T.C.A. Raghavan’s experience of living in Pakistan as well as dealing with Islamabad from New Delhi has been marked by near-constant discoveries of something new about the past. From this sense of how history keeps resurfacing with a resonance that cannot be avoided, stems this richly detailed, animated and anecdotal chronicle of India’s strange and often obsessive relationship with its neighbor.
Events, narratives and personalities illuminate the cocktail of hostility, nationalism and nostalgia that defines every facet of the India–Pakistan connection. Raghavan presents a subjective and selective view of both well- and lesser-known incidents from the last seven decades through the eyes and words of actual players and contemporary observers to illustrate how, both in India and in Pakistan, the present as well as the past is seen through radically different prisms. Alongside, he also evokes other key perspectives: of divided families, peacemakers, warmongers, contrarian thinkers, cultural associations, unwavering friendships—and the significant footprints of Bollywood, cricket and literature.
The People Next Door is a remarkable book that seeks to contextualize what has often been a deeply troubled relationship and in the process to demystify it.