Mother Pious Lady: Harper Collins India, 380 pages, Rs399
“…full of brilliant and insightful observations. This is a fine and enjoyable study of the Indian middle class…”
Nandan Nilekani
“This is a rare and captivating book, wise and witty, on the inner lives of middle class Indians. Desai both enlightens and entertains.”
Sudhir Kakar
A new India is visibly emerging from within the folds of its many pasts.
This new India needs to be seen with new eyes, free from the baggage of yesterdays characterizations. This is exactly what Santosh Desai, one of India’s best-known social commentators, does in this warm, affectionate and deliciously witty look at the changing urban Indian middle class.
Writing as an insider, from personal experience, Desai cuts through the chaos and confusion of everyday India both yesterday and today, and suddenly we begin to see things clearly. Holding a mirror to our inner selves, Desai makes us see what drives us, what makes us tick, what makes our hearts beat, and how our mindsets and attitudes re changing, even as the past never quite leaves us. And Desai does so in short masterful esays, written with great humour and sensitivity.
A big book about the small things that really matter.