What makes an Indian?
Photo: S. Subramanium
SUDHIR KAKAR is known for his sharp analysis of the human mind. So when he has something new to say people listen with rapt attention.
Speaking at the launch of his new book The Indians: Portrait of a People, Kakar said he decided to work on "what makes or what exactly is Indian-ness." He said most of us feel that because there is a multiciplity in India there is diversity. "But we should not be taken in by this. Beneath this multiciplity lie bonds that are common to all Indians and unique only to them." According to Kakar, a Malayali and a Punjabi are "essentially the same".
Kakar and his wife, who has co-authored the book with him, studied the "Indian identity", which according to him forms the basis of an Indian family, the Indian society and the Indian cultural fabric.
The book, adds Kakar, "studies India's unity beneath its vast cultural diversity."
Dubbed as one of the major thinkers of the century, Kakar with his new book has certainly sparked the thought process of many.
SUCHITRA BEHAL
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