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The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell Phone
Shashi Tharoor
The Emerging 21st- Century Power
Arcade
September 2007
On Sale: September 19, 2007
512 pages
ISBN: 1559708611
EAN: 9781559708616
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Bewildering diversity is the very essence of India, observes
novelist and columnist Tharoor (The Great Indian Novel) in
this engaging collection of essays, which tries to reconcile
the country's clashing traditions with progress and
liberalism. Hinduism's promiscuous openness to other beliefs
and cultures makes it a model of secular tolerance, he
argues, though Hindu fundamentalist bigotry is his favorite
target. Tharoor also insists that ancient Indian science
anticipated quantum mechanics, and praises his home state of
Kerala for raising female literacy rates. (In a rare
nostalgic note, he mourns the demise of the sari, then
fences with a backlash of critical e-mail responses from
pants-wearing women.) Most of all, he celebrates India's
compatibility with the global economy, a stance that
occasionally shades into business boosterism. Many pieces
are drawn from Tharoor's columns and feature quick, sketchy
takes on Indian cultural touchstones, from political
corruption to Bollywood to cricket; his themes tend to be
repeated rather than developed. But Tharoor's ready wit-an
Indian without a horoscope is like an American without a
credit card-and sympathetic insight combine in a fascinating
portrait of Indian society.
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