India: A Million Mutinies Now [Paperback]

"India" describes Naipaul's anti-clockwise journey around the metropoles of India in 1988, from Bombay to Srinagar via Bangalore, Madras, Calcutta, Delhi and Amritsar. His theme is that India, seen from the distance of his Trinadadian childhood, appeared as a single, unified entity. Close-up in 1988, however, he saw how it decomposes into a collage of religions, castes and classes. That diversity, for Naipaul, is India's strength. He sees each social group's struggle for security as the motor of India economic, political and social advances since the 1960s.

Reading between the lines, however, you can tell that Naipaul has mixed feelings about India. Apart from the revulsion at the filth and decay, he can not hide his despair of the Indian character. He sees Indians as self-destructive, always letting unnecessary foibles and squabbles obstruct progress. For Naipaul the class-warriors of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu have replaced a wise culture with a wasteland, the self-regarding idleness of Bengalis has turned Calcutta into a sewer and the Sikhs of Northwest India are persecuted because, deep down, that is their raison d'être.

It's a point of view.

The format of "India" is almost oral history or anthropology. He lets Indians, mostly middle- and upper-class, tell the stories of their lives. Gradually these tales coalesce in the reader's mind and Naipaul's collage of caste, class and ethnicity emerges. The language is clear and engaging; it is hard to imagine a more entertaining introduction to the social processes at work in modern India. Naipaul's own viewpoint emerges gradually between the lines. And he is honest about his own place in the book, not glamorising his trip with chichi exoticism like your average poncey travel-writer, but just making himself a man who travels from hotel to hotel and talks to Indians.

On top of my long-standing interest in all things Indian, I picked up this book for two reasons. First, I have read some of Naipaul's fictional works and have enjoyed them immensely. Secondly, like Naipaul, I have Indo-Trinidadian ancestry and was therefore interested to see what he made of India.

It is very clear that Naipaul has very mixed feelings about India. On the one hand, it is the land, spiritually and physically, of his ancestors. On the other hand, it is a reminder of the poverty and desolation that his ancestors "escaped" from to make a new life in Trinidad. In fact, as with many people of Indian ancestry who are brought up abroad, Naipaul grew up with the idea of a united India, a land of one people and one culture. Indeed, this idea would have been (and continues to be) a great comfort and source of identity for his community in Trinidad. However, on his first visit to India this idea was destroyed. As he explored the land of his forefathers, Naipaul discovered that in India, being "Indian" isn't enough. State, language, religion, caste, sub-caste, family, village - these were all much more important in terms of how a person fitted in with the world. Thus, despite the fact that he was brought up exposed to at least some aspects of the food, language (some of the women in his family at least probably spoke a little Hindi), culture and religion (Hinduism) of India, Naipaul would have been as much a foreigner as anyone else making their first trip to India. The good news is that this puts him at a good enough distance away to be able to make insightful observations about India. The bad news is that occasionally a glimpse of his resentment and complicated feelings about India does come in and could perhaps cloud his judgement.

This book was written after Naipaul had made a few trips to India, and it is clear that he has come to terms with some of the alien-ness that must no doubt have assailed him on his first visit. He seems mostly at ease moving around between different states and cities, and also has many contacts who he calls upon from time to time. He also occasionally recalls his previous experiences. On the other hand, although he may be more used to India, he is not really reconciled to certain aspects of India and Indian people. It is evident that he retains quite a bit of frustration for the way that Indian people think and act. However, it must be pointed out that his frustration and desire for India and its people to better themselves is clearly an indication of his deep-seated affection for the country: basically, he gets annoyed because he cares!

The book is mostly a collection of interviews and interactions with various people from different areas of India, as Naipaul travels around, sometimes going back to places he has been and people he has met on previous trips. He has a knack for interviewing some very interesting people, and he lets them tell their stories as they see them. Of course, he does also provide his own analysis, which he uses to back up his own theories, but the beauty of this book is that you don't always have to agree with Naipaul to enjoy the accounts of or learn from the people he meets. Occasionally he does come across as a bit know-it-all and oblivious, as he ignores the reason actually put forward by the person he is interviewing and instead proposes his own interpretation which is sometimes a little scathing, but I suppose he is just trying to be insightful.

The overall theme of the book is the changes that India has been and continues to go through. It is clear that Naipaul is unhappy with many of the changes. Another theme is the way the mini revolutions/ "mutinies" of different communities in India, for instance, the pro-Dravidian movement in the South and the various communist movements in the North East. The picture it paints is of a country with many different groups of people, who don't always find it easy to get along, and often feel that they must try and make their mark on the country and define their place in it. From my experiences, this is quite an accurate portrayal.

On the whole, it is a very interesting book and well thought out. I myself don't completely agree with everything that Naipaul says, but I do see where he is coming from and it is refreshing to have a book about India that doesn't just gloss over some of the less savoury aspects of this enormous, convoluted country.

Beyond the popular images of Taj Mahal, the bengal tiger and the curry, researchers and visitors to India had to settle for either the travel guides variety giving a lot of 'nuts and bolts' information ('don't drink tap water - carry enough mosquito repellent') or esoteric tomes specialising on specific philosophical, religious or cultural dimensions. Not any more. Naipaul's book 'India- a million mutinies now', is a good account of life in India from a thousand voices - honestly reported by the author without being judgemental. To me that is the beauty of this book - to remind the reader that the greatest asset of India is not the set of things it possesses but its people. So very humane. A joy to read.