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To someone who is well-versed with the nitty-gritty of Indian political panorama and exceedingly vigilant to the chimerical democratic garb that Indian politics adorn, barring a few nostalgic personal textual pieces, this book is akin to reading newspaper articles and magazines scouting for scholarly debates over eloquent verses surpassing tapered attitudes to a universal perceptive of secularists farce under autocratic, fascists and pluralists mirages. To the unknown it's a revelation.
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The essays cover many of the contemporary themes prevailing Indian political discourses - the changing political dynamics with time, the sycophancy and dynastic politics in Congress, the Hindutva trolls, the declining significance of the left, and the recent revolutions of anti-corruption movements, the fall and decline of haloed perceptions around Nehru and Gandhi, etc. All these essays, hailing the pluralism and argumentativeness of Indian intelligentsia, provide very liberal takes on the issues, trying best not to be very one-sided and judgmental. The last few chapters on libraries, magazines, press and a bookshop, despite my love for the theme, felt out of place and only put there to fill pages for a full length book.
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The articles in the first half of the book are of high academic quality but this deteriorates in the second half. The last few articles are personal experiences which don't amount to much substance to the reader and seem pretty trivial.
Buy it for the first half but a
This is a collection of various articles published by the eminent historian and author, Ramachandra Guha, in various newspapers and magazines. It covers issues after the independence of India which challenged its unity and existence.The articles in the first half of the book are of high academic quality but this deteriorates in the second half. The last few articles are personal experiences which don't amount to much substance to the reader and seem pretty trivial.
Buy it for the first half but also don't buy it for the second half.
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1. Smooth, anecdotal writing. I have read each of Guha's books of essays on vacation. I haven't intended to read them but have begun and gone on reading.
2. Sociopolitical bellelettrism, basically.
3. Guha calls himself a historian but is actually a story-teller; he has no theses for the movement of history, instead consistently focusing overmuch on individual figures. This obviously works better in a book of essays than in a 'history' like INDIA AFTER GANDHI. His
Like Guha's other books of essays.1. Smooth, anecdotal writing. I have read each of Guha's books of essays on vacation. I haven't intended to read them but have begun and gone on reading.
2. Sociopolitical bellelettrism, basically.
3. Guha calls himself a historian but is actually a story-teller; he has no theses for the movement of history, instead consistently focusing overmuch on individual figures. This obviously works better in a book of essays than in a 'history' like INDIA AFTER GANDHI. His commonsensical arguments centered on the individuals are probably why he is so popular.
4. Rather than tracing systemically why things unfolded as they did, Guha gives elder-brotherly post-facto advice to leftists etc. which ignores their leftist political aims and takes into account moral qualities like 'honesty' and 'concern for the people' which would have helped had they joined the government in power. Saying this once is fine - as he points out, Madhu Dandavate being the Railway Minister did help the 'common man' - but to go on in that vein is to play a historical version of the ALL TIME XI that cricket fans like to play. Basically: the world would have been a better place if only more of us had been like Guha.
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A page full of bashing of Hindu fanatics counter balanced by single line criticism of other faiths is not the definition of liberals.
Also at more than one point my Maharashtrian ego(which is in abundance) was severely hurt.
The meteoric rise of simpleton Anna Hazare probably itched author as his erudite views of Republic remain confined to academic world and majority follows Anna.
He questions whether women were treated equal I here by disavow any notion of liberalism I would have harbored so long.
A page full of bashing of Hindu fanatics counter balanced by single line criticism of other faiths is not the definition of liberals.
Also at more than one point my Maharashtrian ego(which is in abundance) was severely hurt.
The meteoric rise of simpleton Anna Hazare probably itched author as his erudite views of Republic remain confined to academic world and majority follows Anna.
He questions whether women were treated equally during the reign of Shivaji Maharaj. Hello Mr Self-declared Historian, have you heard about jijabai?
Nathuram Godse was religious fanatic. Fanatic - may be. But religious, can you elucidate Mr.Historian. ...more
Though I own a coupl
My first whole Guha. And I've been meaning to read him for a long bloody time. When I say whole, I seem to find his essays somewhere or the other (The Caravan, Himal Southasian, other anthologies), and have always been rather overwhelmed by the depth and breadth of his scholarship. And of course, the fact that the man can write. Part of the criticism he receives must be, I think, because of this - it is difficult to trust, for most people, a historian who can write this well.Though I own a couple more of his books, I chose Patriots and Partisans because I thought a collection of essays might reveal more about the writer's interest areas and pet subjects than a book might. I was right. I attended a lecture by the writer at the Chartered Accountants Association in Madras, and he touched upon all the topics he writes about in the book even then. This is where he's home, the early history of our democracy, its people and its institutions.
Starting the book with a case for being a moderate, as opposed to being a leftist or a right-winger, his essays begin with a history of the ideas with which India was born, and then moves on to a grand array of topics, including a superb comparison of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Anna Hazare. The essay I enjoyed and learnt most from is an analysis of the 1962 Sino-Indian war; there still is a remarkable dearth of knowledge in the popular sphere about this conflict that was so important at that stage for our country's evolution.
The second part of the book is shorter and includes the lovely essay on the Bangalore bookshop Premier's I first read in an anthology of writings on Bangalore. The essays on the Oxford University Press and the EPW also introduced me to several important people in Indian publishing I know only as names.
Altogether, an essential book for the student of Indian history and the ideas that gave shape to it.
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The essays are on different topics, ranging from a history of congress sycophancy to the end of Premier Bookshop in Bangalore. Each essay is put together well, with convincing arguments and lucid language. The essay on the decline of the bilingual intellectual, for example, made some excellent p
My review of this book is probably going to be biased since Guha's views are extremely similar to views I hold. That being said, this is an engaging, excellent and very well-written collection of essays.The essays are on different topics, ranging from a history of congress sycophancy to the end of Premier Bookshop in Bangalore. Each essay is put together well, with convincing arguments and lucid language. The essay on the decline of the bilingual intellectual, for example, made some excellent points, such as the condescension shown to vernacular languages in English-medium schools and the disastrous decision to remove English from state schools in some parts of the country. The history of the Sino-Indian conflict is presented and analyzed dispassionately.
He also has essays of fairly recent topics such as the 2011 Lokpal agitation, where he does not give much credence to the efficacy of Hazare's stand -- a view also held by me-- and explains why. The history of the EPW is especially brilliant.
Guha is equally critical of the extreme right and the extreme left. Hindu extremism and leftist extremism are, for him, to be resisted equally. Negotiations and democratic compromise are the ideals he advocates.
However, Guha is prone to use superlatives excessively, something that irked me. For him, everything he is talking about is "The best in the country" or "The best that ever will be." Such excessive hyperbole does not really enhance his views.
Guha also seems to deify Gandhi, for whom he often uses superlatives which seem to be open to question. Guha's views on Gandhi colour all his analyses of those times. However, he is more balanced while talking about Nehru, whose mistakes are talked about as dispassionately as his triumphs.
All in all, this is a lovely collection of essays and one definitely worth reading.
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Good read, and must for everyone who want a historical view of Indian politics.
Part 2 of the book will not appeal at all to many many people.
Grabbed this book from roadside,(for me reading is imp than locationJ).
This book is a collection of his essays published in
I had interest in Guha as a person as I was listening to him on various TV channels on a debate. May it be discussing about Greatest Indian after Gandhi or sharing his views on Cricket. His proficient language and excellent vocabulary flattered me. There are few people whose mere presence and style grabs your attention and hints you that they are full of knowledge(correct).Grabbed this book from roadside,(for me reading is imp than locationJ).
This book is a collection of his essays published in various journals covering topics from Nehru,Indo-China war to gandhis ideologies,religious faith to a book store owner in Bangalore ..For me it was altogether new expeience as I had never explored this genre ,style of writing before.
His essay redeeming the republic covers
Chapter 1:India as a republic country and its challenges. He points at 3 enemies of Idea of India 1.
Hindutva wave 2. Naxals and adivasis 3.Collation of various states-Seperatalism. Adding to it are 3 more
inequality(wealth,consumption,education etc), corruption and environmental degradation.
Chapter 2 : Congress chamchagiri
It all started after Nehrus death. Shastri became PM and Indira Gandhi was given a ministry of
Information and bradcasting even though she didn't had any interest. T was a gratitude towards her
father.With sudden demise of Shastri, cabinet ministers thought that making Indira PM would help
them to keep all the string with them.This move backfired and Indira kicked their asses and took the
complete control. During emergency ,Indira needed support and Sanjay Gandhi came into picture. So
it was an hierarchy and dynasty coming into picture.post Sanjay and Indiras death, congress leveraged
the incidents and made Rajiv PM.Lobbying to first family,distribution of posts and portfolios were
based on loyalty than merit.This actually percolated in the states of inia,like karunanidhi and his son
in TN,Shiv sena in maharshtra.i personally think this is true in every field.family background matters
than merit,else Abhishek bachcan would never had tried to become an actor,marrying aishwarya .Many
industrialists successors would be different..shounak abhisheki would be still a struggling singer..
Chapter 3 : Hindutva hate mail- collection of mails from different parts of the country on Guhas liberal
thoughts.
Chapter 4:Past and future of Indian Left :
He speaks about kerala and Bengal,2 states where lefts had power.Kerala went on to become state
with highest literacy wheresas Bengal stayed back.Communist leaders are well read and educated
which helps the government but their top to bottom approach affected the public.they should be in the
government to give them reality check.Indian Marxists are technophobic.They should overcome their
close mindedness.
Chapter 5: Protestor and professor- Anna hazare and Manmohan singh
Hazare lacked world view. Couple of wins like RTI in Maharashtra cant make him Gandhi..he wasn't even
Gandhian.he as a person is clear and has integrity.
About Singh, he mentions about 4 points which doesn't make him great PM-
1.his timidity in front of Sonia
2.Not contesting Lok sabha election
3.lack of judgement while chosing key advisers..(loyalist over merit coz of her highness).He wasn't
narshimha rao who chose great ppl like him.
Chapter 6: Gandhis faith and ours :
He didn't recommended idol worship or rituals.equal citizenship.His religious experiences were based onhis experiences.a person should stick to his religion by birth and seek to improve its truth content.
Chapter 7: Nehrus reputation:
We all blaim Nehru for China war defeat.Yes it was a mistake..he had been warned by Patel and other
ministers about chinas intentions about border disputes but Nehrus faith backfired.all his contribution to Pre independence and post independence was washed out with China war.It was very difficult for a
nation like India to come under one roof and work towards democracy.And to lead this mission ,people like Nehru took up the challenge and worked in a balanced way. He built dams,IITs,IIms but neglected primar education.He had a charisma , an aura around him and he lived to it.Nehrus secularism was doubted which led to rise of Janata party. He is remembered as father of Indira. His next generations had spoiled his image to some extent.
Chapter 8 : India china war:
Both coutries were free. One with socialist attitude and other with communist.India being non aligned in cold war,n china on side of Russia might have triggered the dispute.China wanted to take over Tibet
but India had some territory in between which was divided as Macmhon line by britishers.China didn't agreed to it.If india would have fallen from non aligned, communalism would have grown and china would have been benefited.
Other chapters include the lack of compromise which led to LTTE,naxal struggles in India.
Next part covers more internal matters like pluralism of indian universities,bilingual intellectuals and their beneifts,.Guhas personal experiences in building Nehru memorial museum and politics in it,book vendor in Bangalore,oxford university press, economic and political weekly completes the book giving an enriching experience for me.
A must read for different tastes and happenings in India which we would have never come across.
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Apart from that Guha is a moderate through-and-through, and conveniently takes the Enlightened Centrist route. In fact, he engages with this criticism and brings out the best part of the book. Even then, (1) Being a 2012 book he dismisses the RW, and (2) he unfairly conflates the Left with Naxalites.
Many might find the last few
Guha writes in 2012, so when he (imo) falsely equates the Left and Right I can't help but find it anachronistic. That an entire essay is spent on Anna Hazare doesn't help.Apart from that Guha is a moderate through-and-through, and conveniently takes the Enlightened Centrist route. In fact, he engages with this criticism and brings out the best part of the book. Even then, (1) Being a 2012 book he dismisses the RW, and (2) he unfairly conflates the Left with Naxalites.
Many might find the last few sections unrelated and out-of-place (Guha extensively talks about a few institutions that shaped his life). They are, but I found the autobiographical parts amusing.
...more I recommend this book to all those non-scholarly types all of whom have interest in contemporary history of India. ...more
I've always grappled with the meaning of left, centre, right, liberal, communists, Gandhian etc but definitions highlighted in these books has brought me one step closer to understanding them. There's a possibility that in certain social gatherings if you associate yourself with any of the af
Finally i got hold of one of Mr. Guha's books. I was planning to start reading this author through his most famous book, India after Gandhi but i got hold of this in the training in bhopal and it was amazingI've always grappled with the meaning of left, centre, right, liberal, communists, Gandhian etc but definitions highlighted in these books has brought me one step closer to understanding them. There's a possibility that in certain social gatherings if you associate yourself with any of the aforementioned groups, either through self declaration or external branding, a certain backdrop appears out of nowhere and from there on, every action of yours is judged in association with that backdrop. It may catch you off guard at times as you would be unable to realize or understand as to why suddenly people have gotten more hostile/docile, depending upon the collective temperament and acceptable beliefs of the crowd
Let's start with who is a liberal intellectual:
1) They believe in incremental social changes and reforms and are not up for a revolution. They would be happy to see maybe a 5-10% improvement periodically and they would be happy with it. It is often said that those who announce that they are there to change the world are either not willing to do anything from the start or they end up hardly making any difference anyway
2) They want to create rule based institutions because if a law and order is based upon an individual personality or a collective personality of a group, it runs the risk of centralization and once that group or individual is out of power, there's no way to guarantee that the same precedent would be used for creating something good only(assuming it was used for creating something good)
3)They stay away from political parties and make sure that even when they criticize or approbate, it is abundantly clear that they are talking about the policies and actions and not about the ideological cornerstone or teachings of that organization per se
4) They practice a subconscious and understated patriotism through which they try to fulfill their aim of making India better/ less worse than what was it at the time of their entry
Seems like a good enough explanation of the term to me. What do you guys say?
Apart from this, the author has made no secret about the fact that he is a Nehru fan. He has enumerated and explained various instances to substantiate his claim and honestly speaking, he has swayed me. After reading this, i can safely say that Nehru is one of the most misunderstood, erroneously portrayed and incomprehensible PM that India has ever had the good fortune of having. Why? Let's see what's the prevailing image of the first PM of India in the young generation's mind:
1) We feel that he was just primarily flirting with Edwina Mountbatten which led to the partition and careless governance. This isn't true. I won't deny that he was close with Mrs. Mountbatten but using this to draw conclusions about his patriotism is mighty small on our part. Compare any other PM and Nehru has fared better because he had to endure partition, creating a union of India by adding around 500 princely states, starting the nation's journey with abject poverty and illiteracy and even the private enterprises were fearful of any investments to kick start the economic engine of the country
2) Communists say that he is a British agent because he is an English educated, upper class elite who ruled India and actually carry forwarded the discrimination started by the Britishers. This image of his is actually because of his daughter. People generally confuse between the two as both belonged to the same family. She was the one who diluted the institutions and started the era of dynastic politics. If Nehru would have been responsible for this, then Lal Bahadur Shastri would never have followed him as a successor selected through a democratic process
3) Gandhians say that Mahatama Gandhi envisioned India as a confederation of self-sustaining village republics while Nehru made a heavy industry based and urban centralized model of India which was destined to grow at the cost of countryside. Some weight-age can be given to this claim as this model has continued has led to severe ecological imbalances across the country. But still, we need to cut him some slack because he wanted to create egalitarian society both economically and politically, i.e why he adopted socialism over capitalism as capitalism only led to colonization of Britishers. In the benefit of hindsight, its easier to point out these decisions as mistakes
4) Finally, the most famous mistaking China as a friend. This wasn't intentional. Assuming that he had better idea of history than me or most of us, he had all the proofs which helped him to conclude that China would play a big-brother's part in the rejuvenation of Asia. China and India had shared ancient ties long before Europeans came to India and since both were British colonies, it was natural to assume that both would cooperate effectively post-independence
It is a very interesting read. It has also highlighted about what's wrong with the education system in India but I feel that it would be better if you read it you own words
"Nowadays, patriotism has become the last resort of a scoundrel"
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It is a book which will make an Indian think about various policies enacted by state and central government in fields of education. Since I studied science in my college days I always thought social science is of no use to me but the way Mr. Guha writes and describes the fact that social science is the basic ingredient to This collection of essays written by Mr. Guha debunks many myth surrounding Pandit Nehru and through its logical consistency implores me to judge Pandit Nehru on better terms.
It is a book which will make an Indian think about various policies enacted by state and central government in fields of education. Since I studied science in my college days I always thought social science is of no use to me but the way Mr. Guha writes and describes the fact that social science is the basic ingredient to have well formed mind is commendable.
Whatever issues Mr. Guha was facing a decade ago has intensified in present days, secularism is being strangled by fanatics, you hear reports of mob lynching, high level official posts which were based on meritocracy is now based on sycophancy etc.
One of the best feature of this book is that it introduces you to host of other Indian author who think in similar line.
All in all it was a book which provided me set of answers to a problem which every Indian can relate to ...more
Guha comes across as a charming and erudite (if somewhat snobbish) scholar, one whose numerous tangents are read fondly, a rare quality for a author to
Inspite of all of Guha's perceived 'centrism' and his reverence (bordering on idolatry) of Gandhi and the first Nehru, this collection of essays (both old and new) by the eminent historian is immensely readable, dealing with a variety of issues - ranging from his favorite (now defunct) bookshop in Bengaluru, to the ticking bomb that is South Asia.Guha comes across as a charming and erudite (if somewhat snobbish) scholar, one whose numerous tangents are read fondly, a rare quality for a author to have, and an even rarer quality for a historian to possess.
The main pitfall of this compendium will be the fact, that since it is a collection of essays, and not a standalone treatise on a single topic - many topics are repeated, and this happens fairly frequently. This collection would have been better served by a more meticulous editor, but oh well.
TL;DR - good read if you're interested in history/politics, must read if you're cynical about Indian politics (you'll become even more cynical, but that's a different matter altogether).
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While the hate mail essay was extremely relatable in this era of social media and paid trolling, his thoughts about the Indo-China relations were interesting. He seems to be a Nehru sympathiser to me. I am being specific because he seemed t
This book is again a collection of essays related to various aspects of Nationalism and our foreign affairs. I particularly like a couple of essays that spoke about the Hindutva hate mails that he received and also about the hows and the whys of China policy.While the hate mail essay was extremely relatable in this era of social media and paid trolling, his thoughts about the Indo-China relations were interesting. He seems to be a Nehru sympathiser to me. I am being specific because he seemed to spare no softness for Indira Gandhi and abhor the next line of Gandhis. Well, these are just my observations.
The book is a slow read. One might want to actually spare time after every essay to ponder about the ideas presented in those essays.
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After a peripatetic academic career, with
Ramachandra Guha was born in Dehradun in 1958, and educated in Delhi and Calcutta. He has taught at the University of Oslo, Stanford, and Yale, and at the Indian Institute of Science. He has been a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and also served as the Indo-American Community Chair Visiting Professor at the University of California at Berkeley.After a peripatetic academic career, with five jobs in ten years on three continents, Guha settled down to become a full-time writer based in Bangalore. His books cover a wide range of themes, including a global history of environmentalism, a biography of an anthropologist-activist, a social history of Indian cricket, and a social history of Himalayan peasants.
Guha's books and essays have been translated into more than twenty languages. The prizes they have won include the U.K. Cricket Society's Literary Award and the Leopold-Hidy Prize of the American Society of Environmental History.
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