The articles, collected in the book, bear upon the most pressing problems of contemporary Indian society-cultural, religious and literary. Most discussions on the cultural aspects of the; Indian society in English language tend to gloss over the complex character of the Indian cultural scene with its linguistic and religious differences, and concern themselves with generalities. The indifference to the specifics of the cultural problems of the widely divergent linguistic and cultural groups within the country has led to a dangerous blockade to cultural communication. The articles, although written over a period of decades have an underlying thematic unity and contemporary relevance in the concern for the cultural development of the masses. The earliest article, written more than four decades ago, deals with the topic of the place of the mother tongue in society. The same problem engages attention in an article written four decades later in 1988 in the growing illiteracy of the highly educated in their mother tongue, giving rise to newer problems of cultural development-indeed a grave cultural crisis. The problem is yet to be resolved in the nineteen nineties. Some of the articles provide an insight into the life and works of some of the most eminent Indian cultural giants.

Table of Contents:
• Introduction 1. Illiteracy of the Highly Educated and the Crisis of Culture 2. India's Dilettante Literary Critics 3. State Language and Medium of Instruction 4. The Indian English 5. Azad and Indian Culture 6. Indian Book Fair is a National Humiliation 7. Hindu-Muslim Problem and Contemporary India 8. Why Communalism in India will not Disappear 9. Muslims, Religion, Thought and Politics in the Sub-Continent 10. Jinnah, Muslims and Indian Politics 11. Bangla Secularism : Lesson for India 12. Azad, Nehru, Jinnah and India's Partition 13. Sarat Chandra Chatterjee : The Great Humanist Writer 14. Sarat Chandra as a Man 15. Sarat Chandra's Letters 16. Tagore and World Debt Question 17. Tagore and Contemporary India 18. Short Stories of Bimal Mitra 19. Begum Mary Biswas-a Memorable Novel 20. Decline and Fall of Bengali Literature 21. Poetry of the Suffering Middle Class 22. The Soldier Poet of Bengal 23. Kazi Nazr-ul-Islam's Poetry 24. Songs of the Age of Despair 25. Songs of Rabindranath Tagore 26. Pankaj Kumar Mullick's Music 27. Discord in the Realm of Music 28. A Writer of Fascinating Travel Accounts 29. Protest Movement in Bengali Literature 30. Nirad C. Chaudhuri : Genius of an Intellectual 31. Buddhadeva Bose 32. Memoirs of Kanan Devi 33. Remembering the First Love 34. Remembering an Extraordinary Personality 35. A Novel on the Ideology of Bangladesh 36. Portrait of a Stunted Revolution : Bangladesh