Bihar is in the Eye of the Beholder

In this impressionistic and often darkly funny account of the sixteen months he spent in a small town in Bihar Vijay Nambisan tries to understand what drives-or thwarts-perhaps the most talked about state in the Indian Union. Vicious poverty and caste wars messy politics corruption and lawlessness-the worst of modern India is in full display here. Yet how different is Bihar from the rest of the country? And is it really on the brink of a spectacular collapse? Looking beyond clichés and statistics Vijay Nambisan has produced a remarkably perceptive and balanced portrait of the 'hole in the heart of India'. About the Author Vijay Nambisan has worked as a journalist in Delhi Mumbai Chennai Bihar and Kerala. A selection of his poems appeared in Gemini a two-poet volume published in Viking in 1992. He is also the author of Language as an Ethic (Penguin 2003). He is married to the novelist and surgeon Kavery Nambisan. They live in Lonavla Maharashtra.