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My Friend Sancho
My first book, My Friend Sancho, was published in May 2009, and went on to become the biggest selling debut novel released that year in India. It is a contemporary love story set in Mumbai, and had earlier been longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2008. To learn more about the book, click here.
If you're interested, do join the Facebook group for My Friend Sancho
Click here for more about my publisher, Hachette India.
My posts on India Uncut about My Friend Sancho can be found here.
Recent entries
So it’s about 10.45pm, and we’re headed in a tourist taxi to Siena Village, a resort a few kilometres…
I don’t know why, but I find this kind of funny. And what’s with the quote marks in that…
Jonah Lehrer writes in Wired: Here’s a brain teaser: Your task is to move a single line so that…
So while everyone’s celebrating the arrival of Akhilesh Yadav and how he’s revitalised the Samajwadi Party and UP Politics,…
... is done. The next time India walk out to play a Test match, my favourite sportsman of all…
29 June, 2007
Where your taxes almost went
Towards paying 700 staffers at the Hardayal Municipal Library in Chandni Chowk.
The Indian Express reports:
For the past few months, the Hardayal Municipal Library in Chandni Chowk has been witnessing a heavy rush of people — more than 700 — every day. Unfortunately, they are not readers but library staffers, all hired in a span of four months, ahead of the municipal elections earlier this year.
These employees, mainly college students, were hired by former Congress councillor Ashok Jain between December 2006 and March 2007. The library, Delhi’s oldest, is fully functional with 15 staffers. The remaining 700 spend their day protesting against the MCD for non-payment of salaries since April.
My favourite part of the story is when the current councillor tells IE, “[O]ur readers find no place to sit now.” That so typifies the essence of government.
(Link via email from Confused. Where your taxes go: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. Also see: 1, 2, 3, 4.
My essays on taxes and government: Your maid funds Unani, A beast called government.)
Posted by Amit Varma in
