India Turns Sixty- More thoughts!

I started writing about this 'Landmark day' in my blog http://nidhiramblers.blogspot.com/2007/08/india-turns-60.html
Then I realised rambling about India is a serious business. Hence, I thought let me create a dedicated blog only for India. It is quite simple to create a blog and here I am rambling about India.

Almost around the time I wrote 'India turns sixty', Raji and Lakshmi (Narayan) presented me with a book and suggested that I make my comments on it in my blog. They like to keep me busy! I said fine, and glanced at the title, it is a book by Ramachandra Guha: 'India after Gandhi', The History of the world's largest democracy. It was signed by the author, which was nice and saw that the author now resides in Bangalore, which made it nicer!

My first thought on seeing the title was rather ironical! What does he mean after Gandhi! Gandhi is still very much here!! When people moan that Gandhi (Mahatma) is a forgotten name now in India, I always counter with 'You are mistaken, we had Indira, Sanjay, Rajiv and now it is Sonia with Rahul biding his time'. We also have Gandhigiri now, which almost succeeds in glamorising the ways of the hoodlums!

This brand of Gandhi-ism, a dynastic rule, is as inevitable as the monsoon in India. We have our own version in Karnataka now! I remember talking to a worker on the shop floor years ago, during an election. He said he always supported Nehru and his party! When I asked him why, he said: 'Nehru already has enough money so he will not be greedy and become corrupt. Also he is a well read man and knows how to handle the world outside and its leaders on equal terms'. Like my friend on the shop floor, all of us have our own views about the people who led India. I am very keen to see how this book concurs, embellishes or differs with my own perceptions about India and its short history of Sixty years!

The book is very well researched and reads well. (I have just read the Introduction). It has been well received and there are very good reviews of the book easily accessible on the web. My approach of course, would not (obviously!) be scholarly, more of a bystander than a participant in the process that shaped India to what it is now.