An Argumentative Indian

An Argumentative Indian | Book Review

An Argumentative Indian is a highly dense and researched book. There are atleast 3 or more references on almost every page. And each of them seems to be reliable. There could have been no better effort to understand the origin of India and more importantly the 'Idea Of India' in such short length.

The whole book is about contradiction. India is land of contradiction. So many people, so many beliefs, huge conflict! Many of us have very distorted version of what India is, what it stands for, based on their born prejudices, which is quite hard to get rid of. And this book becomes so important considering the current extreme situation of the country.

Sen writes about two extreme conditions, people, beliefs, opinions and states to make sense of the whole situation. Many of times the one side have clear superiority to other but sometimes things are not exactly as they look. For example consider the comparison between the Gandhi's India and that of Tagore's. These two great men respected each others and their beliefs. But there were obvious reasons about there thinking differently when it came to Indian Identity. And both of them had reasonably sound grounds to hold to beliefs and ideals they had.

There many more contradictions, let it be left vs right, Indian tradition vs the western influences, india vs china and so on. Well the book might seem biased to some. It might be or it might not. Sen do have his own beliefs, and they are quite liberal, tolerant and harmless. So someone like me who would has neutral mindset, incline more towards his beliefs. Because the opposite of these beliefs seems non sensical.

Its not a perfect book, it will cause many Argumentative Indians to Argue. But as long as the argument is constructive, reasonable and induce fair solutions, then the book serves it purpose.

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