There is a vivid incident that is not in my book: I was driving from Patiala to Amritsar (in Punjab) about three years ago. Just after I left Patiala, my car stopped at a level (railway) crossing and a goods (freight) train passed. It had 70-80 bogies and it was going slowly. I was impatiently waiting for it to pass. As I watched, each bogie was of a different railway: one said NR (Northern Railway), SCR (South Central Railway), ER (Eastern Railway) -- all mixed together; a symbol of the unity of India. It's also a symbol of the inefficiency of India: SCR is not supposed to be next to ER. This was the first sign of what a miraculous country this is.
A little later on in the journey, I came to a town called Khanna. The Khannas all originally come from that town. Now, I knew Khanna was a mandi, a green market. So I started looking at the sign and I also saw a sign on the main road that said, 'Indian Bank, Khanna Branch, Head Office, Rajaji Salai, Chennai.' Just imagine: A Punjabi farmer who is non-vegetarian and drinks, is banking his money in a bank with its headquarters in Chennai on an avenue named for an austere and vegetarian Hindu politician in the deep south.
So the answer to why is there an India at all is the ceaseless and patient work by generations of institution builders whose efforts in this unity we now take for granted. Because of them a Tamil bank can set up office in Punjab, a Punjabi farmer can come and work with Ashok Leyland in Chennai.
In 1947, no one ever thought this could be when everyone confidently predicted that India would balkanise, that once the British left India it would break up into 20, 15, 50 parts.
Image: Sania Mirza, India's leading woman tennis player who happens to be Muslim, is looked up to by youth all over the nation. Despite the religious divide that periodically haunts India, her religion has never come in the way of her status an an inspirational youth icon. Photograph: Sara Wolfram/Getty Images
Also read: Which part of India are you from?
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