'I was born in a mentally retarded country.' Thus begins this provocative, stylish and racy literary rant against India by a twenty-four-year-old awaiting capital punishment. When Dr M Vidyasagar ('Sagar'), retired chief of CBI, gets an unusual request from his old friend and the President of India to privately investigate if Vikrant Vaidya - sentenced to death for motivelessly killing his teenage neighbour Iqbal - is innocent or not, little does he know how convoluted a conspiracy he is setting foot in. With a narrative that springs forth from and weaves its way through the Emergency, anti-Sikh riots post Indira Gandhi's assassination, Ram Janmabhoomi Rath Yatra, anti-Mandal Commission protests, economic liberalisation, Babri Masjid demolition and Godhra riots, readers will find themselves in the grips of a chimerical tale, asking and answering the question: Is India truly a mad nation?