Greg Mortenson: one more fake American memoir

There are few things the American reading public loves more than a feel-good story about the Great White Hope.  Greg Mortenson’s bestselling Three Cups of Tea was Afghan version of City of Joy: a gora superhero finds joy, redemption and himself as he rescues suitably oppressed/poor brown people. Now it turns out, Mortenson’s real-life adventure may instead be a self-serving fairytale – or so claims the American news program 60 Minutes.  Nope, he wasn’t rescued by good simple tribals or kidnapped by members of the Taliban – one of whom turned out to be no other than the research director of an Islamabad think tank. Worse, his charity dedicated to opening schools in tribal villages has instead been funding his very own private jet tours of the world. Cue the inevitable shock, horror and outrage. In Western literary circles, the Mortenson brouhaha has raised the inevitable questions about declining publishing standards as reflected in the inability of book editors to keep their fiction and non-fiction lists apart.  For us Indians,  however, it just confirms our conviction that literary misdoing should be left to seasoned professionals like us. Hell, Kavya Vishvanathan got caught stealing an entire book and was last spotted interning for a prestigious New York law firm. Making crime pay is a traditional Indian art. Just ask our most-respected leaders.