You may consider this harsh or fair but either way, this view is not sufficiently substantiated. Nehru is also dismissed as a petty vindictive tyrant with no thoughts of his own. For one, he is called "Jawaharlal" through most of the book, although everyone else is referred to by their surname. It is evident early on though that Basu, and perhaps Menon, is no fan of Jawaharlal Nehru’s. There are pages and pages of history - available anywhere for anyone to read - and one line thrown in about what Menon thought about what was going on. You are not even sure whether this version is that of the writer Narayani Basu, as a historian, or that of Menon. Instead of a story of his life, with his insights, you get the story of the last days of the Raj and India’s Independence. Between the fascinating beginning that draws you in and the final, moving, emotional end, V.P. That a man without formal education could rise so far and so brilliantly. The losses and tribulations that the young Menon faced and his dogged determination to rise above every setback. The sheer grit that made him work as a labourer in the Kolar mines and claw his way up. That a young boy should be so angry that he burned down his school and ran away from home. And how childhood moulds us for the future. Here, we focus on the development of a young man. When all the controversy erupted over Jawaharlal versus Patel, at the launch of this book, I was still at the beginning of the story, where in a sleepy Kerala village and with an indulgent mother, Menon, was a brilliant if rebellious young student. To the riddle that was Menon and to acknowledgement at last of his formidable accomplishment. This biography, by his great granddaughter, seemed like the perfect answer. It is clear within the story that Patel could not have done this without Menon and yet Menon himself was ephemeral, elusive. In Menon’s books, incredibly detailed, informative and insightful, you get a remarkable portrait of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the enormous task he was entrusted with: to bring together a disparate and motley group of princely states within the borders of India.īut hovering below the surface of Patel’s astounding achievement was the writer himself, Menon. I have read both The Transfer of Power in India and The Story of the Integration of the Indian States by Menon several times over. Menon is the architect of modern India and that he is largely unsung. Because I do believe that in many ways V.P. I picked this book with great enthusiasm.
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