Pallavi Aiyar

A fascinating account of their three-year stay in Japan of an India-Spanish couple. Pallavi Aiyar has an enquiring mind, and goes out to meet people and find out what makes them tick. She also has a wide range of interests, which makes it possible to engage deeply, and her proficiency in geopolitics and journalism enable a fusion of hard data and personal reminiscence that is quite convincing. For somebody learning Japanese or about Japan, there are many valuable insights. Somewhat disappointingly, she seems to have given up the struggle to attain proficiency in the language; I suspect that her instructor expected a little too much and did not make allowances for a beginner. She has demonstrated that being a mother of two energetic boys does not mean one is tied to the home. A great combination of hard-headed, down-to-earth Chennai (presumably) no-nonsense and western intellectualism.… (more)

Books on China are churned out with a regularity that matches the sweatshops that churn out socks in Wenzhou. Yet Smoke And Mirrors by one of India's most respected journalists, Pallavi Aiyar was different. For starters, it offered neither a Chinese or Western perspective but an Indian one.

Having lived in China myself for almost two years, I could almost feel my thoughts merge with Pallavi's. I could see her observing China from the standpoint we Indians take while visiting China - the shedding of naive observations, the pang of jealousy over China's immense and well-maintained infrastructure, (what roads, we marveled), and the sheer pace of China's progress. Then, we would step back and say smugly, well, we have democracy - we can write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, call him a leaden-footed politician, and get away with it, and the poor Chinese are leaden-footed intellectually, forced into acknowledging the Communist Party as God.

Yet there is no lack of religious freedom in China - contrary to popular belief, and Pallavi writes eloquently on the same, visiting abbots in Louyang to Imams in Xinjiang. The freedom is not absolute, yet it is there. Pallavi Aiyar writes like a journalist - there is little sentiment, her observations are taut, and her research immaculate. From extensive coverage of Beijing's vanishing hutongs, which includes some of her best interactions with the Chinese, to her eventual reporting, including the landmark coverage of the first Beijing-Lhasa train, the book covers the length and breadth of China. Although I was bored a bit towards the end, when the book meandered into a debate on whether the author would prefer India or China, I enjoyed reading Smoke And Mirrors. Immensely.… (more)