Planet India: The Turbulent Rise of the Largest Democracy and the Future of Our World

I purchased this as a download from Audible about a year ago and decided to listen as an example of "creative non fiction" - an elective I'm in my last days of participation in a online MFA program in Creative Writing. I was was thrown off course in my MFA studies due to the hold on my attention for the past two days - listening with fascination to this audio version of Mira Kamdar's narrative of breath taking scope. I learned a lot about India that I didn't really know or perceive in my own travels to India. I highly recommend this audio version and am looking forward to reading and / or listening in on future work by Ms Kamdar.

...but then it really got good. The first 1/3 of the book is full of gee-whiz statistics on growth. It is also full of what I call "Reader's Digest" subchapters that gush excessively, in the genre of: ("Mr. X ushered me into his elegant office, high above the immaculate tech campus. Sales grew at 83% last year, mainly due to American outsourcing...") or ("the girls upon graduation could produce PowerPoint presentations;") just what the world needs more of. Then we get into the really great parts of the book. All of India's shortcomings are examined realistically, from pollution of the groundwater and air, caste differences, religious hatred, a dozen or two languages, the bomb, the lack of any real education or medical care or opportunity for most of the vast population, corruption, the suppression of women, lack of electricity and airports, global warming, ethnic uprisings, Pakistan, China, etc, and no punches are pulled. In short there is a real question as to whether success in India will be like success in Mexico: a widening gap between rich and poor that grows worse each decade. Several reviewers have inferred from the book that global success for India is inevitable. Perhaps, but not necessarily. The book is really superb. I liken it to "Guns, Germs, and Steel" which explained how physical and cultural geography determined why certain areas of the globe prospered in centuries past. Planet India gives us the physical and cultural elements to try and deduce India's future. Frankly, it's not looking good, except for a small oligarchic class. But good luck to them, and good luck to America. Just because I am not as positive on the outcome does not make this book any less fascinating. Enjoy!

I enjoyed Mira's thougths and pragmatic views and ideas of India. At the same time the realistic colours and hues of India were boldly underlined. The writing on the wall is clear. This is an opportunity India needs to make the most of and not let go of the leash. Mira has been able to clearly bring out the thoughts of many well meaning Indians.

"Planet India" ought to be required reading in every news room, corporate board room and Congressional office. While the world's attention is riveted on India and China, and with many authors shedding light on the opportunities and challenges there (most notably the recent phenomenon caused by Thomas Friedman's "The World Is Flat"), this book takes this discussion to another dimension. The author combines a scholar's rigorous analysis with a personal perspective derived from her family heritage (and which she demonstrated so well in her last book, "Motiba's Tattoos," about her grandmother's life in India). Because of that combination, we get an extraordinary, warts-and-all snapshot of the world's largest democracy as it lurches forward toward a new level of development and prosperity. But we also get a very personal glimpse into this incredible nation and its people -- through the eyes of one who was born elsewhere but holds deep affection for the people and the culture based on her family ties. It's a remarkable book about a critically important country by a writer with a unique vantage point. Highly recommended.

If you agree that it is impossible to understand America's future without engaging with what is happening in the rest of the world, I urge you to read Planet India. Interviewing a wide range of people, from Bollywood movie producers to indebted farmers committing suicide to tea merchants and U.S. software engineers working in India, Mira gives the flavor of India today, tells how it got there, and gives a sense of where it is going along with what its decisions will mean for the entire planet. Mira is not afraid to break taboos, and she addresses both the tremendous optimism and potential in India as well as the Herculean challenges that the country faces. In Planet India, you'll get the human side of the story as well as that of the geo-political and economic implications of what is going on in India. In my own work, I have written about the many Indian professionals make both entrepreneurial and philanthropic contributions to their country of birth. I also have had to tell the regrettable stories of many Indians who are contributing their tremendous skills to the United States but often have trouble negotiating our immigration bureaucracy, partly as a consequence of America's deep ambivalence about our relationship with the rest of the world. India's rise can be attributed in no small part to its leaders' understanding that engaging globally is the key to the future. You also will want to check out Mira's beautiful first book, Motiba's Tattoos, which uses family memoir to shed light on history and the present. Michele Wucker, Author of Lockout: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right (PublicAffairs Press, 2006)