India, Jan. 10 -- Mani Shankar Aiyar is, in Tamil English, a "don't-care-master". He does not care a hoot about what others think and say of him or his views. This has worked to his detriment. He also has attributes that serve him well. One of these is his formidable memory. He remembers not just in the style of a strong memory that can reel off lines from Shakespeare or Tagore or Faiz Ahmed Faiz, but as one who remembers with a context and recalls in active conjunction with real-life issues and real-death issues. India-Pakistan relations and nuclear disarmament are among such subjects.

A little under a year ago, I wrote in these columns about his engaging book The Rajiv I Knew in which he has the following nugget about Prime Minister (P...