Could.”
--- Kishore Biyani, Group, Future Group
“This book is Charming thorough, funny and thoughtful No aspect of new India’s Popular Culture escapes its Scrutiny.”
--- Rama Bijapurkar, Author of We Are Life This Only – Understanding the Logic of Consumer India
Contents
Introduction
Section A: WHERE DO WE COME FROM?:
I. Our Chitrahaar Selves:
1. The Dhania Factor
2. The Great Indian Journey
3. Stainless Steel Memories
4. The Postcard Remembered
5. Sharing Scarcity
6. Remembering the Summer Holidays
7. Mere Paas Ma Hai
8. The Dignity of Ultramarine
9. The Civilizing Crease in Our Trousers
10. The Dying Window
11. In Praise of the Unannounced Visit
12. Mother Pious Lady
13. An Ode to the Scooter
14. Decoding the Autorickshaw
15. The Appliance as Installation
16. The Doctor in Films
II. Vehicles of Escape:
1. Of Piththoo, Rummy and Antakshari
2. The Pleasures of Vividh Bharti
3. How Many Times Have You Seen Chupke Chupke?
4. Of Takira, Crazy Boys and Osibissa
5. The Great Indian Honeymoon
6. The Power of Street Food
7. The Song of the Inarticulate Heart
8. Deconstructing the Hindi Film Hero
III. Rules of Hierarchy:
1. Hierarchies Unlimited
2. The Driver's Moll
3. The Meaning of the Slap
4. The Dynastic Urge
5. The Badge of Disorder
IV. Disclaimer Indica:
1. The Stomach Has Its Reasons
2. The Meaning of the Thali
3. The Pickle as Cultural Distillate
4. Right, No?
5. Scratching the Itch
6. Bound by Sound
V. The Patterns Within:
1. Ritual Reality and the Indian
2. Indian Traffic as Metaphor
3. The Rationality of Indiscipline
4. Understanding Hypocrisy
5. The Power of the Imperfect Solution
6. The Disinterest in Punishment
Section B: NEW ADVENTURES IN Modernity:
VI. Loosening the Past:
1. The Moral of Drinking
2. Sunita on the Beach
3. United We Dance
4. Minced Punjabi Chic
5. The Death of the Baritone
6. Father Amitabh
7. Irrigating Our Roots
8. Outside the Closet
VII. The Headiness of Mobility:
1. Life as Arena
2. The Disappearing Pigtail
3. Scooting to Freedom
4. Setting Free the Old
5. Looking Back at the Maruti
6. No Rungs in Their Ladder
7. The Militant Mask
8. The Wonderful World of the Indian Nightie
9. Money as Energy
10. The Freedom of Army Daughters
VIII. The Badges of Modernity:
1. Terms of Endearment
2. Greasy Modernisms
3. English Imaginations
4. Home Truths
5. The Western Toilet as Sign
IX. Changing Outside In:
1. The Remix Remixed
2. Salman Khan and the Rise of Male Cleavage
3. SRK-Brand Ambassador for the Market
4. In Gentle Praise of the Saas-Bahu Sagas
5. Of Genuine Fakes and Fake Genuines
6. The Great Indian Laughter Phenomenon
7. The Currency of Celebrity
8. Suburban Escape
9. City Stories>BR>10. Cricket Hysteria
X. Changing Inside Out:
1. The Joint Stock Family
2. The Logic of the Arranged Marriage
3. The Woman, Exteriorized
4. The Fear of Women
5. The Imagined Scarcity of Opportunity
6. The Paranoid Parent
7. Retrieving Space Slyly
XI. Media Smoke and Mirrors:
1. 21-Inch India
2. The Limits of Debate
3. Opinion as Truth
4. The Effects of Language
5. The Bias for Extremism
6. It's the Form, Stupid
Section C: DILEMMAS OF CHANGE:
XII. Not Everyone is Invited:
1. Blinded by Language?
2. The Flyover as Metaphor
3. The Revenge of the Speedbreaker
4. The Power of Inflation
5. What We Don't Want to Know
6. The Vanishing Village
XIII. The Politics of a New India:
1. Medieval Democracy
2. Sympathy for the Haves
3. Lathis in Uniform?
4. The Youth Quota
5. Between Tokenism and Symbolism
6. The Mind of the Terrorist
7. Reading the Political Poster
8. The City Name as Cultural Property
9. The Death of Vulgarity
10. The Pub as Sign of Freedom
XIV. Dreams of Grandeur:
1. Racism and Brand India
2. An Abstract Salute to the Indian Soldier
3. Of Wealth and Want
4. Global Dreaming
5. Shame without Guilt
6. A Million Matchsticks Now
Postscript