If you are a follower of Indian politics, the title of this post may ring some bells. It is the title of Natwar Singh's autobiography. I found this book lying in my closet. I can't remember why I chose to spend on this book; typically I wouldn't have. But I guess the reason was Sanjaya Baru's book - The Accidental Prime Minister - I had enjoyed reading it. And perhaps, I expected something better from Natwar Singh!
Kunwar Natwar Singh has a lot to tell. But he has a very few stories to narrate. And even those stories, he has been unable to narrate in an engaging fashion. He delves deep into a handful of his life events and in most of the cases, describes quite superficially. The style of engagement is so poor in the early chapters, that the book almost sounds like a 'wannabe autobiography'!
I consider Natwar as an extremely fortunate human being. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he seems to have come in touch with many imminent and influential people of the past century. Except for accounts about his wife, Hem, he rarely touches upon aspects of his personal life. He turns up as a big admirer of the Gandhis. It was difficult to digest some of the content where he sides with the Gandhis and goes against my personal political favorites like PV Narasimha Rao. On one account, he doesn't put the entire blame of the Emergency on Indira - that was outrageous!
He gets more expressive and (for me, acceptable) in the later chapters where he reveals some vices of Madam Sonia Gandhi! I think he goes a few steps ahead of Baru in exposing her political character. He also despises Manmohan Singh! The final chapter ended on a good note for me - he displays hope in Narendra Modi!
All in all, the book is quite mediocre. It is really difficult to keep up to reading it in the early chapters, but gets fairly interesting later. Of course, your political inclination and your ability to take things with a pinch of salt will really matter if you want to enjoy reading this autobiography.
Thank you!
Kunwar Natwar Singh has a lot to tell. But he has a very few stories to narrate. And even those stories, he has been unable to narrate in an engaging fashion. He delves deep into a handful of his life events and in most of the cases, describes quite superficially. The style of engagement is so poor in the early chapters, that the book almost sounds like a 'wannabe autobiography'!
I consider Natwar as an extremely fortunate human being. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he seems to have come in touch with many imminent and influential people of the past century. Except for accounts about his wife, Hem, he rarely touches upon aspects of his personal life. He turns up as a big admirer of the Gandhis. It was difficult to digest some of the content where he sides with the Gandhis and goes against my personal political favorites like PV Narasimha Rao. On one account, he doesn't put the entire blame of the Emergency on Indira - that was outrageous!
He gets more expressive and (for me, acceptable) in the later chapters where he reveals some vices of Madam Sonia Gandhi! I think he goes a few steps ahead of Baru in exposing her political character. He also despises Manmohan Singh! The final chapter ended on a good note for me - he displays hope in Narendra Modi!
All in all, the book is quite mediocre. It is really difficult to keep up to reading it in the early chapters, but gets fairly interesting later. Of course, your political inclination and your ability to take things with a pinch of salt will really matter if you want to enjoy reading this autobiography.
Thank you!
