Once you said that if societies can actually develop, they would be more modernised than Westernised. Has there been any reason for you to change that position. Is there any reason to talk about Eastern or Western powers now?
I still maintain that view, but the critical thing is the expectation of the West. The West has a very high expectation -- that because of the successes of Indians in the West, because of India's democratic tradition -- India would naturally move towards the West and become a member of the Western club. That is why I ask if India will become a Western power or an Asian one.
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Essentially, I am also trying to send a message to the West that the era in which the West used to dominate the world order is coming to an end. In some way, India's emergence reflects the change of the era we are living in.
You know, about 100 years ago all the Asian thinkers thought the only way for Asian countries to succeed was to copy the West. Today there is no such pressure to copy the West or to be like them. That is how much the world has changed in the past 100 years.
Do you see any reversal in the traditional image and roles of the East and the West with India emerging as the IT hub of the world and China emerging as the manufacturing hub?
I think it has not happened yet but I think it will. The lesson of history is that you learn from the most successful societies. And until now the assumption in the West has been they have nothing to learn from the rest (of the world).
I think as the East becomes more and more successful, there will be an impulse to learn what they are doing right. Until now there was a one-way flow of ideas. There may be a two-way flow in the future and that is good for the world because up to now the West, as a result of two centuries of success, has become quite arrogant.
A mall in Mumbai. Photograph: Jewella C Miranda
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