Brilliant colours and images attract you the moment you look at the book. Then you flip through it, and find more, and more, reflecting the many facets of Indian life, rituals, traditions, modernity, democratic processes, including elections, people and their festivals—all find representation in this volume.
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India for a Billion Reasons
Ed. Amit Dasgupta
Wisdom Tree; Pp 222. Rs 3,495 |
No, it is not yet another coffee table book on India. What helps India for a Billion Reasons carve out its own identity is a substantial body of text. The editor has wisely allowed many expert voices to reflect on slices of the Indian experience, yet the introduction by this diplomat writer, whose book Indian by Choice had been reviewed in these columns two years ago, serves its purpose by explaining the format of the book, and introducing the essays that together make the book. While many of them are young minds, some are young at heart, together they lure us to add substance to the attractive colour pages and draw us to the text.
Any picture book on India has to negotiate clich`E9s, so does this, often quite successfully? Atri Bhattacharya contends that the "downside of the Indian experience is that it leaves us a little jaded for the rest of the world". Anita Ratnam is seeped in the dance tradition, and it shows in her article. Anjum Katyal tackles the difficult subject of art from India, while Ritu Sethi writes on the unbroken tradition of the living crafts.
Full review
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