After two works of fiction Mehta returns to that sardonic form by layering acid polemic with the cool sophistication of belles-letters. "These essays are an attempt to explain something of modern India to myself," she writes. That explanation cannot be complete without an attempt to explain its politics. As the daughter of a leading politician she has observed many of the developments upf-ront (starting with a five-year-old's jerky recall of Gandhi's funeral) and although she has lived in and out of India for much of her adult life, staying away has sharpened the view. Looking back over 50 years, Mehta observes that "the most interesting evolution in independent India is the change from individual fearlessness...to craven courting of those who possess social and political power."