Chasing the monsoon Book

Among the writers who have influenced the most in my life Pankaj Mishra has pride of place. Sometimes when one really admires a writer based on their more recent work, they hesitate to plow too deeply into their past: the time before they became what one admires today. I suppose this is why I waited so long to read Butter Chicken in Ludhiana, a book that Mishra wrote when he was a mere 25 years old. Having read it now I was positively surprised. Not only is it good, it is one of his best works and one of the best pieces of travel writing I have ever read in general.

The book takes Mishra on a seemingly unremarkable journey across some anonymous small towns across India. The real story is the subtext: this was a world on the cusp of change amid the liberalisation of the Indian economy. A whole new class of people was preparing to enter history, with their own painful ambitions, resentments, grievances and longings. This class of people is now impacting the politics of not just India but much of the developing world. There were some familiar archetypes in this work, a latently murderous underclass as well as some brilliant and noble people who never had the chance to live their full potential. The good and bad of an emerging world.

I found that this work prefigured much of Mishra’s later writings. It is about Asians and others who were left out of history and are now entering it, for better and worse. I highly recommend it not just to fans of his or people interested in India, but for anyone who enjoys good writing. It’s in the tradition of Naipaul, in a good way.