It would be a colossal mistake not to take Nirmal Verma’s questions as the starting point to rethink our nationalism today. His reflective essays were not just elaboration of his literary self but a fundamental interrogation of modernity and the colonial encounter. He asked: Can we save Indian civilisation from the inner disintegration it suffered under colonialism? And if so, how do we reclaim our self from continued cultural slavery? His answers remain unclear. But his questions are sharp, timely, and constructive. Ignoring them has allowed our nationalism to be captured by a fake variant. It’s time we returned to the questions Verma posed, in the spirit of introspection. Read: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/yogendra-yadav-on-nirmal-verma-a-critic-of-the-modern-indian-mind-10070768/