For India, 2020 will be known as year of internal discovery: PM

(New Delhi, Nov 30, 2020) The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore India’s national character for the entire world to behold and 2020 will be known as a year of internal discovery rather than of external disruption, according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Across the world, people have expressed wonder at the way in which Indians, whether poor or rich, young or old, rural or urban, have shown the ability to be responsible, disciplined, focused, law-abiding, patient and composed during a crisis of unprecedented proportions, he said.

“Some may call the year 2020 as a year of external disruptions due to the pandemic. But I firmly believe that 2020 will be known, not as a year of external disruption, but as a year of internal discovery, for our society and for our nation,” Modi wrote in an exclusive article in the Manorama Yearbook 2021.

“Adversity not only builds strength but also brings out our true innate character. This global pandemic has brought to the fore India’s national character for the entire world to behold, as a resilient and united nation,” the write-up titled “Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Transforming India” said.

Many Indian pharma companies are working to develop a vaccine against coronavirus.

As on Monday, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country crossed 94 lakh and the recoveries’ figure neared 88,50,000, according to Union health ministry data. The official toll in the morning stood at 1,37,139.

In the article, Modi also said that in the face of trying circumstances, India has not only stayed firm but also helped the world.

“India emerged as a pharmacy to the world, sending life-saving drugs and medicines far and wide, at the same time ensuring no shortage to our own people.

“After the pandemic struck, in no time, our COVID warriors rose to the occasion and led India’s fight from the front. Remarkable efforts on a war-footing made India self-sufficient in PPE production,” the prime minister wrote. 

Countless unsung heroes, from ambulance drivers to pharmacists, from security personnel to small neighbourhood vendors, kept our lives going even during difficult circumstances, while carefully maintaining social distancing, wearing masks and adapting digital payments, he said.

Modi asserted that a slew of reforms across various sectors are strengthening the country’s development trajectory as against earlier reforms that used to be “hostage to political expediencies”.

Highlighting the significance of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, he said it means an India which is more competitive, an India which is more productive and an India which celebrates local talent.

“An Aatmanirbhar Bharat will increase India’s role in global supply chains by attracting more global businesses to India to take full advantage of India’s policy stability, low taxes and skilled human resources,” he said.

Modi also wrote that the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the ability of technology to be a valuable bridge and from multi-nation summits to multi-national companies, everyone’s work had to go online.

He was of the view that in the coming year, there will be an even greater focus on self-reliance and resilience in technology.

The yearbook is power-packed in 25 sections and has write-ups on post-COVID careers, the cost of COVID-19 on the Indian economy, work from home, Indo-Pak and Sino-India relations and attitude and aptitude among other topics, says chief editor Mammen Mathew.

“Looking back at 2020 we can say that we have come through quarantines and lockdowns by maintaining social distancing, self-masking, sanitising, despite disruptions and confinements in our personal space,” he writes in the editorial.

Two YA fiction books explore world of fantasies, mysteries

(New Delhi, Nov 28, 2020) Two books written for the young adult readers explore the world of fantasies, adventure and mysteries.

Apeksha Rao has authored young adult spy fiction Along Came A Spyder and Rajesh Talwar has come out with Fabulous Four Battle Zoozoo the Wizard.

Rao’s book takes readers to the world of 17-year-old Samira Joshi, whose family of RAW agents wants her to be a doctor but her detective instincts want her to be part of a secret sisterhood of teen spies – The Spyders.

According to Rao, it was but natural for her to write spy fiction as she used to dream of being an undercover covert operative when she was a teenager.

In Talwar’s book, an evil wizard kidnaps Princess Samara’s parents – the king and queen of Nonamia. The princess journeys to the far corners of the world to meet and befriend three young people who help her to plan and carry out a rescue of her parents.

“As a child I grew up listening to many fantasy tales told me by my aunts and elder sisters. I wanted to reproduce a sense of what those stories were about but in a modern and more relatable avatar,” says Talwar.

“Any fantasy is never pure fantasy. My book too has echoes of the world we know,” he adds.

Rao feels that the Indian young adult scene is quite rich, with a wide variety of books being written for Indian teens.

“But I would love to read many more adventures and thrillers set in India. We grew up on a steady diet of Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, and similar books in an Indian setting would be wonderful,” she says.

Talwar is of the opinion that there aren’t sufficient home grown content that is modern at the same time. “So, on the one hand, we need more creative Indian writers who can work on stories that are rooted in Indian culture but are at the same time modern. Such stories will appeal not only to Indian but to global audiences. We also need courageous publishers willing to experiment and take risks and it is only then that the young adult writing scene in India can really take off,” he suggests.

Ex-marine commando recalls night of 26/11

(New Delhi, Nov 25, 2020) Former marine commando Praveen Kumar Teotia, who led his team during the counter-terrorist operations in the wake of the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, gives a minute-by-minute account of that deadly night inside the Taj hotel in his memoir.

He suffered multiple injuries during the operation but his quick response and counter-attack saved more than 150 lives.

26/11 Braveheart: My Encounter With Terrorists That Night, published by Rupa, is the story of Teotia and how he fought the terrorists.

On that fateful night, Teotia was heading towards his naval base around 8 pm.

“Who would have imagined that 10 men from Pakistan would come sailing through the Arabian Sea in a small boat and would launch the most dastardly attack on the city? And hardly would have I imagined that few hours from now, I will be facing these fidayeen, inside the Taj, eye to eye, and my life would change forever,” he says.

Giving details of what happened inside the Taj after the marine commando team of the Navy reached there, he says, “There was information given to us earlier that there were at least four terrorists inside. Later on, the High Level Enquiry Committee confirmed in its findings the presence of four terrorists in the Taj. Two terrorists had stealthily entered from the main lobby (of the Taj Towers) while the other two, who had fired at Leopold, entered by North Cote entrance (of the Heritage Taj) and joined up with their partners.

“There was no chance of a police response when terrorists had attacked Leopold Cafe at about 9:30 p.m. These two armed men had suddenly walked in and began firing indiscriminately. After creating a bloodbath there, they hastened towards the Taj.”

Ever since the team entered the Taj, there was death and mayhem around us – in the halls, the corridors, and the reception area.

“The lazy opulence of the place had been disrupted and what stood before us was a shaken Taj. Bullet-ridden bodies were lying amidst the inferno and bloodbath. Some lucky survivors had to be pulled out with corpses lying on top of them, an experience that would torment them for life,” Teotia recalls.

He was badly injured while fighting the terrorists. Four bullets ripped through his body, a lung was punctured, four ribs were shattered and splinters scattered all over his chest, doctors attending to him declared that his life had been cut short, that he could never swim or run. But he proved everyone wrong.

A Shaurya Chakra awardee, Teotia overcame his injury and went on to participate in several marathons and the Ironman championship. He is now a life coach and a physical trainer, and also gives special weapons and tactical training to state police commandos.

In the book, Teotia also writes about the quality of counter-operation gear and weapons.

When he and his team went to collect arms and gear from the armoury division, they came to know that there was no MP5 weapon (a close quarter battle weapon used in close encounters or operations) for them. They were left with no choice but to take the AK-47s that were available.

For this key operation, they were given normal combat helmets that were good enough only to protect the head from stones or other objects, he says.

“But we could not have possibly gone without the headgear and hence had no choice but to wear the poor substitute. I, however, became a bit agitated when we were told by the armoury division that there were no specialised bulletproof jackets available,” he writes.

“We were then provided with a normal buoyant bulletproof jacket. In other words, this was a jacket that had a simple plate in the front and could only take shots from a pistol. This jacket was also used to prevent someone from drowning,” he adds. Each commando was also given two grenades – a stun grenade and the other a live one.

No problem’ was Tarun Gogoi’s guiding mantra; Cong stalwart had said it helped him take hard decisions

(New Delhi, Nov 23, 2020) Congress stalwart and three-time Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi considered himself from that breed of politicians who do not dither while taking hard decisions and had said his guiding mantra in all that he did was: “no problem”.

“These two words come to mind whenever I feel overwhelmed. They give me the strength to work towards a solution rather than remain stuck with the problem. They urge me to be confident, take positive steps and finally accomplish my goal,” he wrote in his memoir Turnaround: Leading Assam from the Front, published in 2016.

Gogoi passed away in Guwahati on Monday at the age of 84 due to post-COVID complications.

In his book, the Congress veteran had said his uttering ‘no problem’ often amused his team members who know that “problems are our only problem”.

He felt that if one “approaches the negative in a positive manner”, things automatically fall into place.

“I belong to that breed of politicians who dare to decide, who do not dither and who often take firm and hard decisions.       

“I am among those who are willing to bear the brunt of the consequences. Therefore, even though I inherited a crown of thorns, I was willing to wear it and walk, with the words ‘no problem’ ringing loud and clear in my mind,” he wrote.

There are several anecdotes shared by Gogoi in the book, published by HarperCollins India.

He lost the first election he fought. He was in college then. He later realised he had been belligerent and believed that winning was his “birthright”.

“If not me, who else, I asked myself. It was my undoing. However, I learned a lesson that will remain with me all my life,” he said, adding from then he never for a moment thought that he is indispensable.

He won his first polls in 1971 when he was elected to Lok Sabha. He was a member of the lower house of Parliament six times and also became a union minister.

“In fact, the day I got the call informing me that I was to be part of the cabinet, I was at Gole Market, buying fish like an average Assamese,” he wrote.

When he was in his teens, he and his friends started a group called the Sahitya Kavi Chora in his hometown Jorhat and began felicitating noted poets and story writers. Poet-novelist Sunil Gangopadhyay came from Kolkata to attend one such ceremony.

Gogoi said he broke convention as a minister and wrote to the then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao expressing unhappiness over the way he handled the Babri mosque issue.

‘My Octopus Teacher’ bags top tve global sustainability film award

(New Delhi, Nov 22, 2020) Documentary My Octopus Teacher, which reinforces the importance of staying in touch with nature, has won the founder’s prize at the ninth tve Global Sustainability Film Awards.

The film, directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, vividly relates the bonding and the experiences that filmmaker and diver Craig Foster had in the one year he spent in swimming in the company of an octopus.

This year, Difficult Dialogues, an international forum that discusses pressing issues of worldwide importance each year, partnered with tve Global Sustainability Film Awards for a five-day summit from November 16 that included dialogues, debates and movies and focused on sustainability.

The tve GSFA Founder’s Award for Sustainability on the Big Screen is a nominated category award and was instituted by Surina Narula in 2017.

It is awarded annually to a feature film that best tackles sustainability issues in a new and innovative way. Films are judged on the quality of their storytelling, the creativity of its approach, and the credibility of its sustainability message.

My Octopus Teacher is a Netflix Original documentary which released worldwide in September.

It evocatively captures the daily experiences of free diver Foster off the coast of South Africa and his observation of an octopus in her natural habitat and her ability to battle predators and adapt to her environment.

Receiving the award, Reed said making the film was “one of the most enjoyable experiences of all our careers”.

Commenting on the winning film, Narula, MBE, founder of the tve GSFA, said, “The jury was impressed with the almost humanised story of a relationship between a man and an octopus. These emotions describe our relationship with nature and how meaningful it can be for the sustainability of the world.”

In the second nominated category, the Artificial Intelligence Award went to the film Coronavirus Pandemic: Making Safer Emergency Hospitals.

These two categories were judged by director-writer Steven Bernstein, marketing expert Denise Parkinson and Narula.

The tve global sustainability awards were also given to eight films in the competitive section. These are Documentary Impact: Once You Know and Our Planet: Our Business (jointly); Doing Business Differently: Helping People Put the Planet First; Transforming Society: BREEF and Rolex Preserve & Protect Nature; Campaigning: 10 Myths about Deforestation and Food; Health and the Environment: A Failure of the Imagination; Innovations: Turning the Tide; Solutions News Story: The Man who grew his own Amazon Rainforest; and Young Filmmaker: Traces (Sebastien Pins).

The jury for these eight categories, headed by Nick Nuttall, chose these films from over a 100 submissions from 17 countries.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, it was a virtual affair this time.

“This year going virtual over five days gave us more time to provide a better experience for filmmakers and the visibility to showcase our youth ambassadors and their work,” said Narula.

The sixth edition of Difficult Dialogues discussed virtually a wide range of topics under the overarching theme of global sustainability by bringing together stakeholders from various backgrounds including sustainability experts, business leaders, change agents, campaigners, filmmakers and students from across the world.

Panel discussions were held on the topic – Changing the mindset; Role of innovation for a sustainable future; the world in 2050; and the Hidden stories, impact journalism: Business and politics of global sustainability.

Difficult Dialogues has focused on themes like global finance and civil society, health, gender, education and law since its inception in 2016.

The event concluded with the announcement of the winners of Daring Debates which featured college finalists from India, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, the US, Sri Lanka and some African countries who debated the topic: “Is global sustainability profitable for business?” Gloria Oziohu Alonge from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, was declared winner for the motion while Aditya Dhar from Harvard University, US won against the motion.

Gaming bizman Alok Kejriwal shares life experiences in new book

(New Delhi, Nov 19, 2020) Internet gaming entrepreneur Alok Kejriwal talks about principles of success and shares some of his spiritual experiences and the lessons that he learnt from them in his new book.

In The Cave, he shares intimate aspects of his life that bring meaning and balance to his journey as a successful digital entrepreneur.

A playbook of the principles of success that Kejriwal has acquired over the years, The Cave details the opportunities that are available to us all, if only we follow our heart as much as we follow our mind, publishers Westland Publications said.

Kejriwal has met unusual and blessed holy men who uplifted him. He has also visited temples and sacred places where he had transformative experiences.

In November 2011, he visited a remote cave near Ranikhet in Uttarakhand that, he says, changed him forever.

According to Kejriwal, CEO and co-founder of Games2Win, he wants to debunk the myth that spirituality is for the old and retired and instead try and infuse its magic into the lives of the young adults as early as possible.

“I have noticed a sense of acute unhappiness amid most professionals today. The ambitions, aspirations and pressures of proving yourself and scaling the corporate ladder are crushing.

“Having experienced these pressures myself, I have found that the spiritual world and its scientific practices provide the perfect balm and antidote for burnouts and mental misery,” he said.

At the end of every chapter in The Cave, there is a simple exercise that seeks to help the reader fully understand the essence of the insights shared. Kejriwal’s first book was Why I Stopped Wearing My Socks.

Book chronicles journey of historic guns in India

(New Delhi, Nov 19, 2020) International arms expert Robert Elgood explores historic Indian firearms in a new book by focusing on the famed Jodhpur collection that includes the best Indian matchlocks, modern British and American sporting guns, shotguns, revolvers and automatic pistols.

In 1972, Maharaja Gaj Singh of Jodhpur-Marwar transformed the Mehrangarh Fort into a Rajput museum and cultural centre. As part of this work, the Mehrangarh Museum Trust commissioned the book The Maharaja of Jodhpur’s Guns.

According to publishers Niyogi Books, this is the first specific work on historic Indian firearms by an international arms expert.

Elgood says the early history of gunpowder and firearms in India is complex, regional and often depends on questionable or ambiguous textual evidence.

The initial chapters talk about the invention of gunpowder weapons and their arrival in medieval India, matchlock guns with revolving mechanisms in the Portuguese eastern empire, and the Indian matchlock.

The book then showcases numerous lamchars, swivel guns or Shuturnals, 17th-19th century banduks, Sindhi jezails, Balochistan matchlocks, Indian blunderbusses, matchlock pistols and combination weapons, powder flasks, miniature cannon, British military guns, European civilian guns, 19th- and 20th-century European and American pistols, and late 19th- and 20th-century air pistols.

It also includes an analysis of advances in sporting guns in India in the 19th century, a chapter on hunting with spear and gun in Rajasthan, a set of pages transcribed from the 1926 hunting diary of Maharaja Umaid Singh, and a catalogue of his sporting guns.

Among the weapons mentioned in the book is the disguised .22 pen-pistol, one of the inventions of Maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur. His son Gaj Singh II says the maharaja took his passion for guns to a different dimension; setting up a gun factory in Mehrangarh Fort, and designing his own firearms.

The maharaja made pencil guns in his workshop and gave some to friends.

Elgood mentions an incident when the maharaja had one of these ‘pens’ in his pocket when he once went to a meeting in Delhi. V P Menon, political advisor to Lord Mountbatten, had led the maharaja to believe that the British officer was expecting him.

“The maharaja became extremely irritated at being kept waiting and finally, when admitted to Menon’s office, pulled out the pistol and in mock anger threatened to shoot him. Mountbatten walked in on the scene. The maharaja explained that he was showing his new invention to Menon and gave Mountbatten the pistol as a gift,” Elgood writes.

After Mountbatten’s death, the pistol was auctioned at Holts in 2010 and was bought by a private collector.

The book features more than 350 images of guns and Rajput paintings from private collections showing their use. It not only showcases the guns and arms and the tales of their inception, but also takes one along in its quest of stories through many paintings of the respective eras that keep a clear statement on the socio-cultural narrative of this grand journey.

The author discusses the worldwide medieval diffusion of firearms technology and Arab, Ottoman, European and Chinese influences on the development of Indian firearms.

Jodhpur was one of the most important military states in Rajasthan, playing a major role in the history of the subcontinent, never more so than during the reign of Maharaja Ajit Singh (1678–1724) who purchased large numbers of guns when his daughter married the Mughal emperor.

Jodhpur owns the best Indian matchlocks in the subcontinent, much admired at the Delhi Durbar in 1911. Successive maharajas have added to the collection. Elgood, who has worked at Sotheby’s and the Wallace Collection and as a guest scholar or consultant at various major museums, has authored numerous books including Arms and Armour at the Jaipur Court (2015) and Rajput Arms and Armour: The Rathores and their Armoury at Jodhpur Fort (2017).

Divakaruni profiles Queen Jindan Kaur in new novel

(New Delhi, Nov 17, 2020) Indian-American author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s new novel will bring alive one of the most fearless women of the 19th century – the legendary warrior queen Jindan Kaur.

The Last Queen will be released by HarperCollins India in January 2021, the publishers announced on Tuesday.

Daughter of the royal kennel keeper, the beautiful Jindan was Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s youngest and last queen besides his favourite. She became regent when her son Dalip, barely six years old, unexpectedly inherited the throne and went on to become a legendary warrior queen.

Passionate and dedicated to protecting her son’s heritage, Jindan distrusted the British and fought hard to keep them from annexing Punjab. Defying tradition, she stepped out of the zenana, cast aside the veil and conducted state business in public.

Addressing her Khalsa troops herself, she inspired her men in two wars against the British. Her power and influence were so formidable that the British, fearing an uprising, robbed the rebel queen of everything she had, including her son.

She was imprisoned and exiled. But that did not crush her indomitable will.

The Last Queen is being described by the publishers as an exquisite love story of a king and a commoner, a cautionary tale about loyalty and betrayal, and a powerful parable of the indestructible bond between mother and child.

The novel has already been optioned for film rights.

Divakaruni said she is delighted to bring the “amazing and largely-forgotten” Maharani Jindan Kaur to readers.

“From the beginning, I was struck by her strength and unfaltering courage even as she goes through the worst challenges of her life. Delightfully human with her faults and foibles, the resolute Jindan has been an inspiring companion to me through these troubled times,” she said.

“I trust she will do the same for all who pick up this book. I am additionally excited because the book has already been optioned by Endemol Shine for a movie,” she added.

According to Diya Kar, publisher (commercial) at HarperCollins, Divakaruni’s “matchless storytelling is a great gift to the world. What a perfect time to be given this incredible story of a remarkable woman, a real icon for us today”.

Houston-based Divakaruni has authored books like The Forest of Enchantments, Before We Visit the Goddess, Oleander Girl, The Mistress of Spices, Sister of My Heart, Palace of Illusions and One Amazing Thing. The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart have been adapted into movies.

Books on Himalaya, Brahmaputra, Krishna Menon in Kamaladevi NIF Prize shortlist

(Bengaluru, Nov 16, 2020) The New India Foundation on Monday announced the shortlist for the third Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize, with books on the Himalayas, the Brahmaputra and Jawaharlal Nehru’s main advisor V K Krishna Menon among those making the cut.

The shortlist covers a century of modern Indian history and encompasses several genres – biography and investigative reportage, environment histories, anthropology and history – as well as a variety of themes that blend the country’s complex past to aspirations for the future, the presenters said.

This year’s jury is chaired by political scientist, author Niraja Gopal Jayal and also includes historians Ramachandra Guha, Srinath Raghavan and Nayanjot Lahiri; entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani and Manish Sabharwal, chairman of Teamlease Services.

The six shortlisted books are: Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements by Amit Ahuja; Midnight’s Machines: A Political History of Technology in India by Arun Mohan Sukumar; Arupjyoti Saikia’s The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra; A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V K Krishna Menon by Jairam Ramesh; Katherine Eban’s Bottle of Lies: Ranbaxy and the Dark Side of Indian Pharma; and Wild Himalaya: A Natural History of the Greatest Mountain Range on Earth by Stephen Alter.

According to the jury the shortlist “demonstrates the range and quality of non-fiction writing about modern India, from political biography to the sociology of politics, from investigative journalism to the history of ecology and of technology”.

Established in 2018, the prize carries a cash award of Rs 15 lakh and a citation and is given to non-fiction literature by emerging writers from all nationalities, published in the previous calendar year. The winner will be announced in early December.

The prize is named after Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, an institution-builder who had contributed significantly to the freedom struggle, to the women’s movement, to refugee rehabilitation and to the renewal of handicrafts.

Previous winners include Milan Vaishnav for When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics and Ornit Shani for How India Became Democratic.

Difficult Dialogues 2020: Of global sustainability, film awards

(New Delhi, Nov 12, 2020) Difficult Dialogues, an international forum that discusses pressing issues of worldwide importance each year, is partnering with tve Global Sustainability Film Awards for a five-day summit next week that will include dialogues, debates and movies.

The sixth edition of Difficult Dialogues would discuss virtually a wide range of topics under the overarching theme of global sustainability by bringing together stakeholders from various backgrounds including sustainability experts, business leaders, change agents, campaigners, filmmakers and students from across the world.

Panel discussions along with presentation of the film awards would take place from November 16 to 20, comprising environment and sustainability content each day.

The final of Daring Debates, a platform for the youth to engage in policy ideation, will also be held and involve participants from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the US and some African countries.

Difficult Dialogues founder Surina Narula said the summit seeks to highlight and discuss a subject that is more relevant in 2020 than ever before – global sustainability.

“The core idea is to inculcate a strong sense of urgency to address issues on sustainability that crucially and equally affect us all. The upcoming awards week in November will see thought- provoking conversations initiated by Difficult Dialogues along with brilliant films on sustainable solutions being awarded as part of the tve GSFA 2020,” she said.

“This collaboration would help us find holistic solutions to some of the key sustainability-related problems through the powerful and effective mediums of films and dialogue,” she added.

Four panel discussions will be held – Changing the mindset; Role of innovation for a sustainable future; the world in 2050; and the Hidden stories, impact journalism: Business and politics of global sustainability.

Key speakers include change agent Andrew Wilson; Andrew Dunnett, director of Vodafone Foundation; sustainability adviser and environmentalist Tony Juniper; business leader David Stringer Lamarre; former head of innovation and creativity at Disney, Duncan Wardle; AI entrepreneur Adam Ricobonni; and transmedia artist Poulomi Basu.

The tve GSFA 2020 would feature eight competitive categories – Young Filmmaker Award (best film on a sustainability issue), Doing Business Differently Short Film Award, Innovations Short Film Award, Health and the Environment Short Film Award, Transforming Society Short Film Award, Campaigning Short Film Award, Solutions News Story Short Film Award, and the Documentary Impact Award.

In addition, there are two nominated award categories – the Founder’s Award for a feature film that best tackles sustainability issues in a new and innovative way; and the Artificial Intelligence Award for a film focusing on artificial intelligence and transformative digital technologies.

Difficult Dialogues has focused on themes like global finance and civil society, health, gender, education and law since its inception in 2016.