Click to play videoNew Delhi: Lord Meghnad Desai isn't afraid of a little controversy. In fact, he expects his nearly-500 page book - The Rediscovery of India - to stir up some amount of excitement.
"I definitely challenge some of well-known notions, like Indian writing of Indian history is confined to Indian stories and they very seldom look at world at large. Also, there is a reluctance to admit the creative role played by British. Those two things are going to be controversial," says he.
At a high-powered panel discussion in the Capital, moderated by CNN-IBN's Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, there were several charged views for certainly not everyone agreed with Lord Meghnad Desai's historical take.
Quick to point out this is not a professional historian's book, Meghnad Desai did try to show people parallel or alternate histories.
"It is a history book but not professional historian's book. It is as I see it, I deliberately emphasise the global influence on Indian politics, comparative with India's history. I do a lot of counter factual boxes like could India have been free of foreign rule," says he.
You may have your reading cut out for you, but this book does come highly recommended.
Former BJP leader, Jaswant Singh says, "I enjoyed reading it. It's really a narrative about the evolution of post-colonial India and the arrival of Vasco Da Gama. What's special in Lord Meghnad's book is the narration of re-discovering of India. A great deal of emphasis is laid on economic history. I don't think anyone has attempted that."
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