The Granta Book of India by Ian Jack

The Granta Book of India Reviews

• 
  Shabbeer Hassan

  An eclectic collection of various authors and their writings, some fictional and others inspired from their daily intersection with India. Its a great kaleidoscope of the Indian sub-continent from high-rises of Mumbai to hunting for roots of mujahideen in erstwhile
  NWFP, the appalling practice of Bengali widows turning away from non-vegetarian food, sad plights of internalising corruption in Bihar and even a letter from Nirad C. Chaudhuri on his 100th birthday!
  
  Well worth spending a delightful evening!
  
  My Rating - 5/5
• 
  Claire S

  Blood - Urvashi Butalia (1997): India & Pak, a family torn by the Partition; very moving.
  
  My Father's Raj - Mark Tully (1997); on the English psyche w.r.t. India over the past century in the family of the writer, also interesting.
  
  Erotic Politicians and Mullahs - Hanif Kureishi (1985): Very full of content, not simply-enough-for-me written, will need to re-read, possibly multiple times. All about Pak, and Pakistanis in England, and England, and England-Pakistan. Does help fill in a bit my huge question-vessel in regard to Pak. More of this writer may well be of interest.
  
  White Lies - Amit Chaudhari (2001); Very distinctly honest about the gently brutal interactions of people with different levels of power, the texture of such a relationship. In the same vein (at my level of familiarity anyway) as Thrity Umrigar's 'Space Between Us' and Rohan Mistry's 'Fine Balance.'
  
  Mumbai - Suketa Mehta (1997): Some of the same content as 'Maximum Ciy', but thought would be petty to skip it since I have it in my hands etc.. Felt more afterward like maybe I'd read more..
  
  6 March, 1989 - Salman Rushdie (1989) - poem about that period. Wow, like it! Maybe his books won't be so impossible for me to go in with.
  
  Kabir Street - R. K. Narayan (1997): Excellent.. the sort of writing I love, a slice of life. I'd known I'd like him already, and have some whole books of his. Can't wait!
  
  Unsteady People - Ian Jack (1989) : Fascinating sociological essay basically, about attitudes of the powerful toward the powerless in India, in brutal honesty. Then a comparison to the same in England - with the conclusion that is the same in England, only there they cover it over with make believe hoo-ha to make themselves feel better. And that in India it's all in the open atleast.
  
  What Bengali Widows Cannot Eat - Chitrita Banerji (1995) - interesting about the writer's mother, and how fervently she wanted to keep to all the ritual laws regarding widows in that region, and her (the writer's) reaction to her mother's response. Need to read more of this writer!
  
  Jihadis - Pankaj Mishra, 2002 - fascinating all about the rise of the Taliban and the situation in Pakistan and all sorts of related aspects.. Is the clearest account I've read from someone who actually sought to understand the Taliban and their rise. Not quite 'sympathetic' maybe, but very close - very useful to read to get a fuller-than-trivial glimpse. Also usefully clear about anti-US anger and its causes.
  
  And actually I did already read the next one:
  Two Indians on America - Amit Chaudhuri & Ramachandra Guha (2002).
  
  Pariah, narrated by Viramma over ten years to Josiane and Jean-Luc Racine. This is non-fiction, an account of her life as midwife and agricultural worker in Karani, a village near Pondicherry. In this account Viramma the obstacles faced by political organizers who visit; some of the details about her activities as midwife, some information about her children (many of whom have died, who she grieves deeply), and a lot about evil spirits and other entities that her belief system includes. The presence of this piece makes me reconsider the whole book to an extent.. wait - who pulled this together? What might the overall message be? Hmm...
  
  Serendip, by Ian Jack, short and ok.. Still was wary.
  
  The Tutor, Nell Freudenberger - quite long, extensive info about the main character; probably more than the writer actually knew. Liked some things about it, not all of it.
  
  Dervishes, Rory Stewart - excerpt from 'The Places Inbetween' - fascinating about the struggles within Pakistan for what -kind- of Islam is approved and acceptable; vs. what -kind- has been in place since the beginning. Totally changed my attitude about his book, will look forward to reading it now.
  
  Little Durga, Shampa Banerjee - all about the filming of Satyajit Ray's filming of Pather Panchali! She was in it, as a child! Fascinating and awesome.
  
  My Hundredth Year, Nirad C. Chaudhuri - wonderful, all about aspects of his writing, how it was received, written as of his 100th birthday. 'The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian,' 19051 was his first published book.
  
  So, as is clear at this point, this book has a really wide scope of work and subject and format and writing style etc.. I was never one much for compilations, but working my way through this I've become aware that they can serve a huge purpose.
  
  Highly recommend.
• 
  Barnaby Haszard

  A good collection giving some insight into modern India and some of the factors that contributed to its various identities. Some pieces are very cynical, some lyrical; a few are both. Others -- the ones I generally preferred -- are plainer in their presentation of the facts (e.g. 'Mumbai', 'Pariah'). Dalrymple remains the authoritative British observer of India but Ian Jack and Granta have done a decent job here.
• 
  Elizabeth

  fascintating the way Jack focuses on the ascendant role of US culture and the diminishing role of British in India through his choices and intro. Also interesting is his conception of "India" as the whole subcontinent. This is a gem of an anthology.
• 
  Sita Dewi

  Indian writers are just amazing! My favorite is the first story written by Urvashi Butalia, Blood. Beautifully written, profound and strong.
• 
  HadiDee

  Enjoyed reading this. Stand out for me were: White Lies, Unsteady People , What Bengali Widows Cannot Eat and Little Durga.