Pavan K Varma’s book titled ‘Being Indian’ analyzes the Indian life, psyche and future threadbare. It says ‘the book is a Truth about why the twenty first century will be India’s. It’s not very easy to dissect the character of an average Indian. More so, when he constantly wears a garb of so called “other worldliness” or spirituality on his sleeve. ‘Being Indian’ gives a deep insight into what it is to be Indian and the book is presented in a fairly lucid language. The book starts with an introduction on ‘Image versus Reality, followed by chapters on Power, Wealth, Technology and Pan- Indianness with an Epilogue as a ‘Critical Equilibrium for Take off’.
In introduction, the author justifies the need for writing and introspecting about what it actually means to be an Indian. At times, he sounds banal in introduction but henceforth, it’s a wonderful journey to the end of the book. It’s like sitting with a psychoanalyst and understanding the root cause of Indian behavior. Pavan K.
Varma delights with his threadbare analysis in every page citing from ancient texts to Bollywood lyrics and illuminating his examples through a wealth of telling anecdotes.
One can’t stop nodding his head and agreeing with the author when he shows how Indians cling to Power and Wealth at any cost. He successfully proves that for Indians, power is meant to wield and show off “contacts” at the slightest provocation and “wealth” is the essence and way of life. You can’t agree more when the author says that “Indians posses a radar-like sensitivity to relative importance of person”. An Indian will immediately gauge ‘auqat’ (means status, but not only) of the person by asking few intruding questions in the first meeting and respect offered would be purely based on other’s ‘auqat’. There is a subtle acceptance that the powerful will serve their own interests blatantly. What else can explain the number of politicians who gets re-elected
every year, even after they have been convicted for crimes that are committed by them.
The chapter on wealth explores why pursuit of money and entrepreneurialism flourish in India. Hinduism philosophically sanctions the pursuit of material wealth. Varma justifies this statement by quoting lines from our ancient mythological text, ”Ramayana”, in which it is written that ‘There is no difference between the poor and the dead’. For many Indians, Varma argues, spiritualism is meant to harness divine power for material
prosperity. The pursuit of Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth) is the Indian version of the pursuit of happiness. The “other worldliness” mask of Indians isn’t true as is generally thought. The author successfully reveals the true character and shows how every cast of India is “money-minded”. How true that we ‘Indians are like that only’ but always deny and try to project an ideal image to others (even to brother Indians). It saddens to
acknowledge that we Indians are indifferent to the plight of Poor and deprived in every sense. We see it around but don’t feel it. It never gets under the skin.
The chapters on Pan-Indianness and Technology talk about accommodating power of Indians and analyze the rise of Indians in the field of technology. It seems that the author wants to end the book on a positive note. They make for a nice read. However, extrapolating it to the success of India in 21st century seems far- fetched.
Epilogue aptly summarizes the books and talks positively about potential of India (and Indians) in 21st Century and how the average character of Indians discussed in the book will lead them to success. However, it doesn’t justify ’’The truth about why the 21st century will be India’s’’ on the title.
The books is a must read for all those who really want to understand how or why we (Indians) are like that only. The analysis is straight, witty and sometimes it pains to know the truth. The author is well read and well travelled (An Indian Foreign Service officer). However, the author cannot do justice to everything. He relies too heavily on columnists' comments. At times, anecdotes and statistics are piled on relentlessly, and some of
them contradict points made elsewhere. As the book suggests, India is bigger than the sum of its parts. But the "big thing" that emerges is neither scary nor unstable.
Contributed by- Mihir Anand on 14th Nov 2010
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