Rediscovering India’s Superpowers

World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader Bhairavi Jani was recently in the City of Nawabs to discuss her first book, “Highway to Swades: Rediscovering India’s Superpowers.” The Pioneer got an opportunity to connect with the national chairperson of Young Indians, who shared with us more insights about “Highway to Swades”.

K. Ramya Sree

popular logistics and supply chain entrepreneur Bhairavi Jani had recently visited Hyderabad to discuss her first book, “Highway to Swades: Rediscovering India’s Superpowers.”

The book is based on what Bhairavi describes as the 12 innate superpowers of the Indian people, which focus on the civilisational narrative of India through a grassroots lens.The book gives voice to everyday Indians from every nook and cranny of the country.

Published by HarperCollins Publishers India, “Highway to Swades” can be found on all leading online platforms and bookstores. “Highway to Swades” is a quest to explore and rediscover the inherent civilizational powers shared by all Indians. Jani identifies twelve such superpowers and maps out how they can be called to action for the future of the republic and its citizens. In “The Power of Enterprise,” for instance, she explores the values that connect India’s street vendors and tech entrepreneurs of Bengaluru. In “Power of Nature,” she shares the unlikely bonds that bind the Changpa people of the cold desert wildlife sanctuary in Ladakh, the Khasis of Meghalaya, and an Oxford-returned young woman in Kumaon. And, in “The Power of Creativity,” she throws light on how our inherent superpower of creativity can help us build a thriving creative economy using new-age tech and AI.

In conversation with The Pioneer, Bhairavi, who is the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader, and was the national chairperson of Young Indians, the youth wing of the Confederation of Indian Industry (2010–2011), described herself as an entrepreneur and a traveller. “Bhairavi represents the fact that as people, as Indians, we have an opportunity to be among the world’s leaders as a nation,” she said, explaining why she wrote the book:

“In 2014, I drove 18,181 kilometres for 51 days across India, and we titled that travel “Highway to Swedes.” And, in fact, when you travel a country on a single trip, you realise that the differences are, of course, eclectic, but there are many, many things that we share as Indians. Whether they were from Nagaland, Telangana, or Kashmir, they shared many values. And I think I realised that these common strengths needed to be articulated, so I have called them the superpowers of India. And so the book has 12 superpowers of India.”

Asked what inspired her to title the book “Highway to Swades,” she explained, “I had learned so much from that one travel, and of course, I’ve travelled a lot over the last two decades across the country for work and for many other reasons. I think that one particular travel actually brought out the commonalities, and therefore I thought that the book should be named after that particular travel.”

She is also a trained classical dancer and is passionate about the arts. Her own experiences of growing up in Mumbai, studying and working in the United States, running logistics ventures pan-India, woring for developmental programs, and now living in a rural settlement in the Himalayas give her the unique ability to observe India’s journey as a young republic and an old civilization through multiple lenses.

“When I was on the Highway to Swades drive in 2014, I realised that younger people from smaller towns did not want to leave those smaller towns just because of a lack of opportunities,” the travel enthusiast added about establishing an organisation for people in small towns in India. “And so, after the trip, I decided at IEF that we needed to establish an organisation that helped small-scale entrepreneurs in small towns in India because when you help a small-scale entrepreneur in tier 3, tier 4 town, they are able to sustain themselves better, they are able to grow, and they are able to hire more people locally, which helps the local economy. It also helps entrepreneurs.”

Her book talks about 12 superpowers among Indians.When asked what that means, and what superpower she would choose if she had to choose one, she said, “This is the collective strength of the people of India. It is not about the government; it is about the people of India. They possess the power of knowledge, creativity, inclusion, and pride; all these powers belong to the people of India.”

Furthermore, the author also feels that the youth of Telangana have a great power of enterprise; hence, she feels both the power of knowledge and the power of enterprise among the people of Telangana must get more manifestation.

She feels that this power must be spread beyond Telangana.The people of Telangana, especially in Hyderabad, are intrinsically proud of how multiple communities and cultures not only live in harmony but also how their heritage shines through, whether through art, dance, or other forms of creativity.

Asked about her views about the same, Bhairavi said in conclusion: “For a very, very long time, Hyderabad has been a confluence of different forms of creativity, different faiths, and different ways of life. Be it Hindu, Muslim, or other, Hyderabad has the amalgamation of Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb. Hyderabad has always been a melting pot of people, ideas, and culture.”