Reflections

A Tale of Two Cows infographic by kylatomdesign .

Malwa is an ancient part of India and plays an important part in its history. The name is associated with many romantic names that echo down the roads of Indian history and legend. It is here that Ashoka first won his spurs as a youthful governor of Ujjain. Bidisha, beloved to all readers of Jibananda was here. Kalidas wrote his famous plays in this very soil and the legend of Baz Bahadur and Rupmati, the stuff of so many romantic poems was also played out here. The Narmada flows through it as does the Chambal and the Betwa, and people have been coming here for pilgrimages since the dawn of civilization. Mandu occupies a rocky outcrop of the Malwa plateau. Known to have been a fortress since before the birth of Christ, it really came into prominence during the rule of the Parmars, who ruled over the area in the 10th and 11th centuries. Their descendents still live in the area and are major landholders in the Indore region today. The principal ruler of this clan was the legendary Raj...

This is the second part of the post I had published last week. Here we hear about : India – the view from outside Harsh is a consumer research & design consultant. An easy-going guy who strongly sees himself as a man of today's times. The job allows him an unique opportunity to observe people across countries & social strata. This touch with real people & his wife keeps him grounded in life. What keeps him going are traveling & cricket. India. The best thing about this word is that it means something to virtually everyone in the world! Not all populations are so blessed. The blessing has often also been a curse in the past & has led to some fairly violent episodes in history. The present of the last 20-years has shown the inherent promise & power of this blessing. However, we now stand at a cusp – what the future holds for this blessing will be shaped by the next 2 generations. So, here are my thoughts on India as a young man, who doesn’t live in...

I always wonder what exactly young Indians think about India and its future. We are the generation that benefited from the reforms of 1991; however our mindset and thinking was entirely from the seventies and eighties. We instinctively stiffen if there is even a mild criticism of India from a foreign source, we are instinctively left of centre and deeply suspicious of the United States, we are all for women’s freedom and participation in the workforce, but have to struggle to suppress our disapproval of women wearing western dress. We feel that the youngsters today have lack of patriotism (as we see it) and voluntarism which was very much a part of our lives as students and young men. In order to find out, I asked my former student and now friend (if there can be friendship across this large age difference) Yachana Prakash ( I use her maiden name)to find me some young and articulate people who think about our India and ask them what they feel about it. The following are contribution...