Not just the first line, but a wonderful opening to a compellingly readable book about Bollywood by the diplomat and politician Shashi Tharoor.
I can’t believe I’m doing this.
Me, Ashok Banjara, product of the finest public school in independent India, secretary of the Shakespeare Society at St. Francis’s College, no less, not to mention son of the Minister of State for Minor Textiles, chasing an aging actress around a papier-mâché tree in an artificial drizzle, lip-synching to the tinny inanities of an aspiring (and highly aspirating) playback-singer.
A Few Reasonable Words 