Learning India
India
is old and has been transforming over many centuries. Ruled by several
very different rulers, it has been home to and adopted several different
traditions. In spite of the large diversity, India is very strongly
united and is taking several strong strides towards becoming a healthy,
and a self-sufficient nation.
Even today some believe India to be a place where snake charmers and fakir's live. Where the common man rides on elephant backs, and has monkeys and cows as his pets at home. This image painted in our minds by books like The Jungle Book, A passage to India, Asterix and the magic carpet (remember Watziznehm), Swami and Friends, Malgudi Days, and many others, although true, do not reflect how India is today. India has changed, and the fakirs and snake charmers of yesterday would not tell this to be the same country they charmed people in. HIA is a great place for one to start on his learning of the new Indian culture. There are also many books in the market that detail on the growth and change of today's India. The following are two good books that provide a clear picture of what India is today, and how it came to be. Popular books on Today's India 1. In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India, by Edward Lucas. 2. India Unbound: The Social and Economic Revolution from Independence to the Global Information Age, by Gurcharan Das |
