Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing the World

The book began out of Poonam’s writings about the lives of young people in rural India as part of her work for the Hindustan Times. According to Poonam, the idea behind this book was initially to “go to a small town and pick 4-5 young people and talk to them about what they want.” She began in her hometown of Ranchi and began expanding to other nearby towns, spending four years researching the book.[1]

The book is divided into three parts, each of which profiles three or four young adults in rural India, specifically in north and central India. Through their stories Poonam highlights the practical problems facing the young Indians of today- including that only 2.3% of the Indian workforce has had formal skills training.[2]

The book opens the book with a passage about the editors of the website WittyFeed, an Indore-based website.[2] The Economist noted that throughout all the stories Poonam “repeatedly finds the same mix of aspiration and anger.”[3]

The book received mostly positive reviews. The Financial Times described the book as “wise, timely and, alas, deeply troubling.”[4] The Economist praised Poonam’s writing, but highlighted its lack of statistically figures, writing “But what ‘Dreamers’ lacks in citations of official data it makes up for through its Hindi-speaking author’s ability to draw out her subjects’ inner thoughts. The picture she paints is impressionistic.”[3]

• Dreamers