At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, a new nation was born. It has seventeen major languages and 22, 000 distinct dialects. It has over a billion individuals of every ethnic extraction known to humanity. It has a population that is 32 percent illiterate, but also one of the world's largest pools of trained scientists and engineers. Its ageless civilization is the birthplace of four major religions, a dozen different traditions of classical dance, and three hundred ways of cooking a potato. Shashi Tharoor's India is a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most interesting countries-its politics, its mentality, and its cultural riches. An eloquent argument for the importance of India to the future of America and the industrialized world, the book flows with the energy and erudition that distinguished his prize-winning novels. A New York Times Notable Book, this work of remarkable depth and startling originality combines elements of political scholarship, personal reflection, memoir, fiction, and polemic, all illuminated in vivid and compelling prose.