Customer Reviews

India: From Midnight to the Millennium

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

As an citizen of India, who immigrated to America at the age of 9, I have a profound connection to my motherland. I have several times tried and failed to find a good history book on India. However, Mr Tharoor's book is beyond compare. It bring history alive with all of the major players from PM Nerhu, PM Indira Gandhi, and many others. The book is a running dialogue between the author and the reader combined with insightful comments and even humor. From its opening which is stunning and very provacative,this book keeps your interest and even increases it. I highly recommend this book to those who are searching for a good book on India's history and for those who want a glimpse into understanding modern India. The best quality is that it contains information about current topics like economic liberalization and Hindu fundamentalism. I liked the book so much that I read The Great Indian Novel which is equally facinating satire of India's political dynasty. I can say with confidence that many NRI's will identify with author's unique background and his feelings about India. In short, this book fills a much needed void.

Tharror's work is one of the best that I have read so far on modern India. Tharoor's unique background of being born and raised in India (responsible for his love for her) and currently residing out of India in the US (responsible for looking at India more objectively and not being blinded to faults due to patriotism), gives this book an unique flavour. What I found most heartening throughout the reading was that the concept of India was almost holy to him. India with all its faults and shortcomings is beautiful. It's pluralism and democracy are its greatest strengths and Tharoor brings this out most aptly.I think Tharoor reflects the viewpoints of the educated liberal middle class in India,which in my opinion is the most balanced position that we as Indians can take. In conclusion, I would state that this book is a must for Indians or anybody interested in India as she is today.

The other day I was reading an interview by Shashi Tharoor and he says that no budding writer should adopt his style of writing -- once he claims he started writing at 7 in the morning and went on till 12 in the night. And IT SHOWS! His writing is brilliant in flashes and sags in most parts. Especially the chapter about his childhood in Kerala, he goes on and on about a lower caste boy who went on to become an IAS officer -- the whole chapter (which is incidentally not very relevant to the subject) could have been condensed down into 2-3 pages without spoiling the narrative, in fact bettering it.

But this book has really good pieces about Gandhi, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, economic liberalization and emergency. At the same time, Tharoor keeps on harping about the diversity of India -- he picks out around a 100 examples to drive (read pound) that point home. When I picked up the book (after being thoroughly fascinated with his writing style and his insightful comments in his articles), I expected an illuminating account about the growth of India as a country in the 50 years from independence but I should say I was mighty disappointed -- especially since it came from the writer I admired a lot.

In the end I was left with the feeling of a promise gone awry, the feeling that IF ONLY he had spent more time on this, what a masterpiece he could have produced! For sometime now I decided to stick only to his articles.

From a stark and honest review of India's myriad problems and past policies to a positive articulation of an Indian vision for the future, Sashi Tharoor led me through India's independent 50 years with a blend of impressive historical and current analysis, erudition, common-sense pragmatism and pride.

I came away with some important conclusions:
* An affirmation of the multi-religious, multi-ethnic, pluralistic definition of the Indian identity.
* India can only be compared with India. This allows me to view its tortuous progress with an enhanced understanding of its problems.
* Democracy is its greatest strength and hope.

This book may be my most definitive mixed review. Tharoor is attempting to take his readers on the geographical and cultural journey of a Non Resident Indian, or NRI, and in this process to convey the mixed beauty and confusion of his homeland in a telling contrast to life in the West.

He has only mixed success.

I grew up in a community with a high number of NRIs and from this perspective I find Tharoor full of insights that confirm and expound upon certain cultural trends and ideas that I have been exposed to and sensed before. There were also many new details that fascinated me, and the sketch of Indian history as the backdrop of Tharoor's life is very comfortable reading, well-constructed, and more thorough than one would expect for what is essentially an autobiography. What better way to illustrate social change that to tell a story about someone you have known? A good example is the breakdown of the caste system - told through the story of a boy that Tharoor knew when they were children. It is an effective technique and well-employed.

I do not object, as other reviewers here have, to the story being told from a privileged and upper class perspective. I feel that this fact is made abundantly clear in the book, acknowledged and not apologized for. However, there is s certain pettiness that runs through Tharoor's telling, and it spoils the work as a whole.

This is an intensely personal tale, using very specific cultural and geographic details in its attempt to convey a universal theme. It falls short of this by alienating the reader - or the Western Reader - in various outbursts of frustration and condescension. While these are probably natural personal feelings after living for a long time in the West, where Indian culture is not widely known and is often misunderstood, they are unharmonious and often irrelevant to the book - a rant about curry and Western opinions/perversions thereof coming to mind most vividly. Tharoor has a chip on his shoulder, and he can't conceal it. It strikes forth at the reader at inappropriate moments, and it served to ruin this book for me.

For India reading that does better in telling the story of a people through personal detail, I strongly recommend The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh or Bombay Time by Thrity Umrigar.

Tharoor's book is an interesting but deeply flawed look at modern day India. As a patriot and hopeful liberal, much of the book is spent dispelling negative stereotypes about India and pointing to it's succeses as an independent nation. In trying to do this however Tharoor sometimes ignores the very real problems of modern day india. He mentions but handwaves away the still lingering caste prejudice, his discussion of religious violence focuses mostly on the prior history of religious tolerance in India and also assumes that these hatreds are the result of a few malcontent agitators. His discussion of Indian pluralism and Indian iodentity contain some shockingly naive assumptions. Particularly galling is his chapter on expatriot Indians (of which Tharoor himself is one). As a strident Indian patriot Tharoor seems unable to believe the idea that some people of Indian descent may actually prefer to live somewhere other than India, and offers the highly offensive suggestion that self loathing and monetary advantage could be the only motives behind ex-pat Indians desire to remain in their adoptive country. This is perhaps an unsurprising sentiment from someone who claims Kerala (a state he has never regularly lived in) as his home and Malayalam (a language he can onyl speak imperfectly) as his mother tongue, but Tharoors selective ability to recognize his own bias is a deep flaw in a very well written book.

Shasi Tharoor's book resonates with the stark truth about contemporary India. It is both exhilarating and saddening to face the Indian potential on one side and political blunders on the other. Best work on assessment of the last 50 years of independent India that I have read so far!

It would seem that in order not to miss the hoopla, public relations, photo ops, and, most unfortunately, a renewed interest by the world in all things Indian surrounding the occassion of India celebrating her 50 years of Independence, Tharoor put together this book hoping people wouldn't look too hard.

Instead of his charming, acerbic, witty, humourous, and refreshing view of the politcal and social scence as evidence in "The Great Indian Novel," we now have before us a book of high literary quality, but a dry read indeed. Moreover, Tharoor's postion in the UN seems to infuse itself into this book: he looks for a utopian rendering of a country which is, by all accounts, far from utopian. As he projects his value system, his ideals, and his dreams for the country, it becomes apparent that these are the cries of an expatriate intellectual who wants to see good done. And I applaud him for that, for I too share his dreams to a large extent. What I cannot appreciate however, is a sense of intellectual and political maturity that Tharoor exudes, which, in my opinion, is only a hair away from arrogance.

What has been most disappointing, however, is the complete lack of acid opinion. It's not as if the book is not opinionated. It most certainly is. Except Tharoor seems to hide behind a veil of intellectual veneer in order to seem that it's not. I'd much rather he had pulled the plugs, chosen his weapons, and gone at the situation with all the wit and acid humor his is so wonderful at. But maybe that would have taken longer, and maybe he would have missed all the wonderful free publicity that came with India's 50th anniversary celebrations. And for those that Tharoor chastises for taking advantage of India for their personal gain, how is he doing something different?

While I was born in India, I have lived most of my life in the United States and as such, I have little in-depth knowledge of India's rich history, religious strife, political demarcations and business climate. I am grateful that an erudite and insightful writer as Shashi Tharoor has taken the time to write India: From Midnight to Millennium. This work will allow the reader to get a firm overview of the major points that drive India. If there is a minor fault in the work, it is that Tharoor fails to include any sort of bibliography that could serve the reader to learn more about the topics.

Occasionally, Tharoor's deep love of India becomes distracting in this otherwise objective book. But then again, it is that precise subjectivity that Tharoor is communicating through his book - India is at least 1 billion truths. From Midnight to Millennium is one such excellent truth that will provide the reader a powerful starting point for learning more about India.

India is a land of immeasurable contrasts and unending controversies and I feel Mr Sashi Karoor has captured that spirit successfully in his book. The glory of India's past, the variety in the present way of life, the elements that unite Indians in spite of their differences, the political and ecnomic struggles of Indians as a nation, all come alive in this well-written book. The book is very articulate about India's 50 year history both political and social, emphatic about the triumphs as a nation and honest about the challenges ahead.

The autobiographical elements of the book make it attractive to an inquisistve reader. Many Keralites can relate to Sashi who was "born in London, brought up in Bombay, went to school in Calcutta, attended college in Delhi and received my doctorate in the United States." I share many of his views and feelings about India and the contemporary struggles of Indians. As a Keralite I feel proud of Sashi and wish him every success in his literary career.