One doesn’t expect BJP leader L K Advani to be a fan of mystery novels. But he is. So much so that a passage from Jed Rubenfeld’s bestseller The Interpretation of Murder finds mention in the chapter ‘In Pursuit of Meaning and Happiness in Life’ in his memoir My Country My Life.

At the book’s launch at Crossword, Kemps Corner, on Tuesday, days after its release in New Delhi by former President A P J Abdul Kalam, Advani read out Rubenfeld’s passage to explain why he “reinhabits the past” as well as lives for the future.

This was followed by an interaction with the audience. About the timing of its publication, Advani, who has written the 980-page My Country My Life in five phases, said, “The country is currently celebrating its 60th year of Independence. It has also been 60 years since I left my home in Karachi due to the Partition.”

These factors provided the 80-year-old politician an occasion to look back at his life —childhood in Sindh, joining the RSS when he was 14 years old, the trauma of Partition, his meeting with A B Vajpayee, the days of the Jan Sangh, the Emergency, Ayodhya as well as his stint in the government as home minister and deputy prime minister.

His take on the Agra Summit, Kargil, terrorism and even the controversy over his Jinnah remark are also mentioned in the book.

The book serves the dual purpose of covering the political situation in India, spanning almost 80 years, as well as tracing Advani’s journey in Indian politics.

The book will interest a cross-section of readers, but Advani hopes to reach out to the younger generation. At a time when the vote bank is divided on “communal, casteist and language lines”, the Leader of the Opposition hopes youths take up politics as a profession. While doing so he expects the young leaders to bring in “professional integrity” to the field.

Advani was accompanied by wife Kamala, daughter Pratibha—he described both as the forces behind the book—and son Jayant.