"Right from the days of Chanakya, there was a One India Idea. It was called Bharath Varsh."
I think it is thanks to the foreign invaders that this idea of one India has been put into practice. To take a simple example, I now live 20 kilometres away from my hometown - Just 200 years ago, the two places were it different petty kingdoms, which fought frequent inconclusive little wars with each other. There is even a little town on the way, whose name is a reminder that that was where taxes were collected from people crossing the border. It would be very disrupting to my schedule today if I had to go through Customs every time I visited my parents.
The british did a lot to damage India, true - but some of the changes they made were for the better - and if we know what is good for us it will prevent opportunistic 'political' leaders from taking us back to the bad old days.
