India, May 20 -- On a tiny island in the Baltic Sea, with the cool winds of the peaceful sea brushing against my face, I found myself thinking of home. Of Bengal. Of India. Of history. And of the irony of time itself. This tumultuous month - marked simultaneously by political upheaval and the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore - compels reflection far deeper than electoral arithmetic. That the swearing-in ceremony of a new political order should coincide with the remembrance of the poet who warned India against the dangers of narrow nationalism is one of those ironies thathistory occasionally stages with unsettling precision. For Bengal stands at a threshold once again.

The winds of change sweeping through the state carry with them...