A Different Take: An NRI View of India in the Tradition of Ram, Krishn and Gandhi

This book is timely during this transition period of the new world order where India is vying for an economic, scientific, and political leadership through hard (population, military, and technology) and soft (yoga, Ayurveda, music, and movies) elements of power. Indian diaspora (NRIs) can be very important link between India and rest of the world (more true for America). Cross-cultural bridging, communication, and cooperation will be influenced by the content of this book. - Dr. Subramaniam Swamy in his FOREWORD The main point of elaboration here is that while NRI is a common name referred to people of Indian origin who have been outside India for an extended period of time, NRI is not a monolithic group, especially when one considers the Indian diaspora in different countries like Britain, Europe, Middle East, Canada, or now even in China and Korea. Each of these groups brings the same fundamental cultural connections but deal with different contrasting cultures outside. Thus, there will be slight differences in their NRI lens on India. This book in no way meets the task of making Indic values and practices the lynchpin of the world, but is surely a small step towards that goal by presenting a different take on many pertinent issues. The book is work in progress and the work is multidimensional that will need contributions from many, if not all, people of the entire world.

Bal Ram Singh, PhD, has been a professor since 1990 and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-scholar since 1997 at UMass Dartmouth (until 2014) and at the Institute of Advanced Sciences (INADS), Dartmouth, Massachusetts. He has been visiting professor at Georgetown University, Harvard Medical School, Yang Ming University (Taiwan), and Jawaharlal Nehru University (India). He is currently the President of the Institute of Advanced Sciences and also the founder of Prime Bio Inc., a biotechnology based company. Dr. Singh is Founding Director of the Botulinum Research Center, established in 2003 and currently located at INADS. He is also the Founding Director of the Center for Indic Studies at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Dr. Singh is an alumnus of Kamla Nehru Institute Science and Technology of Avadh University, Ayodhya, India, Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India and Texes Tech University in Lubbock, TX, USA. He has been conducting research on botulinum and tetanus neurotoxins, and also on yoga, mind and consciousness. He has published 13 books and over 300 articles, including articles related to India s philosophy and traditions. He is Editor/Associate Editor of four journals, including Ayurveda Journal of Health and International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, Ayurveda Health Happiness And Harmony Book Series, Motilal Banarsidass.