The shadow of December 6, 1992, Ayodhya, still continues to haunt the idea of India

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6 December 1992. Ayodhya burned, while NaRao fiddled (at a puja)(i). Flash forward 20 years. Today, in the heart of Hyderabad, once celebrated by many for the syncretic elements loosely weaving the city's great traditions together, a "temporary Hindu shrine" sits adjacent to the renowned Charminar. Religious activists are arguing that the shrine has been around forever, despite clear, photographic evidence to the contrary.(ii) As the violence begins to escalate, once again the state and its agencies are caught on the back foot, staggering about as if in stupor, while citizens who look to it for protection are left to fend for themselves. The demolition of the Babri Masjid twenty years ago still matters to us today, because it struck then like a knife at the very heart of the idea of India, and remains an open and sore wound, baring raw and festering questions. What....

A review of Ananya Vajpeyi’s new book, 'Righteous Republic'

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'Righteous Republic', the terrific new book from Ananya Vajpeyi, focuses on the idea of swaraj, a term liberally used both historically and historiographically, but one that has never been fully and effectively interrogated. Vajpeyi suggests that scholars have only focussed on a portion of this term, the raj, or the concept of sovereignty, but swa-raj properly understood is about the rule of the self, and the complex relationship between self and sovereignty. She reads the search for the self through five founders of modern India: Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar, and the Tagores, Rabindranath and his nephew Abanindranath. To each of these she assigns a category that best defines the parameters of their engagement with the idea of self, so for Gandhi ahimsa (non-violence), for Ambedkar dukha (suffering), for Rabindranath viraha (longing), for Abanindranath samvega (aesthetic shock), and for Nehru both dharma (aspiration) and artha (purpose). Vajpeyi unpacks each founder's....

An Interview with Mallika Dutt, president and CEO of Breakthrough

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Mallika Dutt is the founder of the groundbreaking human rights organization Breakthrough, where she serves as President and CEO. Breakthrough combines innovative new technologies with grassroots campaigns in communities across the world to uplift women and girls, migrating peoples, and those living with HIV-AIDS, and to more broadly fight for a better world for all. Breakthrough's emphasis on social media has placed it on the frontier of movements for the social good, recognized for its particular effectiveness at involving young people. Mallika has been widely acclaimed for her work. She recently received an honorary doctorate from Mt Holyoke College, her alma mater, and has also been named one of the "50 coolest Desis in the world" by DesiClub.com, joining the likes of AR Rahman, Indra Nooyi, Sachin Tendulkar, and Padma Lakshmi on the list. In 2010, Mallika was the leadoff speaker of the Clinton Global Initiative (see Mallika's talk....

On India, Nehru and non-alignment: a tete-a-tete with acclaimed writer Nayantara Sahgal

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Nayantara Sahgal is the Sinclair Prize, Commonwealth Writers Award and Sahitya Akademi Award-winning author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction. She is the daughter of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, leader of India's delegations to the first several sessions of the United Nations, first woman president of the UN General Assembly, and a historic ambassador to the Soviet Union, United States, and Britain. Sahgal is also the niece of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. In the midst of World War II, Nayantara Sahgal and her sister, Chandralekha Mehta (nee Pandit), travelled halfway around the world to study in the United States at Wellesley College where they were to attend on the recommendation of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, First Lady of China. The sisters would soon be joined in the US by their mother who made waves on a year-long anti-imperialist tour of the country, highlighted by her radio takedown of....

An interview with Garry Davis, the first World Citizen

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In a recent blog post, I introduced readers to Garry Davis, the first "world citizen," who has spent his life trying to convince fractious peoples of their shared humanity. He has throughout his life championed world government, with the support of people like Albert Einstein and Albert Camus. In 1956, Davis travelled to India to share his ideas and to learn new ones, and while in the country met Prime Minister Nehru. I had a chance to interview Garry Davis as a follow up to my earlier post. 1. Mr. Davis, what first led you to declare yourself a "world citizen?" What do you see as the benefits of this kind of classification? First, professionally I am an actor. I have been in four Broadway shows plus summer stock shows. Second, when WW-II exploded on the world scene in 1939-40, I was drafted into the....