Sunil Khilnani is standing in front of the new arrivals at Mumbai's Crossword book store in Kemps Corner, surrounded by a clutch of young book store staffers.


"This book is about 50 Indians. You can read one every night before you go to bed," says the historian about Incarnations, an extremely readable book about the people who have shaped 2,500 years of Indian history. The stories look at these individuals -- some famously known like Buddha, Ashoka, Gandhi, Raj Kapoor; and others forgotten like Malik Ambar, William Jones, Nainsukh -- as human beings, and not as some distant figures from the past. Director of the India Institute at King's College, London, Professor Khilnani spent nearly two-and-a-half years researching the book and tries neither to debunk nor mythologise, but looks at these figures as real people.


In a conversation with Archana Masih/Rediff.com, he speaks about why history is the lifeblood of democracy, how the Idea of India is about allowing many Ideas of India and who among the 50 he would invite to dinner. Read