Engaging India By Strobe Talbott Viking (Penguin Group) Pages: 268; Price: Rs 395

THE outcome of America's presidential election is an appropriate occasion to reflect on Strobe Talbott's assertions - even to re-read his engaging account of two years of 'dialogue' with India - as the US redraws its political and social map to create what some pundits are calling a new 'Jesusland' of states that overwhelmingly voted for George W. Bush.

Talbott's book offers valuable les-sons in ways to deal with an America which will be less pluralistic than it is now. For anyone with substantive dealings with the US in the next four years, the author's observations on Indian diplomacy and his conclusions about the Indian state can serve as a key to what lies ahead.

As the US grapples with its twin spectres of terrorism and militant Islam in the coming years of neo-conservative reign, Pakistan can reasonably be expected to be at the centre of American foreign policy. Delhi may discover that secretary of state Colin Powell's decoration of Islamabad earlier this year as a 'major non-NATO ally' after keeping India in the dark about his announcement was not an aberration, but a precursor of what is to come.

Talbott begins his narrative with the explanation that India was permanently out of the American policy radar because, "in government, it is often said, the urgent drives out the merely important". Pakistan regained America's urgent attention after 11 September 2001.

That urgency may well merit an emergency in Bush's second term in the White House. How will the Manmohan Singh government deal with its inevitable fallout on India? Talbott's account of the post-Pokhran II engagement between Delhi and Washington uses anecdotes that were little known till the publication of his book - and it is backed up by quotes. He makes it clear that India was able to get away with its open challenge of the global non-proliferation regime partly because the administration of Bill Clinton made a conscious effort in its second term to de-hyphenate India and Pakistan in America's dealings with these two countries.

The scope and nature of Washington's dealings separately with Delhi and Islamabad may have enlarged since then, but the hyphen is coming back, and will only become more pronoun-ced in the second Bush term. India was able to get the better of the US government in the aftermath of its 1998 nuclear tests partly because Pakistan's dip-lomacy was in disarray. Talbott tells us that the Indians knew exactly where they were headed; the Pakistanis did not. Islamabad's foreign policy establishment was hamstrung by a weak prime minister (Nawaz Sharif) who was always looking over his shoulder at the Army general headquarters.

None of these situations exists any more. Being an American ally has given Pakistan's foreign policy a sense of direction all over again. For nearly half a century, Islamabad's diplomats have excelled in making their country useful to the Americans and extracting the best for Pakistan out of that bargain. Besides, the army is now in charge: the Foreign Office no longer has to worry about pussyfooting politicians like Sharif.

Talbott acknowledges at least thrice that India's clout on Capitol Hill was the undoing of the sanctions that were imposed as punishment for Pokhran II. What he does not acknowledge is that this clout was also responsible for prodding Clinton into getting involved in Kargil. Today, what remains of that clout is a pale image of what it once was. Moreover, effective September this year, General Pervez Musharraf has acquired the kind of influence that neither Sharif nor Benazir Bhutto ever had. There is now a Congressional Pakistan Caucus.

As for getting India to make concessions through the two-year dialogue he had with external affairs minister Jaswant Singh, Talbott makes an amazing confession: "The boulder we had been counting on Jaswant to budge was still at the bottom of the hill.... We had exhausted our leverage on Indian decision making." It would, however, be a mistake for India to gloat over such a confession. Non-proliferation is an issue that will not be banished from Washington any time soon. How it will affect India will depend not only on the composition of the next Bush administration, but also on the Congressional committees that will take charge on Capitol Hill next year.

Although much of this book is about Jaswant Singh, its unsung hero is Rakesh Sood - one of only two experts in South Block on disarmament - who was the minister's shadow during his entire dialogue with Talbott. "He had a knack of making his government's position seem like sweet reason and any contrary view illogical..."

K. P. Nayar is the Washington-based diplomatic editor of The Telegraph

I am reading SEVEN SEASONS OF A MAN by Patrick Morley for the second time. In fact, I have distributed 20 copies of the book to friends and family.

The book talks about the seven seasons a man goes through in his life. It gives you the correct perspective by taking you away from the current scenario and explaining what life is really about.

One of the chapters in the book talks about the 10 most successful people in America and what happens to them 20 years later, and what made the difference in their lives.

MANY will accuse John Perkins of being a communist, and others will pounce on this book as further proof of America's strategy to subvert the economies of developing countries. Perkins worked for an international consulting firm where his main job was to convince less developed countries to accept huge loans for infrastructure projects, and to ensure that most of the contracts were awarded to Halliburton, Bechtel, and other US companies. The publishers say many people had warned Perkins not to write this book.

The Securities Market By G.N. Bajpai Global Business Press Pages: 157; Price: Rs.395

WHEN Sebi chairman G.N. Bajpai was younger, he wanted to be a newsreader. At the last Vithal Nadkarni Memorial Lecture in Mumbai, he talked of pursuing academics after retirement. In his new book, it seems Bajpai is already practising for his post-retirement vocation.

Let's make one thing clear: this isn't really a book and it isn't really written by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman. As Bajpai himself admits in the preface, the book is 'a collation of satsang s' he has held at Sebi. To put that in plain English, this book is a collection of his speeches. And what went into the speeches was a lot of effort from his general managers who spent late evenings meeting deadlines. That said, the only people who haven't done their bit for this collection are its editors and proofreaders - the language is atrocious and typos are rampant.

The book is split into two. The first part deals with finance and economics while the second dwells on personal development issues like success and leadership. The latter comes with lead-en chapter titles: 'Fostering Knowledge Management (Acquiring, Assimilating, Accessing, Apportioning)' and 'The Death of a Destination Called Success'.

A large part of the book seems like a performance report of Sebi since Bajpai took charge. It deals with Sebi's work on easing listing norms and settlement systems, making an attempt to improve corporate governance, etc. The biggest chapter, however, is on insurance (not surprising, since Bajpai was LIC chairman before he joined Sebi). It is 35 pages long and complete with 22 pages of data and charts. While the world is moving away from self-regulation to super-regulation across financial services, Bajpai begs to differ. Like the self-regulatory structure he has proposed for mutual funds, he feels that "insurance companies will have to get together to meet the challenge of co-ordination and collaboration in a fiercely competitive market... Eventually, self-regulation will assume a pivotal role." Is the IRDA listening?

On the whole, the book is trite and extremely tedious. Sentences, and even paragraphs, often start with something to say, but they meander and the ideas get lost. Some are plain unfathomable. Sample this: "Irrationality deserves to be probed to ensure that the axe of the dump does not fall on the fortunes of the innocent investing community." Or take: "One does not need the wisdom of either sages, or management gurus to know what kind of qualities help an individual, eventually, to fulfil the mission of his life and the aspirations of society. These are knowledge, integrity (both financial and intellectual), industry, humility, discipline, courage, commitment, conviction, et al. The anger, fear and guilt of the past should be exchan-ged for a future built on a solid foundation of calm confidence, fearlessness, innocence and hopeful expectations."

It is these passages that make The Securities Market a great bedtime read - for insomniacs.