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Book Review: Required Readings on India
Books on India are a dime a dozen these days. But while much of the attention has been focused either on fiction writers, in the vien of Jhumpa Lahiri or Amitav Ghosh, or on the economic success of India, a series of books have been published in the last months that analyze India’s polity and society. The first I read, enjoyed, and reviewed was In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Mondern India, by Ed Luce.
This month I picked up India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha. Guha goes back into India’s birth – and construction – to propose that “the real success story of India is not economic, but political” – of a persisting aspiration to, if not complete ability to provide, pluralism, equality, and secularism. Guha is, no doubt, helped by the exciting subject of his book, but through the first section he has also proven himself to be an engrossing writer. I have only read the first chapter, of India’s formative years, but this is clearly a book that every Indian must read to understand the immense achievement of the country’s founding parents (fathers?), and the immensity of the responsibility they left us with.
Finally, a series of books has been reviewed by Guha himself and provide perspectives lacking from the complete foreigner or Indian. These are The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence and India’s Future by Martha Nussbaum, Planet India: How the Fastest-Growing Democracy is Transforming America and the World by Mira Kamdar, and Inhaling the Mahatma by Christopher Kremmer.
Guha is justifiably proud of India’s achievements, and painfully aware of its failings. He appreciates the positive attention India is getting from these authors, that claim that “India has much to offer to other nations” or that “no other country matters more to the future of our planet than India.” Yet, rather than bask in the glory Guha cautions against great expectations:
The western writers of the 1960s warned their readers that India was a losing proposition, the laboratory, as it were, of failed experiments in democracy and nation-building. On the other hand, some writers now insist that India must get it right if humanity in general is to get it right. India must show the world how to combine growth with equity and sustainability; India must also show the world how best to negotiate the delicate balance between faith and state. Admittedly, to be treated with contempt and condescension was not very nice; but to be burdened with these great expectations is not very comforting either.
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2 comments for “Book Review: Required Readings on India”
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While searching randomly about Indo-US nuke deal I reached planetd and found this quite helpful, interesting and honest.
I am presently reading the Bool ‘In Spite of the Gods’ and do find it pretty good. However, a more comprehensive book and a more interesting one for that matter is ‘India Unbound’ by Gurucharan das.
I will surely lay my hands on ‘India After Gandhi’. Guha is believed to be a great historian and should be surely worth a read.
Siddhish, I haven’t read Das’s book. I know it was critically acclaimed. However, doesn’t it speak mostly of the economy in a positive light? I particularly like Luce’s book because it is very balanced and both appreciates and criticizes the nation, while appreciating its complexity.
I would definitely recommend Guha to every Indian. The book emphasizes just how unlikely the very existence of India has been. And Guha has done well to release the book just before the 60th anniversary of independence (the cash registers are ringing