I was born in Chennai in a middle class family and though my father's native place was Anbil, near Srirangam, I have been hardly familiar with the place. I am at present, a social development professional-cum social activist-cum author living in Delhi. I joined the B.Tech course in Chemical Engineering in Madras University with great hopes of becoming an engineer. But after graduating in 1976, I decided to switch over to management, which was somewhat a fashion in those days, and completed a post-graduate in MBA from McMaster University, Canada in 1978. I worked as a systems analyst in Tata Consultancy for the next 3 years and after a long stint as a free-wheeling software professional, decided to settle down in Delhi. As a development professional I have written and edited a number of documents for the UN agencies and government, a couple of my papers in health have been published in international journals too, but they have never satisfied me.
I have been co-editing a magazine called 'ghadar jari hai' for several years now. It started as a print publication and is now an online magazine (http://ghadar.org.in/gjh_html/?nocahce ). I have written several cover stories, travelogues, bio-sketches for this magazine.
Earlier to this I edited a magazine called “The Review of Contemporary Affairs”. I have also contributed articles to The Hindu and other newspapers and online publications.
As a student of history, but far from a scholar, I have felt that the past of our sub-continent has many clues to help us find our way in these confusing times. Our forefathers gave ... See more
I was born in Chennai in a middle class family and though my father's native place was Anbil, near Srirangam, I have been hardly familiar with the place. I am at present, a social development professional-cum social activist-cum author living in Delhi. I joined the B.Tech course in Chemical Engineering in Madras University with great hopes of becoming an engineer. But after graduating in 1976, I decided to switch over to management, which was somewhat a fashion in those days, and completed a post-graduate in MBA from McMaster University, Canada in 1978. I worked as a systems analyst in Tata Consultancy for the next 3 years and after a long stint as a free-wheeling software professional, decided to settle down in Delhi. As a development professional I have written and edited a number of documents for the UN agencies and government, a couple of my papers in health have been published in international journals too, but they have never satisfied me.
I have been co-editing a magazine called 'ghadar jari hai' for several years now. It started as a print publication and is now an online magazine (http://ghadar.org.in/gjh_html/?nocahce ). I have written several cover stories, travelogues, bio-sketches for this magazine.
Earlier to this I edited a magazine called “The Review of Contemporary Affairs”. I have also contributed articles to The Hindu and other newspapers and online publications.
As a student of history, but far from a scholar, I have felt that the past of our sub-continent has many clues to help us find our way in these confusing times. Our forefathers gave the concept of zero to the world. The 18 schools of philosophy, including the aastika and the naastika schools have in them a breath-taking range of philosophies and world outlook. Indian thinkers were among the foremost in mathematics, sciences, economy and statecraft. Several epics, plays, scientific, legal and political documents have lasted the ravages of time.
I have often wondered what led to the decline of the political, moral and economic fabric of the Indian sub-continent. Is it the varna system, or the greed for power, or downright complacency with what has been achieved?
By studying the past we can perhaps find answers to the questions that have been haunting us for some centuries now. it will be downright injustice to stop with glorifying the past or to hope to blindly replicate thought systems from the ancient past. It will be even more criminal to sweep away our past as feudal and ancient. Those civilisations which have not settled scores with their past conscience cannot hope to lead the world.
I have focused my writings on unearthing historical clues to solve the riddles of the present. Historical fiction is a good medium provided it is not lost in glorifying individuals and empires. My effort has been to bring out the economic, cultural and political milieu from the view point of the productive forces of society who gave rise to these individuals and empires.
