I am going throught the famous book "The Argumentative Indian" by Amartya Sen,the noble prize winner.The book talks about the eternal argumentative culture of india starting from the vedic ages,which in the timeline has been refined and nurtured by intermixing of various cultures and civilizations as Islam,buddhism,jainism,zorastrianism and many more..(India is home to almost all the religions of the world..)..
The book did its bit to stir this Argumentative Indian and forced to ponder over some issues:
(1) On such an important issue when the author believes that Inquisitive habit & heterodoxy has been a part of Indian psyche since time eternal,he finds Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore the Only person worth devoting a full long Chapter.
I have very high regards for Rabindranath Tagore,but only him when we easily have such a long list of Indians who are arguably equal to Tagore if not above him in embracing cultural openness !!!.
Why most of the talks about Indians being argumentative ends with Gurudev as example?
(2) The satyajit Ray being another great personality who comes second to none other than Tagore in Amartya Sen's list of intellectual personalities??
(3) Though being very diplomatic in comparing Gandhi and Tagore,the author clearly shows his inclination towards Tagore as 'The More Argumentative Indian' and Shantiniketan perhaps the only Institution worth a mention which produces "Argumentative Indians".
(4) I don't know whether it's my mindblock making me unbale to read the open thoughts of Amartya Sen or I have been correct in my views,but a better title of this book would have been "The Argumentative Bengal" atleast the readers would have an idea then as what to expect from the book and not to be fooled by the word "Indian".
A more detailed account about India or Indians I would say has been given in the book "India Unbound" by Gurcharan Das.Those who have read the both would be able to comment more on this.
From a renowned economist,a noble laureate and a global personality I expected
something better..more national..more global..Perhaps it's better that we should seek only his economic advices and leave the rest for other experts...
