RAJAT  GUPTA

Mind Without Fear by Rajat Gupta ;Published by Juggernaut Books;Pages 342 ; Price Rs. 699/-

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From “Heights of Glory” to “Depths of Despair” accurately sums up former McKinsey Managing Director Rajat Gupta who spent two years in prison on charges of insider trading ,The book under review ---his memoir, “Mind Without Fear”, is not to seek redemption or show how he was not guilty, but simply to tell his side of the story.

Gupta was convicted of a securities fraud in 2012 as part of an insider trading ring by Raj Rajaratnam, a hedge fund manager.

Gupta said there is “no grand strategy” behind this book, which simply seeks to tell his side of the story as he did not testify at his trial.“Two-thirds of the book is about my life and my own life philosophy.”  Rarely has somebody of Gupta’s stature been packed off to purgatory in full glare of the world’s media.

Gupta’s book deals with several items. Betrayal  by close friends and institutions, particularly  McKinsey & Co., the global consulting giant that he  headed and nurtered. His  colleagues twisted the knife where it hurt the most, and  McKinsey,  dumped him with no qualms.

 America which  took in a near penniless orphan, and bestowed upon him fame, honour and riches, mocked him and threw him into jail. Also clear is  Gupta’s disenchantment with American courts: according to him they are  biased.

 Gupta’s rise is interesting. He was an offspring of  educated, middle-class parents, orphaned at 19 with the burden of siblings to care for. He got  admission to IIT  and Harvard Business School.Then  marriage, birth of four daughters, rising to the top of McKinsey, addressing the United Nations, hobnobbing with the likes of Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, an agonising trial, conviction, ignominy, making friends with fellow cons, being summarily thrown into solitary confinement, religion in solitary confinement, release and then…?

 Gupta is the first Indian to have broken through the glass ceiling of America’s notoriously insular and colour-conscious boardrooms—later followed by Indra Nooyi, Sundar Pichai or Satya Nadella,  . He was hailed as a God in the business world. And then he fell like a sack of potatoes.

 Gupta says that in all his life as a consultant, others followed his advice. Given that was his training, when his lawyers told him not to testify, despite his personal misgivings, he didn’t. And perhaps sealed his fate.

Gupta’s cardinal sin was  doing business with Raj Rajaratnam, and the tips that were supposedly passed on. Partnering with Rajaratnam, known on Wall Street as a man of reckless ways and sharp practices was Original Sin. Rajaratnam donated generously to the Indian School of Business and that drew Gupta to him.

And what of the insider trading? Gupta is clear there was never any insider trading. To be sure, there is no evidence yet that he made any personal gains from any of his ‘tips’ to Rajaratnam. So, is it possible that the US justice system unfairly punished him? Does that make him more sinned against than sinning?

Gupta’s life is a parable for humanity’s virtues and vices.

 Gupta stood convicted after his appeals were rejected twice. He  packs his story with all the ingredients of a Hindi movie —emotion, drama, values, charity, family bonding, personal achievements, altruistic pursuits, et al.

Legally speaking, Gupta’s biggest defence is that the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s wiretap on Galleon Fund owner Raj Rajaratnam did not find him passing on the tip and there was no money trail leading to him. Hence, the evidence against him was only circumstantial.
The case against Gupta dates back to 2012 when he was on the board of Goldman Sachs, retired from McKinsey but still attached as a consultant. On the fateful day, it was divulged at a board meeting of the bank that Warren Buffet would be investing $5 billion in the investment bank. Exactly 16 seconds after the board meeting ended, a call from Gupta’s phone was made to Rajaratnam, who then bought shares of the bank, got several times richer on the trade, and was quoted to have said, “I have heard something good is going to happen to Goldman” before he bought the shares.

Rajaratnam was convicted for insider trading charges.Gupta’s defence is that he does not remember whether he was able to speak with Rajaratnam  on that fateful day or was only able to get through to his secretary. Anyway, his story is that he was pursuing Rajaratnam for a long time to recover $10 million of his money that he had invested in a fund with him, having found that while Rajaratnam had withdrawn his money from the fund, he had not paid Gupta his share. Gupta’s regret is that he did not testify in court on the advice of his lawyers, who felt that cross-examination would have proved harmful. One of his explanations for writing the book is to tell the story that he could not narrate in court. Moreover, apart from reiterating the absence of wiretap of his conversation and no money trail, there’s nothing else for Gupta to write about regarding the case. Even the arguments put forward by him are weak.

Gupta has also come down harshly on Preet Bharara, then attorney for the southern district of New York, who prosecuted him. He alleges that in the post-Lehman crisis, Bharara was under pressure, and failing to prosecute any banker, found an easy scapegoat in Gupta.

After serving two years in prison on insider trading charges, Rajat Gupta maintains he is a man at peace. Mr Gupta remains proud of his work in management consulting, seeing it as distinct from the wheeling-and-dealing of Wall Street.

  “My side of the story has never been told,” he writes. “Never in my life had I refused to answer when someone asked me a direct question, no matter what the consequences. I conceded to my lawyers’ insistence that this was the best course of action, but it made no sense to me. In hindsight, I think I made a mistake. I should have told my story.”

  “In my early childhood, I was a bit of a spoiled kid, you know. In my early teens I became much more responsible because my father became very sick. Then I spent a fair amount of time with my father,” he says. He would visit him in the hospital, walk on the grounds with him and discuss Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken.

In prison, he decided he would be guided by his father’s example.      “I was determined to emerge a better and stronger person — physically, mentally and spiritually. My prison uniform would become my dhoti, and I would wear it with pride.”

He read the Gita and Tagore (the book’s title is from a Tagore poem). He listened to music, which, his old friends hold, is one of his long-standing interests. The head of an MNC once related to a journalist how he had requested Gupta, then his senior in school, to tutor him after class. Gupta had said he wouldn’t take any money from him, but would tutor him on one condition. “Only if you first learn a song from me,” he’d stipulated, and then gone on to teach him the Salil-Lata classic O Sajana.

Gupta, half-Bengali-and-half-Punjabi, also gives an eminently readable insight into a top executive’s life. He writes about his friendship with former US President Bill Clinton, whom he repeatedly defeated at Scrabble, and from whom he learnt a card game called “Oh Hell”. He mentions a corporate party where he was gifted an elephant.

What did he do with it? “Oh, it was rented.”

A very interesting tale of a convicted crook !.

P.P.Ramachandran.

 28/07/2019.

I G PATEL  AND M NARASIMHAM

1. From Reserve Bank to Finance Ministry and Beyond by Shri.M.Narasimham ;Published by UBSPD ; Pages 189 ;Price Rs.395/-

2. Glimpses of Indian Economic Policy by Dr.I.G.Patel ; Published by Oxford ; Pages 205; Price Rs.395/-

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                                                                                Tale Of Two Governors

                                                                    

 This year (2002) is the birth centenary of  Shri.H.V.R.Iengar, who was the 6^th Governor of RBI. The Centennial function, scheduled to be held in August 2002,at Bangalore will evoke a lot of discussion on the RBI.

In this context a welcome development is the release, almost simultaneously, of the memoirs of two successive former Governors of  the        R B I. Shri.M.Narasimham, who was the 13^th Governor for a brief period from 2 nd May to 30^th November,is the author of the first book—“From Reserve Bank to Finance Ministry and Beyond” with a sub-title “Some Reminiscences”. The second book is by Dr.I.G.Patel, entitled “Glimpses of Indian Economic Policy—An Insider’s View”. Dr.Patel was the 14^th Governor from 1^st December 1977 to 15^th September 1982.

In March 1977 when Shri.H.M.Patel took over as Finance  Minister, Shri.M.Narasimham was Banking Secretary. The Prime Minister at that time had decided that Dr.I.G.Patel would succeed Shri.K.R.Puri. However, Dr.Patel indicated that he would be able to join only in December, that is on completing his U N assignment. H.M.Patel, therefore, decided that Shri.Narasimham would be appointed as Governor after Shri.Puri. Thus,Shri.Narasimham took over in May 1977 as the Governor. Shri.Narasimham was not new to the Bank. He had joined the Bank  in 1950 as Research Officer and became the Secretary in 1967. He took over as Additional Secretary, Economic Affairs in 1972. In 1976 he was Secretary, Banking from where he rose to become RBI Governor. He was India’s Executive Director on the Board of Directors of the World Bank in 1978 and was also Executive Director in the IMF  in 1980.He retired voluntarily in 1983 to become Principal of ASCI. Shri.Narasimham is the author of two books and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in the year 2000. The Hyderabad Management Association conferred on him the Life Time Achievement Award.

Dr.I.G.Patel was Governor of RBI (1977-1982), Director Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad,(1982-1984) and Director, London School of Economics and Political Science (1984-1990). He is the only Indian to have held this coveted post. Earlier,he was Professor of Economics, Baroda University, Economist in the IMF, Deputy Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, Executive Director, IMF, Chief Secretary and Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Finance Ministry and Deputy Administrator, UNDP. He received the Padma Vibhushan in 1991.Earlier for the great work he had done in the London School of Economics, the Queen knighted him in 1990.Several other awards have been heaped on him. He is the author of a number of books on Banking and Economic Policy.

In a country marked by an absence of history writing, both these books play an important part in explaining how the economy functioned during the post-Independence period. It must be made clear that the authors have not attempted to undertake a rigorous study of Banking and Economy but rather recounted their impressions and provided a peep into the working of the Indian economy. Both the books are marked by lucidity of style, grace in presentation and above all their charm is enhanced by light humour.

Shri.Narasimham declares with commendable candour…“My tenure in the Reserve Bank was rather uneventful…My attitude was to carry on and, to use a maritime expression, to see the ship’s steady as she goes.”(Pp 97-98). Shri.Narasimham writes vividly of his entry as a Research Officer in the Department of Research and Statistics in 1950. The interview was conducted by Deputy Governor Shri.Sundaresan who grilled him. Later on when he became Shri.Sundaresan’s son-in-law, he asked Shri.Sundaresan whether when he was being interviewed by him (Shri.Sundaresan) prior to his recruitment, he was interviewing a potential recruit to the Bank or a prospective son-in-law. In his characteristic and blunt manner, for which he was known, Shri.Sundaresan said “both”.(P 20)

Narasimham writes eloquently  of his early days in the RBI, especially of “The Gang of Four”—Dr.V.V.Bhatt,Shri.A.G.Chandavarkar,Dr,D.R.Khatkhate and himself. They were the Think-Tank of the Department of Research and Sataistics. In recent times Chandavarkar has written with great perspicacity and acumen of the resignation of the first Governor of RBI, Mr. Osborne Smith. A piece of high-class historical research.

Narasimham’s  tenure as Governor saw the advent of the National Credit Council and the first steps towards Regional Rural Banks and IDBI.

The most important portion of the book relates to the tough negotiations for India getting the largest loan to any country, viz., SDR 5 billion dollars in November 1981.This was handled by Narasimham with considerable finesse and admirable tenacity (Pp 120-128). The author also writes of his experiences in the Ministry of Finance  and the Asian Development Bank and his current spell as Chairman of ASCI. The famous Narasimham Committee reports get a bare mention!.

Readers will relish the joke Shri.Narasimham told Prime Minister Smt.Indira Gandhi when alarums were raised about RBI credit shooting the limit but actually remaining within the sub-limit. When Smt.Indira Gandhi asked him to explain,Shri.Narasimham said, “ I am reminded of a story narrated in the biographies of Bernard Shaw or Oscar Wilde, according to which the young Shaw and the young Wilde were good friends. Shaw’s father had a problem with a squint in his eye and asked Wilde whose father was a reputed eye surgeon whether he would operate on his father and Shaw commented later the operation was so successful that his father began to squint with the other eye!.”. The   P M  enjoyed the joke(Pp 134—135).

Dr.I.G.Patel, unlike Shri.Narasimham, had a long tenure of almost five years. We thus have a wealth of information on the working of the RBI, the banking system and the Indian economy. Dr.Patel used his influence to restrict nationalisation to major Indian banks instead of wholesale nationalisation. He played a significant role in several important developments like the Second Five Year Plan, the Gold Control Regulations, the Devaluation of the Rupee in 1966, the Bangladesh War and the Second Oil Crisis.

Dr.Patel brings to bear on his book his unique experience and balanced approach to problems. He gives a fascinating account of his college days and one gets vignettes of important personalities like,Shove, Anjaria ,  Shenoy,etc, Shenoy comes in for a drubbing—       “ he was heard but not listened to”. There is a poignant account of Smt. Gandhi’s treatment of Dr.D.R.Gadgil,   culminating in his leaving Delhi and dying in the Frontier Mail (Pp—141—142).

Dr.Patel’s sense of humour is gentle. Here is an example from the book.” I was asked how the Aid-India Consortium meeting went and without thinking I said, “Not bad, we were lectured at for eight hours, and we got a billion dollars. Not a bad rate of exchange.”(P 103) Dr.Patel made a candid observation on an imperious Indira Gandhi…. “ I had to make small talk with Mrs.Gandhi till my taxi  arrived. Quite casually I referred to newspaper reports about her accompanying the Prime Minister on a foreign trip. She shouted in anger that the newspapers were always after her and that she never accompanied her father on any foreign tour except when he was not well. I do not know what hit her or me. But in retrospect, it is obvious that Mrs.Gandhi was suspicious by nature and saw disapproval and hostility where none existed. Those feelings ultimately clouded her vision and actions and also the reputation which she undoubtedly deserved as a true patriot and talented leader” (Pp 66—67).

Dr.Patel warmly records his close links with the Trade Union leaders in RBI.Sarvashri Nair,Patkar and Mahadik come in for praise. Especially worth mentioning is that Dr.Patel recalls the  help Shri.Mahadik, a leader of the Shiv Sena Union, gave him at the Delhi Airport when he was tired and exhausted and was wearily dragging his laded trolley. Shri.Mahadik, who was dismissed by Dr.Patel, not only helped him with the trolley, but successfully negotiated with the Air India staff, guaranteeing his comfort and good accommodation. Recalling this incident years later is a sign of Dr.Patel’s magnanimity (P 178).

Both the books are well written,  packed with information and are recommended warmly to all readers, especially those belonging to the RBI  family. The volumes are compulsory reading for students, bankers and economists and economic historians.

                                                          

                               Shri.M.Narasimham                    Dr.I.G.Patel        

P.P.Ramachandran.

From------  Without Reserve—2002/1

J J SINGH ON McMAHON LINE 

The McMahon Line: A Century of Discord by J.J. Singh; Published by  HarperCollins ; Pages 437; Price Rs 799 /-

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The author of the book under review Gen. J.J. Singh is  a former Indian Army Chief  whose immense  Army experience  has been  buttressed by his service in a border State  as the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.. This has endowed him with special qualification and authority  to write on this subject.

Singh  examines the impact of geography and history in keeping the Himalayan region and Tibet isolated and autonomous for centuries and studies  the status of Tibet and her borders with China and India.He then moves on to describe the evolution of the McMahon Line and the nuances of British India’s Tibet policy from the eighteenth century up to India’s independence in 1947. The  narrative is then  focused on Sino-Indian relations during the first decade after Independence—a peaceful one, until the conflicting boundary claims emerged like a sinister monster and led to the fierce and fateful border war in October 1962 between the two nations. This war proved to be a decisive debacle for India.

What the British did to demarcate a rather contentious India-Tibet boundary and its outcome on today's India-China relations requires a plunge  into British-Indian history and a sense of geo-strategy backed by an understanding of modern day real-politick.

Singh falls back on a wealth of material culled from diverse  sources — British, Tibetan, Indian. He presents an entirely different  perspective on the events of late 1800s and the early 1900s. 

How was the McMahon line  drawn ?. It is the virtual boundary between India and China.Singh writes eloquently  about  the line and what has happened over the last century, especially the conflict during  October-November 1962 . 

Singh contends powerfully after his reading of the relevant documents  that the Chinese never had any control over what is the modern-day Arunachal Pradesh.  According to him  the Tibetan and British records  prove that  the Chinese were nibbling  at the tribal areas in the north-eastern state by conducting some excursions briefly between 1910 and 1912, but they did not  take control.. 

 An  interesting development  between 1903  and 1914 was that the British first invaded Tibet in 1903-1904 and then, following a treaty with Russia, in 1907, backed off to have a 'hands-off Tibet' policy.  China  stepped  in and  declared sovereignty over Tibet in May 1912. Noticing the Chinese probes in the Himalayas in 1910-1911, the British responded to expeditions conducted by hill tribes and warned the Chinese not to interfere in the internal matters of Tibet. The General says the British were 'compelled' to give a new shape to their policies.

In 1913–14, representatives of Britain, China, and Tibet attended a conference in  Simla and drew up an agreement concerning Tibet's status and borders. The McMahon Line, a proposed boundary between Tibet and India for the eastern sector, was drawn by British negotiator  Henry McMahon on a map attached to the agreement. All three representatives initialled the agreement, but Beijing soon objected to the proposed Sino-Tibet boundary and repudiated the agreement, refusing to sign the final, more detailed map. After approving a note which stated that China could not enjoy rights under the agreement unless she ratified it, the British and Tibetan negotiators signed the Simla Convention and more detailed map as a bilateral accord. Neville Maxwell states that McMahon had been instructed not to sign bilaterally with Tibetans if China refused, but he did so without the Chinese representative present and then kept the declaration secret.

What is the way out of the imbroglio? Gen.Singh  suggests a way out  for India and China. The boundaries are merely  a flexible cartographic expression of the British 'forward policy' with no regard  to any accepted formula  of demarcating boundaries. The General is convinced that  people on both sides (India and China) are ignorant or have inadequate knowledge of this Himalayan frontier which has pressurised decision makers on either side to adopt a rigid approach. “No straight forward or universally applicable principle can be rigidly applied,” argues the General as he suggests a rational approach in dealing with China and resolving the existing dispute.

Singh  suggests that the two countries have to make adjustments. Minor adjustments of the boundary in the uninhabitated high-altitude Himalayan wilderness would be of interest to both countries as they move towards centre stage of world affairs.

The General recalls how during the Cold War (1945-1991), the US, in a way, sided with China in 1969. The US-Soviet rivalry during the Cold war era is well documented. It remains unclear if the warning de-escalated the matter or whether it was the Cold War dynamics that sorted it. Moscow and Beijing resolved their boundary dispute in 1991 and 1994.

The boundary, disputed by India's northern neighbour, has had a profound effect on the relations between the two Asian giants, resulting most prominently in the war of 1962 but also in several skirmishes and stand-offs both before and after that. It continues to be a thorn in the side - reaching a flashpoint at the tri-junction between Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan in Doklam in 2017 .It may derail all the progress in bilateral ties if left unattended.

The British records show that the Tibetan government’s acceptance of the new border in 1914 was conditional on China accepting the Simla Convention. Since the British were not able to get an acceptance from China, Tibetans considered the McMahon line invalid. Tibetan officials continued to administer Tawang and refused to concede territory during negotiations in 1938. The Governor of Assam asserted that Tawang was "undoubtedly British" but noted that it was "controlled by Tibet, and none of its inhabitants have any idea that they are not Tibetan." During World War II, with India's east threatened by Japanese troops and with the threat of Chinese expansionism, British troops secured Tawang for extra defence.

China's claim on areas south of the McMahon Line, encompassed in the NEFA, were based on the traditional boundaries. India believes that the boundaries China proposed in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh have no written basis and no documentation exists of acceptance by anyone apart from China. Indians argue that China claims the territory on the basis that it was under Chinese imperial control in the past, while Chinese argue that India claims the territory on the basis that it was under British imperial control in the past.  India's claim line in the eastern sector follows the McMahon Line. They claimed that territory south of the high ridges here near Bhutan (as elsewhere along most of the McMahon Line) should be Indian territory and north of the high ridges should be Chinese territory. In the Indian claim, the two armies would be separated from each other by the highest mountains in the world.

Singh questions the entrenched narrative of the Chinese road construction through Aksai Chin—which in some sense triggered the events leading up to the war—as being a complete surprise, noting that India, which possessed capabilities of aerial photography, thanks to Canberra aircraft, could have sent a couple of sorties and seen all. “Was it that the unpalatable truth was being deliberately swept under the carpet?.I believe this to be the case” writes Singh.

 Singh provides a timely reminder that the borders that India and China both claim with such finality and conviction today were in 1947 and 1948 far from settled as both governments would like their people to believe—they are  imperfect legacies of a history not properly recorded .

Singh’s insightful and masterly analysis provides a landmark and definitive point in comprehending the strategic balance in the region.

P.P.Ramachandran.

14/07/2019.

ANURADHA BHAGWATI

Unbecoming  -A Memoir of Disobedience by
 Anuradha Bhagwati ;Published by Atria; Pages 321 ;Price Rs.699/-

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The author of the book under review is Anuradha Bhagwati. She is the only daughter of the world renowned economist Jagdish Bhagwati and Padma Desai.eminent authority on Russia. Anuradha has refused to be downed by such a weighty background. Her parents tried to make her a good Indian girl and become a member of  the desi diaspora. But she chose to join the U S Marines — the most macho wing of the military. She rushed into the army’s  misogyny, racism and also fought to get combat roles  for women.                                                                                                                Anuradha is an activist, yoga and meditation teacher, and Marine Corps veteran. She founded the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), which brought national attention to sexual violence in the military and helped overturn the ban on women in com­bat. She is a regular media commentator on issues relating to national security, women’s rights, civil rights, and mental health, and is the recipient of numerous awards. Her writing has appeared in several important papers.  This book is a raw, unflinching memoir  detailing  her journey from dutiful daughter of immigrants to radical activist effecting historic policy reform.

Anuradha  abandoned  grad school in the Ivy League to join the Marines—the fiercest, most violent, most masculine branch of the military—determined to prove herself there in ways she couldn’t before.

Yet once training begins, Anuradha’s G.I. Jane fantasy is punctured. As a bisexual woman of colour in the military, she faces constant underestimation and  confronts misogyny, racism, sexual violence, and astonishing injustice perpetrated by those in power. Pushing herself beyond her limits, she also wrestles with what drove her to pursue such punishment in the first place.

Once her service concluded in 2004, Anuradha courageously vowed to take to task the very leaders and traditions that cast such a dark cloud over her time in the Marines. Her efforts result in historic change, including the lifting of the ban on women from pursuing combat roles in the military.

“Unbecoming” is a  tale of heroic resilience grappling with the timely question of what, exactly, America stands for. It is the kind of story that will inspire the next  generation of indomitable female heroes.

Anuradha held posts in Okinawa, Thailand and Camp Lejeune, and excelled as a marksman and runner. She  faced vicious sexual harassment and when she tried to get the Marines to address it, she ran into bureaucratic cover-ups and was thwarted by the conventions of chains of command.

She  writes artistically  describing everything from the pleasures of the basketball court to martial arts training in the Marine Corps with brutal clarity. This book  has some of the best descriptions  of what it is like to be the only woman of color in a roomful of white men. “In the national security world,” she writes, “my brownness and my gender were so loud and obvious in a sea of white dudes that it often felt like I was screaming even when I said nothing. The Marines had prepared me well for this. Although she does not see combat — a fact that haunts her — training leaves her with numerous injuries; the creeping physical toll of her service is undeniable.

The volume  is an impressive  chronicle of  overcoming psychological trauma. When she finally  files and wins a case against one of her tormentors, the victory is hollow: Marine chain of command means that little happens to the perpetrator. In her fight to make sure other women have real recourse, she leaves the Marines and leads the Service Women’s Action Network to lobby for change. The job is energising and exhausting by turns. She is as careful an observer of civilian hierarchies as she is of military ones, and raises important questions about inequality, activism and storytelling.

Misogyny and gender segregation in the military make violence against women possible around the globe according to Anuradha. She  offers critiques of politicians, the military, her fellow veterans and the media. The book is at its most powerful when she writes about who she became in response to the violence the military trained her to commit.


A tale of heroic resilience grappling with the timely question of what, exactly, America stands for, Unbecoming is about one woman who learned to believe in herself in spite of everything. It is the kind of story that will light a fire beneath you, and inspire the next generation of indomitable female heroes.

  Bhagwati started  the Service Women’s Action Network, which advocates for military sexual harassment victims, and she also helped change some government policies regarding women serving in combat roles. Her candid story pulls back the curtain on a hidden world in which highly capable women who thrive on the challenge of being a soldier are hindered by the men who surround them.

An intense, fierce woman generously shares her instructive experiences as a Marine and how her service time turned her into an activist for women’s rights in the military.

The second part  focuses on her training .She reveals that the isolation of women is intentional and cruel — she is exposed, continually, to a culture intent on traumatising her. “Bhagwati, looking at you makes me never wanna have sex with a woman again,” one staff sergeant snarls.

It's shocking  until it becomes commonplace.

She continues fighting  for her fellow female Marines. There were men, especially in the younger generation, who were respectful and who treated her equally, and there were older Marines who were righteous and noble, who stood up not just for Bhagwati but for what was right, for what the Marines could and should be. But the sexual harassment and the knowledge that the Marine ethos accepts — and even encourages — it does too much damage. Eventually, Bhagwati leaves the Marines.

The third part of the book deals with Bhagwati's attempts to heal herself and change the Marines. Yet much of this section is empowering and inspiring as she helps found the Service Women's Action Network and makes her next battlefield the halls of Congress, where she helps push for changes to the way military sexual assault and harassment is dealt with as well as getting the ban on women in ground combat lifted. Eventually, she leaves the network and finds healing, even joy, in teaching yoga to veterans.

 She is passionate about the need to change the culture of misogyny in the armed forces, stating “why don't we consider misogyny as much of a threat to the health of our veterans as any other injury from service.” Joining the Marines was my way of asserting myself when I felt I had no voice. I was raised in New York City by parents who put immense pressure on me to excel academically, and conform to Indian expectations around sexuality and gender, regardless of the cost to my psyche or wellbeing. I excelled, but felt isolated, depressed, and lost. I wasn’t allowed to choose my career, express myself or love whom I wanted to love. So I joined an institution in which my parents would have no influence over me. At the time I didn’t realise that I was replacing the control my family asserted over me with an even fiercer and more violent form of patriarchy.

In lots of ways, her  book and her choice to become an activist for women was in response to her  mother’s trauma. As someone who had the privilege of being born in a more progressive era and place, it felt like her dharma to speak up for her, for myself, for others who had been harmed by abusive men or sexist institutions.

 P.P.Ramachandran.

07/07/2019.