New Delhi: It’s a catchy title, and there are clever little quotes - the back flap has “When a Gandhi dies, nobody is safe” while the title page has Gandhi’s own “One has to dare to believe.” And indeed, a sense of earnestness pervades Inhaling the Mahatma.
Written by Australian journalist Christopher Kremmer, who’s done his time in India (from 1990 to 1993 and then 1997 to 2001), there is a certain wide-eyed wonder that you can’t get away from throughout the book, because face it, that’s the reaction India gets.
Wide-eyed wonder—tempered by a deeper undercurrent of understanding or at the very least, the author seems striving to understand.
A lot of this deeper insight, the author admits, has to do with the grand family in Civil Lines that he becomes a part of, through his marriage to Indian wife, Janaki. He writes about the political debates, the domestic help, the squabbles, the worldview in just about the right amount.
And that helps, because it would be such a pity if this were just your typical wide-eyed, phirang visits India, writes book on India, and is just overwhelmed by India. This one actually works because Kremmer blends the personal with the political; the family anecdotes, with his stories from the ground. It’s not a reader on India, but more like a journal on India.
It takes in Babri Masjid, Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, Bombay riots, nuclear tests. He writes of interviews with ex-PM VP Singh about Mandal (in Apollo Hospital of all places!).
He meets up with Rajiv Gandhi on his campaign for a bit, just weeks before the assassination. He meets Gladys Staines after the brutal murders. He’s even on a plane that is hijacked, delaying his own wedding!
He does meet the hijacker, Satish Chandra, later, and even forgives him, though he doesn’t quite absolve him. As a journalist, he’s met Advani in the 90s, he’s met Amar Singh in 2005, he’s been there and certainly done that. As a journalist, India is quite the ride!
But when Kremmer comes back in 2004, he’s on his own yatra. It’s a pilgrimage of sorts, he says, but it’s also to re-visit the old places, to meet the old faces. He goes back to Orissa, he meets Rahul Gandhi in UP, he checks up on his old Hindi tutor Hari Lal, he comes back and there’s obviously a larger pull exerted by the country on him…hence the need to understand.
While this is a book largely meant for a foreign audience, it’s one to recommend to the foreign-returned cousin or uncle. It’s also not half-bad for desi readers - there are enough insights to justify the wide-eyed bits, and they will get you through some of the clichés. Oh and the title - Kremmer literally did inhale the Mahatma, or his ashes at any rate, during an immersion in 1997.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
