A Remarkable Friendship

A chronicle of Ramachandra Guha's rewarding and eccentric relationship with his long-time editor, Rukun Advani

- Harsh Sethi

THE COOKING OF BOOKS: A Literary Memoir

by Ramachandra Guha

JUGGERNAUT

₹699; 264 pages

It is rare to come across a reader in the English language unfamiliar with Ramachandra Guha. A prolific and elegant writer with major books on modern India, environment, cricket and politics, numerous essays and newspaper columns, he is difficult to ignore or disregard. The journey of an aspiring cricketer and middling academic to a promising scholar and now a 'public intellectual' and patron saint to young scholars makes for a fascinating tale. The Cooking of Books is an unusual account of the fortuitous relationship between an author and his editor, one loud, exuberant and opinionated, the other grumpy, acerbic and reclusive, who through episodic meetings and more frequent letter exchanges form a rare and unusually productive partnership.