India’s relations with Indonesia, by Navrekha Sharma and Baladas Ghoshal

The process of active collaboration between the practitioner and the scholar can sometimes result in desirable policy outcomes. The book under review is one such commendable initial attempt. Ambassador Navrekha Sharma retired from the Indian Foreign Service (IFS); her assignments included Joint Secretary (JS) South (1999–2001) and Ambassadorial posting to the Philippines and Indonesia. In fact, she had two postings in Jakarta, first as Minister-Counsellor (1993–1996) and later as Ambassador (2006–2008). Her co-author Professor Baladas Ghoshal is Director, Society for Indian Ocean Studies (SIOS) and a former professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The book under review became a collaborative venture when the Institute for South Asian Studies (ISAS) allowed Ambassador Sharma to invite the professor to join her in writing it.