Overview

If one were to do a nationwide poll of Indians born after Independence and ask which is the one date they remember most, the answer may well be 25 June 1983, the date on which India won the cricket World Cup. It is often said that cricket in India is like a religion; nothing could be more misleading. Religion has scarred the nation more deeply than anything else. Cricket is the balm that heals. In India's collective consciousness, there is nothing quite like cricket. As the most visible expression of national identity, as an obsession or a dream, cricket is the only thing that possibly unites a country as diverse and as contradiction-ridden as India. In this brilliant book, Soumya Bhattacharya shows how India has made this game their own, given it their own colour, their own customs, their own codes and how cricket in turn has come to permeate every aspect of their public life, from popular culture to politics - so that, when a game is on, the rest of life happens strictly between overs. In the end, All That You Can't Leave Behind is as much about India as it is about cricket.

Full Product Details

9781907219207

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Soumya Bhattacharya's first book, You Must Like Cricket? , was published to acclaim across the world in 2006. He is also the author of the novel, If I Could Tell You , which appeared on India's national bestseller list on publication, and was shortlisted for one of the country's biggest book prizes. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age (Melbourne), the Guardian, the Observer, the Independent, New Statesman and Wisden. He is the Editor of the Mumbai edition of the Hindustan Times and lives with his wife and daughter in Mumbai.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available