A Short Resource List for India Rising

India is a land of staggering complexity and diversity, so it is not easy to come up with a short list of accessible resources for those who have lots of curiosity, but only limited time to devote to the topic. If you are looking for a brief introduction to the grand sweep of Indian history, try India: An Illustrated History by Prem Kishore and Anuradha Kishore Ganpati (2003, 200 pp, paperback).

Our keynote speaker, Shashi Tharoor, has recently published a collection of essays about the tensions between tradition and modernity in today’s India: The Elephant, The Tiger, And the Cell Phone: Reflections on India, the Emerging 21st-Century Power (2008, 498pp, paperback). Another interesting collection of essays dealing with India’s cultural diversity is Gita Mehta’s Snakes and Ladders (1998, 320pp, paperback; also available in audio book format from Amazon or Audible.com).

During the program, Vikram Chandra will be reading from his massive award-winning novel, Sacred Games; he has also published a book of short stories and novellas called Love and Longing in Bombay (1998, 272pp, paperback), which might provide a more accessible introduction to his work. For fans of Indian cinema, Netflix offers 8-10 movies by Satyajit Ray, and a separate genre category devoted to the "Best of Bollywood."

If you buy any of these items through the link provided, Humanities West will receive a small dividend at no extra cost to you. If anyone has any additional suggestions to recommend, please enter them as a comment to this posting.

Shashi Tharoor coming to Humanities West

India Rising: Tradition Meets Modernity (Feb. 27-28, 2009) will feature a keynote address by Shashi Tharoor, a world-famous UN diplomat and author. For some interesting insight into Tharoor's background and upbringing, watch this eleven minute interview on YouTube.

Tharoor has written a book called The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell Phone, which directly addresses many of the themes of our program, and which is on our short list of recommended reading for those who would like to do a little homework before attending the program. (If you buy the book through our link to Amazon, Humanities West gets a small share of the price at no extra cost to you.)

In addition, there are two short clips on YouTube that show Tharoor discussing themes from the book. In this first one, he relates an incident that reveals the immense cultural and linguistic diversity of India. In the second one, he uses the example of the cell phone to show how modern technology has directly impacted traditional Indian society.

Based on these clips, I think we are in for a real treat on Friday night, Feb. 27th. Don't miss it!

Next up: India Rising

	India Rising: Tradition Meets Modernity February 27-28, 2009 Herbst Theatre, San Francisco
	India's artists, in pace with their country's rapid modernization, have adopted many contemporary techniques; but past traditions remain strong, and a fruitful creative tension has developed in the interplay of familiar themes and modern modes of expression. Rural village scenes in the novels of R.K. Narayan, or the films of Satyajit Ray, compete with the urban landscapes of Robinton Mistry and Vikram Chandra, with Indian-American cultural fusion in Mira Nair's films, and with the insidious joys of Bollywood. Abstract and surrealist artists incorporate images of legendary gods and heroes in their work, and musicians create exciting new sounds in collaboration with western jazz and classical performers. The result: unique new delights for the eye, the ear, and the spirit. In Partnership with the Consul General of India in San Francisco, Center for South Asia Studies, University of California Berkeley and the University of California Santa Cruz. For the program details, visit our web site.