The last couple of weeks, I have been reading a lot of literature penned by the founders of the Infosys family. Sudha Murthy's "Old Man and his God","Wise and Otherwise" and her other short stories have been a great peek into the Indian way of life,across the length and breadth of the country. I have also been seeing a lot of media attention on Nandan Nilelani's book, 'Imagining India' that is all set to release on the 24th of November. With the newer breed of writers also having a blog to interact with readers, Nandan Nilekani has started his book based blog right here.
I am pulling an extract of what the book has in store.
" Why then, do our challenges seem so intractable? We are an emerging economy, making waves in the global market, but the numbers of our poor are still staggering. We struggle to provide our citizens with basic levels of education and healthcare. In many parts of rural India, infrastructure is nothing more than a distant hope – we have villages with no roads leading out, and villages with mobile connectivity but without electricity, where people have to walk miles to the nearest town just to charge their phones.
I believe that much of India’s challenges come from our divisions. The Indian state has long championed the country’s ‘unity in diversity’, but in reality, our diversity has also meant that we are a fractured society, split along the lines of caste, religion, region and class. As a result, our politics have long been a politics of our divides rather than one driven by ideas or solutions.
However, there is a chance that this has begun to change. I think that the most effective answer to such politics is creating a ’safety net of ideas’ that can weather political storms and divisive rhetoric. If such ideas become popular across large numbers of voters, no government can survive by simply mining our resentments, and without addressing these issues."
I believe that much of India’s challenges come from our divisions. The Indian state has long championed the country’s ‘unity in diversity’, but in reality, our diversity has also meant that we are a fractured society, split along the lines of caste, religion, region and class. As a result, our politics have long been a politics of our divides rather than one driven by ideas or solutions.
However, there is a chance that this has begun to change. I think that the most effective answer to such politics is creating a ’safety net of ideas’ that can weather political storms and divisive rhetoric. If such ideas become popular across large numbers of voters, no government can survive by simply mining our resentments, and without addressing these issues."
If this interests you, I'd reccomend you book your copy at the earliest.
So This weekend's theme and flavour
1) Order the book
2) Complete Sudha Muthys books
3) Watch a DVD rerun of "Swades"
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