Snakes and Ladders: Glimpses of Modern India

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Here, at last, is a key to modern India. India is the land of contradictions. It is the world's largest democracy, but it still practices the caste system. It is a burgeoning economic superpower, but it ranks among the poorest nations on earth. It is home to the world's largest film industry, and to the world's oldest religions. It is an ancient civilization celebrating fifty years as a modern nation, entering a new century many believe will belong to China and India. Now, as never before, the world wants to know what contemporary India is all about. Gita Mehta is fascinated by India in all its rich detail: its history and contemporary crafts; its culture and politics; its ancient traditions and current concerns. In Snakes and Ladders she gives a loving but unflinching assessment of India today, in an account that is entertaining, informative, and wholly personal.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Mehta writes of India as one of a new generation, born the day in 1947 when it became independent and five years old when Gandhi was assassinated. Her view of her country's recent past is filtered through her own experiences as a well-connected, Oxford-educated writer (A River Sutra), reporter and lecturer. This series of engrossing sketches, some of which have been previously published in U.S. and British magazines, describes a country that is not one but several civilizations in different states of development, a subcontinent rather than a single state, with a multitude of cultures, religions, languages, races and customs, where "most Indians view other Indians as foreigners." Its lack of a cohesive identity has frustrated rulers, past and present, in their efforts to "centralize a land that has no center but is only a field of experience." Yet the democratic urge brings the disparate elements to vote in numbers that might shame more cohesive states: "half a billion ballot[s]... in 17 different languages, each with individual scripts." Mehta's reports range across rampant political corruption, chaotic rule, fashionable dinners, discussions of the country's ancient cultures and her own encounters with poets and filmmakers. These wide-ranging pieces, suffused with outrage, pride, love and humor, have the immediacy of sharp personal reactions and the distance of a critical eye. First serial to Vogue; author tour. (May)

Library Journal

In this continuation of Karma Cola (LJ 11/15/79), Mehta concentrates on Indian politics since independence. Her "commonsense way to explore [the period's] problems and accomplishments...[results in] a very accessible work for general readers." (LJ 5/1/97)

School Library Journal

YAMehta's personal essays on modern India should whet most readers' desire to see the country for themselves. The title refers to the classic Indian game as well as the slides backward and jumps ahead that the young nation has endured since gaining its independence from Great Britain 50 years ago. The author divides this collection into four parts: her personal involvement; the tremendous difficulties of poverty and diversity within a country of over 400 different languages; the historical path that India has taken since independence; and the present status and future outlook toward achieving a unified oneness. The 35 essays flow from subject to subject and yet each of them stands alone. Mehta paints with words, making the complexity of Indian life vivid and understandable. She is able to distill and simplify such overwhelmingly huge issues as the role of nonviolence in a violent society, election chaos, film mania, and women struggling for their identity. A political chronology provides a framework while Mehta's personal stories and illustrative Indian myths give a freshness to this readable and attractive book. A valuable and essential title that will be useful for reports, and that casual readers will also find fascinating and intriguing.Dottie Kraft, formerly at Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

AudioFile

Gita Mehta brings modern India to life in a series of essays about the economy, politics and history. As parts of India reach toward the first world, Mehta describes how the caste system is slowly disappearing, poor people are working their way out of debt, and all the people are working toward a democracy. An Oxford-educated writer and reporter, Mehta presents a well-rounded picture of the multitude of cultures, civilizations and attitudes represented by the various areas in India. SNAKES AND LADDERS engrosses the listener, peeling away the veils of myth and presenting an in-depth, educated picture of this important world culture. M.B.K. � AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Time

She combines an outsider's wise-cracking sense of wonder with a homegirl's instinct for how things in India work -- or don't. -- Time, International EditionRead all 9 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING