2007 marks 60 years of India's independence from colonial rule. Traditionally, in India, the attainment of 60 years, called Shashti-poor, is an important milestone in the life of an individual. It is a time to reflect on one's past and start planning for the future. This volume brings together a brilliant posse of writers, including academicians, journalists and activists, who took up the challenge of such stocktaking, of assessing the achievements and failures of these six decades across a range of issues and concerns. The result is a lively collection of essays that examine the problems, solutions and debates which move contemporary India. From democracy, elections, agriculture, economy, education, human rights and reservations - areas where no single voice or solution seems to be the answer - to literature, art, cinema and urban life - where the eye cannot keep pace with the flashing images - writers range at will, differing from one another in tone and opinion, but allied in the clarity and sharpness of their perspective.