BLURB:

What are the bonds that tie Indians from different race, faith, age, region and socio-economic class together? Despite these differences how can Indians work as one? In the twenty-first century, what does it mean to be an Indian?

In 2014, when Bhairavi Jani got into a car with three friends and drove 18,181km across India, she was searching for answers to these very questions. She travelled across India, to its remotest corners and searched for the threads that weave the people of the world’s largest democracy together. The answers she found from the many highways, form the beating heart of this book.

Highway to Swades is a quest to explore the strengths shared by Indians from every walk of life. For instance, the ‘Power of Heritage’ gives us the exclusive identity as an ancient people who value traditions and foster civilizational continuity. Indians possess a universal ‘Power of Enterprise’ and the book introduces entrepreneurs and their success stories from some of the most difficult and conflict afflicted states of India. From the reverence and respect for the ‘Power of Nature’ that Indians have stem the solutions and ideas for a nature positive development path for the country. Through amalgamation of travel anecdotes, data and stories of Indians from different corners of the country, the book asks vital questions and gives insight into how India’s inherent civilisational powers can be called to action for the future of the republic and upliftment of the country’s soul – it’s people.