bleurgh

The Billionaire Raj by James Crabtree is one the worst books I have read in a long time. I am not even a news junkie and yet there was hardly anything in the book that I didn’t already know. His narrative is conveniently selective and leaves out stories of billionaires like Azim Premji, Anand Mahindra, Uday Kotak and even the Tatas obviously because none would fit into his presumptuous theory that India is what it is only because of unabated crony capitalism. Nobody can deny the prevalence of crony capitalism in the last decade and a half but to conclude a discussion on as complex a country as India without telling the world about the unprecedented crackdown on cronyism is simply dishonest.  The author has the gall to comment on the state of Indian democracy without so much as devoting a chapter to the spectacular role that the judiciary continues to play in cracking down on corruption.  He is happy enough to suggest what India must do to save itself from the inevitable doom he foresees by quoting people like Fareed Zacharia, a man who hasn’t spent more than a few months in all his life in India.

There are few feelings worse than guilt and regret over time badly spent. I ought to have abandoned the book after the very first chapter.

The turn of the tortoise by T.N. Ninan on the other hand  is a spectacular read. Its full of numbers that validate anything that even vaguely sounds like his pet theory and all sorts of facts one would not even consider relevant in the typical discussion on the India growth story. He has a deep and thorough understanding of the bureaucracy, judiciary and the political and economic landscape of India. His tone is unalarmed, language completely free of drama and yet the book is an easy and engaging read. I only wish he’d write his views on demon and Modi’s performance in general post 2015.