Indira Priyadarshini, Alaka Shankar’s eminently readable book, rich in bio¬graphical and historical detail, laced with ancedotes, is essentially the story of a girl by that name and how she grew from child to woman.
There is happily, no list of contents, no tiresome preface. Instead, a letter from Mr. Rajiv Gandhi that succinctly sums up what is to follow. He ‘says I hope Smt Alaka Shankar’s book will enable children to know how a shy girl, through daring, doing and understanding, became a great figure of history.’ The hope thus expressed is likely to be realized, for Indira Priyadarshini is a surprisingly comprehensive biography that leaves out virtually no aspect of the many splendoured personality that forms its subject. The details belong to history but they are handled with sensitivity and the human interest predominates, so that the book radiates a certain warmth even while it lays open a mine of information.