"Its a show about nothing" says George affirmatively to his perspective producer, in a popular Seinfeld episode. "You get up in the morning, have some coffee, read the paper ... there you go ! Thats a show !"

That is precisely how I would describe The Romantics - its a book about nothing. I am honestly clueless as to why Mishra wrote this novel ..... what is he trying to tell us, why we ought to be reading such stuff. The novel is a meandering tale about the life , experiences and thoughts of a young student at the decaying universities of Allahabad and Benares. There is no story, at least I could not find one. There is a begin point, an end point and there's stuff in between. Characters come and go. There is nothing new he tells about about the places , the universities, the cities or the characters. He describes the interaction of Samar with western women visiting India. So. What's the point ? Forster's portrayal of east west interaction in 'A Passage to India' was very insightful, this one is not. Samar is described as an "intellectual" . Why ? Just because he reads a lot ? I thought intellectuals had stopped going to universities like Allahabad since my parents' generation - only losers and goondas go there these days :)

Mishra has also pandered to western readers by giving them all that they are used to hearing about India i.e., dirt, poverty, sadhus, politics at the university etc. He, rather deliberately, mentions the caste system every now and then - another thing the western audience loves to hear about. I say on the basis of my many conversations I've had with random Americans, just folks sitting next to me on the plane - arranged marriages and our caste system are things they are always delighted to talk to us about. Its amusing how he remains fixed with the past...."when learning and the arts were the almost exclusive prerogative of the brahmins" .... why is he obsessed and repeatedly mulling over a part of India that is decaying and also a mindset that we in modern India should indeed like to see completely dead.

The other thing is that Mishra's writing is extremely dull and lacking in wit . He tends to over describe and gets soporific and chaatu . It is in sharp contrast to some of the other Indian authors that I enjoy like Seth and Tharoor who would be discussing the most serious of issues but keep that wit and humor and fine writing flowing along.

In short The Romantics is an extremely boring novel about nothing. I wonder why a lot of folks seem to have liked it so much.