Brutal, dated, but fascinating

"The poverty of the land is reflected in the poverty of the mind" - more or less the summary of the second in Naipaul's India trilogy, written more than a decade after the first, and in the wake of the 1970s state of emergency declared by Indira Ghandi.

Unlike the first book, there is no pretence here of this being a travel book. instead it is a deeply political, angry, frustrated attempt to psychoanalyse a country which, to Naipaul's mind, has few of the characteristics of a true country: No real concept of the state, being entirely local in governance; no idea of a historical past, preferring myth (including the myth of Gandhi); no idea of shared racial identity, preferring castle division.

Take that Narinda Modi!

Of course, this was all written almost fifty years ago. Much has changed. Naipaul's assertions about India's lack of scientific and engineering capability - which he attributes to a kind of stubbornly unimaginative, traditionalist Indian mindset that's one of the few things he seems to identify as a true national trait - feel totally wrong today. (Albeit not that far off, when one remembers relatively recent frustrations with Indian call centres when seeking tech support, which seem only to have substantially improved in the last few years. If Naipaul can wildly generalise, so can I.)

This is, thought still fascinating as a snapshot of a perspective on India's transition from colony to one of the world's most important powers. The idea of a psychology of nations is, of course, one that riskyms leadibg to stereotyping and oversimplification as a single unifying narrative cause is sought among the complexities of millions of people and centuries of history and culture. With a psychoanalyst uninterested in maintaining professional detachment or avoiding passing judgement, like Naipaul, it could rapidly turn into xenophobic or racist polemic. At times, were Naipaul not of Indian heritage himself, this could seem that way.

But his anger comes from a place of deep frustration at the way the promise of Indian independence was being squandered and betrayed by politicians actively encouraging divisiveness in pursuit of power, all while creating and distorting myths about the past to justify themselves.

So while this was written half a century ago, it's very much relevant to the state of Modi's India today. This was written in the period when the seeds were sown. Understanding how they were chosen and cultivated and why they grew so strongly is something Naipaul was trying to get to the bottom of here - and that's exactly what I was looking for from this ahead of the 2024 Indian elections.

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Ideal team

The great V. S. Naipaul and the actor Sam Dastor, always a superb narrator, make a perfect Audible combination. Excellent editing and production values too.

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