Book review of 'Temptations of the West'

 'Temptations of the West. How To Be Modern In India, Pakistan and Beyond' by Pankaj Mishra {Picador}.


     Peshawar is a mess," writes Indian author Pankaj Mishra. But so it seems is most of India, Pakistan and Nepal,or at least as they appear in his book 'Temptations of the West'. An Indian middle class of 200 million people or more and hundreds of millionaires prosper in a country where another 800 million struggle to survive a grinding poverty. In Pakistan, the military and the mullahs still rule the roost. Meanwhile the tiny kingdom of Nepal is split between Maoist guerillas and an absolute monarchy. Then there's Tibet which squirms under the iron heel of the Communist rulers of China.
      Mishra takes us on a tour of the conflict-ridden areas of South Asia. But he also touches down in Bollywood to meet Indian celebrities and movie stars.
    One point he leaves out is the massive increase in the area's population. India's population of roughly 500 million in the 1950's has now doubled to a billion people or more. Nepal's skyrocketting  population is mentioned but no other country's birth rate gets a mention. This is strange since massive increases in population in poor countries also means more social problems.

      "A new elite of politicians and bureaucrats," writes Mishra about Kashmir, "emerged from the culture of corruption that grew around the administration." The same can be said about most of South Asia and Mishra does say this. More could have been written about the high tech world that's booming in India. And not too many women pop up in sthe book to give their views on what's happening in their countries.
    But Pankaj Mishra has written a fascinationg and probing book about the problems of many of the countries of South Asia.