Many Indian Diplomats are Writers too!
W
hen Shashi Tharoor wrote an article in the Hindu about six years ago titled 'Diplomats as Literatteurs' he could think of only 4–5 Indian diplomats who were writers. A closer look reveals that there are many more Indian writer–diplomats. The list goes up to a 100 which includes well known names like Vikas Swaroop and Pawan Verma and many not so well known ones such as Ajay M. Gondane or Pratap Singh. As V.S. Naipaul writes in his book A Writer's People ; “India is hard and materialist”. What it knows best about Indian writers and books are their advances and their prizes. There is little discussion about the substance of a book or its literary quality or the point of view of the writer...the most important judgments of an Indian book continue to be imported. Have Indian diplomats made substantial contribution to Indian literature or world literature for that matter as Pablo Neruda or Octavio Paz? Are the books written by Indian diplomats known outside the diplomatic circles or even within world diplomatic community? These are some relevant questions which need to be asked before passing a judgment on the quality, substance and depth of Indian writer–diplomats.
“Indian diplomats have left an indelible mark on international fora with their literary and not so literary contributions”, says Indian diplomat
Abhay Kumar
butions to the understanding of India's diplomatic challenges in a fast changing world through their writings. There are many invisible poet-diplomats who have tried to capture their global experiences in their verses. These include our current Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, and others such as Aftab Seth, Rikhi Jaipal, Pratap Singh, Dyaneshwar Mulay, Amarendra Khatua (was awarded Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavna Award for his contribution to Oriya literature), Jordana D. Pavel, Kiran Doshi and even Gauri Shankar Gupta and J.N. Dixit who are otherwise known for their serious writings on Mongolia and the Indian Foreign policy respectively. Among the novelist-diplomats besides Vikas Swaroop, who gained world fame through his book Q & A and subsequently through movie Slumdog Millionaire are Kiran Doshi Birds of Passage, Navtej Sarna We were not lovers like that, The Exile, T.S. Tirumurthi Clive Avenue, A.M. Gondane The Arrival, Rajiv Dogra Almost an Ambassador, N.Parthasarthy The Reluctant Assassin, Nina Sibal Dogs of Justice, Yatra and most recent among them B.S. Prakash with his book Clueless in California. Memoir writing is one of the strongholds of the Indian diplomats and some remarkable memoirs have been written in the past. Y.P. Gundevia's Out of Archives Badruddin Tayabji's Memoirs of an Egoist, memoirs of K.M. Panniker and K.P.S. Menon, T.N. Kaul, K. Natwar Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyyar and Romesh Bhandari are some good examples. Prem K. Budhwar–A diplomat reveals, J.N. Dixit–My South Block Years have also contributed to this popular area of diplomatic literature.
India has produced some noted diplomats since the 1950s who have left behind in their books immense experience and wisdom to guide the succeeding generations. The name of J.N. Dixit comes to forefront when one thinks of Indian foreign policy matters. He comes across as a giant among the past and present diplomats. He authored many books on Indian foreign affairs and they encompass a wide spectrum within the Indian Foreign Policy; its philosophy, origin and dilemma and also cover Indian writers’ contribution to creative the Indian Foreign Service, its history and non-fiction have been no less important. challenges. Gaurishankar Gupta's book on Mongolia, C.M. Kishan Rana has substantially contributed Bhandari and Pradeep Kapur on Angor Vat and to help understand the transformations in the JC Sharma on Temples in Vietnam have been sphere of diplomacy and his books Inside valuable contributions. T.S. Tirumurthy and Diplomacy, 21st Century Ambassador are widely C.M. Bhandari have written books on Kailash read over the world. He has been a great Mansarovar as well. P.V. Joshi and V.Ashok advocate of reform of the India's Foreign have written books on Hinduism and IncarPolicy architecture and has inspired Danial nations of Vishnu while Navtej Sarna on Markey's analytical piece on Indian Foreign Nanak. Achal Malhotra has written on Policy Software. K.R. Narayanan, M.K. prehistoric, mythological and legendary links Rasgotra, Chinmaya R. Gharekhan, C.S. between India and Sri Lanka while Amit Dasgupta, G. Parthasarthy, C.S. Jha, T.P. Dasgupta has co-authored the book The Divine Sreenivasan have made significant contriSQUARE 36 DIPLOMATIC Aug-Oct, 2010
Peacock on understanding contemporary India. India's greatest soft power influence Indian Cinema has also captured the attention of Surendra Kumar who has written a tome titled Legends of Indian Cinema. Unexpectedly Indian diplomats have authored a number of scientific-technical books as well. These include Dr. Sumit Seth Review of Forensic Medicine, Dr. Arvind Gupta Dictionary of New Scientific and Technical Terms and Anwar Haleem Innovation & Technology Transfer. Books on foreign language such as 'Chinese' needs special mention and M. Sridharan's book Chinese language: an introduction is an attempt to simplify learning this difficult language for foreigners. Our diplomats have enriched Indian English literature through their good quality translations. Navdeep Suri has translated the Punjabi classic The Watchmaker in English while Pawan Verma has translated the poems of our former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Among the short-story writers are Subhakant Behera and Arun Kumar Sahu. The spouses of Indian diplomats have not been far behind and have authored a few tomes as well. These include Dr. Kavita Sharma, Radha Chakravarty, Trupti Mehta Despande, Kusum Bhasin and Susheela Purushottam. Indian diplomats have certainly left their mark on the national as well as international stage through their literary and not so literary contributions and as the trend shows the future looks brighter than ever before. The complete list of Indian writer-diplomats is available at: http://tinyurl.com/25k8dn3 Abhay Kumar is the author of a number of books on prose and poetry including River Valley to Silicon Valley: Story of three generations of an Indian family. His forthcoming books are Candling the Light' & 'Colours of Soul. Visit the author at www.abhayk.com
Abhay KUMAR along with Koyel BANERJEE and Kazumi WATANABE will be holding an exhibition of their creative genius at International Arts Space, Paris, between October 31–November 04, 2010 . We reproduce a few paintings of the Indian diplomat which reflect an artist of great passion and intensity with a thinking mind. Abhay Kumar* has participated in many group and solo exhibitions in St. Petersburg and Paris. His art works lie in the private collections in Russia, France, Netherlands and Japan. His striving to understand Art on a larger scale, trying to combine the social service, philosophic poetry, symbolical painting and cosmic-scale of thought remind one of the Silver Age, Roerich, Ciurlionis, etc. In the small format of his work, the St. Petersburg traditions can be easily spotted, through the images of the Russian ‘Avant-garde’ art of the early 20th century. The geometry of Malevich and the musical coloured vision of Matyushin gain typically Indian colour vibrancy and even somewhat folklore inflections in his abstract and half-abstract works . His creations are truly minimalist and are aimed at the elementary components of perception. He was awarded first class diploma by the Steiglitz Academy of Art, St. Petersburg for *
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DIPLOMATIC SQUARE Aug-Oct, 2010