By Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy

Title:  What The West Should     Learn From India

Author: Walter J. Lindner 

Year:     2024

Pages:  279

Price:     Rs. 799

Publisher: Juggernaut Books

The year was 1977. A tall, young, lean man with a backpack arrived in New Delhi from Germany. He loved Indian music, particularly Ravi Shankar’s sitar. He was a musician and composer himself. He had read the book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. He had a romanticised vision of India, and had expected to see “an Indian meditating under almost every Banyan tree, anticipated to hear the sound of sitars and the smell of incense sticks in every second street corner.”

Contrary to what he had envisaged, the deafening din of the streets and the crowds of humanity on the Delhi roads shocked his senses. His first desire was to return to Germany, but he followed his instinct to stay on.

The next four months, he travelled all over India by ordinary transport like buses and third-class trains. After a few weeks of travel visiting temples of Khajuraho, the beaches of Goa and the backwaters of Kerala, he started liking the country immensely. He experienced the contradictions of the country. By the end of his stay he had fallen in love with India and felt he should come again and stay for a longer time. The person was Walter J. Lindner, and he returned to India in style as the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2019 and stayed on in that post till 2022.

During the years of his travel and stay in India, Mr. Lindner has become an enthusiastic lover of this country, an Indophile. He recently released his book, What The West Should Learn From India, drawing from his travels in India, diplomatic experience, and deep engagement with India. In the book, he writes about the country’s unique strengths and challenges and feels India is both a developed and a developing nation.

He is amazed at the number of digital transactions, even at small vegetable vendors and street food stalls, all over the country, which is not seen so much in super-industrialised nations like Germany and many European nations.

He admires the spirit of dynamism, innovation, entrepreneurship and the desire to succeed among the youngsters in India. He mentions that this competitive spirit and the ambition to get out of mediocrity make Indians succeed all over the world, and Silicon Valley wouldn’t be the same without Indian talent.

During his travels in India as a young man, he had noticed that spirituality is intertwined with the daily life of Indians and says that this holistic approach is lacking in the West.

He observes that the diversity in India is unparalleled. Different cultures, religions and languages coexist. Indians grow up exposed to this diversity, which gives them a broader worldview. There is a big chapter, “How India became India;the history of a subcontinent” where he discusses the history of the nation.

He quotes Shashi Tharoor saying that the British ruled India for Britain and not for Indians. When he visited the Partition Museum at Amritsar, he was appalled at the horrors of Partition in 1947, unlike Western diplomats who generally avoid speaking openly about such calamities at the dawn of Indian independence.

His chapter, “Everything is right in India, Even the Opposition; Politics for 1.5 billion people,” makes a very interesting reading. He opines that there is no perfect democracy on earth, and no democracy is the same. Every country has a different history, different neighbours and different education systems. He writes that Indian democracy functions extremely well given its 1.4 billion people, several major religions and 28 States.

He believes that Indian democracy is working well and even the Opposition is doing its duty superbly, and declares that India doesn’t need lessons on democracy from the West, though it has its shortcomings, like in any other democracy.

Lindner discusses the economic influence of the Indian diaspora and wonders why many of the top CEOs of several global companies in the USA and Germany are Indians. They are excellently educated in top Indian Universities, which have the highest competition and toughest admission hurdles, and higher education takes place in English. He says, ‘If you come from a country with countless religions, ethnicities, languages and mentalities, you have an understanding of cultural and linguistic diversity — a huge advantage for management roles in multinational companies.’

The former Ambassador is highly appreciative of the independent stance of Indian foreign policy. The chapter, ‘Cautiously on the World Stage: India in International Politics’ discusses extensively about Indian foreign policy, and how India balances its relationships with the USA, China, Russia, and Europe without aligning itself to any specific military bloc. This sophisticated diplomacy makes it a member of G20, BRICS, QUAD and an invitee to G7, and India is the only country globally to maintain such a balanced position.

But one thing, above all, that India has taught me is humility… I am convinced India will play a significant role in the future. Will it be an Indian century ? That is debatable. Many believe so and naturally count India among the determining countries of a future multi-polar world order. For example, as a PENTARCHY of five powers that will determine the fate of the world in the future: the US, Russia, China, the EU and India.

Generally, the European press and political commentators are sceptical of India, often sarcastic and still have a colonial mindset. But Walter Lindner’s book offers a unique perspective on India’s growing global importance and the lessons the West can glean from our nation. It speaks of India’s fault lines and its strengths. But it is highly appreciative of Indian history, technological prowess, its soft power of music and culture, and a highly sophisticated foreign policy. The book brings a seasoned diplomat’s eye combined with a genuine appreciation for the complexities of Indian society.

Overall, What The West Should Learn from India is an insightful and thought-provoking book that encourages Western readers to reconsider their perceptions of India and the Global South. It’s a call for mutual respect, understanding and learning in an increasingly multi-polar world in which India is destined to play a significant role — a Vishwa Guru!