Ambedkar: A Life Hardcover – 1 October 2022

Tharoor deserves full marks for this concise and objective biography ( easily accessible to the lay reader ) of one of India's most popular icons . He focuses rightly on Ambedkar's life and legacy. He starts off with a moving narration of the cruelties and harassment Ambedkar had to undergo in his early years within India , in contrast to the generous treatment he received at the hands of the foreigners while abroad , in spite of the early recognition of his brilliance by notable personalities within India like the Maharajas of Baroda and Kolhapur . The author goes all out to unravel the personality of Ambedkar , even quoting from the great man's own private self assessment ( ' a difficult man ' , ' a man of moods ' , ' no gay person ' etc ) . The intellectual debate between Ambedkar and Gandhi , sometimes bitter on the part of the former , is one of the highlights of this biography. Another fascinating highlight of the book is the manner in which Tharoor traces Ambedkar's gradual disenchantment with his birth religion , Hinduism , and his embracing Buddhism in the final years of his life ( likely to resonate with many Dalits even after decades of Independent India ) . Tharoor quotes with approval Ambedkar's unambiguous condemnation of dictatorship in his speech recommending adoption of the draft Constitution . The final chapter , ' A Life Well Lived ' , is a great example of Tharoor's pithy and eloquent writing. He reckons Ambedkar's role as the principal author of the Indian Constitution as his foremost legacy. One of the many interesting aspects of the biography , which saves it from becoming a hagiography , is the discussion of the sharp criticism of Ambedkar by the well-known intellectual, Arun Shourie. The book is also rich with some interesting anecdotes from those times such as the one in which Martin Luther King is introduced to an audience in a Kerala school for Dalits as ' an untouchable from America ' , much to King's dismay.

Great insight into the life of a great man. Caution: Keep a dictionary handy. You might not need it often, but you will most probably end up in using it. :)

An honest view on Dr. Ambedkars life

Little did the nine-year-old boy realize that his caste identity would act as a hindrance in every trajectory of his life. From not being able to drink water to getting segregated from fellow classmates in school, he began bearing the brunt of stigmatization, entrenched in our society, since his early childhood. But it was ultimately his merit, perseverance and Dunkirk spirit that dictated the play. He was Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, whom we today are widely acquainted with as the Father of Indian Constitution, who in the fullness of time emerged as the emancipator of all the people belonged to the lower-rung of caste hierarchy and one of the first such non-conformists who gave voice to women empowerment. Armed with enlightenment of education, accomplished by him through onerously outflanking the barriers of casteism and insatiable hunger for gaining knowledge, he dared to stand against untouchability that the marginalized communities in this country have been subjected to for 3000 years.By scaling different peaks, the dyed-in-the-wool Dr. Ambedkar had his life commissioned into the sole aim of unshackling the life of those people, who had been relegated to the margins by the evils of casteism, from the yoke of this despondency. His prolonged struggle for the cause of equality finally got ratified into framing the Constitution of India in which the world's farthest-reaching affirmative action was constitutionalised.Dr. Shashi Tharoor articulated Dr. Ambedkar, his ideologies and especially his prolonged dissensions with Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Party in the lead-up to the independence of India in his book with a great precision and eloquence. People who possessed unfairly prejudiced notions on this great thinker, thanks to the wide-ranging misinformation being spread across social media, are highly recommended to wade through this book.