In Butter Chicken in Ludhiana, Pankaj Mishra captures an India which has shrugged off its sleepy, socialist air, and has become instead kitschy, clamorous and ostentatious. From a convent-educated beauty pageant aspirant to small shopkeepers planning their vacation in London, Pankaj Mishra paints a vivid picture of a people rushing headlong to their tryst with modernity. An absolute classic, this is a witty and insightful account of India’s aspirational middle class. Pankaj Mishra is an essayist and novelist. His books include Age of Anger: A History of the Present , From the Ruins of Empire : The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia , and the novels The Romantics and Run and Hide . He writes literary and political essays for Guardian , New Yorker and London Review of Books , among other American, British and Indian publications. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Mishra has received, among other prizes, Yale University’s Windham-Campbell Literature Prize and Germany’s prestigious Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding. His new book is The World After Gaza .