Biased as it may sound, you cannot take away the sheer amount of information the author has shoveled into this book. Not to mention how much his personal experience from black&white days adds credence to the narrative. Almost a soothing salve of patriotic writing to those who have read Mark Tully's distant and almost sympathetic (depends on whether you want it) view in his "No Full Stops in India" and had their desi bubble punctured. Not that this book praises all that is Indian but as they say, there's just something in the way mom makes that curry that no gourmet chef can match. I am no history expert so I will not comment on the accuracy or quality of data the author has presented but as a self proclaimed noob in all that is intellectual (especially post independence India's history) I must say I loved it. Should I be forced to mark out an area of concern, I would say that in his attempt to be as accurate as he could be, the author quotes way too many sources. So much that one gets confused if he was quoting someone or expressing his personal opinion. Not a problem one cannot meander around but just laying it out there. The book costs reasonable and totally worth your time.
