The Illusion of India
La Ilusión de India
Instituto Cervantes in New Delhi is organizing a round table, wherein the book The Illusion of India written by La Vanguardia's correspondent in Asia, Jordi Joan Baños, will be presented. The activity will delve into what a cultural shock means and the impact of a country-civilization like India on a Western journalist.
Sinopsis
When he leaves India, the gifted student may have become a more complete and wiser human being. This is a collection of digressions, substantial and minor, around a very simple premise: how I entered India and how I left, ten years later, a completely different person
Living in India is a challenge not without adventure for that premium class immigrant who is an expatriate and even more so for other short-term immigrants belonging to the economy class. For a decade, the author has traveled the sub-continent, first from his base in New Delhi, then in Bombay and Calcutta. A challenging life itinerary that mixes the pristine white of the Taj Mahal and the colourful Holi festival with the country's stifling climate, its more than 17 official languages and an almost infinite number of spiritual guides. Populous India, an emerging power that has just overtaken China in population this year in 2024, is the greatest challenge for the planet and, first of all, for its selfless inhabitants. The Illusion of India shows us its daily life from a close-up and without patronising it, discovering fascinating new elements. Far from the apologies of spiritual India, this book captures sensations and impressions lived in an intense day-to-day life in New Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and other places in the subcontinent, before widening the focus and embarking on deeper reflections on today's India and its place in the world.
About Jordi Joan Baños
Jordi Joan Baños (Sabadell, 1971) is a journalist and writer with deep ties in India and its hectic way of life. For a decade he was the correspondent for La Vanguardia in New Delhi, the first for a Spanish newspaper in India. This period has been an essential part of a journey of more than seventeen years covering the current events of the eastern world, most recently from Bangkok, as a correspondent in Asia. Before that he was a correspondent in Istanbul and Lisbon for the same newspaper. His relationship with Indian culture and history also extends to the publication and translation into Catalan of two classic books of chronicles of India. Previously, Baños dedicated himself to cultural journalism. He has also published three books of poetry.
