UN official discusses India in lecture

Sophomore Samprati Kenny Lalwani attended the lecture by Shashi Tharoor, the United Nations under-secretary general for communications and public information, to get a book signed for his father but left with new-found pride in his Indian heritage.\n"I like the uniqueness of India and how different it is from every other country in the world," said Lalwani, who has made several trips there. "It's really representative of every culture."\nTharoor made it clear in his opening remarks he did not come Thursday night to the Indiana Memorial Union as representative of the UN but as an Indian author discussing his latest book, "Nehru: The Invention of India," a biography of India's first prime minister.\n"That is important because it allows me to say certain things I might not as a UN official," Tharoor said.\nTharoor went on to discuss the incredible diversity in his home country. There are more than 80 languages spoken in India and over 20,000 dialects he said. Every major religion is practiced there.\n"It has been said that any truism about India can be immediately countered by another truism about India," Tharoor said. "It strikes many as chaotic, but India is not just a country, it is an adventure where everything is possible."\nIndia is on the cusp of changes, Tharoor said, that impact not just the one billion souls residing there, but the entire world.\n"Choices I make today will determine not just India for my children, but these choices will resonate around the globe," Tharoor said.\nTwo of the major challenges facing the country today are religious tensions between Hindus and Muslims and political corruption. Tharoor said fundamentalist Hinduism is merely an excuse for violence because there are no official leaders of the religion and no one specific text. \nHe also said while corruption in high office is a problem, committees set up to investigate are not afraid to indict officials and voters are quick to take action.\n"Re-election is becoming a rare thing in India," Tharoor said.\nThough there were many people of Indian descent in the audience, Union Board Director of Lectures and Seminars Lindsy Serrano said Tharoor's message of multiple cultures accepting one identity was applicable to others as well.\n"Where I grew up in Buffalo (N.Y.), it's a lot like that," Serrano said. "I could really identify with the idea of so many different cultures going back to claim one self."\n-- Contact senior writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.