Sukritya Khatiwada is a third-generation entrepreneur and Vedic expert, known for his rare blend of traditional wisdom and modern vision. With a high-integrity approach and unwavering commitment to authenticity, he has become a trusted authority in the world of Rudraksha and astrological consultancy. As the chief executive officer of Nepa Rudraksha, a legacy enterprise serving for over five decades, Sukritya advises clients across more than 160 countries.
Beyond Nepa Rudraksha, Sukritya is also a cultural storyteller and founder of Sukritya Khatiwada Production, which documents the rich spiritual heritage of Nepal. His work reflects a profound respect for Sanatana Dharma.
This book marks the beginning of Sukritya’s broader mission: to make the timeless wisdom of Sanatana culture and power of Rudraksha, more accessible in the modern world.
A medical doctor by profession, Guruprasad Kaginele has been a prominent voice in contemporary Kannada literature. He has published four short-story collections, five novels and two essay collections. His works have received several awards. Many of his short stories have appeared in anthologies published by the Karnataka Sahitya Academy. He has also been the primary editor of two books published by the US-based Kannada Sahitya Ranga. His novel Hijab (2017) garnered both popular and critical acclaim, and was chosen as the best novel of 2018 by the Karnataka Sahitya Academy. In 2020, the English version of the novel was published by Simon & Schuster, India. It was shortlisted for the Atta Galatta–Bangalore Literature Festival Book Awards and was the Valley of Words Awards finalist in the Best Translated Works from India category. In 2024, an English translation of his selected short stories, The Preferred Pronoun and Other Stories, was published by Manipal Universal Press. Kaginele lives in Rochester, Minnesota, with his family and works as an emergency physician at the Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota.
Narayan Shankaran has served LIC India as a development officer for over three decades. He is an MBA and holds a PhD in management studies with emotional and social intelligence as his subject of study. He enjoys writing and translating between Kannada and English. He translated a Kannada travelogue titled Sindhu Darshan, by S.V. Rangaswamy, into English in 2019. A collection of his own essays, titled Figuratively Speaking, was published in 2020. He has also translated a collection of short stories by Guruprasad Kaginele, published as The Preferred Pronoun and Other Stories.
Vimlesh Kanti Verma, DPhil, FRAS (London), is a distinguished indologist and senior linguist with over five decades of teaching experience in applied linguistics. He has taught at the University of Delhi, the University of Toronto, the University of Sofia and the University of the South Pacific. His work has been recognized with major honours, including the Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan Award conferred by the President of India and the Hindi Videsh Prasar Samman from the Government of Uttar Pradesh. He has also been honoured twice by the Government of Bulgaria with its national awards, the 1300 Bulgaria and the Zlatna Lavrova Klonka. His website is www.vimleshkanti.org.
Raghavan Srinivasan is a chemical engineer from Madras University and an MBA from McMaster University, Canada. He currently works as a development professional and has written a number of articles for print and online newspapers as well as international journals. He co-edits an online magazine called Ghadar Jari Hai. Raghavan is passionate about various aspects of Indian history and writes regularly on the same. His published books include Rajaraja Chola, Yugantar, Dogged Pursuit, Indian Philosophy and Indian Cities.
Shalini Passi is a Delhi-based art collector, artist and philanthropist. A member of the Advisory Board of Khoj Studios since 2012 and a longstanding Patron of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, she is one of India’s most distinctive voices in contemporary art patronage. Her collection spans leading Indian and international artists including Bharti Kher, Anita Dube, Sheba Chhachhi, Zarina Hashmi, Atul Dodiya, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, M.F. Husain, Manjit Bawa and Ram Kumar.
Her passion for art and design extends beyond the canvas—her Delhi home, featured in Wallpaper, Architectural Digest and Larry’s List, is a living gallery that juxtaposes modernist masters with contemporary design by Ron Arad, Vladimir Kagan and Hervé Van der Straeten. Through her foundation, Shalini champions emerging artists and arts education across India. She frequently speaks at leading art and design forums, including the India Art Fair and India Design ID.
She starred in Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives (2024), the third season of the popular Netflix reality show The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Lives.
Minhaz Merchant is a pioneering media entrepreneur, editor and publisher. He is the author of biographies of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the late industrialist Aditya Vikram Birla. Era of India is his eighth book.
A recipient of the Lady Jeejeebhoy scholarship for physics, Minhaz is married to the artist Kahini Arte-Merchant and lives in Mumbai.
Shivaji Das Gupta is an autonomous consultant, trainer and writer with an exclusive focus on building customer-centric brands in India.
He has over two decades of experience in leading agency networks across business and strategy functions.
He has advised a wide array of clients across scale and depth, helping build winning businesses, including ITC Limited, Pepsi, Airtel, Spencer’s Retail, Tata Docomo, Tata Indicom, Taj Hotels, Domino’s Pizza, Samsonite, Mondelez, William Grant’s, Tata Motors, JK Tyre, Renault, Citroën, Strides Healthcare, Reckitt Benckiser, NIIT, Truecaller, Hike Messenger, Dr. Reddy’s OTC, Hindustan Sanitaryware, Livpure Group, Keo Karpin and Senco Gold.
He is currently a regular contributor to the Economic Times, Financial Express and Bestmediainfo.com, and earlier to the Times of India.
