What does it mean to belong—to a land, to a nation and its people? For Member of Parliament from Kerala and writer Dr Shashi Tharoor, his belongingness came from being "Indian". It's an identity, he admits, he has fiercely held on to, resisting many others. Having been born in London, the option of acquiring a British passport was at one time both lucrative and convenient. But he spent a lifetime negotiating diplomatic hurdles, especially after joining the United Nations, where his "nationality defined and limited the very prospects of entry"—because Indians were considered 'over-represented' in the UN proper. And so, he joined the UN system in the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, an agency, where no nationality quotas applied.

Tharoor's new book, The Battle of Belonging (Aleph Book Company), is shaped by this choice. And yet, this choice, he says, has been questioned time and again, with "anti-Hindu" and "anti-national" labels assigned to him. The book is both an investigation and exploration of his Indian-ness, but through the prism of nationalism, patriotism, liberalism, democracy, and humanism.