Re: India, GZG-style (LONG)

Noah V. Doyle wrote:
> The Republic of India entered the 21st century as the world's most 
> populous democracy.

> 2073 - India launches her first FTL vessel, a modified ESU craft,
after 
> years of careful technical study and debate. The
> concept of transiting into another 'universe' is viewed at first with 
> great hesitation by Hindus, but scientific reassurance
> eases religious concerns. This is seen later as the watershed
turnaround 
> in India's cultural backwardness.

    I had thought that brahmins lost caste by crossing the ocean (eg 
sailing to Britain), and I'd expect that crossing space would be worse. 
  Obviously this isn't a concern for a lot of Indians, since there are a

lot of them in other countries eg Canada, but I don't know why -- are 
they just from a lower different caste?  In any event, I don't think it 
likely that "scientific reassurance eases religious concerns"--I think 
you'd need a convincing religious authority to do that.

    It's my understanding that there are a lot of ethnic problems in 
India, more severe than there are in e.g. the US.   For instance, a 
friend of mine is from the northeast--about a year ago, raiders came 
through a village near her home and killed all the males.  There ought 
to be some mention of either the ongoing problems or the solution--IMHO,

ongoing problems would be more interesting (and a heck of a lot more 
likely).
    I'd expect Sikhs to demand their own colony, for instance (you could

combine it with Yet Another Confederate Colony -- might be some 
confusion whether the official name is New Ludhiana or New Louisiana). 
Same thing with the Tamils.  I gather the Dalits (untouchable caste) 
aren't exactly thrilled with the situation as it stands either--there 
was some discussion last year about the possibility of the whole caste 
converting to another religion.

I have doubts about the speed of India modernizing...but if the Islamic 
Fed can do it, anyone can, so I won't grouse about that.

I was curious about what you meant by their shipwrights being
"cavalier"?

All in all, a good effort, and I'd certainly be happier with India 
independent or at least autonomous instead of firmly within the ESU
bloc.