The Shaping of Modern Gujarat, Suchitra Balasubramaniam
SuchitraBalasubrahmanyan, co-author of Ahmedabad: From Royal City to Megacity and The Shaping of Modern Gujarat: Plurality, Hindutva and Beyond, narrates the making of modern Gujarat. It is a narrative that begins with Dholavira, to "oppressive encounters" with Turkic invaders and British traders, dwells on the economic and social transformation wrought by British rule and middle class intelligentsia, and ends with Naroda-Patiya. What hold the story together are the continuities that Balasubrahmanyan weaves between the present,the past, andthe contradictions of everyday existence in Gujarat. Given that the journey that is ‘India Ki Khoj’ takes place Gujarat, Subrahmanyan’s session allows one to see the differences as well as conjunctions between the making of the region and the making of a nation.
