India, June 10 -- We continuously talk about the "idea of India" and in the book, you have described India as a linguistic civilization. Please tell us how you reached this conclusion?

The geographical expanse of India has kept changing the map of India or imagined India from century to century, age to age and so, if one had to talk of India's geography, that's a near impossible task. If one had to talk of India as a single ethnic group or just a few ethnic groups, that is a near impossible task. So, how can one talk of India?

There are numerous philosophies, Buddhist, Jain, Sufi, Vedic, Upanishadic. There is philosophy which believes in God, philosophy which does not believe in the existence of God. So, how does one manage? Therefore, ...