Colours of India by Inder S. Mehta
Heritage. Pages: xvi+152. Price: Rs. 595/-
A nameless diplomat from Holland is quoted in this book as having described India’s capital city as a garbage dump. Very undiplomatic but too close to truth for comfort. But this book is not about undiplomatic digressions, or diplomacy for that matter. It is about India – no, not of the lofty timeless spiritual variety but the real this-worldly one. This India is united not just by our Constitution and Culture but also by the uniform spread of water shortage, electricity outage, pot-holed roads, traffic jams, stray animals, VVIPs, and of course the ubiquitous garbage and all pervasive pollution.
Mehta, while comparing the governance here with that of the USA (much to India’s disadvantage), casts a sardonic eye on all these essentially Indian images and does not spare our politicians and the justice system either. While reading this collection of sassy satires you will guffaw, but will be forced to think hard too.
THE TRIBUNE
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