India Diary (English)

India’s 76th anniversary of independence is a moment to celebrate and reflect on its remarkable journey. From a colonized and impoverished nation, riven by diversity and partition, India has emerged as a vibrant democracy and a global player. It has achieved feats of science and technology, such as the Chandrayaan mission, that would have been unimaginable to its founding fathers. It has also preserved its pluralistic and secular ethos, despite the challenges of communalism and intolerance. But India’s story is not a fairy tale. It is a saga of struggle, sacrifice, and resilience. It is a story of triumphs and tragedies, of successes and failures, of hopes and disappointments. It is a story that is still unfolding, with new opportunities and threats. Pramod (P.D.) Deshpande has masterfully captured the essence of this story in his book ‘India Story’, which chronicles the major events and personalities that shaped post-independence India. It is a concise and visual account of India’s progress and its aspirations. It is also a reminder of the vision that inspired the freedom movement: to build not only a free and sovereign country, but also an inclusive, tolerant, and scientific nation. This book invites us to reflect on how far we have come, and how far we have to go, in fulfilling that vision.