Dilli's new bookworms

It is rarely that Delhi really notices a book. The "Death of a Moneylender" by Kota Neelima was an exception. It touched a chord perhaps because it deals with the extremely brutal financial situation in rural Bharat far from Dilli and Mumbai, and therefore exotic (?). Though written as a work of fiction it brings remarkable authenticity and credibility to bear. In fact, it was Neelima's truth extraction technique that became the subject of testimonies at her book launch.

Through a blaze of photographers and cameramen, the shy and retiring author received warm words graciously from Shiela Dikshit, Delhi's CM. Shiela, who is an avid reader, said that the teaser read out by Suneet Tandon, the thespian new director of the Indian Institute of Mass Communications, should whet many appetites. Praising the author, whose husband Pavan Khera incidentally works with Shiela, she said that this book was a worthy sequel to Neelima's earlier rural-based work. Also in the line to praise the book was Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who having confessed to not having read the book, narrated instead his respect for Neelima's research style during her journalistic days and the subject she had chosen.

Yet one more mantri present, was Rural Minister C P Joshi who chose not to speak, even though the subject is rather close to his heart and his work. The presence of MPs Azharuddin and Sandip Dikshit and a junior mantri Jitin Prasad made the evening dominantly a political Dilliu2013style one. Minds were exercised for a change, in the Constitutional Club. Though some of those who came to hear about the book made a round of the swanky exercise machines that are a part of the brand new gym in the newly-upgraded uber cool political hangout of Dilli, normally out of bounds for the hoi polloi.

Widely regarded as India's "Image Guru", Dilip Cherian is lobbyist, celebrity creator and tycoon watcher. He currently parties on a 24/7 schedule that mixes cities nixes bores, and analyses Dilli