India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Larges Democracy [Paperback]

In my mind, three things stand out about this book: it comes across as intellectually objective, full of interesting facts and very brave.

Firstly, the views on Nehru are refreshing and enlightening, especially because they contrast him with his daughter, who undid many of his contributions. Guha especially conveys how it was Indira Gandhi who probably inculcated the `dynasty' not just in the Congress party, but for others to emulate. You definitely don't leave this book feeling positive about Indira, and in my opinion, rightly so.

His view of the 1965 war with Pakistan: a `stalemate'. It was only post 1971 that India abandoned non-alignment in favor of the Soviets because of Russian pro-activeness, not the other way round. Going back to the mid-50s, India's non-alignment suffered when Nehru & Menon refused to slam the Soviets for their invasion of Hungary. There are far too many little interesting tid-bits to mention, but its great that he's covered a wide range of issues such as the rise of caste-based politics (over ideology) in the late 70s, the various cults of personality across the country, the botched Chinese war, etc. He does give the post independence leadership a positive pat on the back, given the circumstances. I especially like his coverage of the 90s that lead us to where India is today. One thing I've enjoyed about this book is that it is a good primer for understanding India's current affairs - it has improved my understanding of context when I read the morning papers in India. Even by the author's own admission that it takes a generation to view past events correctly, he has done an admirable job.

Kashmir is given 'fair' treatment in that, it is the unfortunate Kashmiri (both Hindu and Muslim) who has been been caught in a wider struggle that included British, American, Soviet and Chinese interests at the time of partition itself. Guha clearly shows that for very different reasons, neither India nor Pakistan have fared well.

Guha admires India's continued democratic lean, especially its ability and resourcefulness in holding elections. India's multi-lingual democracy is favorably contrasted against countries that have viewed linguistic differences as an opportunity to secede. His bravest views are against the horrible politically motivated pogroms against the Sikhs in Delhi and the Muslims in Godhra. It is refreshing to see this point of view coming from within (ie, an Indian) not that India's `free press' has been afraid of voicing its opinion, just not as clearly as Guha does.

Personally, I wish he'd spent a little more time talking about the psychological mind-shift from the early 70s to this generation of up-beat world beaters. Instead of hoping others write more deeply about some of the subjects he briefly touched (as he mentioned during his book launch), perhaps he should himself have another go at a follow up book. This book however, covers many topics deeply enough for me to highly recommend his work.

Ramachandra Guha's new book is a bold attempt at revisiting the major ups and downs, albeit mainly in the political sphere, that independent India has had to endure during the last 60 years of freedom. He offers some very valuable insights on the 'Indian Experience' and tries to answer a question that has baffled political and social scientists for quite some time now - Why does India keep on surviving?. Despite the many doomsday scenarios declared by people of all shades and hues, India has endured secessionist movements, famines, religious fundamentalism, population explosions and a brief flirtation with dictatorship with Indira Gandhi's emergency.

The answer is obviously complicated but the author has done a very nice job of making the reader realize the uniqueness of the continuing grand Indian experiment in liberal democracy. Given the paucity of literature on developments within the country after 1947, this book has definitely filled a gap which avid India-watchers are sure to appreciate. To sum it up, the author has made a substantial contribution to the debate about the idea and essence of India and he follows in the footsteps of writers like Sunil Khilnani (The Idea of India), Octavio Paz (In light of India) and William Dalrymple (The Age of Kali). Appropriately timed as India celeberates its 60th year of Independence and reflects on its achievements and failures with a mixture of pride and somber reflection.

It was not clear to me from the information provided by Amazon that this really is the same book as India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. That edition has about 900 pages vs. the Kindle version's 772 vs. the Kindle product description's 300. The Kindle edition is missing the photos of the printed edition. There are maps in the Kindle version, but Kindle maps leave much to be desired.

Unlike many Kindle editions, the notes and index actually work. Each entry has links to the corresponding points in the text. Very nice.

The Kindle version was obviously produced by scanning a printed version and running the result through a spell checker. No proofreader has ever seen this text. Every page has some words run together and others split apart. The book is not unreadable, but it is certainly annoying.

I have both the 900 page and Kindle versions. At home, the 900 page one is my favorite: the whole book is very nicely laid out and easy to read, and the maps and photos are helpful. On the road, I take the Kindle.

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