The geopolitical coordinate system has long known only two axes: the East and the West. Increasingly, a new one is gaining prominence: the Global South, of which India is a crucial part. According to former German ambassador, Walter J. Lindner, India is everything that the West is not –young, dynamic and innovative. The world’s most populous country is being courted like no other as a gigantic sales market, a reservoir of skilled workers and an IT hub. Lindner knows India like few others. In his incisive new book, he discusses India from a Western perspective in a way that builds bridges – even as he does not shy away from critical observations. For instance, India’s democracy might not always conform to Western ideals, being shaped and challenged by the rise of Hindu nationalism, its caste system, pervasive poverty and violence against women.