View source for Looking East to Look West

{{Infobox book
| image = Looking East to Look West.jpg
  | name           =  Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India
  | author         =  [[Sunanda K. Datta-Ray]]
  | language       =  English
  | publisher      =  [[Penguin; ISEAS]]
  | release_date   =  October 27, 2009
  | pages          =  384
  | isbn           =  978-981-4279-04-8
}}

'''''Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India''''' won India's most prestigious literary non-fiction prize, the [[Vodafone Crossword Book Award]] for 2009. Written by [[Sunanda K. Datta-Ray]], the book is a "profound" and "intricate"<ref>[http://www.iseas.edu.sg/ckw17may10.pdf Message from Dr Chin Kin Wah, Deputy Director, ISEAS Singapore] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614085545/http://www.iseas.edu.sg/ckw17may10.pdf/ |date=2011-06-14 }}</ref> analytic-history of India's first major foreign policy innovation since Non-alignment: the ''[[Look East policy (India)|Look East policy]]''. The policy began, according to Datta-Ray, during P.V. Narasimha Rao's tenure as Prime Minister of India. Rao devised the policy as only the first stage of a strategy to foster economic and security cooperation with the United States. However ''Looking East'' became an end in itself, and Singapore a valid destination, largely because of Minister Mentor [[Lee Kuan Yew]].<ref name="google1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DFo1yl5AGokC&printsec=frontcover&dq=datta-ray+looking+east#v=onepage |title=Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan ... - Google Books |date=1965-08-09 |isbn=9789814279048 |accessdate=2010-09-03|last1=Datta-Ray |first1=Sunanda K. }}</ref> Today, Singapore is the route for the bulk of foreign direct investment into India and the channel for Indian companies to export to the international market.<ref>[http://www.isas.nus.edu.sg/Attachments/PublisherAttachment/ISAS_Briefs_47_22102009142245.pdf Sino-Indian Trade Relations by Deep K. Datta-Ray] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311172449/http://www.isas.nus.edu.sg/Attachments/PublisherAttachment/ISAS_Briefs_47_22102009142245.pdf |date=2012-03-11 }}</ref> Datta-Ray details how this came about on the basis of eight one-on-one conversations with Lee, a series of interviews with supporting actors and a host of, till now, unseen documents, spanning peoples and historical records over nearly 75 years.<ref name="iseas.edu.sg">[http://www.iseas.edu.sg/sdrbook.pdf Singapore Wooed India from early days, The Straits Times, Singapore, 8 January, 2010] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614090121/http://www.iseas.edu.sg/sdrbook.pdf/ |date=2011-06-14 }}</ref>

==Editions==
Published for the Indian market by Penguin, there have been three reprints of the international edition which is published by the Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore. Datta-Ray is alleged to have said at the Vodafone Crossword award ceremony that the international edition is better produced than the Indian edition (see below).

==Reception==
Before the award, the book was well received in both India and Singapore. Recognizing that the title was understated because the book contained a novel argument which drew upon complex source material, the Indian Express said: "For once, a book delivers more than what the cover promises."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/singapore-trip/550075/ |title=Singapore Trip |publisher=Indianexpress.com |date=2009-12-05 |accessdate=2010-09-03}}</ref> Amitabh Mattoo, a leading Indian scholar, writes the book is, "a masterly chronicle".<ref>{{Cite web|author=Amitabh Mattoo |url=http://www.indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/75532/Book:+Wisdom+of+the+east.html/ |title=Book: Wisdom of the east: Leisure : India Today |publisher=Indiatoday.intoday.in |date=2009-12-18 |accessdate=2010-09-03}}</ref> Singapore's [[The Straits Times]] carried fulsome reviews of the book.<ref name="iseas.edu.sg"/>

Former Indian National Security Adviser [[M.K. Narayanan]] commended Datta-Ray for his enterprising research skills, especially seeking out and interviewing key players.<ref>[http://rajbhavankolkata.gov.in/WriteReadData/Speeches/BOOK%20RELEASE%20LOOKING%20EAST%20TO%20LOOK%20WEST.pdf Observations of Shri M. K. Narayanan at the release of the book]</ref>
The book enjoys forewords by both the Indian and Singaporean Foreign Ministers at the time of publication. Indian Foreign Minister [[Pranab Mukherjee]] writes: "India's Look East Policy ... has given us renewed confidence in India's Asian destiny. ... To bring together the multiple strands of this complex relationship, there is no better person than Sunanda K Datta-Ray."<ref name="google1"/>

In Singapore, President [[S.R. Nathan]] launched the book.<ref name="iseas.edu.sg"/>

The book also appears to have been well received by other academic organizations. Datta-Ray was invited to speak about his book at St. Anthony's college in Oxford University<ref>[http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/2009-10/weekly/040310/lecs.htm Oxford University Gazette, 4 March 2010: Lectures]</ref> and at Peterhouse college in Cambridge University.

Datta-Ray also spoke on the subject at Chatham House in London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/events/view/-/id/1443// |title=Events - View Event |publisher=Chatham House |date=2010-03-15 |accessdate=2010-09-03}}</ref>

==Controversy==
At the Vodafone Crossword award ceremony, Datta-Ray is alleged to have recounted the trials and tribulations of publishing the book. "He jovially jibed at his Indian publishers for having made so many mistakes," which were rectified by the Singaporean publishers of the international edition, ISEAS.<ref name="autogenerated1">Ipsitaa Panigrahi. Exclusively Literati. The Asian Age. Mumbai edition. Pp.19. 21 August 2010
/</ref> Another journalist reported, "Datta-Ray took the opportunity to flay his publisher publicly: for lack of enthusiasm and competence."<ref>[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?266853 Outlook Magazine, Oxford University Gazette, 6 September 2010]</ref>

Some Indian newspapers also commented on the fact that ''Looking East to Look West'' beat a book by [[Gurcharan Das]] which was also short-listed for the Vodafone Crossword non-fiction award.<ref name="autogenerated1"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Looking East To Look West}}
[[Category:2009 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:History books about India]]
[[Category:Historiography of India]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of India]]
[[Category:Foreign policy doctrines]]
[[Category:21st-century history books]]