Hanif Zaveri is an author, journalist, actor and playwright residing in Mumbai. A student of Maharashtra College of Arts Science and Commerce Mumbai, he has worked as a freelance film journalist, and interviewed eminent film personalities from Ashok Kumar to Dilip Kumar. He wrote, directed and acted in the play Naqli Nawab for Stage Arts International. A member of Indian People Theatre Association (IPTA), he worked with M.S. Sathyu, Ramesh Talwar, Shabana Azmi, A.K. Hangal, Anjan Srivastava, Manmohan Krishna, Sulbha Arya, Sudhir Panday and Rakesh Bedi. He worked as chief reporter for the film weekly Film City. He acted in the Doordarshan serial Babaji Ka Bioscope and wrote the documentary Khatti Meethi Yaadein. He is the author of Mehmood: A Man of Many Moods. Apart form writing, he also works as an administrative officer for the construction company RNA Builders (NG).
Sumant Batra is India’s number one insolvency lawyer, as rated by Legal 500. As senior international consultant to the IMF, World Bank Group, OECD and other development institutions, he has worked extensively on policy matters in Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. He is the founder and architect of a number of innovative creative projects to promote Indian heritage, culture, art and literature. An avid collector, he probably has the largest collection of Indian cinema memorabilia, has set up Chitrashala, a private museum of Indian vintage graphic art and has curated a boutique hotel in the Himalayas using his collection. He is the author of The Indians, a coffeetable book that included a foreword by Cherie Blair.
Suresh Raina is one of India’s most successful international cricketers. An aggressive left-handed middle-order batsman, a useful off-spin bowler and one of the best fielders in world cricket, Raina was part of the World Cup-winning team in 2011. He is a youth icon and is among the most-followed Indian sportspersons and social media.
Bharat Sundaresan is a world-renowned, award-winning cricket writer currently based in Adelaide, Australia. He is the Australian correspondent and senior writer of Cricbuzz, having previously spent over a decade covering cricket around the globe for the Indian Express.He is also the bestselling author of The Dhoni Touch.
Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Laxman (1921-2015) was born and educated in Mysore. He started contributing as a cartoonist to college magazines, his brother R.K. Narayan’s books, publications such as Koravanji, and also Gemini Studio. He initially worked at Blitz (Mumbai) and the Free Press Journal and, six months later, he joined Times of India, where he enjoyed a long and prolific career. He created India’s most beloved and iconic cartoon character, ‘The Common Man’.
Laxman’s books include Idle Hours (later retitled The Distorted Mirror), The Hotel Riviera, The Messenger and Servants of India. The Tunnel of Time is Laxman’s autobiography, and several collections of his cartoons are part of the series The Best of Laxman and Laugh with Laxman.
R.K. Laxman was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan (1973) and the Padma Vibhushan (2005). He was a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1984) and CNN IBN TV18’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism (2008) as well as several honorary docorates by prestigious universities.
Myra MacDonald is a journalist and author specializing in South Asian politics and security. She was a correspondent for Reuters for nearly thirty years, and also published a book on the Siachen war. She lives in Scotland.
PROF. T.J. JOSEPH was born on 22 July 1957 to religious extremism Joseph and Elikutty, and was educated at St Thomas College, Palai, Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, and NSS Training College, Changanassery. He started his career as a lecturer at Pavanatma College, Murickassery, in 1985. He also worked at Nirmala College, Muvattupuzha, and Newman College, Thodupuzha. In 2010, following the question paper controversy, he was attacked by religious fundamentalists. He was dismissed from service subsequently. Reinstated on 28 March 2014, he retired on 31 March 2014.
Rajshree Chandra is an academic, a teacher and an author. Most of her writing and research is primarily at the intersection of political philosophy, law and politics. She is the author of The Cunning of Rights (2016) and Knowledge as Property (2010) and has written several research articles and political commentaries. Chandra has received the UKERI (UK-India Research Initiative) award for research collaboration, the ICSSR post-doctoral award, the Australia India Institute’s ELF fellowship and the IWM (Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna) visiting fellowship. This book-a political biography of her grandfather, rendered through the prism of nationalist history-has been generously supported by the New India Foundation Fellowship.
Rajshree Chandra is professor of political science at Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi, and is a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for Policy Research.
Nirupama Menon Rao is a former Indian Foreign Secretary (2009-2011) and was Ambassador of India to China (2006-2009) and to the United States (2011-2013). She was High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2006 and also served as Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs from 2001 to 2002. During her diplomatic career, she spent significant time working on the bilateral relationship between India and China and specialized on the history and problems concerning the India-China border, and the question of Tibet. In retirement, she has taught at Brown and Columbia Universities, and was a Pacific Leadership Fellow at the University of California at San Diego. She is currently a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C. Rao is also the founder of the South Asian Symphony Orchestra, a project to promote dialogue and habits of cooperation among young South Asians and the South Asian diaspora, through music.
Anna Bhau Sathe is an illustrious Indian Dalit author, folk poet, staunch humanist and social reformer from India. National integration, unified and glorified Maharashtra, identity politics, class and caste struggle, eradication of caste, women’s and tribal issues were some of the broad areas his mighty pen covered. Despite lacking any formal education, Sathe, the man of letters, produced 35 novels including Fakira (1959), which presently is in 46th edition and received ‘Best Novel Award’ from Government of Maharashtra. His 35 novels, a Travelogue: My Journey to Russia, 15 collections of short stories, 12 screenplays, 10 ballads including Ballad of Stalingrad, Ballad of Nanking, and Ballad of Berlin have gained a huge popularity locally and globally. Many of Anna Bhau’s works have been translated in world languages. His novels Chitra, Fakira, short story Sultan, Khaprya Chor (A Balck Thief) have been translated in Russian, Police, Czech and many pan Indian languages.
Subir Verma is HR and IR head at Tata Power DDL. He is a writer, speaker, HR leader and start-up mentor. He is an engineer and has a postgraduate degree from XIM, Bhubaneswar. In a career spanning over twenty-two years, he has worked in diverse areas including information technology, telecom, retail, financial services and manufacturing.
Sagarika Verma is a serial entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of India’s first online mentoring portal, www.cxomentors.com. Sagarika has a PhD and MBA degree and has over fifteen years of experience in areas such as human resources and consulting. She has been associated with prestigious companies and institutions such as ICICI, Indian Institute of Management (Indore) and Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur).
Subir Verma is HR & IR Head at Tata Power DDL. He is a writer, speaker, HR leader and start-up mentor. He is an engineer and a postgraduate from XIM, Bhubaneswar. In a career spanning over 22 years, he has worked in diverse areas including information technology, telecom, retail, financial services and manufacturing.
