Good book!

I just finished reading 'Nehru: A contemporary's estimate' by Walter Crocker. This book came out recently and should be on the stands of most bookshops. Crocker was the High Commissioner from Australia to India during Nehru's prime ministership. So, it is truly an objective view (not a British or Indian viewpoint) and also it is a view of the time when Nehru could be seen in isolation rather than in the shadow of Gandhiji. The book is extremely good because:

1. It is very pithy- only 185-odd pages. It also restricts itself to the 16 years of Nehru's rule than his entire life...so no ramblings about childhood incidents

2. It is amazingly knowledgable about India and its psyche, given the book is written by an Australian

3. It is uncannily prophetic- the author had published this book in 1966, and the predictions he made of India are very accurate, if we see the India we have become, 40 years hence

4. It is very sympathetic to India and Nehru: it generates the same sense of respect and awe for our leaders at the time of the independence struggle that usually is the effect of reading Gandhiji or Rajaji

Don't miss it.