~ ‘Mad Nation’ has launched in India in February, 2015 ~
About The Book:
If I had to choose between letting down
A friend or my country, God, give
me the strength to betray my nation.
‘I was born in a mentally retarded country.’
Thus begins this provocative, stylish, and racy literary rant against India by a twenty-four-year-old awaiting capital punishment; hoisting so huge a historic and political canvas to paint upon—opening at the Emergency that almost murdered Democracy and culminating in the Godhra riots, which almost destroyed secularism—a canvas so grand, it will leave you staggered . . .
. . . and set the tone for a modern story of an ancient Mad Nation!
When Dr M Vidyasagar (‘Sagar’), retired chief of CBI, gets an unusual request from his old friend and the President of India to privately investigate if Vikrant Vaidya— sentenced to death for motivelessly killing his teenage neighbour Iqbal—is innocent or not, little does he know how convoluted a conspiracy he is setting foot in.
With little time left for the President to demit office, the task sets the seasoned super-sleuth Sagar on a strange course, taking him back and forth in time and place. As Godmen, cricketers, politicians, journalists, gunmen, war heroes, and film directors get irredeemably linked in his investigation, Sagar finds himself in an India where politically-motivated killings of high profile people take place, executive pardons get fixed, and innocent people come forward to take the blame and face death sentence than tell the truth.
With a narrative that springs forth from and weaves its way through the Emergency, anti-Sikh riots post Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Ram Janmabhoomi Rath Yatra, anti-Mandal Commission protests, economic liberalisation, Babri Masjid demolition, and Godhra riots, readers will find themselves in the grips of a chimerical tale, asking and answering the question: Is India truly a mad nation?
Longlisted for the MAN Asian Literary Prize, Autobiography of a Mad Nation is written on an epic scale—where history, personal friendships, love for a nation and belief in its values, sense of great literature, fight against censorship, passion for ideas, and a zeal for unforgettable characters and dialogue fuse—to leave a mesmerizing impact on the minds of readers who discerningly distinguish between great, and all else.
About The Author:
When asked, Sriram Karri is never quite sure if the nation he was born in, and loves so much, was and is really mad, or if merely he is. Either way, he has witnessed his country grow fondly, sadly, joyfully, regretfully, and above all, hopefully.
He began his career as a journalist and worked in Deccan Chronicle and Indian Express, and has worked as a corporate brander with TCS, Infosys, Satyam, the Indian School of Business, and also co-founded a tech start-up.
He writes for The New York Times, and has contributed to The Guardian, The Hindu, and The New Indian Express.
His first published work, ‘The Spiritual Supermarket’, was longlisted for the Vodafone Crossword Book Award in the non-fiction category in 2008.
An accomplished orator, Sriram is an invited speaker and panellist at several fora and discussions. He lives in Hyderabad with his wife and son.
About The Publisher:
Fingerprint! is one of India’s youngest independent publishing imprint, keen to publish quality books on a commercial scale. Owned by Prakash Books, which is India’s largest distributor of books and whose publishing cell has published some of India’s finest coffee-table books over the years, Fingerprint! was launched in February 2012 with the aim of publishing commercial fiction and non-fiction that’s priced affordably, packaged interestingly, and distributed as widely as possible, both as physical books and eBooks. Some of their recent releases include critically acclaimed Michelle Corasanti’s ‘The Almond Tree’, Tharun James Jimani’s ‘Cough Syrup Surrealism’, Ma Anand Sheela’s controversial memoir ‘Don’t Kill Him!’, Madhumita Mukherjee’s touching epistolary novel ‘The Other Side of the Table’, best-selling author Shobhan Bantwal’s Bollywood in a book series, and Ratna Vira’s powerful book ‘Daughter By Court Order’, soon to be made into a motion picture.
If you find the book interesting, buy from Amazon or Flipkart here:
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