#books
The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian,
Nirad C Choudhary.
Nirad Choudhary is one Indian who had mastered the art of writing beautiful prose in English. He migrated to England and had only disdain for the Indian way of life.
Reading “The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian”, is a profound experience.
His postulations on the Hindu – Muslim question, interface of civilizations, language issue etc. hold good even today, 65 years after the book was written .
He quotes a British report from 150 years ago – “Ever since the decline of Mughal rule, the Indian Muslim has been in a perpetual state of “impotent disaffection”. The true identity of a Hindu is that he is a non-Muslim and the identity of the Muslim, that he is a
non-Hindu.”
For those who don’t have the time to read the whole book, I recommend reading at least the last chapter – “As essay on the course of Indian History”.
– Joy Kallivayalil.

