M.J. Akbar at PostGlobal

M.J. Akbar

India

Mubashar Jawed Akbar is a leading Indian journalist and author. He's the founder and editor-in-chief of The Asian Age, a daily multi-edition Indian newspaper with a global perspective and editor-in-chief of The Deccan Chronicle, a news daily based in Hyderabad. He has written books including Blood Brothers, Nehru: The Making of India, Kashmir: Behind the Vale, Riot After Riot, The Shade of Swords, and India: The Siege Within. Close.

M.J. Akbar

India

Mubashar Jawed Akbar is a leading Indian journalist and author. He's the founder and editor-in-chief of The Asian Age, a daily multi-edition Indian newspaper with a global perspective and editor-in-chief of The Deccan Chronicle, a news daily based in Hyderabad. more »

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Familiar Story of a Well Meaning Failure

New Delhi, India - [Pick: Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Woodehouse] Alternatively the question could be framed thus: The British authorities permit you to carry one book in your assigned plastic bag on an air journey. Which one book would you carry on-board? In either scenario, dream-holiday or nightmare, the book I would recommend is any Jeeves-Bertie Wooster novel by P.G.Woodehouse.

The plot is familiar but that never prevents it from being repeated. Bertie, a happy-go-unlucky guy whose favorite haunt is the Drones Club, where he can throw bread crumbs at fellow Yalies, becomes the center of a tortured story replete with twists and turns. Bertie is always faced with a life-and-death problem that involves the worst kind of stinker.

He has the best of intentions but is rewarded by the worst of results.

Bertie happily mangles the English language and then dangles it in front of the world. He is always good for a laugh, but the laugh is always on him. Bertie always makes a complete mess of things before turning helplessly to Aunt Condolleezza or Jeeves Cheney, who try and rearrange the wreck into some sort of order.

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