Unreal Elections

Amidst the election brouhaha comes a book that looks at the sheer hilarity of Indian politics, along with the idiosyncrasies of its candidates. Titled Unreal Elections, the book is written by CS Krishna and Karthik Laxman, the team behind the website TheUnRealTimes.com, which spoofs current Indian politics.

Unreal Elections, CS Krishna and Karthik Laxman, Penguin India, R250. Available at leading bookstores.

The book is a chuckling read peppered with sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek commentary in the run-up to the 2014 elections. Even if politics isn't your favourite topic, you will still be able to get the gist of its plot as it takes you through the political developments of the last few years. It includes the inner-party machinations to get to the top, incidents such as Arvind Kejriwal's scam-exposés, the DLF-Robert Vadra controversy, the ensuing damage control measures, the Coalgate scandal that rocked the Congress, Narendra Modi's rise to power, the Snoopgate controversy where Modi was accused of spying on a woman, and the Modi-Rahul Gandhi war of words, among others.

Since it's the social media era, there are spoofs of political candidates' Facebook wall pages, which will excite a few chortles as well. While the book may be a comic read, it is based on actual reports of scams and rhetorical faux pas.

Be prepared to laugh a lot at the humorous proceedings but also to feel a tinge of sadness about the murkiness of politics. It may be titled Unreal Elections but it's not unreal enough and might just make you want to sit up and
contemplate change.