Book Review: One Life is Not Enough - K. Natwar Singh

Natwar Singh's autobiography is one piece which gives us an account of the history of India back from the times when princely states reigned in the country till the present day democratic set up. A highly successful IFS officer Natwar Singh describes his diplomatic career in a refined form picking up beads from the thread of memory line and presenting all major events in his 31 year old diplomatic career starting from 1953.

A good judge of personality Natwar Singh gives a personality account of most of the figures that he talks about in his autobiography using metaphors and words that suit the underlying person the most. His descriptions of literary figures like E.M. Forster, R.K. Narayan, Ahmad Ali, Santha Ram Rao and many others leaves little to imagination with regards to the literary skill of these figures and their close association with Mr. Singh.

With regards to political figures Natwar Singh gives a fair picture of each personality whom he encountered during his lifetime. During his long career Natwar Singh had the chance to work with all the Congress Prime Ministers owing to his closeness with the Gandhi family. Apart from Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and his close circle of diplomats & politicians Natwar also goes into the personality specifics of leaders like Morarji Desai, PV Narasimha Rao, international leaders like Mao Tse Tung, Kenneth Kaunda and many more figures of international repute.



In his diplomatic career Natwar has served the country on various positions based in London, Newyork, Poland, Zambia, Pakistan, to name a few. The details of every diplomatic mission on which he was posted have been clearly mentioned giving the reader an understanding of the various roles. Be it his posting at the United Nations, or as ambassador of various countries Natwar Singh gives details of his functions, events that happened during his presence and the protocol that is followed to interact with the Government of India as well as the foreign government all of which is beneficial to people interested in international relations.

The style of the autobiography is simple and straight never going off the chronology. Small hinges of humor add a good taste to the book. The calm and composed style of writing goes a sudden transformation in the final chapters of the book which starts basically from the time when Sonia Gandhi decides to lead the Congress Party. So be it the speech preparation sessions of Sonia Gandhi, her shyness from media which was evident during her initial media appearances as the leader of Congress or her dictatorial manner of working, Mr. Singh was all against Mrs. Gandhi right from her introduction in the book. He even accuses Sonia Gandhi for the present plight of the Congress Party.

The autobiography covers all the areas of Natwar Singh's life and at times he strays away from his life when describing detailed personality traits of leaders like Jawahar Lal Nehru but even then as the book proceeds one feels that the book is more of a one sided justification by Natwar Singh with  regards to his name in the Volcker Committee Report which named him and the Congress Party being the beneficiaries of the Oil For Food Scandal. In the last chapters Mr. Singh tries to gather maximum sympathy for himself by describing issues in an emotive narrative in events relating to the Congress party sidelining from the controversy leaving him 'Naked' to attacks, he being forced to resign, being back stabbed by ministers and other moles in the Congress party. He desperately tries to absolve himself from the scandal and bats for his pride & honesty which was never questioned during his long diplomatic & political career till 2005.

The book generated its share of controversy when Sonia Gandhi herself visited Natwar Singh's residence when he announced about his plans to launch the autobiography which definitely raises eyebrows as to why would the Congress President meet an ex-Congressman who she thought had 'betrayed her and the party'. It goes without saying that the book has touched a raw nerve. The healing touch for Mrs. Gandhi will be 'her' own book which according to her will 'bring out the truth'. So lets wait for Mrs. Gandhi's autobiography before Natwar Singh comes up with more sequels on the Gandhi's as promised by him.

Comments

  1. alpana16 August 2014 at 21:40

    You have certainly whetted my appetite for a good read.....certainly dying to read it!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ricky17 August 2014 at 00:48

    then order it :) buy a kindle. its guud..

    ReplyDelete

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