Becoming Indian: The Interconnected Tale of Geology, Climate, and Indians

About the Book

- Author(s): Subhrashis Adhikari

- Publisher: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd

- Publisher Imprint: Atlantic

- Subject: Anthropology

- BISAC: science

Who are we? Our identity as "Indians" feels timeless, but it is a recent blip in an epic of planetary change. Our story doesn't begin with nations or flags, but with a planet in flux and a four-legged creature surviving the apocalypse that killed the dinosaurs. In Becoming Indian, geoscientist Subhrashis Adhikari uncovers the epic 65-million-year saga of how geology and climate conspired to create us. The author argues that we are the product of luck, geology, and climate change. Becoming Indian connects the dots between drifting continents and our upright posture, between the evolution of fruit and our colour vision, and between Ice Age survival and the foundations of modern Indian culture. We trace our ancestors out of Africa, through the crucible of the Toba super-eruption, and into the Indian subcontinent. We learn how multiple migrations turned India into a melting pot, which later froze into a diverse "thali". Here, we discover how "Indian" genes and memes evolved, how climate change shaped our cities, how we learned to thrive in a world of constant change, and how ancient survival strategies continue to echo in our modern lives.