ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Vinay Sitapati helped me from the beginning, commenting on the structure and contents, often with some brutal honesty (well justified); he has probably made a very poor draft passable! I am very grateful to him. Shankar and Amy Sitapati read through the draft, and made valuable suggestions.

Ambassador R.L. Narayanan has done much high quality research work on the coalition governments of 1996-98, based on contemporary documentation and media reports. Much of Chapter 15 incorporates his conclusions, with some comments from me. I gratefully acknowledge his contribution.

Chander Lekh spent a lot of his spare time helping me with the draft of this publication. My thanks to him.

The poor ground conditions, accompanied by some carelessness from me, were responsible for an Achilles tendon tear in my leg, confining me to my residence for a couple of months, and providing me the time to write the book. My thanks to the grounds committee of the Noida Golf Club!