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Democracy on the Road: A 25 Year Journey through India
Author: Ruchir Sharma

Publisher: Penguin Allen lane
ISBN: 978-0670092208
Pages: 382
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On the eve of a landmark general election, Ruchir Sharma offers an unrivalled portrait of how India and its democracy work, drawn from his two decades on the road chasing election campaigns across every major state, travelling the equivalent of a lap around the earth. Democracy on the Road takes readers on a rollicking ride with Ruchir and his merry band of fellow writers as they talk to farmers, shopkeepers and CEOs from Rajasthan to Tamil Nadu, and interview leaders from Narendra Modi to Rahul Gandhi.

No book has traced the arc of modern India by taking readers so close to the action. Offering an intimate view inside the lives and minds of India's political giants and its people, Sharma explains how the complex forces of family, caste and community, economics and development, money and corruption, Bollywood and Godmen, have conspired to elect and topple Indian leaders since Indira Gandhi. The ultimately encouraging message of Ruchir's travels is that, while democracy is retreating in many parts of the world, it is thriving in India.

Review
Packed with nuance and detail of the many Indias that make India (Vogue)

A must read in this election season! (Nandan Nilekani)

A must, must, must and very 'mast' read! Insightful and deliciously wicked (Shobhaa De)

An immediate must-read. A definitive one-volume on the modern India (Tom Keene, Bloomberg’s Editor-at-large)

A high-speed, breezy drive through two decades of electoral politics (Bloomberg Quint)

Ruchir Sharma's insights on the Indian polity are absorbing thanks to portraits that are raw and real (Hindu Business Line)
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