Planet India

Ok, back after a hiatus - *too* much of work!

Last friday, Mira Kamdar was a guest speaker at the Elliott Bay Book Company - she was reading from her latest book Planet India. It was quite interesting, we went to the event expecting to see a whole slew of desis curious to hear more about everything that is hip about India, but we encountered a mostly non-indian crowd with just a smattering of desi faces. Mira's book seems to revolve around the premise that India, with its growing worldliness and booming economy can be a microcosmic representation of the world. I'm yet to read her book, but it was fascinating to hear her talk about her attempt to get a pulse on India's meteoric transformation in recent years.

Most desis are extremely conversant in english (courtesy of the British Raj) - this has definitely helped make India all the more attractive as an outsourcing destination. In response to Mira's positive comments about the ubiquity of the english language in India, an older gentleman commented about how he felt native languages were falling by the wayside and cultures were being eroded. This raises an interesting question - what is it that actually holds India together anyway? A secular country with 22 official languages, a zillion dialects and a smorgasbord of cultures, it often seems like the struggle to escape from colonization is what created this country. And if that is true, is there anything wrong in english being a strong aspect of that identity?