For years now, India watched China's surge with a mix of fascination, dread and jealousy. As Beijing got things done and spread its wings around the globe, India lost altitude under the weight of domestic dysfunction and chronic inefficiencies. But is China's success now clearing the way for India to take flight, too?

This is but one of the tantalizing possibilities Ravi Velloor puts forward in his new book. A work titled "India Rising" leaves few doubts about its ultimate conclusion. And for anyone wondering what, oh what, has become of the vibrant India that Narendra Modi pledged to build, Velloor's observations are economic comfort food.

Velloor, a long-time Straits Times editor, is no New Delhi shill. He takes his nation to task for myriad missteps and squandered opportunities, particularly over the last 12 years. His unsparing insights about where India fits in to the Chinese century are also timed to perfection, hitting bookstores right at the 25-year mark of one of history's most ambitious and impactful reform gambits.