Relationship: Extracts from a Correspondence

by Nayantara Sahgal, E.N. Mangat Rai

Collection of letters of the Nayantara Sahgal, 1927, is an Indian writer in English and E.N. Mangat Rai, 1915-2003, was an Indian Civil service employee.

Genres: India

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Nayantara Sahgal is an Indian writer in English. Her fiction deals with India's elite responding to the crises engendered by political change. She was one of the first female Indian writers in English to receive wide recognition. She is a member of the Nehru family (not the Nehru-Gandhi family as she so often points out), the second of the three daughters born to Jawaharlal Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.
She was awarded the 1986 Sahitya Akademi Award for English, for her novel Rich Like Us (1985)awarded by India's National Academy of Letters.

Reviews

[Siddharth Soni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compare it to any fiction. Or any non-fiction. A close look at how a lovely relationship unfolds in real, over a course of time. In the letters shared, besides the relationship discussed, you might find yourself, your dilemmas, your questions and your answers...

[Poonam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is very interesting record. A collection of letters between Nayantara Sahgal and E N Mangat Rai who fell in love when they were married to other people. They married each other 12 years later. Their letters cover Indo-Pak war period since Mangat Rai served as Chief Secretary of Jammu & Kashmir for two years between 1964 and 1966.

I was reading a Karan Thapar book at the same time and he seemed to be related to Gautam Sahgal, Nayantara's ex-husband, who was a pharmaceutical baron. ENMR was friend of Khushwant Singh and his wife Kaval (whose mentions I read innumerable times in Mr. Singh's books and columns) also seems to have had affair with him. Interesting connections the book reveals.

https://www.thedispatch.in/rememberin...

[Anjana Radhakrishnan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd book ~ a collection of letters between Nayantara Sahgal and E.N. Mangat Rai who were lovers, divorced their respective spouses, and remarried. I felt very voyeuristic and mostly uncomfortable reading these private love letters. However, I do appreciate the courage it takes to be so vulnerable and I did find myself pondering the institution of marriage, the morality of love affairs, the disintegration and founding of relationships. Besides some small food for thought, there isn't much else of substance here.

[Rajesh Sabapathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once in a while, I go back and read some of the letters in this book again. The sensibility of a refined heart, the helplessness one is faced with when handcuffed by circumstance, and above everything, the quiet revolt against society ... the photo on the cover of the book actually conveys everything inside.

[Gayatri Makhijani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a book you will want to go back to again, and again. In it are hidden many little bits of wisdom on find yourself, grappling with your self, and most of all finding your soul mate.

[Aparesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

let me read first