Col V. N. Thapar is the father of Capt Vijyant Thapar, VrC, who was a fourthgeneration army officer. At the early age of fifteen, he was selected for the National Defence Academy and commissioned on 12 December 1962 in the
Maratha Light Infantry. He commanded a battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles. He was part of the 1965 War and Bangladesh War, and has operated in counter-insurgency operations. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Defense
Services, Staff College, Wellington. He has written for media publications and is a motivational speaker at various forums, universities, colleges and schools.
Neha Dwivedi, a Kargil War martyr’s daughter and an Armoured Corps Officer’s wife, is a doctor by profession. She is an alumnus of DPS RK Puram and Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi. She sought solace in writing and found her
strength post her father’s martyrdom. She now lives in Mumbai, where she works as a childbirth educator and an infant and young child feeding specialist. She deeply believes in the healing and inspirational power of stories. This is her first book.
Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales to Norwegian parents. He was educated in England before starting work for the Shell Oil Company in Africa, and began writing after a ‘monumental bash on the head’ sustained as an RAF fighter pilot during the Second World War. He worked in a tiny hut in the apple orchard of his house in Buckinghamshire until his death in 1990 at the age of seventy-four. Roald Dahl’s many books continue to be loved by readers the world over, who delight in the magic of his marvellous storytelling.
Himani Dalmia is an Australian-Certified Infant and Child Sleep Specialist and co-founder of the support group, Gentle Baby Sleep India. She is a Leader of the La Leche League, the largest non-profit for breastfeeding awareness globally. Her first book, a bestselling and critically acclaimed novel titled Life Is Perfect, was published in 2009. Formerly a member of the Times of India Edit Page team,
she has contributed widely to newspapers, magazines and journals. A children’s picture book by her is currently under publication by HarperCollins India. Himani graduated with honours in English from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, and holds a master’s degree in South Asian Literature from the University of Oxford. She lives in New Delhi with her husband Akash and two little girls, Devika and Yamini.
Neha Bhatt is an award-winning journalist who reports on public health, human rights, gender and education for leading international and Indian publications. Her work has been published in The
Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Globe and Mail, The British Medical Journal and The Hindu, among others. Formerly a staffer at a range of news organizations, including Outlook magazine, she has won the Press Council of India, UNFPA-Laadli and Red Ink awards for excellence in journalism. Neha has also written widely on books, film and culture. She holds a postgraduate diploma from the Asian
College of Journalism. She is an advocate for conscious parenting and co-founder of the pioneering support network, Gentle Baby Sleep
India. Neha is based in Gurugram, where she lives with her husband and son.
TRUPTI BHANDARI is a global business leader and marketer with experience across FMCG, healthcare and lifestyle segments in companies such as Reckitt Benckiser, Pfizer, Bausch + Lomb and GSK Consumer Healthcare. She has helped build iconic brands such as Dettol, Horlicks, Boost, Sensodyne and Crocin, among others, in various leadership roles. Honoured with multiple communication and marketing awards, Trupti has also co-authored the bestselling business book Pragmarketism, along with Arvind Bhandari. Currently based in Switzerland, Trupti provides consulting to organizations on brand strategy and communication.
ARVIND BHANDARI, currently working as Global Head, Wyeth Nutrition at Nestlé, is a corporate veteran with twenty-five years of work experience across leading organizations such as ITC, JWT, PepsiCo and Nestlé. In senior business leadership roles, he has nurtured classic brands like Maggi, Lay’s, Pepsi, Everyday and Milkmaid, to name a few. Holding degrees in management, humanities and law from institutions such as the Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Faculty of Law and St Stephen’s College, Delhi, Arvind is a regular writer/columnist for marketing and business publications and lectures at prominent management institutions. Arvind has been presented the AsiaOne ‘India’s Greatest CMO 2016-17’ award, for excellence in marketing.
Sharat Pradhan is an independent journalist, political analyst and TV panellist based in Lucknow.
Atul Chandra is former resident editor of The Times of India, Lucknow.
ThiJa or Thi. Janakiraman (1921-1982) was a central figure in the lively Tamil literary scene of the mid-twentieth century. Some would say he was the most gifted of all who were writing at that time. His descriptions of life in rural and small-town Tamil Nadu are almost without parallel. He published over a hundred exquisite short stories, nine novels, two novellas, four travelogues, and occasional essays on literary topics. In 1979 he won the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Most noted for his novel Raag Darbari, for which he received the Sahitya Akademi Award, Shrilal Shukla also wrote several collections of satirical essays and short stories. He was a recipient of the Jnanpith Award and the Padma Bhushan.
