New Delhi, June 7 -- The biographer is a bit like the cat burglar, stealthily climbing up the scaffolding of a person's life, breaking in, surveying the assortment of riches and then leaving with only a few select, precious elements. This sounds easier on paper than in practice. The biographer starts his or her undertaking with an inherent handicap, given the limited access to a subject's life (especially if the subject is long deceased), and is forced to temper vaulting ambition with discretion. It is in the choice of things the author focuses on-the life lived and the circumstances surrounding that life-that determines what makes for a good biography. What finally makes a biography truly stand out is the craft of storytelling, transform...