New Delhi, Sept. 14 -- The history of India's independence is often told through a familiar set of stories: the end of the British Raj, the trauma of Partition, Nehru's "Tryst with Destiny" speech, and the birth of two new nations in August 1947. But the India that emerged eight decades ago was far from a finished product. In the final weeks before independence, the subcontinent remained a patchwork of British provinces and more than 500 princely states, many of whose rulers were weighing whether to join India, accede to Pakistan, or remain independent. Behind the public celebrations was a frantic struggle over what India would actually look like-and whether a unified Indian state would come into being at all. A decade ago, journalist Josy ...