'The Idea Of India' is a collection of 5 big essays on various dimensions of Indian union and Indians. Written by Sunil Khilnani, it basically talks about the development or degeneration of Indian politics, her cities, democracy and the evolution of Indian identity. Sunil Khilnani talks about Nehru's idea of India in glowing terms and blames later Congress leaders for the decline of Secularism and the faith in Indian identity mainly because of the rise of Caste and religion based politics.
As such its a not a great book for a person who has Patrick French/India after Gandhi etc but still its a reasonably good read for a novice reader or a reader who is not aware of Indian history. This fades in comparison with both 'India:A Portrait' and 'India after Gandhi', the writer does not do much justice with the title of the book and does not objectively analyze the ideology of the right and of the left. The essay on "Cities" is really good but even it fails to connect with the well informed reader.
Recommended (6/10)
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