Indian MP, former diplomat, contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek International and TIME, and author of 16 books that range across history, culture, literature and politics, Shashi Tharoor has achieved rock star status in India and abroad. He has described India as “not …an underdeveloped country, but rather, in the context of its history and cultural heritage, a highly developed one in an advanced state of decay”. In one of Tharoor’s latest book Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India he tackles the concept of Empire and its effect post 1947. He speaks, in a wide-ranging conversation, with Michael Williams.