Shashi Tharoor successfully navigated the intricate waters of international diplomacy for more than 30 years. However, he finds the waters of Indian politics to be rather murky. Tharoor’s undoing has been restlessness to a certain extent. He has tended to assume that being modern and transparent in a democracy bursting with youngsters can only be the right thing to do. However, India is more complex than that. Perhaps, Tharoor needs to re-absorb the lessons that Nehru mentions in his Discovery of India. India’s roots stretch back thousands of years into antiquity. Though Indians might appear to have adopted all the tools and benefits of modern technology — such as cell phones and airplanes, etc. — that does not mean that Indians have foregone their ancient heritages. So, Indians continue on with their archaic ways of worshipping gods and ‘sacrificing’ animals as the occasion requires. Indians continue to practice the age-old ‘custom’ of dowry in a non-so-subtle manner and casteism is a...
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