India is the key

Lifting the veil on a new world power Reviewed by Kelly McEvers Sunday, February 4, 2007 In Spite of the Gods The Strange Rise of Modern India By Edward Luce DOUBLEDAY; 383 PAGES; $26

The book opens with a familiar character. A Westerner -- in this case, a Frenchman named André -- is so taken with Indian philosophy that he has relocated to a small town in Southern India dedicated to Sri Aurobindo, one of India's most celebrated spiritual leaders. The community's inhabitants believe that India possesses a "moral and spiritual force" strong enough to help the world transcend materialism. India, André tells the author, is "the key to the survival of the human race."

But what, Luce muses, about the millions of impoverished people within India's borders? How will the Aurobindo community -- or, for that matter, the Indian state -- help them? The World Bank says roughly one-third of India's more than 1 billion people live below the poverty line. André insists he's not worried. India, after all, is exceptional. sfgate.com