Scoop by Kuldip Nayar

There are some people who need no introduction, their work speaks for them, Kuldip Nayar, is one such person. Out of many of his books I recently read Scoop the tagline of the book mentions it as providing 'Inside stories from the partition to the Present' Present being till 1999. The book is a good read that gives insider info to events that unfolded post partition. As a young journalist who started his career with an Urdu Daily to serving as a press information officer to Gobind Ballabh Pant and Lal Bahadur Shastri to Emergency the book covers some anecdotes from all his journalistic years.

He while sharing some stories from his stint as a press information officer to Lal Bahadur Shastri also ensures that he sticks to fact telling rather than trying to spice up events as they unfolded or show off in anyway his proximity to the leader. What many in today's writers seem to have forgotten when chronicling their lives and times in important roles in the government.

The book extensively covers the post indepence era from the eyes of a journalist, From Nehruvian period to Shastri era (however short lived) to his scathing attack on the emergency era, also covering the then political upheavals in Bangladesh and Pakistan. 

The book is an interesting and candid collection of some important news events in India's post Independence history. Do read for a quick reckoner to India's contemporary history.