The argumentative indian

Basing The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture And Identity in as simple a tradition as Calcutta’s ‘addas’ or a gathering of people at street corners to discuss everything from politics to cricket, Amartya Sen explains that this spirit of discussion is deeply ingrained within the people of India. And it is this healthy expression of opinions, debates and discussions which involves India’s many ethnic groups, opines Sen, that will lead to the success of democracy and the downplaying of India's caste system and inequalities. He goes on to say that this acceptance, personal modification and rejection of another’s views is what makes Indians liberal in contradiction to the general view that it is a product of Western influence. In actuality, he says, Indians have a unique quality where they assimilate ideas from Western culture into their own.Extensive is what one would say about the The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture And Identity, where Sen talks of Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray in his essays and how they are examples of liberal Indias. He openly challenges many widely held beliefs about Indians, like the belief that human rights are inherently Western concepts, and he does so with finesse and with a barrage of examples from old and modern India. He expresses many of his own views while politely arguing with the opinions put forth by influential people worldwide. The fact that he takes his readers through a variety of examples to prove his points is one of the book’s most interesting features.