Admittedly, a decade-by-decade look at the wows and lows of the first 50 years, with 'expert' comments, mostly from the usual suspects, is no big deal. Tens of newspapers and magazines have taken that route, with the same results, for 10 rupees or less.
But what India 50 does with its "distinctly unacademic approach" between its saffron and green hard covers is hand a few plaudits to the 'significant others' who really built the edifice on which our democracy stands—just about. Like it or loathe it, Indian food, films, fashion, literature, skills, science, sports and, oh yes, glamour, have shaped and changed impressions abroad more positively than all our politicians, businessmen, bureaucrats and gas-bags put together.
But the latter have so successfully and shamelessly hogged the limelight all this while that we didn't even know. Mercifully, Memon and Banerji, his Woman Friday at Mid-Day, regain some lost ground with their glitzy pranaam to the asli makers of modern India that was Bharat..
Having said that, at 2,000 bucks a stab, Memon's hope of "instigating an interest in our own nation" may end up a trifle ambitious, knowing the 'interests' of those who can rustle up such deutsch. And coming from journos at India's bestselling tabloid newspaper, at $60 and £40 abroad, it may end up a trifle misplaced. It's too text-heavy for the coffee-table types; too slim and flip to be a ready-reckoner.
But as Memon admits, with typical Mumbai matter-of-factness, the golden jubilee was too good an opportunity to miss—the next one due only in you-know-how-many years. Add on two more names to the list of those giving themselves a book as a gift on the nation's birthday.
