Archives: Authors

Makarand R. Paranjape has been Professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, for over twenty-three years. He also served as the Director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. The author/editor of over 50 books and hundreds of academic papers, he is also a poet, novelist, columnist, and public intellectual. His latest books include JNU: Nationalism and India’s Uncivil War (Rupa, 2022), Identity’s Last Secret (BluOne, 2022), and Swami Vivekananda: Hinduism and India’s Road to Modernity (HarperCollins, 2020). He has been in touch with the works of Sri Aurobindo and modern India’s spiritual masters for over forty years.

Sidhartha Mallya is an American-born, British-raised actor of Indian descent.
After a short career in the business world, Sidhartha made the switch to acting. He trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, graduating with a MA in acting. He made his feature film debut in the Netflix Original Brahman Naman, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Aside from acting, Sidhartha’s main focus has been on the promotion of mental health amongst the youth. In 2020, he launched an online series called ‘ConSIDer This’, which talks about the mental issues he has struggled with over the years, and offers advice to the public on how to deal with such challenges.

Michael Hutt is a former professor of Nepali and Himalayan Studies, SOAS, University of London. He has written and published extensively in Nepali and numerous pieces by him have appeared in international media.

Nitin Pai is co-founder and director of the Takshashila Institution, an independent think tank and school of public policy. He is a columnist with Mint, the Print and Sakal, and has previously written for Business Standard
and The Hindu. He has been blogging on international relations and national security issues at the Acorn since 2003. Pai was a gold medallist at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, from where he has a master’s degree in public administration. As an undergraduate scholar, he studied electrical engineering at Nanyang Technological University, after which he spent more than a decade in the telecommunications and technology industry, including a long stint as a policymaker in the Singapore government. He lives in Bangalore with his wife, three kids and a golden retriever.

Vinod N. Bhat has more than fifteen years of experience in the financial services industry and is currently working as a senior vice president and portfolio manager at Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd in Mumbai. He has an MBA in finance from the Wharton School, USA, an MS in industrial engineering from Pennsylvania State University, USA, and a BTech in mechanical engineering from IIT Bombay. Vinod is also a chartered financial analyst (CFA) charterholder. As part of his work, he has been writing, speaking and creating videos on various topics, including investments, the current state of markets and future outlook, and mutual funds, for the past four years. His audience has been retail investors, high-net-worth individuals, independent financial advisers and mutual fund distributors, among others. He has conducted more than 400 sessions with them so far. This has given him a good understanding of their knowledge of the subject (or lack thereof) and the best way to communicate with them. He lives with his mother, wife and daughter in Mumbai/Pune. You can connect with Vinod on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Divya Khanna is an alumna of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB). Having worked with two of India’s largest advertising agencies-Lowe Lintas (now Mullen Lowe) and J. Walter Thompson (now Wunderman Thompson)-she has over 16 years of experience in advertising. She specializes in observing and analysing human lives and behaviour to develop insights and ideas that help build brands

Manoj Chenthamarakshan is an educator, author and the founder of The Positive Store, an e-commerce platform formed in 2018 to help
people lead a positive and productive life. At the age of twenty-two, he got a well-paying job and successfully became a graphic designer. He earned his dream bike and lived the lifestyle that he dreamt of. But then came a day when he was invited to a party. He was asked to introduce himself. He was not happy with the title of graphic designer. This incident made him think about his identity. Later, he decided to figure out his passion and purpose. He knew that he couldn’t find it by staying on the job. So he decided to quit his job and go on a solo trip to north India. After two years of research and self-exploration, he realized that he was surrounded by great books, such as The Secret, Think and Grow Rich and The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. Everything started connecting when he looked backwards. This awareness helped him to discover NLP (neuro-linguistic programming). He completed the course in Bangalore and worked as a trainer for a year. Knowledge was in abundance, but the results were poor. It took him a few years to realize that knowledge is of no use if it is not practised. He later decided to structure his life and started creating planners, bringing in his accumulated knowledge throughout the years. Thus formed The Positive Store. They have currently sold more than 50,000 products worldwide. During this journey as an entrepreneur, he also found his passion in expressing his ideas through words, which made him write books such as Twenty-Five Small Habits, Fifty-Five Questions to Ask
Yourself and Know Thyself, which are available on Amazon.

Anand Ranganathan obtained his BSc (Hons) degree in Chemistry from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, after which he went on a scholarship to Cambridge, UK, where he obtained his BA (Tripos) in Natural Sciences, his MA, and his PhD. After a post-doctoral stint at Cambridge, Anand returned to India to join International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Delhi, where he ran his lab for 16 years as a Staff Research Scientist. In 2015 he joined the Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and became a full Professor in 2019. His laboratory works in the area of Directed Evolution and Pathogenesis, with special emphasis on Tuberculosis and Malaria. Scientific contributions from Anand’s lab have been published in peer-reviewed journals like The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Chemistry & Biology, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Journal of Clinical Investigation, and Nature Communications. Anand writes and appears frequently on television debates, on Politics, Media, and Science. His columns have appeared in Swarajya, DNA, NL, Firstpost, and Quartz. He is also the Consulting Editor of Swarajya. Anand has authored five books: The Land of the Wilted Rose (Rupa, 2012); For Love and Honour (Bloomsbury, 2015); The Rat Eater (Bloomsbury, 2019; co-authored); Soufflé (Penguin, 2023); and Hindus in Hindu Rashtra (BlueOne Ink, 2023).

Ponneelan is a much-admired Tamil writer renowned for his novels, short story collections, biographies, critical essays, and translations. His novel Pudhiya Dharisanangal won the 1994 Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil. In 2016 it was translated as New Dharshans by S. Nagarajan and published by Sahitya Akademi. His other major novel was Marupakkam considered as his lifetime achievement which delves into the complexities of the Mandaikkadu riot of his region. Karisal was his debut novel, published in 1976. Forty-five years later, it continues to remain in print in Tamil.

J. Priyadarshini, granddaughter of Ponneelan, grew up in an atmosphere of literature and litterateur. Her grandfather’s library of books and the writers and political leaders who visited him shaped her childhood and growing up in many ways. Priyadarshini is also passionate about penning poems and painting.