[3] India Becoming, by the Harvard University trained social anthropologist Akash Kapur, is an in-depth study of simple average people from a nondescript town in South India, their mundane life and their struggle to survive the vicissitudes of the burgeoning society that modernization has thrown their way.
In this debut attempt, Kapur chose to go to such great lengths to depict the real-life stories and experiences of people that it took him five years to finish the book.
[4] Kapur, in this critically acclaimed book, also expresses his unbiased sentiments about the outcomes rapid urbanization brings in its wake, affecting people from all social strata, both the country and the bustling metropolis, be it his rural hometown in Tamil Nadu or the chaotic cities of Bombay, Bangalore or Chennai.
[5] Born to an Indian father and American mother, Kapur's early life was spent in India.
[7] As Mendes and Lau argue, Kapur's text reflects "some of the enduring key themes involved in the reinvention and restoration of imagined geographies, such as assimilation vs alienation/anomie and tradition vs modernity.