Two recent books on India written by authors of two different generationspresent an embrassingly rosy picture of India

As an assistant editor of Financial Express in 1989, I was asked to write about a new steel plant that was coming up in a place near Amethi, in UP, the constituency of the then prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. My editor, Swaminathan Aiyar, wondered why a steel plant would come...

Richard Branson says his name should have been “Brandson” because brand building is in his DNA. His grandfather marketed branded cows! He is a billionaire who does not carry cash and his daughter says he can’t use an ATM because he does not remember his pin code. Once his wife had to stop him from being the only one to raise his hand when Bill Gates asked a distinguished audience if there was...