India - A Journey Through a Healing Civilization

In 1997, on the fiftieth anniversary of India's independence, Shashank Mani, an alumnus of IIT Delhi, embarked on an extraordinary emotional adventure with two hundred others...The purpose - to get a personal sense of how India had changed in fifty years of independence, and what it needed to do to accomplish its true potential. Accompanying him on his twenty-two days of travel across the country in a specially chartered train, were 200 young Indians from different walks of life - for, the author firmly believes, it is young, enthusiastic and enterprising citizens like these who will help shape the country's future.Together with his co-travellers the author makes an amazing journey of discovery that takes them from the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, an enduring symbol of the price of freedom, to Bodh Gaya, where Lord Buddha gained Enlightenment; from Tilonia, and Bunker Roy's novel experiment in village development, to Ralegaon Siddhi, where Anna Hazare helps people gain economic growth, spiritual fulfilment and education.As India enters its sixtieth year of Independence - and as the original 1997 team plans one more ambitious journey across India - this story is a fitting reminder of where India once was and an indication of where we need to head....