Bringing Them to Book Shashi Tharoor

ST. Two ornate tiles in blue carry his initials outside his room, but with that calm demeanour, it might as well be mistaken for a saint’s.

- Soumya Mukerji

Only, this time, Shashi Tharoor has put aside that hat and decided to take on the Raj of the Church that ruled India for centuries. After decades in politics and scholarship in parallel, Dr. Tharoor thought it was time the tale be told of how the British extorted every possible form of wealth from India and left her empty, poor and tired. It’s not the most surprising story, but coming from someone with years of smooth dealing in external affairs and deftness at diplomacy, it sure is a hard hitting hammer.

Between juggling his roles of office, author, father and speaker he presents one of this year’s most-awaited books, An Era of Darkness, that revisits a hellish history in the hope that we keep our lessons for the future. We speak to him about his own life in addition to the book’s.

How would you sum up the last 30 years of your journey?

I wouldn’t! It has, thank God, been too varied to be summed up.

How has your core philosophy and approach evolved over the years? 

I’ve always been a liberal, a staunch supporter of political and economic freedom, allied to social justice. That hasn’t changed since my college days; indeed my life has largely confirmed me in my core beliefs. I’ve also been a nationalist with a strong streak of internationalism, and perhaps the balance has shifted more towards the former after my return to India. The one thing that has evolved is a growing rejection of certitudes. Experience has taught me to mistrust absolutes; few things are ever reducible to black and white.

An Era of Darkness comes well-timed in the 70th year of Indian Independence. How did the debate at the Oxford Union in 2015 inspire you to write it?