Sundara Ramaswamy (1931-2005) was one of the most versatile and innovative of Tamil writers. A great modernist and a dazzling stylist, he wrote in many genres-poetry, novel, short story, play, personal essay and literary criticism-making real interventions in Tamil writing. Each of his three novels-Oru Puliamaratthin Kadhai (published in Penguin Classics as Tamarind History), JJ: Sila Kuripuggal (published in Penguin Classics as JJ: Some Jottings) and Kuzhandaigal, Pengal, Aangal (published in Penguin Classics as Children, Women, Men)-is recognized as path-breaking, and he also edited and published a notable literary magazine,Kalachuvadu, which has become a forum for new writing and literary debate.
A.R. Venkatachalapathy (b. 1967) studied in Chennai and took his PhD in history from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Now professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, Chalapathy has taught at universities in Tirunelveli, Chennai and Chicago, and has held research assignments at Paris, Cambridge and Harvard. He has published widely on the social, cultural, and intellectual history of colonial Tamilnadu, both in Tamil and in English. His publications include In Those Days There Was No Coffee: Writings in Cultural History, The Province of the Book: Scholars, Scribes, and Scribblers in Colonial Tamilandu, a translation of Sundara Ramaswamy’s JJ: Some Jottings, as well as the edited volumes Chennai, Not Madras, and In the Tracks of the Mahatma: The Making of a Documentary. He has also edited two anthologies of Tamil Sangam poetry, translated by M.L. Thangappa-Love Stands Alone: Selections from Tamil Sangam Poetry and Red Lilies and Frightened Birds: Muttollayiram.
Shashi Warrier was born in Kerala in 1959. He studied economics and did his MA from BITS, Pilani.
He turned to writing after careers in consulting, journalism and computing. He is the author of several books, including Hangman’s Journal, Sniper, Night of the Krait, The Homecoming, Sally and the Warlocks and Other Stories, and The Marblewood Forest. He has also written books for children-The Hidden Continent and Suzy’s Gift.
Shashi Warrier was born in Kerala in 1959. He studied economics and did his MA from BITS, Pilani.
He turned to writing after careers in consulting, journalism and computing. He is the author of several books, including Hangman’s Journal, Sniper, Night of the Krait, The Homecoming, Sally and the Warlocks and Other Stories, and The Marblewood Forest. He has also written books for children: The Hidden Continent and Suzy’s Gift.
Pramath Raj Sinha has earned the tag of an institution builder, a profession that neither existed, nor could he ever have imagined for himself, when growing up in Patna, Bihar. What is perhaps less widely known is that as a Partner at McKinsey & Company, then as one of the Founders of the Indian School of Business (ISB), the Young India Fellowship (YIF), Ashoka University, the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women and the Naropa Fellowship, he has guided hundreds of students on their academic and career choices. As someone who studied metallurgical engineering, did robotics research, failed as an academic, then became a management consultant, a CEO, a media and now edtech entrepreneur, he believes you can surprise yourself with what you can do, yet shape your career purposefully and deliberately.
This philosophy is the foundation for Pramath’s latest venture, Harappa Education and its School of Leadership (HSoL), an online learning institution to teach Thrive Skills to working professionals across the world. For over twenty years now, he is a pioneering force in higher education, setting up more than a dozen innovative institutions and programs in India and abroad. His first book, An Idea Whose Time Has Come, about the ISB story, is now required reading for anyone building a new university or institution. In 2015, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) named him ‘Personality of the Year’ for his contributions to education. Earlier, he was listed by Thinkers50 as one of India’s Top 50 Management Thinkers.
Pramath received a BTech from IIT Kanpur (where he was conferred with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2018) and an MSE and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics.
Reenu Talwar (Author)
Author and Translator
Bhasha Singh (Author)
Bhasha Singh is a journalist, activist and writer. Born in New Delhi, she grew up in Lucknow and received her MA and LLB degrees from Lucknow University. Journalism brought her to Delhi once again in 1996, after which she has worked with Amar Ujala Karobar, Amar Ujala, Navbharat Times, Outlook weekly, Nai Duniya and then back with Outlook. She has written extnsively on the issues of manual scavenging and farmers suicides in north India. She received the Prabha Dutt Fellowship in 2005 for working on the issue of manual scavenging. She received the Ramnath Gonenka Award for best Hindi Journalist in 2007 for her story on manual – scavenging women, especially the baltiwalis of Kanpur and the dabbu-walis of WEst Bengal. In 2008 she received a fellowship from Panos for her study on the health of female manual scavengers. The National Foundation of India ( NFI0 gave her a felloship in 2006-07 for her study on farmer suicides in north India. She also writes stories and poems in Hindi, a few of which have been published. At present, she is assistant editor in Outlook ( Hindi).
Shiv Ramdas is a former radio host and media non-personality who retired to play with words. Instead he ended up in Gurgaon.
Subir Chowdhury is one of the world’s leading management thinkers and consultants, who works with Fortune 500 companies to improve their processes, operations, quality and performance. His clients have saved billions of dollars by deploying process improvement methodologies. He is the bestselling author of The Power of Six Sigma and The Ice Cream Maker. He lives in Los Angeles.
N. Venkat Venkatraman is the David J. McGrath Jr. Professor of Management at the Questrom School of Business, Boston University, where he holds a joint appointment in Information Systems/Strategy and Innovation. He has previously taught at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the London Business School. He is considered one of the foremost authorities on how companies win in digital business where products, processes, and services are shaped and supported by information and communication technology. Widely published in leading academic journals and recognized as a top-cited researcher by Google Scholar, he lectures and conducts digital strategy workshops with companies such as IBM, Merck, Ericsson, BP, Canal+, and others. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Visit him online at: www.thedigitalmatrixbook.com
