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India A Portrait Patrick French 9780307272430 Books

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India A Portrait Patrick French 9780307272430 Books

INDIA: A PORTRAIT is much like its subject: fascinating, yet at times exasperating and confusing. My chief problem with the book is its haphazard organization. The progression from one sentence to the next almost always makes sense, but not always from one paragraph to the next and less so from one section to the next. At times, the book seems to consist of umpteen journalistic dispatches from India, randomly assembled. It is sprawling, kaleidoscopic, multifarious - just like the country.

The book begins with an extended though somewhat disorganized discussion of political power in independent India, from Nehru to the present. Much of the book deals with the spectacular growth of India's economy. There are useful discussions of nepotism in politics, the prominence of women in politics and business, violence in Indian politics, and the role of Hinduism in so much of Indian society (as well as status of the minority Muslims). But for me, INDIA: A PORTRAIT was most notable for its dozens of portraits of diverse Indians and for its factoids and anecdotes.

Among the factoids: One half of the people in the world who live in a democracy live in India. Four of the eight richest people in the world, as of 2008, were Indian.

Among the anecdotes, a scene on the main street of Chandni Chowk in Delhi: "A branch of McDonald's stood nearby, the steps thronged * * * with lean, squatting men in red turbans. Some had cotton buds stuck in the band of their turban, and each had a grubby towel draped over his shoulder. Others wielded sticks and wires, and were at work on their customers, crouching on their haunches, poking and twiddling, tuttting and squinting: kaan saaf karne wallahs, the ear-cleaners of old Delhi. I asked one of them why he had chosen this spot to ply his trade. Drawing on a bidi, a leaf cigarette, he pointed out that McDonald's had chosen the location: these steps were where the ear-cleaners had assembled for generations, in sight of the Red Fort, and they had no intention of going elsewhere."

Another: A highly successful 35-year-old Silicon Valley techie from a middle-class Indian family explained that he got his start back in Bangalore working "24/7" with Adobe Photoshop, 3d Studio Max, and other software. "All the software was freely available in India as it was pirated, and I could begin practicing on it in a way that people in the U.S. couldn't at the time. Without pirated software you would never, ever have had so many geeks from India."

The last book I read about India was "A Million Mutinies Now", by V.S. Naipul, from twenty years ago. India has changed so much since then that it is meaningless to compare the two books, though for what it's worth I think I learned more from Patrick French's book. What will India be like in another twenty years? It is dizzying to contemplate.


Tags : India: A Portrait [Patrick French] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A monumental biography of the subcontinent from the award-winning author of The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul</i>. Second only to China in the magnitude of its economic miracle and second to none in its potential to shape the new century,Patrick French,India: A Portrait,Knopf,0307272435,India;Economic conditions;1947-,India;History;1947-,India;Politics and government;1947-,1947-,Asia - India & South Asia,Business & Economics International General,Developing & Emerging Countries,Economic conditions,History,History Asia India & South Asia,History: World,India,India - History,Politics and government,Social Science Developing & Emerging Countries,Sociology

India A Portrait Patrick French 9780307272430 Books Reviews

Other reviewers have already discussed the contents of the book adequately, so let me take a broader perspective. There seems to be a new book on India every few months these days (how things have changed!) - but only few of these books are worth reading. When I learnt that Patrik French is planning to write a generalist account on India, I knew it would be good. Patrick is a smart guy who has spent a lot of time in India over the last decade. He has already written an excellent book on the Indian freedom struggle and the decades leading up to it in addition to his critically acclaimed biography of V.S Naipaul. And the book is good- you will learn a lot about India by reading this book - Patrick is genuinely interested in the country and is very well informed. But this book falls short of the extremely high standards that Patrick has set for himself in the two earlier books that I mentioned. It is not that I have too many specific criticisms - but I was expecting even more from Patrick - some startling insight into issues or some new way of looking at familiar topics that I haven't thought about before. I would still gift this book to any friend who is interested in India along with the book by Edward Luce. There is no doubt that Patrick has a decent understanding of contemporary India and that is no mean thing by itself. (given that India is a hard country to understand).

You can divide many books/articles on India into two types. (I am generalizing). For one set of Western journalists/writers, India has been and always will be synonymous with caste discrimination, gender oppression, dirt/filth/poverty, child labor, corruption and the rest of it. To prevent a relentlessly negative focus, a section or two emphasizing the exotic or colorful elements of Indian culture can be added along with some obligatory nonsense about Indian spirituality - the implication being that India is somehow fun for particularly adventurous or hardy Western travellers in spite of being a miserable wretched place full of backward people who are still living in the 19th century. The India of Slumdog Millionaire is readily recognized by most Western people - that's the reason the movie did so well- anything more nuanced would have failed to pander to Western stereotypes as shamelessly and as successfuly. The problem with this perspective is not that it is completely misguided or that it fails to capture any aspect of Indian social realities, but that it is a radically incomplete picture which doesn't engage seriously with the many changes that have taken place in Indian society in the last century and particularly in the last few decades.

Take the issue of caste discrimination as an example. There is no doubt that there are still pockets of rural India where a form of apartheid is being practiced against the lowest caste people who were called "untouchables" (now they are called Dalits). The Indian media periodically reports on Dalits being denied entry to Hindu temples even today. We still hear stories about horrendous violence and brutality against Dalits in parts of rural India. And all this happens in spite of a progressive liberal constitution adopted in 1950 and very stringent laws which makes it a crime to discriminate against Dalits. But this is only part of the story. What is also true is that today there are scores of multi-millionaire businessman who have a Dalit background. Indians from a Dalit background have succeeded in becoming Vice Chancellors of universities, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India and the President of the country. (The President is an important constitutional position in India, but it is largely ceremonial). The conviction rates for crimes committed against Dalits is rising slowly. A recent prestigious international academic study finds that there has been a rapid and significant reduction in caste-based restrictions to socio-economic mobility in India. Christophe Jaffrelot, a top expert on Indian politics at the prestigious Sciences Po in Paris calls the (continuing) empowerment of lower castes India's silent revolution - in fact he has a book of the same name which I recommend. To sum up - it IS a disgrace that the Dalits still suffer extreme discrimination (and occasionally violence) in some parts of rural India in the 21st century, but things are changing on the ground and the changes have picked up pace in the last two decades. (and Patrick has a clear understanding of these issues).

You could also consider the issue of women. India has done very poorly in fighting gender discrimination (the record here is even worse than on the caste issue). But even here the picture is far from uniform. For example, India has more female CEO's among financial sector companies than USA. When I watch television, I find just as many (if not more) smart television anchors and journalists in India who are women as compared to USA. The literacy gap between men and women is falling ever year. And there are many committed women who have started pioneering NGO's or who are part of the feminist movement. While things are far from being satisfactory, India is making slow but steady progress towards its liberal constitutional ideals.

Then there is the miracle of Indian democracy (for all its flaws). No country which is as poor and as diverse as India has resilient democratic institutions and a (largely) free press of the type India today has. Typically countries start developing representative political institutions at a much later phase of their development when they have a large and well educated/relatively prosperous middle class. In this respect, India can be a good example to many poor African countries which are experimenting with democratic forms of government. (perhaps a more ethical alternative to the authoritarian Chinese model).

But there is another group of journalists/analysts who lean too far in the other direction - you will find them writing in the business section of newspapers and magazines - who rhapsodize about the success of Indian businesses around the world and the increasing number of billionaires of Indian origin etc etc. Tom Friedman of the NYT is the most persuasive proponent of this point of view. These people take it for granted that India will keep growing at 8% until it becomes rich or that India has already "arrived" - even though majority of Indians live on less than $2 a day. India has failed to create a functioning basic education and health care system- public sanitation and public health is a total mess. India's social indicators are considerably worse than most other countries with per-capita incomes comparable to India. Hundred years back, poor people in India prayed to God when they fell ill- because they didn't have access to medical care. Things haven't changed much since then, given the very poor quality of the public health care system in India.(though things are better in the South of the country). The biggest failure of India today is one of governance. A top development expert Lant Pritchett calls India "a flailing state" - somewhere between a failing state and a stable, reasonably competent one. The fact that a BRIC country that is touted as an emerging global economic power would be called a nearly failed state (in some respects) by top economists tells you how serious India's problems with governance are. If continued economic growth depends on the quality of supporting public institutions (and economists believe it does) then you should be a pessimist rather than an optimist on India. The strength of India lies in its civil society and the dynamism of private businesses rather than the government (kind of opposite to China) - but some public institutions like the Election Commision or the Central Bank do a fairly good job. So India certainly hasn't "arrived" and is unlikely to do so in the near future - I am not even sure how long the current growth spurt will last.

The way to write about India is not to impose a single narrative on the country - whether that narrative is "a feudal backward country steeped in poverty, caste prejudice and gender inequities" or "an emerging global economic superpower with millions of entrepreneurs and scientists" but to be open to multiple narratives and how they intersect and conflict with each other. India is all that and more. This seems obvious given that India has more people than all of Africa combined and is just as diverse. A good writer like Patrick is someone who can look beyond some of the more obvious stereotypes and cliches. Patrick is keenly aware of the many complexities and contradictions of the Indian experience and he manages to convey some of that to the reader. The book has several interviews with an interesting cast of characters and more than a few telling anecdotes. Patrick writes well and has a good sense of humor! Overall, I would recommend this book strongly.
French offers some good insights on Indian society from an outsider's perspective. If you are new to the subject of India, I recommend reading something by Stanley Wolpert, Ramachandra Guha, or Luce's book, In Spite of the Gods.
a great book that really touched on many modern issues of India today. when travelling in India, I felt very in touch with current events and cultural issues. i would definitely recommend!
Patrick French's book covers a wide range of topics history; geography; personal stories; religions - all this written in a clear style.
Best book you can get on India along with those of V.S. Naipaul. You can trust you are in for an incisive book with Patrick French. See also his recent biography of Naipaul.
I bought this book for a class I took on Contemporary India, I didn't know much about India before this course so I wasn't sure how I would like it. Patrick French is a very engaging writer, the information was presented in an interesting and meaningful way that helps the reader get a better understanding of contemporary India. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in India or is looking for an interesting book.
What a great deal this is. I can read when I want, and switch to listening when I want to share it with someone I am with. It is beautifully and clearly read, and that adds a lot to its appeal. The story of India both historically and culturally, as well as economically, is absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend this book in whatever format you access it. The author knows India inside out and also knows how to tell a story.
INDIA A PORTRAIT is much like its subject fascinating, yet at times exasperating and confusing. My chief problem with the book is its haphazard organization. The progression from one sentence to the next almost always makes sense, but not always from one paragraph to the next and less so from one section to the next. At times, the book seems to consist of umpteen journalistic dispatches from India, randomly assembled. It is sprawling, kaleidoscopic, multifarious - just like the country.

The book begins with an extended though somewhat disorganized discussion of political power in independent India, from Nehru to the present. Much of the book deals with the spectacular growth of India's economy. There are useful discussions of nepotism in politics, the prominence of women in politics and business, violence in Indian politics, and the role of Hinduism in so much of Indian society (as well as status of the minority Muslims). But for me, INDIA A PORTRAIT was most notable for its dozens of portraits of diverse Indians and for its factoids and anecdotes.

Among the factoids One half of the people in the world who live in a democracy live in India. Four of the eight richest people in the world, as of 2008, were Indian.

Among the anecdotes, a scene on the main street of Chandni Chowk in Delhi "A branch of McDonald's stood nearby, the steps thronged * * * with lean, squatting men in red turbans. Some had cotton buds stuck in the band of their turban, and each had a grubby towel draped over his shoulder. Others wielded sticks and wires, and were at work on their customers, crouching on their haunches, poking and twiddling, tuttting and squinting kaan saaf karne wallahs, the ear-cleaners of old Delhi. I asked one of them why he had chosen this spot to ply his trade. Drawing on a bidi, a leaf cigarette, he pointed out that McDonald's had chosen the location these steps were where the ear-cleaners had assembled for generations, in sight of the Red Fort, and they had no intention of going elsewhere."

Another A highly successful 35-year-old Silicon Valley techie from a middle-class Indian family explained that he got his start back in Bangalore working "24/7" with Adobe Photoshop, 3d Studio Max, and other software. "All the software was freely available in India as it was pirated, and I could begin practicing on it in a way that people in the U.S. couldn't at the time. Without pirated software you would never, ever have had so many geeks from India."

The last book I read about India was "A Million Mutinies Now", by V.S. Naipul, from twenty years ago. India has changed so much since then that it is meaningless to compare the two books, though for what it's worth I think I learned more from Patrick French's book. What will India be like in another twenty years? It is dizzying to contemplate.