Foreward from Devika Cariapa's India
Through People: 25 Game Changers
India as a country is
something of a wonder. Think about it. So many ethnic groups, religions and
cultures, and hundreds of languages. One-sixth of humanity squeezed into an
area best described as a subcontinent! In recent history, this vast nation has
been buffeted by revolutionary change – shaking off 200 years of colonial rule,
examining and shedding age-old social customs, absorbing influences from a fast
changing and more connected world, to emerge as an independent, modern nation.
Shaping all of this have been some extraordinary people.
We call them the gamechangers.
Men and women who, with their ideas and actions, left a radical imprint on
the course of the country. They broke taboos, set trends and forged new paths,
often at personal cost and against impossible odds. Any time of transformation
typically brings to the fore outstanding achievers, and to pick some over
others is naturally difficult. Twenty-five of them are in this book. They
were all born after 1850, and represent diverse fields and parts of the
country. You will recognise some of them at once, some may be unfamiliar. Names
of other great contemporaries appear along the way, giving a wider picture
of the age.
of the age.
It is useful to remember
that many of these people lived in very different times, with different kinds
of issues to deal with. They should be seen through that viewpoint, and not
from our present outlook. For their time, they were bold and visionary. They
were iconic achievers, not perfect human beings as we often expect our idols to
be. They made mistakes and changed their minds. Some are criticised today
for things they said or did, their ideas challenged – but we can thank them for
creating the space that makes it possible for us to do that!
Devika Cariapa is a Delhi based author with a lifelong
passion for archaeology, travel and unearthing stories from the past. She graduated from the Deccan College,
Pune, and was a research fellow studying prehistoric art at IGNCA, Delhi. Her
earlier book with Tulika, India Through Archaeology: Excavating History
has been awarded The Hindu Young World–Goodbooks Award 2018 and the Sahitya
Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2019.
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