India: From Midnight to Millennium and Beyond

By Shashi Tharoor
Book Review:
Shashi Tharoor is an Indian politician and a Member of
Parliament from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in
Kerala. He previously served as the United Nations UnderSecretary General for Communications and Public Information
and as the Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs.
He is also a prolific author, columnist, journalist and a human
rights advocate.
India: From Midnight and Millenium and Beyond is an attempt
by Tharoor to give an in-depth critique of the first fifty years of
independence of India. In this book, Tharoor avers about the
diversity of India (very well articulated by the expression
Indians have more than 300 ways of cooking potato.), from
food to clothing and from language to religion and explains
how it is almost miraculous that a country so diverse and so
large could prove to be a successful democracy. However,
Tharoor does not eschew the problems that India is facing and
expresses them eloquently and objectively. Tharoors main
focus is on understanding the expression India, and he uses
the political incidents as a major tool to allude at the various
aspects of the worlds largest democracy. Chapters have been
devoted to topics like legacy of Indira Gandhi, caste-system and
the partition of India-Pakistan and their after effects. Yet, all
the differences mentioned and the problems stated are written
in an optimistic tone showing Tharoors confidence in his
countrymen who he expects will find a solution to all the
problems within the democratic framework.

Memorable Quotes/
Extracts from the Book
Hindu fundamentalism
is a contradiction in
terms, since Hinduism is
a religion without
fundamentals; there is
no such thing as a
Hindu heresy. How dare
a bunch of goondas
shrink the soaring
majesty of the Vedas
and the Upanishads to
the petty bigotry of
their brand of identity
politics?

Mute suffering is all

very well as a moral
principle, but it has
rarely brought about
meaningful change.

The text is interspersed with lively and humorous anecdotes of Tharoors own childhood and
youth that lends a charming touch to the book. Superbly written and analyzed, this book offers
an excellent insight into a huge country and its diverse people. If one were to look for one
common word to describe them, that word could only be: Indian.