What India Is Reading
Gursharan Kaur, Medha Patkar, Sharmila Tagore and Brajesh Mishra on the books they are reading.
I loved every page of this amusing, anecdotal account of musicians and am reading it for the second time now. This book was gifted to me by Sonia Gandhi. I am a student of music with a degree in Hindustani music but I have not read anything of its kind before.
Medha Patkar, Religious Dimensions of Indian Nationalism—A Study of RSS by Shamsul Islam
Nowadays I get time to read only on the road, and this is one of the three books that are now in my jhola to read while I am travelling. I am interested in the book because the subject of communalism is of immense interest to me, having faced its wrath in Gujarat. The other two books which I am currently reading are: The Market That Failed—Neoliberal Eco-Reforms in India by C.P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh; and an equally interesting book: Amit Bhaduri’s Development With Dignity: A Case For Full Employment.
Sharmila Tagore Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith
This is one of his novels set in Edinburgh. It’s light reading but has a sense of values, showing the ethical and philosophical side of law. I have also just finished reading Vikram Seth’s Two Lives and Amartya Sen’s The Argumentative Indian.
Brajesh Mishra In the Rose Garden of Martyrs—A Memoir of Iran by Christopher De Bellaigue
It’s a light and very readable account of Iran since the revolution of Khomeini. Books on food? While it’s true I am a connoisseur of good food, I like eating it, not reading about it!