Military collaboration could transform the relationship between India and Pakistan, former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor said at the Kovalam Literary Festival in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. "When 26/11 happened, there was a spasm of hope after the president and prime minister of India announced that the director general of ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) would fly to India to cooperate in the investigation. But the information was leaked (in the form of a press statement from the Pakistan PM's house). Had that (the visit) happened, it would have led to serious cooperation," said Tharoor, a former minister of state for external affairs.
"Military cooperation could indeed transform the relationship between India and Pakistan," Tharoor told a packed house at the Kanakakunnu Palace.
He was participating in a debate, "Indo-Pak: Is There A Way Ahead", featuring a panel comprising Pakistani author Mohammed Hanif, writer Deborah Baker-Ghosh and veteran journalist Satish Jacob. The debate was anchored by BBC journalist Amit Baruah.
Full report here Hindustan Times
Showing posts with label Shashi tharoor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shashi tharoor. Show all posts
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
OK Tata, but where's the eureka?
Great brands, it is said, belong in the canvas of life, not the quadrangle of the marketplace, and that definitely applies to the Tata brand. Therefore, when I picked up Morgan Witzel’s book Tata The Evolution of a Corporate Brand, I expected to get a lot of "eureka" moments about why and how the Tata brand had managed to remain timeless, ageless, and stellar through all the changes from the days of Lord Curzon and Jamsetji, to post-liberalisation India and Ratan Tata.
I also expected to learn a lot from the comparisons such a book would make between the journey of the Tata brand and other iconic brands of the same era as well as new challenger brands that came along. I looked forward to an insightful and intertwined account of the changes in the canvas of life in India and how the Tata brand adapted to it, interacted with it. Finally, I expected my heart and soul to be touched and awed the way it was when I saw Zafar Hai’s film on the Tatas; and I expected my thinking about corporate branding to be greatly enhanced because of the richness of the case study.
I must confess to being disappointed. To be fair, the book offers a very well-researched business history of the Tata group and a pretty good description of its DNA, illustrated with several examples. It will be of great value to foreign readers, who know the Tatas by their acquisitions but not by their heritage and values. To most of us who are familiar with Indian business, however, much of this is known and often written about. The book also competently chronicles the challenges faced by the corporate brand over the years, how they were dealt with, and describes in detail the various internal and external brand-building activities of the group and individual companies over the years. Brand theory discussions are, however, fairly basic, like stating that individual company brands do add to the corporate brand perception. What I missed most in the book was depth. The text has inviting bold statements like "Tata’s reputation for incorruptibility has made the group enemies too... politicians who ask for bribes are refused and tend not to regard the Tatas with much favour" and "those companies that use the Tata corporate brand now share a common identity even while maintaining their uniqueness". But the discussion that follows is left at surface elaboration.
Full report here Sify
I must confess to being disappointed. To be fair, the book offers a very well-researched business history of the Tata group and a pretty good description of its DNA, illustrated with several examples. It will be of great value to foreign readers, who know the Tatas by their acquisitions but not by their heritage and values. To most of us who are familiar with Indian business, however, much of this is known and often written about. The book also competently chronicles the challenges faced by the corporate brand over the years, how they were dealt with, and describes in detail the various internal and external brand-building activities of the group and individual companies over the years. Brand theory discussions are, however, fairly basic, like stating that individual company brands do add to the corporate brand perception. What I missed most in the book was depth. The text has inviting bold statements like "Tata’s reputation for incorruptibility has made the group enemies too... politicians who ask for bribes are refused and tend not to regard the Tatas with much favour" and "those companies that use the Tata corporate brand now share a common identity even while maintaining their uniqueness". But the discussion that follows is left at surface elaboration.
Full report here Sify
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Literati recalls times with grand old man of Indian writing
He is a man of all seasons, one who still enjoys an occasional peg, a plate of piping hot kebabs and stimulating social dos. At 95, writer-columnist Khushwant Singh still means many things to many people.
He has touched the lives of many with his wit, honesty, intelligence and flair for the gab and words.
For former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor, Khushwant Singh is ‘the man from the Illustrated Weekly in the late 1960s’ while for Rajya Sabha member Mani Shankar Aiyar, Khushwant Singh was the reason to smile.
‘It is not Khushwant Singh but what I discovered through him (homour) that matters the most to me,’ Aiyer told IANS at the glittering launch of Khushwant Singh’s biography, ‘Absolute Khushwant’ in the capital Monday. The book has been published by Penguin-India.
Going down the memory lane, Aiyar said: ‘He encouraged a young female writer, Suneet Vir Singh, to co-author ‘Homage to Guru Gobind Singh’. I decided that the girl, Suneet Vir Singh who co-authored the volume with Khushwant Singh, was the right girl to get married to.’
That book was published by Jaico Publishing House in 1966. And Mani Shankar Aiyar married Suneet Vir Singh Jan 4, 1973.
Full report here India talkies
For former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor, Khushwant Singh is ‘the man from the Illustrated Weekly in the late 1960s’ while for Rajya Sabha member Mani Shankar Aiyar, Khushwant Singh was the reason to smile.
‘It is not Khushwant Singh but what I discovered through him (homour) that matters the most to me,’ Aiyer told IANS at the glittering launch of Khushwant Singh’s biography, ‘Absolute Khushwant’ in the capital Monday. The book has been published by Penguin-India.
Going down the memory lane, Aiyar said: ‘He encouraged a young female writer, Suneet Vir Singh, to co-author ‘Homage to Guru Gobind Singh’. I decided that the girl, Suneet Vir Singh who co-authored the volume with Khushwant Singh, was the right girl to get married to.’
That book was published by Jaico Publishing House in 1966. And Mani Shankar Aiyar married Suneet Vir Singh Jan 4, 1973.
Full report here India talkies
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Pritish Nandy’s book of poems ‘Again’ launched
India’s leading lifestyle bookstore along with Rupa & Co hosted the official launch, reading and signing of Pritish Nandy’s book of poems‘Again’. Gulzar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shashi Tharoor, Chetan Bhagat & Anupam Kher were in conversation with the author.
Acclaimed as one India’s most exciting poets in English, with a following to die for, Pritish Nandy suddenly stopped writing poetry one day. None of his 32 books of poems, some of them runaway bestsellers, were permitted to be reissued as he walked away from his literary pursuits and began his spectacular career in journalism and public life.
This is his first book of poems since then.
Typically, Nandy plays with form, visual, typography to create a world of his own, unique and resonant with images from his past and present. The man who once redefined Indian poetry is back with his unique play of words and metaphors to take you back to the times when poetry ruled, when thousands of Pritish Nandy’s obsessed fans thronged to readings to hear him speak his lines and win over their hearts.
Full report here ISB
This is his first book of poems since then.
Typically, Nandy plays with form, visual, typography to create a world of his own, unique and resonant with images from his past and present. The man who once redefined Indian poetry is back with his unique play of words and metaphors to take you back to the times when poetry ruled, when thousands of Pritish Nandy’s obsessed fans thronged to readings to hear him speak his lines and win over their hearts.
Full report here ISB
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Tharoor releases historical tale on India
A historical tale of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan's reign, told through the eyes of two European travellers, has been released. The Crimson Throne by noted writer Sudhir Kakar was released by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor who moderated a discussion between the author flanked by the ambassadors of France, Jerome Bonnafont and Italy, Roberto Toscano.
"The interplay of the perspective of two travellers dealing with the years of the rule of Dara Shikoh and the rise of Aurangzeb makes for good reading," said Tharoor who was making his appearance in the national capital after a break.
The book set in the 17the century India is a narrative by two travellers Niccolao Manucci and Grancois Bernier who arrive in India and find their way into the innermost circles of the Emperor.
The narrative is about how the country braces itself for the brutal succession to the Peacock throne.
Full report here Hindustan Times
"The interplay of the perspective of two travellers dealing with the years of the rule of Dara Shikoh and the rise of Aurangzeb makes for good reading," said Tharoor who was making his appearance in the national capital after a break.
The book set in the 17the century India is a narrative by two travellers Niccolao Manucci and Grancois Bernier who arrive in India and find their way into the innermost circles of the Emperor.
The narrative is about how the country braces itself for the brutal succession to the Peacock throne.
Full report here Hindustan Times
Saturday, July 24, 2010
History makes for compelling books because they offer insights into our lives, says MP and writer Shashi Tharoor, who would love to write a historical fiction himself in future.
'Historical fictions are very important because they depict a different time period and throw fresh insight into our lives. They show how our lives derive from that time period. Reading historical fiction is a method of reconnecting,' Tharoor said, releasing writer and psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar's new book, 'The Crimson Throne', at the French ambassador's residence in the capital.
The book, Kakar's fifth novel, is a window to the decadence of Mughal India during 30 years of emperor Shah Jahan's reign and the war of succession to the Peacock Throne between the emperor's tolerant eldest son Dara Shukoh and his astute sibling Aurangzeb.
It is a dispassionate study of the first clash within the spiritual mosaic of Islam - a war precipitated by Dara's religious inclusiveness and Aurangzeb's bigotry told by two European travellers.
Full report here Sify
'Historical fictions are very important because they depict a different time period and throw fresh insight into our lives. They show how our lives derive from that time period. Reading historical fiction is a method of reconnecting,' Tharoor said, releasing writer and psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar's new book, 'The Crimson Throne', at the French ambassador's residence in the capital.
The book, Kakar's fifth novel, is a window to the decadence of Mughal India during 30 years of emperor Shah Jahan's reign and the war of succession to the Peacock Throne between the emperor's tolerant eldest son Dara Shukoh and his astute sibling Aurangzeb.
It is a dispassionate study of the first clash within the spiritual mosaic of Islam - a war precipitated by Dara's religious inclusiveness and Aurangzeb's bigotry told by two European travellers.
Full report here Sify
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Oh Really, Mr. Rushdie!
Life does seem to have come a full circle for Shashi Tharoor who was once decorated with the Commonwealth Prize and who’s now being pilloried for charges of corruption in a week when another Indian Rana Dasgupta has bagged the coveted top prize for the year 2010 for his book ‘Sous’.
For the ignoramuses, the Commonwealth Writer’s prize is a prestigious award that goes to the best fiction novel from the Commonwealth countries. That is nations that were once a part of the British colony and includes various parts of Asia, Africa, Australia, Canada and the Carribean islands. Instituted in 1987, its aim is to encourage new Commonwealth fiction, and to ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin.
But as most things that involve our beloved subcontinent, the Commonwealth prize is courting its own share of controversies. India’s most hi-profile writer Sir Salman Rushdie goes on record to call it a ‘phantom and imaginary prize’ with the intention of rubbishing it, only to then fiercely compete for it as recently as last year! Rushdie of course lost out to Philip Heshner in a closely contested race.
Full report here Mumbai Mirror
But as most things that involve our beloved subcontinent, the Commonwealth prize is courting its own share of controversies. India’s most hi-profile writer Sir Salman Rushdie goes on record to call it a ‘phantom and imaginary prize’ with the intention of rubbishing it, only to then fiercely compete for it as recently as last year! Rushdie of course lost out to Philip Heshner in a closely contested race.
Full report here Mumbai Mirror
It’s Vallathol in Tharoor’s second statement
Former minister of state (MoS) for external affairs Shashi Tharoor delivered a sanitised speech in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, April 20 explaining his resignation as motivated by his desire not to “embarrass” the government. He asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to institute a thorough investigation of the charges against him, even as he reiterated his claim of not having done anything “improper or unethical... (or) illegal”.
The only flourishes in the former minister’s statement came from the lines of the legendary Malayalam poet Vallathol Narayana Menon. Quoting the poet Mr Tharoor attempted to invoke regional pride. “When you hear the name of India, your heart must swell with pride. When you hear the name of Kerala, the blood must throb in your veins,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP said quoting the poet’s lines.
Full report here Economic Times
The only flourishes in the former minister’s statement came from the lines of the legendary Malayalam poet Vallathol Narayana Menon. Quoting the poet Mr Tharoor attempted to invoke regional pride. “When you hear the name of India, your heart must swell with pride. When you hear the name of Kerala, the blood must throb in your veins,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP said quoting the poet’s lines.
Full report here Economic Times
India's top tweeter proves a twit
The irony is impossible to escape. On Sunday, April 18, India's best known user of the microblogging site Twitter, Shashi Tharoor, resigned from his post as the country's junior minister for foreign affairs, felled by a scandal that began less than a week earlier with a rival's tweet. Not surprisingly, a scandal that involves politics, cricket and the whiff of illicit romance has dominated local headlines. But in the end, the Tharoor affair is less important for its drama than for its potential impact on India's political culture.
Mr. Tharoor's detractors accuse him of using his influence to arrange a sweetheart deal for a close female friend, free equity valued at $15 million in a new cricket team in the lucrative Indian Premier League. The former minister admits to informally "mentoring" the group of investors who won the team in an auction in March, but denies any wrongdoing. He says his only interest in the outcome was to bring the popular IPL to his home state of Kerala, and that his friend—variously described in the Indian media as a beautician, spa-owner and former events manager—is a victim of sexist bias against professional women.
Full report here WSJ
Full report here WSJ
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tharoor's cyber-supporters keep growing
Three days after his resignation, a portal rallying around the beleaguered Shashi Tharoor has been deluged with over 12,000 pledges of support.
The messages included one from someone claiming to be former UN chief Kofi Annan.
'Hi 1.2 billion+ people of India. If you think you live in a democratic country, then you are 100% wrong,' wrote someone introducing himself as Annan in a message posted at http://supporttharoor.org, a portal that was launched to garner support for the beleaguered minister a day before he resigned.
'You vote for the election once in 5 years. And for 5 years the country belongs to your politicians. They enjoy for 5 years. So if you think India is democratic, think again,' Annan writes.
Full report here Sify
The messages included one from someone claiming to be former UN chief Kofi Annan.
'Hi 1.2 billion+ people of India. If you think you live in a democratic country, then you are 100% wrong,' wrote someone introducing himself as Annan in a message posted at http://supporttharoor.org, a portal that was launched to garner support for the beleaguered minister a day before he resigned.
'You vote for the election once in 5 years. And for 5 years the country belongs to your politicians. They enjoy for 5 years. So if you think India is democratic, think again,' Annan writes.
Full report here Sify
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Tharoor quotes Malayalam poet in his defence
Former minister Shashi Tharoor quoted lines from well-known Malayalam poet Vallathol Narayana Menon while making his defence in parliament on Tuesday April 20 on the IPL Kochi franchise controversy.
Tharoor, who quit as minister Sunday, told the Lok Sabha that he had done nothing improper in “mentoring” the Kochi franchise. He quoted from the works of Vallathol, whose poems inspired the nationalist and independence movement in the state.
“When you hear the name of India, your heart must swell with pride. When you hear the name of Kerala, the blood must throb in your veins,” the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said while reading out the English translation.
Full report here Thaindian
Tharoor, who quit as minister Sunday, told the Lok Sabha that he had done nothing improper in “mentoring” the Kochi franchise. He quoted from the works of Vallathol, whose poems inspired the nationalist and independence movement in the state.
“When you hear the name of India, your heart must swell with pride. When you hear the name of Kerala, the blood must throb in your veins,” the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said while reading out the English translation.
Full report here Thaindian
Monday, April 19, 2010
Writers’ behind Shashi Tharoor
One of India’s best known non-fiction authors, Shashi Tharoor, who Sunday quit as junior foreign affairs minister, should focus on his literary pursuits at this juncture, says the writers’ fraternity. Interviews by IANS found the literati guarded but “solidly behind the former minister”.
The minister of state for external affairs quit the cabinet Sunday night over a controversy surrounding the Indian Premier League (IPL) Kochi franchise.
Writer Shashi Tharoor and the politician Shashi Tharoor are two unrelated personas, said chief editor of Harper Collins V.K. Karthika, when queried by IANS on the controversy that cost him his job.
Full report here Thaindian
Writer Shashi Tharoor and the politician Shashi Tharoor are two unrelated personas, said chief editor of Harper Collins V.K. Karthika, when queried by IANS on the controversy that cost him his job.
Full report here Thaindian
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Tharoor in trouble, again
As a fresh controversy exploded over Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today promised to act on the issue, if necessary, on the basis of evidence.
"I have heard about these things (allegations against Tharoor). I do not have all the facts before me. When I go back (on Saturday), I will get all the facts, and in the light of those, if any action is necessary, I think that would be the proper way to proceed," Singh said here when asked about BJP's demand for the minister's removal in the wake of the controversy around Kochi IPL team.
"I cannot go by hearsay or what is appearing in the various columns of the newspapers," he told a press
conference. Tharoor is battling allegations that a beautician romantically linked to him had received Rs 70-crore free equity in Kochi IPL team, which he helped set up.
BJP had yesterday demanded that the Prime Minister sack Tharoor and order a CBI inquiry into the minister's alleged "misuse" of authority for "securing" the investment of his friend Sunanda Pushkar in the team.
Full report here
"I have heard about these things (allegations against Tharoor). I do not have all the facts before me. When I go back (on Saturday), I will get all the facts, and in the light of those, if any action is necessary, I think that would be the proper way to proceed," Singh said here when asked about BJP's demand for the minister's removal in the wake of the controversy around Kochi IPL team.
"I cannot go by hearsay or what is appearing in the various columns of the newspapers," he told a press
conference. Tharoor is battling allegations that a beautician romantically linked to him had received Rs 70-crore free equity in Kochi IPL team, which he helped set up.
BJP had yesterday demanded that the Prime Minister sack Tharoor and order a CBI inquiry into the minister's alleged "misuse" of authority for "securing" the investment of his friend Sunanda Pushkar in the team.
Full report here
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Multiculturalism – a source of new world literature
The morphing of the world into a sprawling global village and free passage of people across terrains are changing the tenor of contemporary literature.
New groups of non-majority cultures are acquiring a voice to express their artistic visions in innovative literary formats while the contours of identities are sharpening to narrate stories about lost sub-cultures, the regional winners of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize said at a literary session on ‘Multi-Cultural Identities: Artistic Expression’ in the capital Wednesday.
The 12 regional winners of the Commonwealth Writers’s Prize and the panel of judges are in the capital for the final round of the Commonwealth Writers’ Award April 12. The prize will be given away by Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, the winner of the Commonwealth writers’ prize in 1991.
Full report here India Talkies
New groups of non-majority cultures are acquiring a voice to express their artistic visions in innovative literary formats while the contours of identities are sharpening to narrate stories about lost sub-cultures, the regional winners of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize said at a literary session on ‘Multi-Cultural Identities: Artistic Expression’ in the capital Wednesday.
The 12 regional winners of the Commonwealth Writers’s Prize and the panel of judges are in the capital for the final round of the Commonwealth Writers’ Award April 12. The prize will be given away by Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, the winner of the Commonwealth writers’ prize in 1991.
Full report here India Talkies
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tharoor swings willow for $333-m Kochi IPL team
Co-author of a book on India-Pakistan cricket Shashi Tharoor has given a business spin to his writer-turned-politician career, spindoctoring a consortium Rendezvous Sports World Ltd that bagged a cricket team for Kochi in Indian Premier League (IPL). Rendezvous, spearheaded by Mumbai-based Shylendra Gaekwad and Gulf-based Vivek Venugopal, was jubiliant in its $333.33 million (Rs 1,533.33 crore) to get Kochi, one of the two new IPL teams from the next season.
Initially Bollywood filmmaker Priyadarshan and Malayalam screen idol Mohanlal was prepared to be part of the Kerala team bidding for IPL. Later, when IPL had raised some caveats, they had backed off. “Since the final shape of the team is yet to be concrete, I am keeping fingers crossed that they may once again come to the picture. No reason, why they cannot,” minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor told FE. “However, the ball is not in my court and the right people will make the decision in right time,” he hastened to add.
Full report here Financial Express
Initially Bollywood filmmaker Priyadarshan and Malayalam screen idol Mohanlal was prepared to be part of the Kerala team bidding for IPL. Later, when IPL had raised some caveats, they had backed off. “Since the final shape of the team is yet to be concrete, I am keeping fingers crossed that they may once again come to the picture. No reason, why they cannot,” minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor told FE. “However, the ball is not in my court and the right people will make the decision in right time,” he hastened to add.
Full report here Financial Express
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Was Annadurai a separatist?
“Annadurai might have striven for more powers for Tamil Nadu, but he had always dwelt on the unity of India in his speeches abroad,” says Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.
Releasing the book ‘Anna: The Life and Times of C N Annadurai’ written by R Kannan, Tharoor said Annadurai’s efforts gave the rightful position for Tamil Nadu at national level. The minister said the impact of Annadurai’s life and message still endures. The leader of the Dravidian Movement “deserves to be known far better known outside his native Tamil Nadu.”
Anna, who was the first non-Congress leader to form a majority government in India, believed he or the party he formed - Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam – should not be intoxicated by power. He believed that religions should serve the poor, the Minister said. “This giant of our age defeated my party in election. But I can’t see anything in Anna against the Congress,” Tharoor said.
Full report here Sify
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The creative part of me is deeply unfulfilled: Tharoor
The writer in the busy Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor appears to have taken a backseat. And the minister is wistful.
'I have not written anything in a while since joining the government, barring tweeting and writing regular official notes and missives,' Tharoor said, with a twinge of regret and nostalgia, at the ongoing Penguin Spring Fever 2010 at the India Habitat Centre.
'I barely have enough time to read these days. Sadly, I have left all that behind me. That creative part of me is deeply unfulfilled - caught somewhere between my ministry and my constituency where I have to devote time. I can barely meet the demands of my ministry and the writer in me,' Tharoor told IANS.
'It is no accident that most politicians who have written books have done it while in the opposition. I get at least a dozen messages on the twitter every day from my fans who want to know why I am not writing - or when I will write my next book and what it will be about,' Tharoor said.
Full report here Sify
'I have not written anything in a while since joining the government, barring tweeting and writing regular official notes and missives,' Tharoor said, with a twinge of regret and nostalgia, at the ongoing Penguin Spring Fever 2010 at the India Habitat Centre.
'I barely have enough time to read these days. Sadly, I have left all that behind me. That creative part of me is deeply unfulfilled - caught somewhere between my ministry and my constituency where I have to devote time. I can barely meet the demands of my ministry and the writer in me,' Tharoor told IANS.
'It is no accident that most politicians who have written books have done it while in the opposition. I get at least a dozen messages on the twitter every day from my fans who want to know why I am not writing - or when I will write my next book and what it will be about,' Tharoor said.
Full report here Sify
Friday, March 12, 2010
Literary festival to celebrate 'feel of spring'
Literature is the flavour of spring in the capital.
Come Saturday, the open air amphitheatre of the India Habitat Centre will play host to a flurry of literary activity woven around the week long Spring Fever 2010 - a literary festival and a showcase of modern classics by Penguin-Books India.
The highlight of the festival will be an open air library which will remain open to browsers and buyers from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. till March 21. Books, including classic titles, will be sold at a discount to promote the culture of reading meaningful literature among GenNext.
While people can browse through the library during the day, the evenings will set a different mood with reading sessions and discussions.
A session on 'Mahabharata- Kal, Aaj Aur Kal' and how the epic plays out in our daily lives will be addressed by Gurcharan Das, Bibek Debroy, Namita Gokhale and Shashi Tharoor while 'Dilli Ka Shayarana Andaz', excerpts from Penguin-Yatra books and poetry of some of the capital's famous poets down the ages will be read by Ghazala Amin and Zakia Zaheer.
Full report here Sify
Come Saturday, the open air amphitheatre of the India Habitat Centre will play host to a flurry of literary activity woven around the week long Spring Fever 2010 - a literary festival and a showcase of modern classics by Penguin-Books India.
The highlight of the festival will be an open air library which will remain open to browsers and buyers from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. till March 21. Books, including classic titles, will be sold at a discount to promote the culture of reading meaningful literature among GenNext.
While people can browse through the library during the day, the evenings will set a different mood with reading sessions and discussions.
A session on 'Mahabharata- Kal, Aaj Aur Kal' and how the epic plays out in our daily lives will be addressed by Gurcharan Das, Bibek Debroy, Namita Gokhale and Shashi Tharoor while 'Dilli Ka Shayarana Andaz', excerpts from Penguin-Yatra books and poetry of some of the capital's famous poets down the ages will be read by Ghazala Amin and Zakia Zaheer.
Full report here Sify
Friday, February 12, 2010
"Polyphony and Contradictions Are Considered Indispensable in India"
Ever since Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 1981, there has been a whole series of very successful Indian writers. Hans Dembowski discussed the significance of bestseller writers such as Aravind Adiga, Arundhati Roy and Shashi Tharoor with Anant Kumar.
Who is the audience of Indian authors that write international bestsellers?
Well, on the Indian subcontinent, there is only a small stratum of society that has a sufficient command of English to read these books in their original version. Authors who write in one of the Indian languages reach a much larger number of people. In India, the authors of international bestsellers are often only known by name, either from the newspapers or the radio – yet the books themselves are hardly taken notice of. Commercial success is something that the authors in question primarily enjoy in English-speaking countries abroad.
Indian authors attract global attention to critical observations about their own country. Are they considered with scepticism? Only recently, I listened to an Indian literary critic who was upset about Aravind Adiga's White Tiger. I, for my part, appreciated the vivid depiction of the violence-prone relationship between rich and poor.
Indeed, many Indians feel that people abroad are only interested in India's poverty and the country's immense social disparities, and both phenomena, of course, are real. Whenever writers choose such topics, some people are swift to accuse them of slander. Often, they merely notice that dark sides of Indian reality have become the subject of literature, and they fear for the country's image.
These topics, however, actually cry out for literary attention. The tendency was obvious in the late 1990s, when Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize for The God of Small Things. Her book tells of poverty and violence between religious communities – and straight away, she was accused of denigrating India. The book itself, that I happen to rate quite high, didn't play a major role in India
Full interview here Qantara.de
Who is the audience of Indian authors that write international bestsellers?
Well, on the Indian subcontinent, there is only a small stratum of society that has a sufficient command of English to read these books in their original version. Authors who write in one of the Indian languages reach a much larger number of people. In India, the authors of international bestsellers are often only known by name, either from the newspapers or the radio – yet the books themselves are hardly taken notice of. Commercial success is something that the authors in question primarily enjoy in English-speaking countries abroad.
Indian authors attract global attention to critical observations about their own country. Are they considered with scepticism? Only recently, I listened to an Indian literary critic who was upset about Aravind Adiga's White Tiger. I, for my part, appreciated the vivid depiction of the violence-prone relationship between rich and poor.
Indeed, many Indians feel that people abroad are only interested in India's poverty and the country's immense social disparities, and both phenomena, of course, are real. Whenever writers choose such topics, some people are swift to accuse them of slander. Often, they merely notice that dark sides of Indian reality have become the subject of literature, and they fear for the country's image.
These topics, however, actually cry out for literary attention. The tendency was obvious in the late 1990s, when Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize for The God of Small Things. Her book tells of poverty and violence between religious communities – and straight away, she was accused of denigrating India. The book itself, that I happen to rate quite high, didn't play a major role in India
Full interview here Qantara.de
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tharoor starts poll campaign online
Ever since he took the plunge into the famously chaotic world of Indian politics early this month, Tharoor has quietly reinvented himself as a desi neta. Business suits are out, home-spun khadi is in, according to a Sify report.
Strenuously fighting off the ‘outsider’ tag - a favourite attack theme of his political opponents - Tharoor, sporting a white khadi mundu and shirt with the party-coloured shawl draped around his shoulders, looks confident about his new vocation and his place in it.
Fish-sellers, slum-dwellers, rickshaw-pullers, taxi-drivers: These are not characters in his new novel or the kind of people Shashi Tharoor would have rubbed shoulders with in his high-flying job as a UN bureaucrat. But the Congress candidate from this high-profile aware Kerala constituency is determined to impress this motley crowd of voters that he is their best hope in the general elections. And, going by his radiant and boyish smile, it appears he is having a great time communicating with this new cast of characters.
Strenuously fighting off the ‘outsider’ tag - a favourite attack theme of his political opponents - Tharoor, sporting a white khadi mundu and shirt with the party-coloured shawl draped around his shoulders, looks confident about his new vocation and his place in it.
Fish-sellers, slum-dwellers, rickshaw-pullers, taxi-drivers: These are not characters in his new novel or the kind of people Shashi Tharoor would have rubbed shoulders with in his high-flying job as a UN bureaucrat. But the Congress candidate from this high-profile aware Kerala constituency is determined to impress this motley crowd of voters that he is their best hope in the general elections. And, going by his radiant and boyish smile, it appears he is having a great time communicating with this new cast of characters.
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