Midnight's Machines: A Political History of Technology in India

by Arun Mohan Sukumar

Every Prime Minister of independent India has guided, if not personally overseen, one prized portfolio: technology. If, in the early years, Nehru and his scientist-advisors retained an iron grip on it, subsequent governments created a bureaucracy that managed everything from the country's crown jewels-its nuclear and space programmes-to solar stoves and mechanized bullock carts.

But a lesser-known political project began on 15 August 1947: the Indian state's undertaking to influence what the citizens thought about technology and its place in society. Beneath its soaring rhetoric on the virtues or vices of technology, the state buried a grim reality: India's inability to develop it at home. The political class sent contradictory signals to the general public. On the one hand, they were asked to develop a scientific temper, on the other, to be wary of becoming enslaved to technology; to be thrilled by the spectacle of a space launch while embracing jugaad, frugal innovation, and the art of 'thinking small'. To mask its failure at building computers, the Indian state decried them in the seventies as expensive, job-guzzling machines. When it urged citizens to welcome them the next decade, the government was, unsurprisingly, met with fierce resistance. From Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, India's political leadership has tried its best to modernize the nation through technology, but on its own terms and with little success.

In this engaging and panoramic history spanning the arc of modern India from the post-War years to present day, Arun Mohan Sukumar gives us the long view with a reasoned, occasionally provocative standpoint, using a lens that's wide enough for the frame it encompasses. With compelling arguments drawn from archival public records and open-source reportage, he unearths the reasons why India embraced or rejected new technologies, giving us a new way to understand and appreciate the individual moments that brought the country into the twenty-first century.

Genres: India, History, Technology, Nonfiction, Politics, Business

272 pages, Hardcover

Published December 6, 2019

Reviews

[A SLOW READER · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Midnight's Machines' (Such a good title) by Arun Mohan Sukumar has been on my radar for a long time. The book was shortlisted for 'The Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize', one of the leading book prizes for Non-fiction in India.
I learned about the prize from 'Jyotsna's Bookscapades' YouTube channel and this book in particular (bcoz of its title, cover, and description) kinda took my breath away.
I haven't read anything like this before... So explicitly Political. I didn't know about the various historical personalities or events that this book talks about... So, I was a bit scared when the actual reading began.
The greatest thing about this book apart from the writing is its unique (to me) subject matter. It is a Historical Non-fiction book that talks about the history of pre and post-independent India through its technological achievements and failures.
It has an almost 30 pages long prologue that really helps a first-time reader like me in getting used to this kind of writing style.
Although, it has a chronological structure that divides the book into 4 parts/ 4 powerful Prime Ministers i.e.
1) Pre and post-independent India plus Jawaharlal Nehru
2) The Hippies and Indira Gandhi
3) Rajiv Gandhi and Economic Reforms
4) Present-day India, IT Boom plus Narendra Modi
It actually reads as if the author is having a discussion about them all with his readers.
It jumps back and forth in time to make a point and brings into the spotlight several legendary Indian Scientists and 'Technocrats' to show the myths and truths behind groundbreaking technological achievements and the failures of independent India... And the results they produced... Which had long-term effects that are still present today... Especially, India's complicated diplomatic relationship with the USA and Russia (Also China, the UK, Japan, etc) that is still shaping up its technological future.
The book covers a lot and I mean a lot of historical information under 250 pages but, it is very easy to read. It gives enough time to each event that it discusses so that the reader can grasp everything fully and thoroughly.
It almost feels like those quirky and fun informational YouTube videos run by charming hosts. Honestly, the book is super fun to read bcoz it runs so smoothly.
Learned a lot... Now I'm interested in learning more... But, I think I need to reread this when life gets a bit quieter. It deserves a reread. Loved it.

[Himanshu Rai · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good book on political history needs deeply researched content and clarity of thought. Midnight's Machines is a hurried attempt to tell a deeply complex journey of a nation onto the shoulders of Madan Mohan Malviya, M Viswesaraya, Vikram Sarabhai, and Nandan Nilekani. In short, it's a missed opportunity that is underwhelming and overpriced.

What 'Midnight's Machines' gets right: The book depicts a long history of strategic autonomy of the Indian state for procurement and development of technology from developed countries. The book exposes the inward-looking conservatism of the political leaders, a phalanx of experts lauding every policy decision, bureaucrats involved in the turf war, fear of job loss due to automation in labor unions, and a complete lack of exposure of the public to everyday technology.

What 'Midnight's Machines' missed: The book didn't mention the effect of technologies generated by ICAR institutions, the Universal Immunisation Programme promoted by the Indian state, and the role of the Indian state in the management of esteemed PSUs like BHEL, NTPC, etc. There are eight core sector industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizer, steel, cement, and electricity along with space exploration, telecommunications, and military manufacturing sectors that have a tremendous history of involvement in technology and intervention of the state. The book missed the mark by large in creating a story around them.

India’s technology regulatory environment is not driven by—consumer protection, market failures, information asymmetry, and externalities—but reflects what economist Cass Sunstein calls expressivist, where values rather than facts are used to make policy. Imaginative policy responses were shunned by the state but there was the creation of institutions of higher learning. The economies of scale was never achieved in technology due to the cold war restrain, socialist economy, and lack of forex reserves. India has today 103 unicorn start-ups but the state has to invest more in infrastructure, speed up and make more predictable its regulatory process, and stop letting politics drive economic decisions.

[Sourbh Bhadane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The effects of technology are often unprecedented and ill-understood by its users. How does a nation then choose which baskets to put its eggs in? Midnight's Machines narrates a gripping tale of how the Indian state through its adoptions and rejections of different technologies affected the fate of its people.

Sukumar takes us from Nehru's socialist approach of not exposing an infant nation to unbridled tech to Indira Gandhi's opportunistic involvement in the 'appropriate technology' movement to Rajiv Gandhi's reverence to everything tech, in what he calls ages of innocence, doubt and struggle respectively. The names of these ages are meant to reflect public attitude towards technology under each government. Since India also depended on other countries for tech transfer, geopolitical constraints play an important role in this political history. The super interesting anecdotes (solar cooker fiasco, the failed vaccine MoU resulting in India becoming a vaccine manufacturing powerhouse, NICNET and its demise because of personal conflicts etc.) made for interesting rabbit hole dives.

A political history of something as ubiquitous as tech was new to me. I was most impressed by how Sukumar laid out so transparently the interplay between tech and politics; tech being an instrument of politics and politics completely altering the fate of tech and its adoption.

[Ambuj Sahu · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Midnight's Machines' is definitely a unique book placed in the interface of technology and politics in an Indian context. It addresses the impending research gap in the interaction of technology, innovation and their political dimensions. A very gripping narrative of Political History of Technology in India. Apart from well-informed arguments, the books provides interesting anecdotes on how the state executive in India has treated 'technology policy' as its pet to fulfill their ideological and political goals.
It does a great job in pointing out the chinks in Nehruvian technology policy, often informed by the folklore of IITs, AIIMs and temples of modern India. From Nehru's iron-grip of technology control to Indira's 'hippie' friend, from solar cooker fiasco to the rare ISRO success, from the religious dogma associated with Human Genome Project to the Y2K adventure of India's IT sector, it captures all of it. The author does not mince his words for critiquing the socialist economic policies in the light of a patronizing attempts by the political leaders to keep technology aloof from masses.
Personally, I was a bit confused by the structure this book took. It could have been rectified if chapters could have been organized technology-wise.
Nevertheless, as someone interested in technology and IR, I was craving for such a book. Highly recommended.

[Aryan Prasad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is supposed to be a Political History of Technology in India, while it does a good job on the (modern) History part, the politics is mostly overlooked expect for the part relating to Indira Gandhi and Appropriate technology movement or when talking of philosophy of Madan Mohan Malviya and M Visvesvaraya vis a vis that of Fukuzawa Yukichi.

Also, the book is very short (my edition had only ~200 pages for the main body of the text) and unorganized especially towards the end.

[Shantanu Kishwar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d give this book a 3.5/5, rounded up to 4. The book itself was written well enough, given the massive scope of the topic that it tries to tackle. Narrating a history of Indian tech in the last 70 years is far from easy, and so I suppose deciding what to include and what to exclude must have been as difficult as the actual research for the book.
This is a story that hasn’t really been told yet - fragments of it in terms of the license raj and Y2K revolution might be known, but Sukumar fills in a number of gaps in the story, often subverting commonly held beliefs, like Nehru being the harbinger of a technological revolution in independent India. Otherwise forgotten occurrences like the Colombo Plan, early changes of the 1980s, bits on the launch of the country’s space programme, missiles plan, etc. are also sketched out.
For all this, there’s also a lot that’s left out, as there has to be in a 200 page history. The greatest achievement of this book in that capacity might be that it fills in the history of a necessary conversation on the role of the state in technological advancement, that we’re going to be increasingly dealing with in the era of 5G deployment, cyber warfare and Tik-tok bans.

[Karthik Ram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up in the 90s in a sleepy little town, Y2K was a potentially apocalyptic scenario (to do with dates, weirdly) and a forgettable pop song. In reality, it fathered the technological republic of Koramangala and evicted the government from the natural love story between citizens and technology. For this and other insights into India's tech story since independence, I recommend Arun Mohan Sukumar's "Midnight's Machines". Seriously, how did this one not exist already?!

Sukumar's description of the license raj years, and the shared history(?) with Silicon Valley are fascinating. As job losses due to automation and AI enter popular discourse, it is relevant to learn about similar fears associated with computer adoption in the 70s. The book also has an interesting hypothesis on Modi's evolving understanding of the relationship between tech and civil society.

Must confess I was a little sceptical after Chapter 1's emphasis on Make in India. Would encourage you to ignore and read on.

[Gowtham · Rating 4 out of 5]

“இந்த மொபைல் போன் வந்ததும் வந்துச்சு எல்லாரையும் கெடுத்துட்டு போய்டுச்சு, தடுப்பூசி போட்டு எல்லரையும் சாகடிக்க பாக்குறாங்க, அந்த காலத்துல நம்ம முன்னோர்கள் எல்லாம் எவ்வளவு ஆசிர்வதிக்கப்பட்ட வாழ்க்கைய வாழ்ந்தாங்க தெரியுமா, இந்த EVMல கணக்க மாத்தி தேர்தல்-ல ஜெயிச்சுட்டாங்க” போன்ற தொழில்நுட்பத்திற்க்கும் அறிவியலுக்கும் ஒவ்வாத வாதங்களை நாம் வருடம் முழுக்க பல விதங்களில் கேட்க முடியும்.





இந்தியா போன்ற காலனிய சுவடுகளைக் கொண்ட துணைக் கண்டத்தில் நவீனம் என்பது அரசு அதிகாரத்தால் மட்டுமே நிலை நிறுத்தப்பட்டு வந்தது. நவீனத்தின் மூலம் ஏற்பட்ட தொழில்நுட்ப மாற்றங்களும் அப்படியே செயல்படுத்தப்பட்டன. மேலிருந்து திணிக்கப்பட்ட மாற்றமாகவே அவை இருந்தது. காலனிய அரசு மறைந்த பிறகும் இந்த போக்கு தொடர்ந்தது.





மக்களுக்கும் தொழில்நுட்பத்துக்குமான இணைப்பை அறிவியல் மனப்பான்மையை ஏற்படுத்துவதன் மூலம் உருவாக்க முடியும் என்று இந்திய அரசியலமைப்பு சபை நம்பியது அதனால் Article 51 A (h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism, and the spirit of inquiry and reform; என்ற சாராது அடிப்படை கடமையின் ஒரு பகுதியாக இணைக்கப் பட்டது. ஆனால் அரசின் திட்டமிடல��� மக்களைத் தொழில்நுட்பத்திற்கு அந்நியமாக்கியதே தவிர நெருக்கமாகவில்லை. சோலார் குக்கர், வானொலி, அணு ஆராய்ச்சி, இஸ்ரோ, தகவல் தொழில்நுட்பம், ஆதார், மோடி அரசின் திட்டங்கள் போன்றவை இங்கு செயல்படுத்தப்பட்ட விதத்தையும் அவற்றைச் செயல்படுத்த அரசு ஆற்றிய பங்கினையும் ஒரு வரலாற்றுக் கதையாடலை அடிப்படையாகக் கொண்டு பேசுகிறது Arun Mohan Sukumar எழுதி இருக்கும் Midnight’s Machines: A Political History of Technology in India.







இந்நூலில் பல செய்திகள் சுவாரசியமானவை, இதன் அத்தியாயங்களும் தலைப்புகளும் அந்த காலகட்டத்தில் நிலவிய தொழில்நுட்பம் குறித்தான கருத்துக்களைத் தெரிவிக்கிறது. நேருவின் காலகட்டம் THE AGE OF INNOCENCE என்றும் இந்திரா காந்தியின் காலகட்டம் THE AGE OF DOUBT என்றும் 1990 களுக்கு முன்பான காலகட்டம் THE AGE OF STRUGGLE என்றும் அதன் பிறகான காலகட்டம் THE AGE OF REDISCOVERY என்றும் அழைக்கப் படுகிறது.



பல நேரங்களின் அரசின் திட்டமிடல் மக்களின் அபிலாசைகளுக்குச் சற்றும் தொடர்பில்லாமல் இருந்து வந்திருப்பதை இந்நூலை வாசிக்கையில் உணர முடிகிறது. முதல் முதலில் விறகடுப்பில் சமைப்பதைக் குறைக்க அனைத்து மக்கள் பயன்படுத்தும் விதத்தில் இந்திய அரசு அறிமுகப்படுத்திய தொழிநுட்பம்: சோலார் குக்கர். ஆனால் அதன் அன்றைய விலை 50 ரூபாய். யாராலும் வாங்கமுடியாமலும் முறையான வகையில் பராமரிக்கமுடியாமலும் மக்கள் அதன் மீதான நம்பிக்கையை இழக்கத் தொடங்கினர்.



மக்களை அறவியல் மீது நம்பிக்கையுள்ளவர்களாக மாற்றாமல் தொழில்நுட்ப பரவல் சாத்தியமில்லை என்று அரசு முடிவெடுத்து Community Development Scheme களை அரசு தொடங்கி இருந்தது, ஆனால் சோலார் குக்கர் போன்றவற்றின் தோல்வியும் சரியான கண்காணிப்பு இன்மையும் திட்டக் குழுவின் அணுகுமுறையும் இதை முற்றிலும் முடக்கிப்போட்டது. தொழினுட்பத்தை மக்கள்மயப்படுத்தும் முயற்சியின் தோல்வி மக்களுக்குத் தொழில்நுட்பங்கள் மீதிருந்த நம்பிக்கை இழக்கச் செய்தது. கணினி, அணு உலை, தடுப்பூசி மீதான நம்பிக்கையின்மையை இது ஏற்படுத்தியது. வெகுஜன மக்களுக்குத் தொழில்நுட்பம் அச்சமூட்டும் ஒன்றாகவே பார்க்கப்பட்டது.









இந்திரா காந்திய காலகட்டத்தில் Appropriate Technology இயக்கம் பெரும் தாக்கம் செலுத்தியது, மக்களுக்குத் தொழில்நுட்பங்கள் மீதான அச்சத்தை இது அதிகரித்து, சந்தேக உணர்வை ஏற்படுத்தியது. இந்தி மாநிலங்களில் குடும்ப கட்டுப்பாடு திட்டங்கள் தோல்வி அடைந்தமைக்கு இந்த இயக்கமும் முக்கிய காரணமாக அமைந்தது. எமெர்ஜென்சியை தொடர்ந்து இந்திரா காந்தி சந்தித்த தேர்தல் தோல்விக்கு இவையும் காரணமாகக் கருதப்பட்டது. Liscence Rajன் உச்சம் அரசு சர்வாதிகாரத்தோடு சேர்ந்து மோசமான விளைவுகளை ஏற்படுத்தியது.







சந்தை பொருளாதாரத்தோடு சேர்த்தே தொழில்நுட்பமும் வெகுஜன மக்களிடையே பரவ தொடங்கியது வானொலி, கை கடிகாரம், போன்ற நுகர்வு சாதனங்கள் பரவலாகப் பயன்படுத்தப்பட்டன. இது உலகமயமாக்கலோடு சேர்ந்தே நடைபெற்றது. பனிப் போரின் முடிவு இந்த போக்கிற்கு வினையூக்கியாக அமைந்தது. விவசாய துறையில் நவீன சாதனங்களை பயன்படுத்தப்பட்டன. பல மாநிலங்களில் இந்த பொருட்களை வாங்க மானியம் வழங்கப்பட்டது.







90 களின் பிற்பகுதியில் தகவல் தொழில்நுட்ப துறையின் வருகை பல்வேறு வேலைவாய்ப்புகளையும் புதிய தொழில்நுட்பங்களையும் அறிமுகப் படுத்தியது. மக்கள் பரவலாக நுக தொடங்கினர். தொலைக்காட்சி அத்தியாவசிய நுகர்வு பொருளாக மாறிப்போனது, இன்றைக்கு கைப்பேசி வந்தடைந்திருக்கும் இடம் தொழில்நுட்ப பரவலாக்கத்தைத் தான் நமக்கு உணர்த்துகிறது. ஆதார் முதல் வாங்கி சேவை வரை இன்றைக்கு அனைத்தும் கைவசமாகியுள்ளது.





தேர்தல்களைத் தொழில்நுட்பம் தீர்மானிக்கிறது, அரசியல் கதையாடல்களைக் கட்டமைக்க உதவுகிறது இன்றைக்குத் தடுப்பூசி போட்டதற்குச் சான்று கூட தொழில் நுட்பத்தின் மூலமே வழங்கப்படுகிறது. எந்த சமூக வலைத்தளம் பாஜகவின் கொள்கைகளைப் பரப்ப உதவியதோ அதுவே இன்றைக்கு அவர்களுக்கு ஆபத்தாகவும் மாறியுள்ளது. BBC Documentary, டிவிட்டர் ஊடகர்கள் முடக்கம், என அவர்களது சித்தாந்தங்களுக்கு இது அச்சமூட்டும் ஒன்றாக மாறியுள்ளது. நேரு, இந்திரா காலத்தில் தொழில்நுட்பத்தின் மீது மக்கள் கொண்டிருந்த மனநிலை இப்போது மாறி இருந்தாலும், மீண்டும் அத்தகைய மனநிலையை மக்களிடம் ஏற்படுத்த பாஜக அரசு முயல்கிறது. ஒரு வட்டத்தின் முடிவில் தொடங்கிய இடத்திற்கே வர முயல்கிறது பாஜக, என்ற எச்சரிக்கையோடு இந்நூல் நிறைவடைகிறது.







மேல் குறிப்பிட்ட அனைத்தும் இந்நூல் பற்றிய மிகக் குறைந்த அளவிலான தகவல்கள் தானே தவிர முழுமையானவை அல்ல. பல தனிமனிதர்களின் உழைப்பு இந்நூலில் மிகைப்படுத்தப் பட்டிருப்பது ஒரு வகையில் தேவையற்ற ஒன்று எனத் தூண்டியது.







பல புதிய தகவல்கள், சுவாரசியமான நடை என இந்நூல் நல்ல அறிவார்ந்த வாசிப்பனுபவத்தை வழங்கியது. வாய்ப்பிருக்கும் அன்பர்கள் அவசியம் வாசிக்கலாம்.

[Nishant · Rating 1 out of 5]

A hagiography of technology and private capital, with the technocrat-saint as the protagonist whose praises are being sung. Has some interesting anecdotes, but as a history of technology in India it doesn't serve an analytical purpose beyond 'public sector bad, private sector good, technology best'. An obsession with the individual as a force and agent of history is recurrent, whereas when the opinion of the public is cited, Sukumar refers to laughably unrepresentative samples of the Indian upper-caste, privileged public. For example, Vikram Sarabhai's 'street-smarts' and connect to the 'average citizen' is attributed to his understanding of the 'amdavadi baniya'. The author's valorisation of the citizen-entreprenuer, the technocrat, and the disruptor made me want to revisit and finish Chasing Innovation by Lilly Irani, a critical history of entrepreneurial citizenship in India.

I just read a critical review of this book, and it clarifies and adds actual nuance to India's technical pasts and the contemporary 'Bangalore ideology' rampant in India. Would suggest this instead - https://caravanmagazine.in/books/amor...

[Animesh Mohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and insightful read. Sukumar provides a window into how technology has been viewed (and therefore shaped) by various governments and officials. Sukumar takes an absolutely dispassionate approach in viewing the scientific policies of various administrations in the country. However, there does appear to be a slight bias towards a more laissez faire approach to tech adoption, particularly during the License Raj era. The writing, however does get a bit dragged on at times and appears as an attempt to be more a scholarly work than a popular book.
Must read for people with either a rosy eyed view of India's technical endeavors since independence and for those as well who do not believe such investments were warranted or fruitful.
Basically you'll agree and disagree with the book continuously!- and isn't that what we want from non-ficiton?

[Krishnan Ranganathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an interesting book but the narrative was a little long and some times boring for a common reader. Extensive research has gone in to making the book with notes for every fact that has been mentioned. The style is more of a text book and research work than that of a easy to read book for all. It is a good book for students of modern history to know how India fared in the evolution of its technology. Though we had set up good institutions our political culture never allowed science and technology to take roots and flourish. We were always dependent on import of technology and licence production. It is only now that some level of self reliance and relevant R&D are beginning to happen. The factors for this state of affairs have been well discussed in the book.

[Ashwath · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book because there is not a lot of commentary on the Political history of science in India. The work is well-researched and provides a lot of context to the state of science and technology. I love the lucidity of the language and that it can be easily understood by a person without a scientific/technical background like myself.

However, I am a little sad about the transition in the later chapters where it feels inadequate and incomplete. I wish the book was a little more longer and provided more context especially as India progresses through the 70s and 80s.

[Parvathy P · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has in great detail demonstrated how technology evolved to what we see today; in india. Even though we all know the story, how politics interfered and played a role is not known to many. The same can be explored through the book.
The author has explained the start of 'technology' and might have stretched it a tad at the beginning and maybe midway through. But the book grips and pins you down till the end since the author's expertise in the subject is evidently salient.

[Pranjal Awasthi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An almost 100 year history of how technology and politics shared an entwined journey through newly independent India and the post cold-war world order. Spanning the Nehru years, Indira Gandhi years, Rajiv Gandhi years and the Modi years, the book describes how India went from being the land of snake charmers to the land of IT. A rather entertaining and illuminating book

[Rakesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good insight about technology in a newly-independent India post 1947. The author takes us on a historical tour around Indian govt policies, philosophies of a few of our leaders and early entrepreneurs, the public perception and leads us into the present day India.

[Vivek · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few good stories but the writing style is bad. The structure is terrible and it is difficult to understand the point the author is trying to make. Every other sentence has tired cliches. No coherent themes in chapters or sections. The whole book seems like it was written in a hurry.

[Tapan Kamath · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, what a cover and title! The title might as well belong to a sci-fi dystopian novel featuring robots patrolling the streets at night. The cover uses the old-school dot matrix paper with "1947" in the tricolor as a timestamp. The tagline, "A political history of technology in India," along with Shashi Tharoor’s commendation, was all I needed to pick this up.

Coming to the book—it's a fairly short read at just 233 pages, but it's well-paced and covers multiple time periods in quick succession. From the early days of India's independence and Nehru's approach to tech, all the way to how Modi has been leveraging it, the book walks through major milestones while also digging into events that might not initially appear central to India’s tech journey.

The book dives into various events: the Colombo Plan, the birth of Amul and the White Revolution, how India's space and nuclear programs thrived despite the sluggish performance of other tech-related industries, why India chose not to participate in the Human Genome Project in the ’90s, the 'Appropriate Technology' era of the 1970s, the proliferation of radios and televisions in India, the early days of NICNET (India’s first nationwide computer network), and how Y2K brought Indian IT services companies into the global spotlight. Together, these events offer valuable context on India’s evolving technological landscape.

The author also discusses the contributions of Madan Mohan Malaviya, Homi Bhabha, and other technocrats over the years, with dedicated sections on Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, Vikram Sarabhai, and Nandan Nilekani.

The book feels like a spiritual precursor to Against All Odds: India’s IT Story by Kris Gopalakrishnan, N. Dayasindhu, and Krishnan Narayanan (which also has an appealing cover, by the way). While Midnight’s Machines caters well to its target audience—essentially everyone—it might have benefitted from going deeper into some events, though that would have made it a much longer book.

A great, short, and easy read—especially if you’re a techie and/or want to understand how India’s tech story evolved into what it is today. Pick up Against All Odds while you're at it to complement this one.

[Soumya · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the content is quite solid, the writing is mediocre at best, with a lot of repetition, and use of heavy language unnecessarily.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pandit Nehru was at his prescient best when he delivered his Tryst with Destiny speech. India is Destiny's child.

Arun Mohan Sukumar's #MidnightsMachines while lucidly chronicling India's Technological Past shows how, like many other things, it has also been governed more by the vagaries of fate than its own will. Fate comprises of forces outside its control like geopolitics and will is that of few technocrats like Visveraya, Vikram Sarabhai, Nandan Nilekani, and more.

Both of these together has molded India's technological past. But its future will be decided based on whether it will be able to reconcile two ideas - one that of Visvesvaraya in which he believes machine to be testament of man's industrious nature and one of Gandhi who saw them as insidious instruments capable of corrupting humanity. And the resolution to this may again be in the hands of fate.

[Aruna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it was quite a challenging subject to write a book on. Overall I came away feeling that the book lacks depth and serves as a primer. The author has a tendency to repeat himself on some points while others are treated rather cursorily. Also, reading this book you could be forgiven for thinking that there were just a few individuals who shaped India's scientific and technological landscape.