Mofussil Junction by Ian Jack

Mofussil Junction Reviews

• 
  Vampire Who Baked

  a white westerner writing a book on india usually goes one of two ways --
  
  1. too disconnected from ground reality -- getting the overwhelmed tourist experience (if unpleasant) or wide eyed tourist experience (if pleasant), or maybe the exoticising "eat pray love" hippies trying to find themselves or some deep ancient wisdom among drugged up mendicants
  
  2. way too connected to ground reality -- the hyper assimilated "i'm only technically white" version, who wears kurtas/saris, speaks hindi fairly fluently and has maybe even picked up the basics of a sitar or tabla, who loves everything about india and feels guilty about colonialism. this is better than the former, but they are at best too self-aware to be interesting and at worst performing the 20th/21st century version of "going native"
  
  this book, thankfully, is neither of the two. the author has spent enough time in india to have earned his street cred but in a way that doesn't involve him either exoticising his new environment, or rejecting his own past. his is an understanding that is skeptical enough to avoid being overly familiar, that has clearly been obtained through years of effort, an abundance of curiosity and plenty of help from well-connected peers. many of these essays are intensely personal, where he finds in the coal hinterlands of east india, unexpected references to his own upbringing in the coal hinterlands of scotland and northern england. the vantage point is at once both not obvious in its prejudices, while at the same time being transparent in listing out its biases very clearly.
  
  recommended reading, especially for people who have grown up in india -- this book is effectively an outsider's perspective that acts as a fairly balanced mirror, that shows things to the reader who is a local who has spent too long in the land and takes too many things for granted. even otherwise, the writer can be outrageously delightful with his prose, and astute in his observations, so it's a great read regardless. (if you like this genre, it's in the same vein as other books like "the arrow of the blue skinned god" and "the green unknowns travel in the khasi hills" which might be good reading accompaniment)
• 
  Manu

  What a lovely read!
  Now that we have settled that, let me elaborate. Mofussil Junction is a collection of the author's articles about India written for various publications, over a time frame of more than 30 years. There are essays, profiles, and some wonderfully wistful travel writing. The book is divided into five parts - places, people, (the Nehru-Gandhi) dynasty, 'Life and Death', and 'Fellow Travellers'.
  He had me hooked from the first chapter, when I learned that Bihar was the birthplace of George Orwell! There are vivid portraits of Bombay and Calcutta in the late 80s, but it is the tales of Serampur and McCluskiegunge (not to forget this chapter's superb title) that truly amaze!
  'People' covers a variety of personalities - from Osho to Benazir, and several authors whose perspectives and quirks (Nirad Chaudhuri!) make for a delightful read. 'Dynasty' gives quite a peek into India's 'ruling' dynasty, and insights into the thoughts and actions that have defined the course of a nation. In fact, a piece written in 1991 proves to be amazingly prescient as it talks about India's secular vs Hindu nation future. 'Life and Death' is easily the most cheerless of the sections, but to read perspectives about the Bhagalpur blindings, the Bhopal tragedy, and the 1984 riots that followed Indira Gandhi's death soon after the actual events, is quite an experience.
  Barring the poignant story of McCluskiegunge,'Fellow Travellers' would be my favourite. It includes, in addition to steamer trips, a subject very close to my heart - the Indian Railways. As an Indian born in the late 70s, train journeys were an integral part of my childhood. I've said this before, my favourite books are the ones that help me travel in time, and this is one such. There is a sense of camaraderie and empathy that is visible through the writing, and this along with the observations that practically reenact a moment thanks to an eye for detail, subtle wit, and sometimes very personal experiences, makes this one of the best books I've read in quite a while. Do read it - it'll take you to an India that you've probably never seen before.
• 
  Chandar

  A thoroughly enjoyable read! Jack's understanding of India, Indians, and the eccentricities that make this country so interesting, is astounding. Never condescending or patronizing, he takes us through the small towns of eastern India, through the minds and machinations of well known personalities and all of it done with sharp wit and gentle humor! His quest to find traces of the birthplace of George Orwell in Motihari, or evidence of the first steam engine to be installed in India thanks to the preacher William Carey, or the remnants of a stillborn Anglo-Indian state in McCluskieganj - Jack's research and memory for details illuminates the beautiful prose.
  Not so the editing software used by Penguin to produce this ebook, with its infuriatingly consistent tick of dropping the 'l' from words beginning with 'fl' - fat, feet, fed for flat, fleet, fled...!!!
• 
  Hrishi Kesav

  Mofussil refers to the regions in India which were outside the three East India company capitals.
  
  As you read, in every sentence you will be able to smell the streets described. It's like walking through all those places on your own. Ian Jack does not tell anything new about India. Everything that he says is always around us. I don't think many would have read or thought about them. The majority of people do not have time to do that. And for the minority, it doesn't always make a pleasant reading.
  
  This by no means describes the complete India. The book contains insights about persons and places in India which the author has encountered in this long stay as a journalist in India. So people who are in the lookout for insights into other places will be disappointed.
• 
  T P Kennedy

  This is a very pleasant book. It's a collection of gentle observational essays about the authors time in India. Different essays give perspectives on topics of interest to him. There's a great deal about the Gandhis and the Indian emergency. However, the most interesting pieces are where the book slows down and Jack writes about trains, steam boats, eccentric character or strange vestige of imperial rule. It's a book to be dipped into and savoured.
• 
  Mahua

  “Mofussil Junction” is a good read. This book would grab special attention for those who have special interest on the history of India and in her journey from post-independence till as late as 2012. It consists of several articles which talks of the writer’s experience. Basically, a view of India from Ian Jack’s eyes. Let’s not have any prejudice considering the fact that the writer is a Scottish. This book covers George Orwell to William Carrey to Gandhi Dynasty to Chandrashekhar’s all India march. He has reached to places that we being Indians haven’t even heard of. That’s not all; we get to know of shipping industry and its fall, railways with steam engines to the modern ones. He did not even miss out on Rabindranath Tagore. In fact one of the best descriptions of Tagore that I ever came across.
  In a nutshell, it is a pleasant read for anyone with a curiosity for our very own country.