Quotes About India

India shaped my mind, anchored my identity, influenced my beliefs, and made me who I am. ... India matters to me and I would like to matter to India.

Auroville (City of Dawn) is an 'experimental' township in Viluppuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India near Puducherry in South India. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Richard (since her definitive settling in India called '[The] Mother') and designed by architect Roger Anger. Auroville is meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity.

Indira Gandhi had been this very powerful, dominating, ambiguous mother figure. Ambiguous because she was tyrannical, she had imposed...she had suspended Indian democracy for a few years but she also was the woman who had defeated Pakistan in war at a time when most male politicians in India had secretly feared fighting that war, so that here in India even today Indira Gandhi is called by Indian nationalists the only man ever to have governed India.

I think the reason why I haven't done a film in India so far is because I haven't found a script that's completely gotten my attention and made me passionate to get it made. I keep saying I'm not at all famous in my own country, because people do not think I have done anything for India. The reason why I'm making movies outside my country, bit by bit, is to be able to come back to India equipped with the knowledge and understanding of how to hopefully produce my own films one fine day.

Anyway, what is a country? When people say, "Tell me about India," I say, "Which India?.... The land of poetry and mad rebellion? The one that produces haunting music and exquisite textiles? The one that invented the caste system and celebrates the genocide of Muslims and Sikhs and the lynching of Dalits? The country of dollar billionaires? Or the one in which 800 million live on less than half-a-dollar a day? Which India?"

Well, I am from India and I wanted to make films in English for the international market in India. So that was really the main thing, and then of course economically it was cheaper to make films in India.

I can say that China has been cooperating with India to search for solutions. On some issues, it's a question of principles for them. On some issues, it's a question of principles for us. On some issues they differ with us and there are issues on which we differ with them. There are some basic differences. But the most important thing is that we can speak to China eye-to-eye and put forth India's interests in the most unambiguous manner.

Although many swamis and yogis had come from India to the West, Prabhupada was the only one with the purity and devotion to establish India's ancient Krishna conscious philosophy around the world on its own terms-not watered down, but as it is.

70 percent of India's imports of oil and oil products are imported from abroad. There is uncertainty about supply. There is uncertainty about prices. And that hurts India's development.

I have always regard nonalignment as a statement that India's policies, foreign policy will be guided by what I describe as enlightened national interest. That we will make judgments on an independent basis, with the sole concern being what is enlightened India's national interest. In that sense, nonalignment remains as relevant today as it was in the early 1950s.

Some kind of settlement in Kashmir is crucial for both countries [Pakistan and India]. It's also tearing India apart with horrible atrocities in the region which is controlled by Indian armed forces.

It was a chance encounter with a biotech entrepreneur from Ireland that got me started as an entrepreneur in India, because I partnered this Irish company in setting up India's first biotech company.

In the Western world, women have no other choice. In India, no. And I'll explain the reason. It's a reason that also has to do with my own case. In India women have never been a hostile competition with men - even in the most distant past, every time a woman emerged as a leader, perhaps as a queen, the people accepted her. As something normal and not exceptional.

It was difficult in India to find an eight year old who could play a widow. The reason for that is that most of the children in India are really exposed to Bollywood. It's commercial Indian cinema which is really over the top. To find an actor, or even a non-actor, who felt natural was difficult.

India is one of the youngest startup nations in the world, and so far, various technology startups have witnessed phenomenal growth. It's amazing how these startups are thriving solely based on domestic demands. It speaks volumes about India's economy and its rich talent pool.

India has two million gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.

FDI is a responsibility for Indians & an opportunity for the World. My definition of FDI for the people of India is 'First Develop India'.

I dream of a Digital India where the world looks to India for the next Big Idea.

I make no bones about the fact that India matters to me, and I would like to matter to India.

You go to India and you see the poorest village somewhere in the middle of India. And the poor family is happier than any rich billionaire in this country because of spirituality.

Telecom is a dramatic success in India and our view is, respecting the political process, and respecting the fact that these are sovereign decisions, is that, approaching India as a friend.

Each nation has a main current in life; in India it is religion. Make it strong and the waters on either side must move along with it. This is one phase of my line of thought. In time, I hope to bring them all out, but at present I find I have a mission in this country also. Moreover, I expect help in this country and from here alone. But up to date I could not do anything except spreading my ideas. Now I want that a similar attempt be made in India.

The India I want, I'll never tire of repeating, is a more just and less poor India, one entirely free of foreign influences. If I thought the country was already marching toward these objectives, I'd give up politics immediately and retire as prime minister.

You may know that in India now the Tata car is becoming all the rage; you can buy it for one lakh - $2000 dollars - it's very, very cheap. So India seems to be going the route that China went a few years ago and that developing countries all over the world seem to want to follow, namely, to rely on these personal vehicles, which is just an irrational way of organizing transport.

Our federal Constitution embodies the idea of modern India: it defines not only India but also modernity.

In India, it's the rich who have problems with obesity. And the poor are darker-skinned because they work outside and often work without their tops on so you can see their ribs.

Because of the caste system, because of the fact that there is no social link between those who make the decisions and those who suffer the decisions, the Indian government just goes ahead and does what it wants. The people also assume that this is their lot, their karma, what was written. It's quite an efficient way of doing things. Therefore, India has a very good reputation in the world as a democracy, as a government that cares, that has just got too much on its hands, whereas, in fact, it's actually creating the problems.

Although when Christianity appeared the total population of the planet was only a fraction of that of the twentieth century, most of the earth's surface was quite outside the Mediterranean world, Persia, India, and China.

India lives in several centuries at the same time.

I find it very difficult to relate to India's new middle class. This very patriotic and neoliberal group that mixes religion and economics together. I find them very irksome. Very difficult to like. They are privileged, but they don't want to talk about their privilege. It's difficult to find poetry amongst these people. Some sort of hidden spirit of beauty.

India has to be transformed into a developed nation, a prosperous nation and a healthy nation, with a value system.

Any idea of a United India could never have worked and in my judgment it would have led us to terrific disaster.

Many hard comments have been made on my efforts in India from the side of the Congress party, yet I feel content in the deep conviction that the offer I traveled 22,000 miles to discuss with Indian leaders was a real contribution to a solution of our differences.

India of the ages is not dead nor has she spoken her last creative word; she lives and has still something to do for herself and the human peoples.

I am wedded to India because I owe my all to her.

We the Jainists of India say every day in our prayer, I worship all perfected souls, I worship all spiritual masters, I worship all spiritual instructors, I worship all holy men and women in the world.

India is the world's most youthful nation. A nation with such youth power cannot dream small. We cannot commit this crime. We should dream big, we should enable the youth to dream big and we should give them an opportunity to realize their dreams

For India, Kashmir lends credibility to its secular nationalist image.

I was so overwhelmed by India when I first came - it still inspires me because I still go for the culture, I still go for the colors.

The increasing communalization of Indian politics is a juggernaut that annihilates the myth of secularism in India.

Not until we see the richness of the Hindu mind and its essential spirituality can we understand India

On India rests the burden of pointing the way to all the exploited races of the earth.

The film 'Slumdog Millionaire' portrays the spirit you feel in India. For those who haven't been there, the film says it all.

I started out in nuclear physics. But after I became more sensitized to the environmental and health implications of the nuclear system - I was being trained to be the first women in the fast-breeder reactor in India (and was in it when it first went critical) - I didn't feel comfortable with it. So I went into theoretical physics.

My son is not that emotional. He thought my trip to India is just another conference, But when he hearing about my visit on TV, he too got moved.

If I am incompetent, I am useless, the people of India will see that.

Let's not forget that in India the symbol of strength is a woman; the goddess Shakti.

Countries and world leaders have changed their perspective towards India. This is the biggest benefit.