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haaris's review against another edition
4.0
I think it's impossible to agree on a list of 50 lives that best capture the history of India. Khilnani does a reasonable job. His short sketches offer springboards; the interested reader need proceed elsewhere for a more satisfactory in-depth treatment. My biggest complaint is the inability of the author to consistently convey the emotional significance of several of these figures. Khilnani shows familiarity with many personalities on his list but intimacy is often missing.
manny_calavera's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book based on the authors podcast for BBC which features 50 "Indians" across various fields from poets to artists and leaders. It served as a good introduction to some of the leaders like Charan Singh and Birsa Munda and gave a different perspective to more established ones like Gandhi/Jinnah.
While most of the chapters give a balanced view, some of them seem quite biased towards certain views.
While most of the chapters give a balanced view, some of them seem quite biased towards certain views.
firerosearien's review
4.0
A great collection of mini biographies, men and women, high caste and low caste, names familiar and names completely unknown. It's amazing how little of Indian history is ever taught in the west...
wetsokcs's review against another edition
inspiring
slow-paced
4.0
a nice outline of some seemingly great people within Indian history! got a bit repetitive but honestly I think that's just because I've never been the hugest fan of reading history, Khilnani did a great job though! :)
meekorouse's review
3.0
Enjoyable read: Not so much bios as context to history filtered through insight Khilnani. Probably a good book to have around if you are interested in the history of India.
tbr_the_unconquered's review against another edition
4.0
’A society , almost necessarily, begins every success story with the chapter that most advantages itself,’ the American public intellectual Ta-Nehisi Coates recently argued regarding mythic constructions of liberation all over the world. ‘Chapters are almost always rendered as the singular action of exceptional individuals.’
So begins the chapter in this book that talks about the life and times of Bhimrao Ambedkar who played a pivotal part in the history of India and also in redrawing the socio-political map of India according to the lines of caste and religion. Ambedkar is one among the 50 individuals who Sunil Khilnani has picked to sketch a rough timeline of India’s history. Starting with the Buddha and ending with Dhirubhai Ambani, the selection of Individuals is widely varied and traverses across all boundaries of linguistics, caste, religion and state boundaries. There are saints, mystics, kings, queens, emperors, fanatics, poets, actors, vagabonds, politicians, firebrand social reformers and also business magnates who form a few of the foundation stones on which India now stands. While the selection is by no means complete, it certainly makes for superb reading for Khilnani treats the well-known and not-so-popular with equal importance.
Considering that the subject matter of the book deals with lives of individuals which have been subjects of individual books before, the author goes for a capsule based approach. Each life is summarized with their key contributions in the space of three or four pages and then Khilnani analyses on how this one person has influenced the India of today. An interesting point to note is that when he talks of early history of India and deals with Buddha, Mahavira, Panini, Rajaraja Chola et al the chapters are smaller in size when compared to the lives of individuals who have lived in more recent times (Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Periyar etc). One reason could be that there is a great deal of information about the later Indians than one can find about the historical figures whose lives are surrounded more by myth than actual historic information.
For me as a reader, the more fulfilling parts were on the lives of the people who are not superstars of history like – Amir Khusrau, Krishnadevaraya, Malik Ambar, Jytohirao Phule, Deen Dayal, Birsa Munda and Chidambaram Pillai who have done their own contributions to the nation’s growth and over the ages have slightly vanished over the horizon. Khilnani also gives an overview into how the writings, actions, speeches and work of these men and women have metamorphosed into sometimes unrecognizable forms over time. In some cases these changes happen with time alone but in other cases these changes are the result of a deliberate action taken by individuals or organizations to gain more mileage to the groups they represent.
There are a lot of interesting anecdotes to be picked up from the book. Foremost among these to me was that the one person who contributed most to the philology of Indian languages was an Englishman !
This book serves to be a reminder that history is not just built by individuals alone. There are circumstances, situations and scenarios that all lead to a certain action being taken or having a certain man or woman being thrust to the forefront. Hindsight and wishful thinking helped with heaps of imagination have led to some of these men and women achieving cult status over the years. Behind every such hero there are always truths that must be known to fully comprehend history.
Recommended !
So begins the chapter in this book that talks about the life and times of Bhimrao Ambedkar who played a pivotal part in the history of India and also in redrawing the socio-political map of India according to the lines of caste and religion. Ambedkar is one among the 50 individuals who Sunil Khilnani has picked to sketch a rough timeline of India’s history. Starting with the Buddha and ending with Dhirubhai Ambani, the selection of Individuals is widely varied and traverses across all boundaries of linguistics, caste, religion and state boundaries. There are saints, mystics, kings, queens, emperors, fanatics, poets, actors, vagabonds, politicians, firebrand social reformers and also business magnates who form a few of the foundation stones on which India now stands. While the selection is by no means complete, it certainly makes for superb reading for Khilnani treats the well-known and not-so-popular with equal importance.
Considering that the subject matter of the book deals with lives of individuals which have been subjects of individual books before, the author goes for a capsule based approach. Each life is summarized with their key contributions in the space of three or four pages and then Khilnani analyses on how this one person has influenced the India of today. An interesting point to note is that when he talks of early history of India and deals with Buddha, Mahavira, Panini, Rajaraja Chola et al the chapters are smaller in size when compared to the lives of individuals who have lived in more recent times (Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Periyar etc). One reason could be that there is a great deal of information about the later Indians than one can find about the historical figures whose lives are surrounded more by myth than actual historic information.
For me as a reader, the more fulfilling parts were on the lives of the people who are not superstars of history like – Amir Khusrau, Krishnadevaraya, Malik Ambar, Jytohirao Phule, Deen Dayal, Birsa Munda and Chidambaram Pillai who have done their own contributions to the nation’s growth and over the ages have slightly vanished over the horizon. Khilnani also gives an overview into how the writings, actions, speeches and work of these men and women have metamorphosed into sometimes unrecognizable forms over time. In some cases these changes happen with time alone but in other cases these changes are the result of a deliberate action taken by individuals or organizations to gain more mileage to the groups they represent.
There are a lot of interesting anecdotes to be picked up from the book. Foremost among these to me was that the one person who contributed most to the philology of Indian languages was an Englishman !
This book serves to be a reminder that history is not just built by individuals alone. There are circumstances, situations and scenarios that all lead to a certain action being taken or having a certain man or woman being thrust to the forefront. Hindsight and wishful thinking helped with heaps of imagination have led to some of these men and women achieving cult status over the years. Behind every such hero there are always truths that must be known to fully comprehend history.
Recommended !
milandeep's review against another edition
5.0
In ‘Incarnations’, Sunil Khilnani tells the stories of 50 Indians, some of whom are very well known and a few are obscure. There are people whom we have forgotten about to people who are not very well known despite their achievements. He digs into the history of India to select those who have shaped our country’s future in many spheres of life, ranging from Buddha and Ashoka to Dhirubhai Ambani and Raj Kapoor. The ideologies, achievements and struggles of these men and women are inspiring and enlightening. Most of the people profiled in this book have a deep political or religious impact on our society. The thread running through these essays is that all of these people challenged the prevalent conventions of their times. The short essays and the pictures are weaved into the history of India skilfully by the author. In these troubled times, this book shows through the lives and the journeys of 50 people, what it truly means to be an Indian.
shom's review against another edition
4.0
India is a huge country, that has a rich and diverse history.
Some of the Indians are well known, some are not.
Among this huge haystack, the author had picked few needles and have them pointed to the reader.
What you get, is nonetheless, a massive collection of epic lives, shortened to some pages for each one of them. The thing is, each of the discussed people need a book allotted to them itself, so passionate and motivational are their stories.
For some personalities, there are already 100-200 books. For some others, they are footnotes for some para's in a research/thesis published. Few others are only legends in folk tales.
All the 50 are not enough to let you know what India is. But, then again, no country can be defined by a handful of its people.
Still, it gives you enough pick to dwelve into the wonderful journey through which India had passed, over times and lives and empires.
The choice of these individuals ranges from all aspects of lives that runs through India. To some, the author may look partial, with his choices.
But given the huge responsibility and task to scoop out 50 droplets of Indians among the Indian Ocean is a Herculean one.
I am not going to divulge any of their names. Go, buy this one for the classic it is. For the biopic lovers, these one is a must one.
But the thing is you don't only get a biopic here. You get the context of those colossal personalities with a contemporary lens, some part of their lives merging into the common timeframe that makes you think and ponder, what if, this person was here and now?
Every story starts with a precise introduction directed at the particular person, that makes the chapter unique and firm, and places it within the rest. Then we get how come he/she is/became what he/she is.
What it meant to be an Indian. Did he/she even bothered with that label? That of being an Indian? Or, even any label at all?
Go figure this one out. Or, you can catch the podcast of these radio stories from BBC channel itself, by the author Sunil Khilnani.
Thanks to the film Neerja : a biopic of Neerja Bhanot, another Indian to bow down to, that was being screened in nearby halls, and that was where, I had this book found me.
Some of the Indians are well known, some are not.
Among this huge haystack, the author had picked few needles and have them pointed to the reader.
What you get, is nonetheless, a massive collection of epic lives, shortened to some pages for each one of them. The thing is, each of the discussed people need a book allotted to them itself, so passionate and motivational are their stories.
For some personalities, there are already 100-200 books. For some others, they are footnotes for some para's in a research/thesis published. Few others are only legends in folk tales.
All the 50 are not enough to let you know what India is. But, then again, no country can be defined by a handful of its people.
Still, it gives you enough pick to dwelve into the wonderful journey through which India had passed, over times and lives and empires.
The choice of these individuals ranges from all aspects of lives that runs through India. To some, the author may look partial, with his choices.
But given the huge responsibility and task to scoop out 50 droplets of Indians among the Indian Ocean is a Herculean one.
I am not going to divulge any of their names. Go, buy this one for the classic it is. For the biopic lovers, these one is a must one.
But the thing is you don't only get a biopic here. You get the context of those colossal personalities with a contemporary lens, some part of their lives merging into the common timeframe that makes you think and ponder, what if, this person was here and now?
Every story starts with a precise introduction directed at the particular person, that makes the chapter unique and firm, and places it within the rest. Then we get how come he/she is/became what he/she is.
What it meant to be an Indian. Did he/she even bothered with that label? That of being an Indian? Or, even any label at all?
Go figure this one out. Or, you can catch the podcast of these radio stories from BBC channel itself, by the author Sunil Khilnani.
Thanks to the film Neerja : a biopic of Neerja Bhanot, another Indian to bow down to, that was being screened in nearby halls, and that was where, I had this book found me.
daaan's review against another edition
2.0
All in all a disappointment. It's a good concept, but executed poorly. The book's main problem is that it attempts to be two things at once, a set of biographies of important historical figures from India and an attempt to unlock some of the current troubles of India. The latter unfortunately distracts from the former and comes across as hopelessly naïve. It almost seems that the writer thinks that the conservative elements in India need simply to be shown examples of how cosmopolitan the past was in order to recognise their foolishness and embrace cosmopolitanism in the present.
Each mini biography was a little formulaic, the descriptions often surface deep and usually crowded out by the frequent and ham fisted references to the present day.
Each mini biography was a little formulaic, the descriptions often surface deep and usually crowded out by the frequent and ham fisted references to the present day.