Book Review: Being Indian- Pavan K.Varma

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We are Indian. Still, have we ever tried to analyze those fundamental traits which make us so?  Those compelling characteristics of our society and life as Indians, which refuse to leave us even in the farthest foreign lands? Pavan K.Varma, a seasoned Indian diplomat, gives an insightful and delightful analysis through his book ‘Being Indian’, on what makes Indians operate within and outside the chaotic democracy of a billion plus people, and why the 21^st century will be India’s, precisely due to those very same fundamental characteristics of Indians ingrained in their DNA.

This fantastic read consists of 213 pages, excluding Notes (consisting of an elaborate list of books/articles by established authors, leaders, administrators etc. referred for writing each chapter), Copyright Acknowledgements and Index. It is divided into six chapters starting with ‘Introduction’ where he tries to separate the reality from the image of India. He highlights what questions the book seeks to answer, methodology followed and basic traits of Indians such as retaining hope even in the toughest circumstances and resilience that comes due to continuous exposure to adversity, to name a few. Then through the next chapters i.e. ‘Power’, ‘Wealth’, ‘Technology’, ‘Pan-Indianness’, the author goes on to unpeel layer-by-layer the Indian psyche and how they tick and succeed. Finally in the ‘Epilogue’ the author suggests what needs to be done to unleash the potential of Indians so that the 21^stcentury certainly and much faster, becomes India’s.

Book Review: THE WHITE TIGER – Aravind Adiga

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Aravind Adiga won the Booker Prize in 2008 for writing the book ‘The White Tiger‘. I was always curious to know what was in it, and how this first-time fiction won the prestigious award. Once I started reading the book, I discovered it was un-putdownable! Written in an angry rustic tone with a lot of dark humour and satire, the author convincingly tells the tale of ‘The White Tiger’, an entrepreneur in the IT hub of Bangalore in a most unimaginably creative manner- the entrepreneur speaks in the first person and narrates his story in letters written every night addressed to none other than- Wen Jiabao- the then Premier of China! The interesting title, ‘The White Tiger‘, literally means that rare ‘creature born once in a generation‘-a name given to the street-smart protagonist when he answered all questions rightly, posed to him, by the school inspector in a remote village of Bihar.