In The News – Page 2 – Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller

My Take on Day 1 of the Bangalore Literature Festival, 2022

In today’s post, I shall share my thoughts on some of the sessions that I attended and enjoyed on December 3, 2022- Day 1 of the two day Bangalore Literature Festival.

To start the day’s proceedings, for me it was a toss up between Pico Iyer and Bachi Karkaria. I chose to attend Bachi’s session as I have admired her writing for years and I could catch Pico at another session. Being a history and biography buff, the topic too interested me: It was about her book “Capture the Dream: The Many Lives of Capt C P Krishnan Nair” published by Juggernaut books in Jan 2022. She was in conversation with the erudite and articulate business and brand strategy expert, Harish Bijoor. To jog your memory, if indeed it need some jogging, Capt Krishnan Nair was the person who founded the Leela Group of luxury hotels. Bachi briefly touched upon some of the highlights of Captain’s life. She spoke of his humble origins, his wide exposure to life in many countries due to the various jobs he did and his ambition which fuelled his most daring ventures. Once he made up his mind about something, nothing would stop him. He opened his luxury chain of hotels in his 60s, braving the established reputed players like the Taj, Oberoi, ITC etc. in the pre- liberalisation era in india. The hotel chain was named after – not too difficult to imagine why- his wife. He was described as being a bon vivant who lived life to the fill till he passed away aged 92 in 2014. Bachi and Harish carried off the session with charm and a touch of humour which I am sure Captain Nair would have heartily approved of.

I first met Saaz Aggarwal, like me an alumnus of The Lawrence School, Lovedale in 2012 when Mathew Antony had this brilliant idea of having a Book Reading by Old Lawrencian Authors during Founder’s . She has since written many more books, especially about

Sindh to which she has an emotional connect as her mother belonged to that area, now in Pakistan. In today’s session at the BLF, she was in conversation with Senthil Chengalvarayan on her latest book, ” Losing Home, Finding Home” which, like her previous book, is once again about Sindh and the displaced people from there. They suffered a lot but perhaps faced less horrors as compared to those that took place in Punjab. As a result, their stories did not feature so prominently. Her passion for the subject comes out clearly , as does the enormous amount of painstaking research she has done on a subject not known to many. We of course know Senthil Chengalvarayan as a renowned business journalist. He was the founding editor of CNBC TV 18 and Editor in Chief of Network 18’s Business news room. ‘Losing Home, Finding Home” the poignant story of the displaced people of Sindh was published on August 15, 2022 by Black and White Fountain. I am sure this particular date was chosen with a purpose. This is one book I am keen on reading!

“It’s A Punderful World” by Vaidehi Murthy in conversation with Sriram Sullia, one of the most popular RJs in Bengaluru. I was very much looking forward to this session as I thought it had a most appealing title. A pun is fascinating for anyone who loves a play of words. As Vaidehi told us there are many, many different types of puns. She then gave examples of each of them to bring out the differences. Obviously, she had done a lot of work in this field and done a deep dive, as they say these days, in the world of puns. Videhi is super active with her puns on Twitter. To catch her latest, check out her Twitter handle, @ButVai. Now please don’t ask me But why? Just go ahead and enjoy her latest tweet and pun! Emceeing this session with elan was Bengaluru’s own favourite RJ- Sriram Sullia. As Vaidehi would admit, this radio jock was key to the success of her session.

After this session I had to race off to another venue to catch the session by a veteran writer I have long admired. This is Damodar Mauzo from Goa and I rate him to be one of India’s best short story writers. Today he was talking to another talented writer, novelist and playwright – the very successful Vivek Shanbhag. Indeed a proud moment for me to be with these distinguished writers.

The topic was Mauzo’s new book , “Tales From Another Goa”. Discerning readers will remember that he won the Sahitya Akademi award for his 1983 book “Karmaelin” and in 2014 he wrote another highly rated collection of short stories, called”‘ Teresa’s Man & Other Short Stories from Goa” which I much enjoyed. In 2022 he was awarded the prestigious 57th Jnanpith AwIt was a great pleasure listening to this fine writer who is full of humility and grace. He narrated how he wrote his very first story when he was just 18. If there is one writer who is today what he was like 50 years ago that is Damodar Mauzo. . Here I must mention how heart warming it is to see the strides made by literature in Konkani, which also happens to be my mother tongue, thanks in the main to people like Damodar Mauzo.

Rohini Nilekani needs no introduction to the people of Bengaluru. Though she is perhaps better known as a major philanthropist, she is a writer in her own right. I remember her debut novel – a medical thriller called, ” Stillborn”. Today’s session was on her recent book- published in August 2022 called, “ Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar” . This has a series of articles written by her on the interplay between these three powerful entities in our world- Samaaj, the society we live in; Sarkaar; the Government we elect which administers the State, and Bazaar, the market place which determines what is in and what is out and how much it should cost. She was in conversation with one of India’s most famous young historians, Manu Pillai. Advocating a citizen first approach, Rohini says citizens should be conscious of their rights and responsibilities, and not be passively dependent on the Government to provide them with things to lead a better life. She obviously lays great importance to the power of collective action by members of the society. This session evoked thoughts in the audience of just how much philanthropy can and can not do .

After sessions on a successful entrepreneur ; the displaced people of Sindh; on the funny side of life; stories from sunny Goa, and what we can do as citizens in today’s world, the next session I attended was on a totally different subject. This was “The Essentials of Hinduism: An Introduction to all the Sacred Texts” ” by Prof Trilochan Sastry, which was published in October 2022. This book is designed for those who have never had the time, inclination or ability to read the ancient Hindu scriptures which date back to thousands of years. In the course of this 30 minute session, Prof Sastry instilled in me and I am sure many in the audience -a desire to know more- to read more about a subject which many consider forbidding not because of its content but because it is written in Sanskrit, an age old language which not many know these days. Prof Sastry’s translation of the major parts of the important texts will, I am sure be most illuminating to people approaching this intense, thought provoking subject for the first time. Prof Sastry is a Professor in IIM Bangalore and is a graduate of IIT Delhi, and IIM Ahmedabad. He holds a doctorate from MIT. I liked the way Prof Sastry placed his points to the audience. Never judgemental, never persuasive but giving you things as they are- it is, as he said, upto you to take it, leave it or make the best of it . All in all, I thought it was an educative session.

With this we come to an end of my observations of the sessions I attended on the first day of the Bangalore Literature festival . In my next post, I shall cover some of the sessions of the second day and also some interesting people I met during the Festival.

Here’s where you can listen to the podcast version of this post,

In The News, My Take

The Bangalore Literature Festival, December 3 and 4, 2022

Although a few days have passed, I still feel the buzz of the two days spent in the 11 th edition of the Bangalore Literature Fest held on December 3 and 4, 2022. As you might know, these days there are so many Literature Festivals taking place all over the country, but the one at Bangalore held annually since 2012 continues to a big draw for crowds of bibliophiles as well as authors from India and abroad. We see from their website that over 1500 authors and speakers have added to the heft of this festival over the years. I quote from the website ” The Festival is India’s largest independent and community-funded literary conclave and Bengaluru city’s flagship annual literary and cultural experience focused on rekindling the romance with literature and fostering fine reading and writing, especially amongst the young population of the city.”

An interesting feature of the Bangalore Litereature Festival is the impetus it provides to aspiring and new writers in many ways. Since 2015, writers vie for the prestigous Atta Gallata- Bangalore Literature Festival Award each year in as many as 9 categories. Apart from awards for the usual Fiction and Non-Fiction in English, awards are presented for Literary Achievement in Kannada, Popular Choice, Best Cover Design, and 4 categories in Children’s Books. This, I believe, must be an unique feature of this festival.

This year’s event was that much more awaited as it was the first physical event after a break due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

As has been the practice for the last few Bangalore LitFests, the venue remained the 5 star Hotel Lalit Ashok.This luxury hotel with its 10 acres of sprawling grounds lent itself for the actual programs to take place in the outdoors in 6 designated venues. The weather Gods were kind and it didn’t rain for these days coming after spells of rains in Bengaluru in the previous weeks. If anything, it was pretty hot with the maximum temperatures hovering around 28 degrees Celsius.

Hats off to Shinie Antony, Festival Directors and her team for their meticulous organising of the festival. To fully comprehend the magnitude of the task involved, let me throw some numbers at you! There were a staggering 71 sessions for adults and 28 sessions for kids on the first day. How on earth did so many sessions take place in one day, you might ask? The answer is simple. The oraganisers had 4 sessions for adults and 2 sessions for kids running simultaneously in the hotel grounds. As you entered the LitFest area, you came to the first venue named “Gandhadha Gudi” . A little further was the second, “Raajkumara” which was poolside,. The third and fourth venues further down were Yuvaratna on the Tennis Court and The Red Couch Courtside. The sessions for the kids were held at Seonee and Malgudi in the Lalit Ashok Gardens.

On the second day, there were 69 sessions for adults and 25 for kids. In effect, this meant there were 193 sessions running simultaneously over these six venues spanning the two days.

Bengaluru’s literature buffs had to make some hard choices. Obviously there was no way anyone could attend all the sessions. On Day 1 for example, where would you start? With Pico Iyer on “Why We Travel” or Bachi Karkaria on ” The Many Lives of Capt C P Krishnan Nair” ? With Crossings by Mini Krishnan. Gita Ramaswamy, S Sreedhara and AJ Thomas or with Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra ? You get what I mean. Thankfully, the organiser s had published a neatly formatted scehdule well in advance on their webiste. This helped you choose from the wide range of offerings, depending on your interest. I would imagine most book lovers made their choices driven by either the author or their preferred genre. In any case though you had to choose one over another, you weren’t unduly worried because the recording of all the sessions sessions would be published in the YouTube channel of the BLF over time. So you chose what you wanted right now! You could listen to the others at leisure later.

Typically, each session was for 30 minutes and in keeping with the fine traditions of the Bengalore LitFest adhering to these timings was sacred. Here was one occasion when the much talked about Bangalorean laid back ” Swalpa Adjust Maadi” didn’t kick in. The sessions went like clock work! Not just a few but every single one of them -started and ended on time, which is indeed quite remarkable.

I had the privilege and pleasure of interviewing Raghu and Pushpa Palat- on December 4. They are the co-authors of ” Destiny’s Child” a book about the undefeatable reign of Cochin’s Parukutty Neithyeramma. She was the consort of Maharaja Rama Varma XVI who ruled Cochin from 1914 to 1932 . The book is the story of this formidable lady who was far ahead of her times in her thinking and approach.

The books discussed were available for sale at the bookstore- Atta Galata . All through the two days one saw crowds throng this venue to buy the books they wanted and get them autographed by the authors. After their sessions, authors were asked to spend some time in that venue and do the book signings for their reader fans. As is popular these days, many readers sought to capture selfies with their favourtite authors.

Thanks to the meticulous planning by the organisers and to the dedicated and committed band of volunteers who executed these plans the LitFest was a great success. Needless to say, the success was also due to the galaxy of authors who spoke of their work and of topics related to literature. and art. They were cheered on by large audiences who were most interested and knowledgeable.

No wonder it is reported that over 20,000 literature- crazy people attended this two day LitFest.

Here’s where you can listen to the podcast version of this post.

In The News, My Take

Action at the IPL Auction

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is probably the richest cricket tournament in the world. Brand Finance, the renowned brand value consultancy pegs its value at $4.7 billion! Naturally, it attracts players from all the major cricket playing countries, and some of the lesser known ones too. Decades ago, the emoluments of India’s cricketers was really measly. They used to envy players from the so called ” developed” countries such as England, Australia, and New Zealand for their compensation. The wheel has turned full circle. In the last decade, players from these very countries hope for a lucrative IPL contact – these could change their fortunes!

This year’s auction was held recently at Bengaluru and 204 players including 67 from overseas were sold for Rs 551 crores. For the uninitiated -in India 1 crore is the equivalent of 10 million. Unlike the last few years, this year there were 10 franchisees bidding for the players with the addition of two new franchisees, the Lucknow Super Giants and the Gujarat Titans.

As if the fast paced action at the auction was not enough, there was a moment of apprehension when the widely respected auctioneer, Hugh Edmeade collapsed and had to receive immediate medical attention. Fortunately he not only responded well to the treatment but was back in action for the concluding part of the auction on the second day!

In Edmeade’s absence, the auctioning was done by Charu Sharma. Overall, he did a good job, I guess. However, I felt at times he was not consistent enough to be a good auctioneer. For some players/teams he was quite liberal with the time he gave for them to decide, for some others he wasn’t half so generous. I also felt he could have been a little more considerate for the young uncapped players. For them this is a make or break opportunity, so maybe a standard time could have been set. We saw some were declared unsold within seconds while others were given more time, which I thought was not fair.

Every IPL auction has its stars who draw the biggest bucks. This article lists the most expensive players over the years, starting from 2008. We have seen, though, that not all of them were very successful in that year. Possibly the sheer pressure of being the highest paid falls heavily on their shoulder. When people begin to calculate how much you cost per ball bowled/faced – you can imagine the pressure the player has to go through!

This year, young Ishan Kishen was the biggest gainer, being paid Rs 15.25 crores to be bought back by a team which did not retain him in the first place, the Mumbai Indians. Each team, as you know, were allowed to retain a maximum of four players, who then would not go into the auction. This brings me to an interesting observation. Should there be a minimum amount fixed for retained players? I ask because many who were not retained got far more by way of the auction. They were better off not being retained!!

The auction went off without a hitch, but there was a controversy when Charu Sharma declared Khaleel Ahmed sold to Delhi Capitals when really he should have gone to Mumbai Indians. He can perhaps be excused as there were so many players to be sold!

The players have made their contracts , now they must earn the big bucks spent on them on the cricket field!

In The News, My Take

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Statue in New Delhi!

On January 23, 2021, I wrote a blog post here titled, ” Salute To Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose” . One more year has gone past and I see far greater interest in the life of this iconic Indian leader than ever before. This is evidenced by a recent event that took place in New Delhi, which I consider momentous.

On January 23, 2022, Netaji’s 125 th birth anniversary , Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Netaji’s statue would be built at a prominent spot near India Gate in our capital city of New Delhi. Netaji’s birth anniversary is being celebrated as Parakram Diwas honoring his courage and that of his troops- men and women- who fought for India’s independence. As many of you will know, Netaji was at the forefront of the war for independence and his Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauz fought the British troops in important battles such as the one in Imphal in 1943. It is perhaps in the fitness of things that Netaji’s statue will be in the same spot where once stood the statue of the British King Emperor George V !

The target date for its inauguration has already been announced as August 15, 2022, India’s Independence Day. Till the statue is made ready, we will have a hologram of Netaji ‘s statue on display. This hologram is 28 feet high and will be powered by a 30,000 lumens projector.

For the youth of today who may not know much about Netaji as our history books have very little on him, a few facts are worth recounting. In October 1943, Netaji established the Provisional Government of Free India in Singapore which had fallen to the Japanese during World War 2. He was the Head of State and Prime Minster. Currency in the name of the Free India Government was also printed by the Azad Hind Bank. These were more by way of promissory notes that would become official currency once the British were driven away. “Subh Sukh Chain” was declared the national anthem of Netaji’s Free India and the Sher-e-Hind was the highest military honor instituted by Netaji for the troops of the Indian National Army.

Since the close of World War 2, the story of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has seen many twists and turns. There have been so many versions of his death. No one quite knows the truth. A new book will be published in February 2022 which promises to be interesting. This is “Bose: An Untold Story Of An Inconvenient Nationalist” by Chandrachur Ghose. I, for one, look forward eagerly to reading this.

In The News, My Take

Kashmiri Pandits Still Await Justice

January 19, 1990 may be just another date for you and me. However, for the thousands of Kashmir Pandits who had to flee their homeland leaving behind everything, this date will never ever be forgotten.

Today, on January 19, 2022, if we look back at that tragedy, it is fair to say that the Kashmiri Pandits still await justice. A short recapitulation of events that took place in the Muslim-dominated State which was then called Jammu & Kashmir is given in my blog post of January 22, 2020 titled, ” How Kashmiri Pandits Lost Their Azaadi”.

Today, I saw so many tweets from displaced Kashmiri Pandits that are touching. “32 Years and counting. Our genocide is forgotten” says India 4 Kashmir; ‘Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. What About Our Human Rights? ” asks Gita S Kapoor; ” Shameful that even after all these years, the wiping out of a community from our own land is Not recognised as a Genocide, as an act of Civilizational Terrorism. Justice Delayed is Justice Denied” tweets Rati Hegde; . These are but a few of the many tweets expressing anguish that not much has happened to bring those responsible for such targeted human suffering to book.

Shedding blood on religious lines is not new to India as our country was born with this as the gory backdrop. I suggest you read my review of ” The Holocaust of Indian Partition: An Inquest” by Madhav Godbole. for perspective of those far away days. The British were in hurry to leave India, and our politicians were in a hurry to grab power. No one imagined the short term consequences and the enormous cost in terms of human suffering.

After the gruesome murders and carnage that took place during the Partition of India, two events stay in the memory as blots in our “secular” society- the first was the Sikh Massacre in 1984 often toned down to be called Anti-Sikh Riots!! Do read my review of books on this subject elsewhere in this blog. One of them needs particular mention, ” When A Tree Shook Delhi” by Phoolka and Mitta

The second was the Massacre of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990. A book worth reading is Rahul Pandita’s, ” Our Moon Had Blood Clots” published in 2013 which captures his memories of fleeing Kashmir as a 14 year old in 1990. No one knows the true figures but certainly hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits and their family members were raped, killed, or brutally injured when they- over 350,000 of them- were terrorized in leaving their home by pro- Islamic mobs. Why the then Prime Minster, V P Singh did not call out the Indian Army to bring about peace in Kashmir is anybody’s guess. Perhaps he hesitated because he himself had been elected to power only a month or so ago, and did not want to rock the boat of a fragile coalition which he ran.

How the story of the Kashmiri Pandits will end is anybody’s guess. It is astonishing that for far lesser crimes, thousands all over the world -especially certain NGOs -scream about the abuse of Human Rights and Democratic Values. For the hapless Kashmiri Pandits, sadly, there hasn’t been a whisper from them- just a frosty silence. Strange are the ways of our democracies in recognizing and addressing human suffering.

In The News, My Take

Aiyyo Shraddha

Have you come across Nandini Rao, teacher in Bul Bul Vidya Mandir? Or, Reena Dalal, India’s biggest Makaan Matcher? You will recognize her as the same lady who speaks on National Doctor’s Day, On Goal Setting, On Adoption of Stray Dogs, and on HR practices with equal flair and aplomb. She is none other than Aiyyo Shraddha, who has 1.55 lakh subscribers for her YouTube channel, 20k followers on Twitter, 352,000 followers on Instagram, and 318,000 followers on Facebook!!

Shraddha, is for me, one of India’s best entertainers on view at present. In a world of stand up comedy, where it is considered fashionable in some circles, to have vulgar language, with a lot of f’s and b’s and other expletives thrown in for good measure, she stands apart for her clean- yet remarkable funny shows.

Her shows are what in the old days used to be described as “family” shows. This means -from the grinning 8 year old to the gurgling 80 year old- all can understand and appreciate her wit and humor. Her themes are based on current goings on and naturally topics like Covid, work from home, and all that is going on around us feature in one form or another.

Shraddha, I understand, is a girl from Mangaluru who grew up in Mumbai- hence the mastery over Marathi shown from time to time in her shows. She is equally adept at English, Kannada, Tulu, and Hindi. This is a useful part of her armory, where she can adapt to different roles. Talking of which she plays several roles in the same episode. In a popular series, she is a young lady herself, besides being both her mother and her father!

Like in most middle-class Indian families, her parents too encouraged to do well in academics. Predictably, like many of her background, she completed her engineering and worked for a few years in the IT industry. She then realized that her true calling was in entertainment. She was a RJ in a popular Kannada channel Fever 104FM for nine years. I think the creative resume she sent was one of the best I have ever seen.

Later she became a host/anchor in Colors Kannada and later head of non-fiction content there. She is now on her own, producing , directing, filming and acting out her content on different social media channels. She also played the role of the fiesty landlady of a Women’s PG in Bengaluru in the Amazon Prime hit film, “Pushpavalli”.

In case you haven’t seen her shows yet, do check them out. I am sure those expressive eyes and knock out punch lines will draw you back to her shows, as they do for me.

"Glimpses of a Glorious Past", In The News, The Lawrence School, Lovedale

“Glimpses….” Grows As A Blog & Separate Show

As many of my readers know, I spent the most part of 2015-16 and the first part of 2017 working on a writing project involving my Alma Mater, The Lawrence School, Lovedale (estd. 1858). Elsewhere in this blog, you will find several blog posts about the “Glimpses” writing project.

A team of Old Lawrencians contributed towards “Glimpses Of A Glorious Past: An Informal History of The Lawrence School, Lovedale” in May 2017. The ebook was launched by the President of the Old Lawrencians Association (OLA) Rukhmini Krishnan Reddy during the annual Founder’s celebrations.

‘Glimpses….” then made an appearance for the first time in the OL Assembly- 7 on November 14, 2020. The OL Assembly is a virtual show aired on the second Saturday of every month. It has elements of entertainment, history (by way of a segment on “Glimpses…”) and a popular quiz, called QuizDale. In the November 2020 episode of the OL Assembly, we covered the origins of the “Glimpses….’ Project and how it took shape, culminating in the release of the ebook, which was, over time, published in 3 volumes: Book 1 covering the period from 1858 to 1908; Book 2 from 1908 to 1958, and Book 3 from 1958 to 2008.

Recently, it was decided to delink “Glimpses…” and some other segments from the OL Assembly and launch them as separate shows on their own. I am delighted to say that the first show of “Glimpses….”, as a show on its own, was broadcast on October 16, 2021 on the YouTube and Facebook channels of the Old Lawrencians Association.

It was also decided to set up a blog to complement ‘Glimpses…” and this was done in October 2021, simultaneously with the new show. This blog will have blog posts about important and interesting events and people featured in the book.

We expect these two new avenues of communication will increase the engagement with the Old Lawrencian community. We also expect these will enhance their love for their old School and its heritage of over 160 years.

In The News, My Take

Your Website Reflects You

The Covid 19 pandemic has brought about sweeping changes in our lives, many of which we wouldn’t have thought possible even five years ago. The use of the internet both for work and for leisure has increased so dramatically over the last few years that people are now talking of “digital wellness.”! Some popular social media sites, like Facebook for example, and makers of devices, like Apple, for example are providing you with the means to bring an abrupt end to your browsing if you exceed laid down limits of time!

In December 1995, only 16 million people or 0.4 % of the world’s population used the internet. In March 2021, this figure had shot up to 5,168 million or 65.6 % of the world’s population, says an article in The Global Village Online.

With such huge growth, one can imagine the competition you, as a business or indeed any organization with a digital presence, face to attract and hold the attention of internet users. The amount of work they do online – and the staggering work hours- is now forcing people in many countries to cut down on their discretionary time online.

So, your website has to be capable of grabbing and holding that attention, which is fleeting, at best . The experience at your website will determine whether or not the person will come back! He/she has so much choice these days, that they would simply go elsewhere for their needs.

Some of the main factors that users value in a website are :_

Ease of use. Can they navigate easily? Is the site too cluttered with so much information and so many options that it is confusing and complex? Many cite the example of Amazon being a site that is considered easy to use, despite the plethora of choices.
It Should Work! Very basic, but frequently we see websites that have links that don’t work, information that is woefully outdated, and an overall feel of being sloppy. Such websites are probably doing more harm than good to the interests of that organization.
Both Attractive and Functional: yes, it has to look good and at the same time work like, to use an old world phrase, a “well- oiled machine”. After all, it represents your business. It is often the first interface with the customer/potential customer. At times, designers in their attempt to dazzle the visitor to the site load so many widgets and jazz on to the page that it becomes sluggish and takes ages to load. No one has that kind of time to wait, these days!
Mobile Friendly: this wasn’t a big consideration when we entered the internet age, but now it has become one of the most important features. The reason is that more people use mobile phones to access the internet than ever before.
The Four Second Test: read this article in Forbes which is indeed an eye-opener. With rapidly decreasing attention spans – an average of 8 seconds for millennials and 2.8 seconds for a younger Gen Z, the content on your page becomes that much more crucial. If it can’t convey what you want in four seconds, it fails the test!!

These are some of the factors that will determine the success of your website in today’s world. Let’s remember that good, bad, or ugly, your website reflects you!

In The News, My Take

Edward Ralph Dexter

In the ongoing Third Test match between India and England at Headingley. Leeds, I noticed that the English cricketers wore black arm bands. This is usually done as a mark of respect for someone who is no more. I soon came to know that the person in question was someone whose cricket career I followed with great interest in my younger days: Edward Ralph Dexter. He passed away on August 25, aged 86.

Born in 1935, he played for Cambridge, Sussex and England. He was called “Lord Ted” for his elegance and languid grace. Dexter was a dashing batsman with a very attacking bent of mind, especially when it came to fast bowlers. He was one of the most powerful hitters of the cricket ball of his times.

In those days, Test cricket wasn’t played as frequently as it is now. From the time he made his debut in 1958, Dexter played 62 Tests for England being captain in 30 of them. He scored 9 Test centuries and finished with an impressive average of 47.89. He last played for England in 1968.

We in India saw him for the first time, when he captained the visiting MCC team in 1961-62 after the more established players like Peter May and Colin Cowdrey opted to skip this tour.

As cricket crazy youngsters, we followed the Tests only though the cricket commentary on the radio, as we didn’t have television in India those days. We of course read every word of the reports of the Test matches in the daily newspapers. Some of the innings that Dexter played still remain fresh in my mind, although decades have gone by since he dazzled the crowds with his batting.

In the Lord’s Test in 1963, facing the menacing fast bowlers Hall and Griffith of the West Indies, Dexter hammered 70 in just 75 balls out of a total of 102. Another innings was his 180 against the Aussies in 1961, the year he was “Wisden’s Cricketer of the Year..”

Dexter in later years served as the Chairman of the Selection Commitee in England, and President of the MCC. He was instrumental in fashioning what we now know as the ICC rankings for players.

In this video, tributes are paid to Dexter on his being inducted in to the ICC’s Hall of Fame in 2021. Ian Chappell recalls that Dexter was the hardest hitter of the cricket ball he had ever seen.

Fans of Dexter would love this delightful piece written about him by Arunabha Sengupta in 2016 . Clearly he was , as that article said, “one of the most colorful characters to grace English cricket.”

Farewell, my childhood hero. May Edward Ralph Dexter, dashing and debonair, rest in peace.

Authors, Book Reviews, In The News

“The Case That Shook An Empire” by Raghu & Pushpa Palat

I have often felt that writers of our Indian history have tended to give grossly disproportionate prominence to some figures and totally ignore some others. Here’s a case in point.

Until this book came along, I must confess rather sheepishly that I as a reasonably well-educated person hadn’t even heard of Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair. So for me, his accomplishments described in “The Case That Shook The Empire” by Raghu and Pushpa Palat were really quite astonishing. and most revealing. “One Man’s Fight for the Truth about the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre” is the perfect summary of the book.

The book was published by Bloomsbury India in August 2019. It was well received by appreciative readers. It made major headlines recently when it was announced that Karan Johar and his film production house have bought the rights to make a movie based on the book.

To think that in the 1920’s when the British Empire was at its peak, an Indian fought a famous British Administrator in a British Court of Law about an appalling event that took place in India was indeed news to me. I am sure millions of others wouldn’t have heard of this case. To that extent the authors have done Indian history valuable service by researching, writing and publishing this book. Thanks to them, I am sure, many more people will come to know of – and admire- their illustrious forefather. Raghu Palat, is the great grandson of Sir Sankaran Nair.

Sir Sankaran Nair’s character, with all its idiosyncrasies, has been well sketched by the authors. We visualize a man of strong character, who was autocratic in all that he did, at work as much as at home. He could be extremely blunt. Many a hapless colleague, including Britishers, felt the heat of his scorn and anger when debating issues or when they said something he did not approve of.

In the course of a long and illustrious career, Sir Sankaran Nair held many important positions including that of Member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. He was also a former Judge of the Madras High Court. I had no idea that at one time he was the President of the Indian National Congress! Indeed, many reckon he was one of the stalwarts in the early days of the INC but his open disagreements with Mahatma Gandhi ensured he was pushed back into the shadows of the party’s history. When his famous legal case was decided in England, there were no messages of any kind from the Indian National Congress, the party of which he had once been the President!

Sir Sankaran resigned from the highly prestigious position as the Member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council ( the only Indian to hold that post) following events at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919. The two Britishers involved in that infamous event, as most Indians know, were Sir Micheal O’Dwyer, Lt Governor of the Punjab, and Brigadier General Reginald Dyer. I learnt from this book that Dyer was later reverted to his rank of Colonel.

The book describes all that followed the tumultuous events in Jallianwalla Bagh, a turning point in the history of modern India.

Taking umbrage at Sir Sankaran’s remarks about him in his book, “Gandhi And Anarchy” published in 1922, Sir Micheal filed libel charges against him. This paved the way for the “Case That Shook The Empire.” The admirable manner in which Sir Sankaran defended himself and his honour is excellently documented in the Palats book.

I wish the editors had been more meticulous. Ever so often Sir Sankaran is wrongly referred to as ” Sir Nair”. In the foreward, O’Dwyer is written as O’Dywer. These mistakes could have been avoided.

My congratulations to Raghu and Pushpa for their book which I found quite absorbing. A strong bibliography lends credence to the meticulous research done by the authors.

Based on my experience of biopics from Bollywood, I am not exactly looking forward to the movie. The book should have been left a book. I hope I am proved wrong ! I must grant, of course, that what a movie would do- especially one from Karan Johar’s production house- to publicize Sir Sankaran’s achievements, could never get done by the book alone.

The Palats’ book is highly recommended for any student of modern Indian history and politics. I would urge the youth of India in particular to read the book.