A little knowledge goes a long way in a cocktail party. Amartya Sen’s The Argumentative Indian (TAI) will go a long way if you are attending one. For those who hate cocktails, the book can serve as Bhel-Puri, mix this and mix that and shake them all, which tells something about its flexibility. But flexibility in a non-fiction that combines history, art and culture might easily distort facts and empirical data.
Everybody gets high one time or another; it is not abnormal if Amartya Sen had felt high after winning the Noble Prize in Economics, and got this sweet idea to try his hand in literature. V.S.Naipaul is another thing – he had been a writer all his life. His treatment of the Islamic world is accurate, objective, and detached; however, that does not apply to Sir Sen (with all due respect).
The introduction of TAI is not an introduction but a disclaimer that seeks to put the BJP in its usual place – a sectarian party. Sen sounds like a confused columnist from The Times of India, a close friend of Vir Sanghvi, or a new graduate in Tehelka. TAI is as confused as India, and that is okay because any book that tries to swallow an elephant in one go will always suffer from stomach ache. Ouch! Did I hear Sen say that? One must not ask what has been covered in the book; one must ask what has not been. You see? TAI serves as an encyclopaedia too.
One page you are reading about European Enlightenment, the next Indo-China defence deal. You cannot sit in the toilet and eat lunch at the same time; each activity has a different way of doing. This conflict reminds me of the poor elephant that Sen tried to swallow in one go.
Criticism of Hindu fundamentalist groups has a risk of becoming into a policy of appeasement, which is something overused by the Congress. Many of the headings that he had analysed are generalisation. The headings might not exist. The only guarantee of the authenticity of TAI is the Nobel Prize tag on his forehead. Why so many reviewers have overlooked this fact is beyond me. The tag also ensures that the writer’s knowledge is free from scrutiny.