And All is Said

by Zareer Masani

Contains 6 BW photos. A riveting saga of family, society and politics in India, from the Raj era to the tumultuous days of the Emergency and its Aftermath

In this unflinchingly candid memoir, Zareer Masani draws on the letters and diaries of his parents, charismatic politician Minoo Masani and his gifted wife Shakuntala, to paint an intimate portrait of two remarkable individuals and their prominent but very different families the Masanis, Bombay Parsis, and the Srivastavas, UP Kayasths united by marriage but divided by temperament, lifestyle and political affiliation. Minoo s father Sir Rustom Masani was an ascetic scholar who scorned wealth and all the comforts it could buy. Shakuntala s father, Sir J.P. Srivastava, arch-loyalist of the British Raj and viceregal councillor, made a fortune as a mill owner and brought up his daughter in the lap of hedonistic luxury. When the two fell in love and eloped, Minoo was a twice-divorced, left-wing Congress activist. Later, he became a founder of the pro-free-market Swatantra Party a figure whom Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as his ideological inspiration leader of the Opposition in Parliament and a tireless campaigner against global Communism.

The author writes of his turbulent upbringing as an only child torn between the rival influences and attractions of his parents and grandparents; of the struggle to express his own sexuality in 1960s India; and of the stormy and agonizing breakdown of his parents marriage, which was closely interwoven with the political drama of Indira Gandhi s rise to power and the Emergency she imposed.

248 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2011

Reviews

[Akash Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very candid a memoir, the author lays it all bare. Truth, as he puts it, does more justice to the memory of his parents, Minoo and Shakuntala, than a hagiography would ever have.

[Vinay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant memoir of a tumultous marriage (and divorce) of two powerful personalities, offering a ringside view of the evolution of independent India with a cast of characters including JRD Tata and Khushwant Singh. A refreshingly candid account of the fascinating lives of the author's parents, the Swatantra Party leader Minoo Masani and one-time Indira Gandhi acolyte Shakuntala Shrivastava, told with great skill and sensitivity, and none of the idol-worship that one tends to see in Indian biographies. It's also about being gay in the 60s and 70s in India and Britain, and about the lives of the upper classes in Bombay and Delhi (and Kanpur) from a bygone era. It's many wonderful things and it's all told wonderfully well. An absolute must-read.

[Bookish Reshuffle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This controversial but acclaimed memoir offers an unflinchingly honest account of his parents’ private lives, his childhood, and the raw detailing of how their decisions and indecisions shaped their familial bonds. The author doesn’t shy away from telling the complicated truth, even if it doesn’t represent all the facts. He presents his best recollection of a life lived with domineering public personalities and their fallout in their professional and private lives.

https://charantiandchai.com/and-all-i...

[Sarad Pradhan]

A candid family saga that entails the painful memories of author who caught between his father and mother who never got along.