Hardluck Counter
The Mumbai terror attack has bombed Penguin’s grand plans for the launch of their biggest ever gamble: Nandan Nilekani’s Imagining India. Everything was in place: a record 50,000 hardback copies printed (although they don’t say so), a promo tour of six cities (the equivalent of a 21-gun salute in writers’ circle), and with an author who is one of the best-known faces in India. And then the bombshell, just as he arrived in Bangalore for the launch on Nov 27. As they say—the best-laid plans of publishers can go awry.