The man's his own Boswell—a little airbrushing of the self-portrait is allowed. Seeing the world and people through Singh's eyes tells you more about the man himself.
But at the same time not everything stands the test of time—the trivia becomes stale, the settling of personal scores not quite gentlemanly, ponderings on political events dated. Fortunately, this carefully-culled collection of his articles and columns from diverse publications avoids the trap of hold-all publishing. Perhaps, the fact that this book came about because of the prompting of an ardent fan, C. Gopinathan Nair of Thiruvananthapuram—he sent him copies of most of the pieces which appear in this neatly brought out little book—makes this book worth having.
Divided into four sections—the nation, events, personalities and comment on Indian society (as he puts it, The Way We Are)—Notes on the Great Indian Circus gives the reader a quickie flight over the Indian social and political landscape. And most importantly, the Indian character. The book marks the writer's take on significant events from the mid-'80s onwards: 1984, a moving account of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination (despite his christening him Mr Confused after his handling of the Punjab situation), the Bhindranwale phenomenon, the shenanigans of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Happily, most of the articles go behind the headlines to look at the fine print of what was really happening on the ground. In his own, unfiltered reactions—rendered in simple, lucid prose—to events and people, the reader gets an insight into the mind of the common man, that is if there is such a thing as a common man. From interesting reflections on the Yuppies in India to "Mama's Darlings" (the mama-obsessed Indian male) to the state of his teeth, Singh's writing captures the everydayness of life.
The only problem I have with his writing is the occasional glint-in-the-eye prose when he does a post-mortem on his friends. Intimate revelations become public property—particularly best friend Prem Kirpal's amorous pursuits and A.G. Noorani's obsession with the opposite sex. But that apart, the book's a delightful read.
