Talk talk-II

Attended a talk this evening by Ramachandra Guha at Landmark, Chennai, at the launch of his latest book, 'India After Gandhi: The history of the world's largest democracy'. His talk was engaging and peppered with accounts of his travels to different parts of India, the characters he met, in flesh and in word, and so on. The title of his talk was 'What makes India interesting?' He identified simultaneous changes in key areas of life in India, which have become an integral part of the journey of Indian history:

a) in Indian economy-from agrarian to industrial to services
b) in human settlement-shift from villages to cities
c) in Indian polity-from colonialism to a vibrant, free democracy
d) in social attitudes and behavior-from a deferential, hierarchical view in terms of caste and gender, to more egalitarian interaction

Guha also talked about historical characters, both forgotten and celebrated, who contributed in their own way to shape modern India. In his view, it is essential to recognize the diversity in India, and recognize it as a power that makes India both complex and exciting to study. He stated that Indians today had taken this diversity for granted and that we need to recognize this fact and be grateful for it, for the impact that it has in our life.

All well and good, Dr. Guha, enlightening, even. But pray tell, how do we deal with problems arising as a result of the changes identified by you? Let me explain:

a) Finding enough skilled and trained personnel to address the shift in the Indian economy.
b) The problem of housing in the cities arising out of the shift in settlement
c) Corrupt politicians (enough said!)
d) And this one really gets me going: at a time when we talk of liberal attitudes, why do we make a huge ruckus about Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty? What if they kissed for heaven's sake?! Who even cares? Why are courts even entertaining such cases?

I guess I should have stayed on longer during the Q and A, but I had to get back home soon.

Anyways, nice listening to such enlightened folks, might read him sometime too and do a review on this blog. Wait and watch ;)