Jerry’s notes: tackling issues both classical and liberal

“I could relate to most of the pieces,” said Das,“while others made me wish I had written them.”

Rao’s 1,000-word articles span a spectrum of topics — from the sheer delight that a John LeCarre thriller offers to unveiled scepticism about Special Economic Zones; from an open letter to L K Advani asking him to drop Hindutva to a trenchant criticism of crony capitalism.

Former NASSCOM chairman Saurabh Srivastava,a panelist along with Das and Chairman of Finance Commission Dr Vijay Kelkar,chuckled,“There is actually nothing that Jerry cannot intellectualise and he is not afraid to be a contrarian.”

Referring to the essay “In Praise of Thomas Macaulay”,which Rao,incidentally,says got him the most hate mail,Srivastava said,“Putting Macaulay on any pedestal in India is not easy but Jerry argued that he was central to India.”

Kelkar,who read out several passages from the book,said,“I found learning something new from Jerry’s articles,and I thought I knew economics. He remorselessly takes his logic to the conclusion.”

He promised Rao that he would send a list of topics that could be considered for new columns — cricket,China — while Srivastava hinted that Rao,who started the IT and BPO company Mphasis,not forget IT in his cornucopia of columns.

Notes from an Indian Conservative is published by Rupa and The Express Group.