Sanjay Kohilo Katha by Arindam Sheel [Hardcover]

Although Indira is the central figure in this narrative, she is not the main character. Neither is her younger son, Shri Sanjay—in fact, the author hesitates to determine their prominence solely based on word count.

This is a Noah’s Ark—my little basket holds Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and if you look closely, you’ll see how Advani is doing. Barrister Manu is here with his legal maneuvers, Professor Pranab Babu plays with a cool head. The Tatas, Birlas, and Bajajs make their appearances, and even the musical maestro Kishore Kumar joins this grand spectacle.

In poetic terms, this book is a collection of “snapshots of different lives.” In practical terms, it’s a khichdi—rice may be the main ingredient, but it’s not indispensable; in its absence, broken wheat will do just fine. One moment, Sitaram Yechury is escaping the police at JNU, and in the next, Jayalalithaa enters the scene from nowhere—this book is full of such unpredictable twists. A chaotic, tangled web of politics.