Apolitical elite class is dangerous: Tarun Tejpal

With tied hair, a nonchalant air and salty humour, Tarun Tejpal might come across as a cool dude, but actually he is quite fastidious. The man behind India’s most path-breaking journalism, Tehelka, Tejpal has just come out with his latest book, The Valley of Masks.

With an audience comprising Shashi Tharoor, LK Advani, Sharmila Tagore, Soha Ali Khan, Urvashi Butalia, Jaishree Mishra, the book launch at Taj Mahal Hotel,  saw the capital’s literati in full attendance.

Introducing the book, Sahitya Akademi winner Nayantara Sahgal sent the audience cracking when she said, “when I picked up his first book The Alchemy of Desire, people said it’s sheer porn, of course I read it and discovered a highly compelling story of obsessive love.  ‘The Valley…’  is very different from his previous books as it’s a fable set in the Himalayas.”

In a world where fundamentalist terror has become a harsh reality, the book – his most profound and imaginative till date – examines the pathology of perfection.  “I have an obsessive need to observe collective space. Even as we become more global, in an absurd paradox there’s a growing insularity – Hindu right wing extremism, Norway killings – what is the pathology that leads perfectly intelligent people down that road that seems inspirational and redemptive  but end up in a perilous place?” the author poses a rhetorical question.

Full report here Hindustan Times