Synopsis The book is a beautiful compilation of finely-crafted essays by well-known writers from the Indian subcontinent. The essays range from why India does not have primacy in Asia to the aroma of food. They mostly have a strong, fresh content, often questioning the dominant paradigm. The language too is good, as the editor singularly points out. The editor’s note says, every work featured in the book is one of the best essays each writer has penned. And the only criterion followed is that the essays had to be well written, regardless of the topic. The contributors in this volume include: Rehan Ansari, Sanjaya Baru, Dilip Chitre, Aditha Dissanayake, Dilip D Souza, V Gangadhar, Ramachandra Guha, Rohit Gupta, Kiron Kasbekar, Margaret Mascarenhas, Meena Menon, Sevanti Ninan, Frederick Noronha, Aakar Patel, Dilip Raote, Kalpish Ratna, C P Surendran and Suma Varughese.