Book Review

India Unbound By Gurcharan Das At midnight on 15 August,1947 when india gained its independence, Pandit Nehru delivered his famous speech called Tryst with Destiny. Every Indian soul stirred with the resonance of his fine words "At the stroke of midnight when the world was asleep, we awoke to freedom and liberty". Everyone believed in the dream, made possible by the blood and sweat they had spilled. However 50 years after liberation I think all Indians have asked this question at least once - what went wrong??? It seemed after 100 years of oppression that our time had finally come. We were on the road to success and no force could stop us. Yet we are conquered once again by high poverty rates, illiteracy, inequality and bureaucratic red tape. An unabashed capitalist, Gurcharan das elevates this coffee table discussion through historical evidences, personal anecdotes and critical analysis of policies and strategies pursued by the government of India. He succeeds in giving the reader a greater depth of understanding of the shackles that has tied the great nation down. More than just a litany of woes this book captures the winds of change blowing through and the revival of the great Indian dream. His views however revolve strongly on his personal opinion and belief in the success of the capitalist module, but it has to be mentioned that they certainly seem to hold true in the Indian context.