No better way to turn 70 than in the Darjeeling hills
Christopher Booker launches his eighth decade in India with a spot of street cricket, a return to his mother’s birthplace and a salute to a country reclaiming its historical pre-eminence
Forty years ago I met a leading industrialist who had just returned from a visit to India, very depressed. He could see no future for a people who seemed to him fatalistically resigned to antimaterialism, mass poverty and the backward, corrupt, bureaucratically hamstrung state of their economy. ‘The problem with India,’ he said despairingly, ‘is the problem of want creation.’
If he could return to India today, he would rub his eyes in disbelief. From the ubiquitous roadside hoardings proclaiming ‘Making a billion dreams come true’ to the shiny new shopping malls and business parks springing up round every city, the world has rarely seen such an explosion of ‘want creation’. So fast is India’s economy taking off that within three decades, according to Goldman Sachs, it will be larger than those of all the EU members put together, overtaking the USA by 2045 and China not long after, to make India the richest, most populous country on earth.
More articles from: Christopher Booker | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
Imagine the terror of the Chinese officials
David TangDavid Tang reflects on his visits to Beijing in the run-up to the Games, where Western expertise has been harnessed to the ruthless efficiency of China’s government machine
Nudge, nudge: meet the Cameroons’ new guru
James ForsythThe economist Richard Thaler — a favourite of the Cameron and Obama camps — talks to James Forsyth about the power of ‘nudging’: small transformative acts of persuasion
The cross-party consensus on welfare reform echoes the Gingrich–Clinton revolution
Fraser NelsonFraser Nelson on the coming political week
The Falun Gong show that meek can be provocative
Lloyd EvansLloyd Evans joins the dissident movement in a ritual exercise near the Chinese Embassy. He is unsettled to find himself understanding why China’s rulers get so paranoid about them
Big Brother versus YouTube: let the Beijing Games commence
Mark LeonardMark Leonard, Britain’s pre-eminent analyst of modern China, says the Olympic genie is out of the bottle. The prospect of global scrutiny has actually increased repression as the authorities try to stamp out dissent. But digital technology is impossible to police
Low life
Jeremy ClarkeIn the thick of it
Trouble and strife
William LeithWilliam Leith on Dietmar Rothermund's account of India
Forward to the past
James ForsythJames Forsyth on Robert Kagan's new book
Fighting Gerry on two fronts
Leo McKinstryLeo McKinstry on Patrick Bishop's first novel
Who decided that all motorists were criminals?
Bryan ForbesBryan Forbes sees in the persecution of drivers a terrible metaphor for England’s decline: ministers hide in limousines while the police waste their time on minor road offences
Latest blog posts
sponsored links
Sky - Official Site
Build your own Sky package online. Sky TV, Broadband & Talk only £16.
Sky TV, Broadband & Talk from £16 a Month
Sky TV & free broadband packages available from £16 a month. Choose from a standard free sky box, sky plus or sky hd.
Sky - Official Site
Build your own Sky package online. Sky TV, Broadband & Talk only £16.
Sky TV, Broadband & Talk from £16 a Month
Sky TV & free broadband packages available from £16 a month. Choose from a standard free sky box, sky plus...
ROME CENTRE
PORTA METRONIA, ROME Standing high on the top of one of the seven hills of Rome- the Coelian- this unique
City Breaks. ROME and PARIS
ROME and PARIS: over 350 holiday rentals apartments listed: visit www.romanreference.com and www.parisreference.com or call +39 0648 903612.
Jewellery. RUFFS (Estd. 1904).
Goldsmiths by Design Welcome to Ruffs! You have found a company of Goldsmiths that specialises in the manufacture, amongst other
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
Stephen Jenner
May 24th, 2008 12:47pmIt has always been one of my ambitions to visit India, especially Darjeeling; I have been buying my tea direct from three or four internet tea merchants in Darjeeling, though as Christopher says it fetches a high price, but is absolutely divine. I always look forward to receiving my cotton wrapped parcels with their exotic stamps and labels.
It is fantastic to note that the Indians are doing so well in the global market, and it makes me feel really quite depressed to think that our stupid government cannot see over the EU parapet what is really happening; shame on them for abandoning the Commonwealth arrangement which was possibly the most peaceable way of unravelling the British Empire.