Indian Essentials

Book excerpt: Celebrating 60 years of the Indian Republic, we bring you Indian Essentials, a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek ode to India. In this quirky collection, twenty writers and social commentators ponder the mysteries of the Indian psyche and try to make sense of one trait, phenomenon or cultural value that is quintessentially Indian. From the Indian male s penchant for public urination to the Indian female s obsession with gold, from the jhatkas of Bollywood to the melas of Allahabad, from our embarrassingly frank matrimonials to how seriously we take our copulation problems, nothing is spared scrutiny. And because we Indians like a little something extra over and above what we are promised, we are giving away a complimentary copy of Extra! a little book that tackles all those peculiar Indian qualities that we didn t want to leave out of the Indian Essentials. Dip into this collection and join us to find out what it means to be Made in India.