Ramachandra Guha Explained

Ramachandra Guha
Birth Date:1958 4, df=yes
Birth Place:Dehradun, India[1]
Alma Mater:University of Delhi (BA, MA)
IIM Calcutta (Fellowship Program)
Occupation:Historian, author, public intellectual, distinguished University professor at Krea University
Spouse:Sujata Keshavan
Signature:Ramchandra_Guha_Signature.jpg

Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economics. He is an important authority on the history of modern India.

For the years 2011–12, he held a visiting position at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), occupying the Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs. Guha was a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru. The American Historical Association (AHA) has conferred its Honorary Foreign Member prize for the year 2019 on Ramchandra Guha. He is the third Indian historian to be recognised by the association, joining the ranks of Romila Thapar and Jadunath Sarkar, who received the honour in 2009 and 1952, respectively.

Covering a wide range of subjects, Guha has produced three major books of modern India's socio-political history. Among them, Gandhi Before India (2013) and (2018), are the two volumes of biography of Mahatma Gandhi, an icon of the Indian independence movement. The other being India After Gandhi (2007), an account of the history of India from 1947-2017, which received commercial and critical success.

He is a trustee of New India Foundation fellowship programme. He was appointed to BCCI's panel of administrators by the Supreme Court of India in January 2017, but stepped down from his position citing personal reasons five months later. A regular contributor to various academic journals, Guha has also written for The Caravan and Outlook magazines. His book India After Gandhi is read by aspirants of the Indian civil services examination.[2] He is a columnist for The Telegraph, Hindustan Times, and Hindi daily newspaper, Amar Ujala. Guha was listed among the 100 most powerful Indians in 2022 by The Indian Express.[3]

Early life

Guha was born on 29 April 1958 in Dehradun (now in Uttarakhand)[4] into a Tamil Brahmin family.[5] He was raised in Dehradun, where his father Subramaniam Ramdas Guha worked at the Forest Research Institute,[6] [7] and his mother was a high-school teacher. While he should have been named Subramaniam Ramachandra in keeping with Tamil name-keeping norms, his teachers at school, presumably while registering his name during admission, were not familiar with these norms, and he came to be known as Ramachandra Guha.[6] He grew up in Dehradun, on the Forest Research Institute campus.[8] [9]

Guha studied at Cambrian Hall and The Doon School.[10] [11] At Doon, he was a contributor to the school newspaper The Doon School Weekly, and edited a publication called History Times along with Amitav Ghosh, who later became a noted writer.[12] [13] He graduated from St. Stephen's College, Delhi with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1977,[14] and completed his master's in economics from the Delhi School of Economics.[15] He then enrolled at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, where he earned a Ph.D. in sociology, focusing on history and prehistory of the Chipko movement. It was later published as The Unquiet Woods: Ecological Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalya.[16] [17]

Career

Guha has authored books on a diverse range of subjects including cricket, the environment, politics, and history.[18] Guha was a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Science for a year beginning in July 2019.[19] He is the trustee of the New India Foundation fellowship programme, which he himself conceptualised in 2004.[20] He has taught at the following universities: Krea, Stanford, Yale, Berlin Institute for Advanced Study, Indian Institute of Science, and University of California at Berkeley. He held the Arné Naess Chair at the University of Oslo, the Indo-American Community Chair at the University of California at Berkeley, and the Philipe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at the London School of Economics.[21]

History of Modern India

Guha is the author of India after Gandhi, published by Macmillan and Ecco in 2007. The book was an instant hit and is considered an essential literature in space of modern Indian history. It was chosen Book of the Year by The Economist, The Wall Street Journal and Outlook Magazine. The book was one of the best non-fiction books of the decade (2010–2019) as per The Hindu.[22] The book won the 2011 Sahitya Akademi Award for English for 'narrative history'.[23]

In 2010, Guha wrote the introduction for and edited Makers of Modern India, which profiles 19 Indians who helped in forming and shaping India. The book contains excerpts of their speeches and essays, and covers topics such as religion, caste, colonialism, and nationalism.[24]

In October 2013, he authored Gandhi Before India, the first part of a two-volume biography of Mahatma Gandhi. The biography documents his life from 1869 to 1914, covering events from his childhood to the two decades he spent in South Africa.[25] [26] In 2018, he authored the standalone sequel , which covers events from when Gandhi returned to India in 1914 to his death in 1948. The book subsumes a lot of new archival material that was discovered only in the 21st century. It has an epilogue which discusses the role of Gandhi in contemporary world politics.[27]

In 2022, Guha authored Rebels Against the Raj, which tells the story of 7 Westerners who came to, lived in, and served India in its quest for independence from the British Raj.[28]

His books are amongst the most sought-after by history students and civil service aspirants in India.[29]

Guha has published a collection of essays, two of them being Patriots and Partisans (2012) and Democrats and Dissenters (2016). In 1999, he was offered to write a biography of Atal Bihari Vajpayee which he declined.[30]

Environment

Guha earned a PhD on the social history of forestry in Uttarakhand, focusing on the Chipko movement. He produced a biography of the anthropologist Verrier Elwin in 1999,[31] and in the same year wrote a book on environmentalism called Environmentalism: A Global History[32] . In 2006, he authored How Much Should a Person Consume?.[33]

Cricket

Guha has written extensively on cricket as a journalist and as a historian. His research into the social history of Indian cricket culminated in his work A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport, which was released in 2002.[34] The book charts the development of cricket in India from its inception during the British Raj to its position in contemporary India as the nation's favourite pastime.

He was appointed to BCCI's panel of administrators by the Supreme Court of India on 30 January 2017, as part of the Lodha Committee reforms, only to resign in July of the same year.[35]

In November 2020, he published The Commonwealth of Cricket: A Lifelong Love Affair with the Most Subtle and Sophisticated Game Known to Humankind, a personal account of the transformation of cricket in India across all levels at which the game is played. It presents vivid portraits of local heroes, provincial icons, and international stars through the 50 years he has been following the game. The book blends between memoir, anecdote, reportage, and political critique.[36]

Personal life

Guha lives in the city of Bengaluru. He is married to Sujata Keshavan, a graphic designer, and they have two children together. Their son, Keshava Guha, is a novelist, who announced the release of his first novel, Accidental Magic, at the 2019 Bangalore Literature Festival. He competed in the first UK series of the quiz show Jeopardy![37] [38]

Guha is a nephew of the distinguished organic chemist Krishnaswami Venkataraman, the husband of Guha's paternal aunt Shakuntala and the first Indian director of the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL). Venkataraman's only child, the late economic historian Dharma Kumar, was a first cousin of Guha,[39] and her daughter, the feminist and academic Radha Kumar, is Guha's first cousin once removed. According to Guha, he was close to Venkataraman, who expected his nephew would also become a chemist; although he ultimately decided upon sociology, he credited his uncle as being one of the two people "from whom I learnt that to do something well, one had to do it thoroughly."[39]

Guha doesn't drink alcohol.[40] He lists books, cricket, Hindustani classical music and the iconic eatery of Koshy's in Bangalore as his favorites.[41]

Awards and recognition

Bibliography

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ramachandra Guha: Celebrating the life of Keshav Desiraju – a true Nehruvian Indian. 2022-01-14. Scroll. Scroll.in. en. 12 September 2021 .
  2. Web site: Jaishankar. Dhruva. India's 5 most important public intellectuals – and what this list says about our national discourse. 2022-01-13. Scroll.in. 6 February 2018 . en-US.
  3. Web site: 2022-04-21 . IE 100 2022: List of most powerful Indians . 2022-09-12 . The Indian Express . en.
  4. Web site: Ramachandra Guha: Celebrating the life of Keshav Desiraju – a true Nehruvian Indian. 2022-01-14. Scroll. Scroll.in. en. 12 September 2021 .
  5. News: Harad . Tejas . Does Ramachandra Guha have a caste? . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230927122203/https://www.newslaundry.com/2017/06/14/response-ramchandra-guha-gandhi-caste . September 27, 2023 . Guha is, I suppose, a proud Tamil Brahmin. . . 14 June 2017 .
  6. News: Lunch with BS: Ramachandra Guha . live . Bhandari . Bhupesh . 8 May 2007 . . 19 July 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140111061510/https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/lunch-with-bs-ramachandra-guha-107050801041_1.html . January 11, 2014 . For the record, Guha himself is a Tamil from Bangalore. .
  7. News: Ram Guha: A Radical Progressive . Gadgil . Madhav . 9 April 2018 . . 19 July 2018.
  8. Web site: Who Milks This Cow? . Guha . Ramachandra . 19 November 2012 . 19 July 2018 . Outlook India.
  9. News: A Unique Trail - Twist in the tale of the search for an elusive book . https://web.archive.org/web/20071028091359/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071027/asp/opinion/story_8472620.asp . dead . 28 October 2007 . Guha . Ramachandra . 27 October 2007 . The Telegraph . 19 July 2018.
  10. News: Why the Dalai Lama may be India's noblest resident . Guha . Ramachandra . 30 January 2016 . Hindustan Times . 20 July 2018.
  11. News: 'Dosco' Amitav Ghosh celebrates his 60th Birthday . Chopra . Jaskiran . 12 July 2016 . . 20 July 2018.
  12. News: Of nature, cricket, literature and history . Chopra . Jaskiran . 29 October 2017 . The Statesman . 20 July 2018.
  13. 'History of the Weekly' published by The Doon School (2009), p. 36.
  14. Web site: The shrinking of St. Stephen's. 11 August 2018.
  15. News: St Stephen's: Murder In The Cathedral? . Guha . Ramachandra . 25 June 2007 . Outlook India . 20 July 2018.
  16. Web site: Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (also referred to as IIM Calcutta or IIMC) website. www.iimcal.ac.in.
  17. Web site: Ramachandra Guha Center for Contemporary South Asia . 2023-03-13 . watson.brown.edu.
  18. Web site: Ramachandra Guha. 20 April 2019. Goodreads.com.
  19. News: Press Trust of India . July 2, 2019 . Ramachandra Guha to join IISc as visiting professor. 2021-11-20. India Today. en.
  20. Web site: 2020-07-07. Ramachandra Guha: 'Each one of us has rejected close friends' for the NIF. 2021-11-05. Mintlounge. en.
  21. Web site: Ramachandra Guha Center for Contemporary South Asia. 2021-11-20. watson.brown.edu.
  22. News: Best non-fiction books of the decade. The Hindu. 28 December 2019.
  23. Poets Dominate Sahitya Akademi Awards 2011. Sahitya Akademi. 2011-12-21. 2011-12-21. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120508031321/http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/pdf/award-2011.pdf. 2012-05-08. .
  24. Web site: Makers Of Modern India . 2022-07-16 . Penguin Random House India . en-US.
  25. Book: Gandhi Before India . 2014 . Penguin India . 978-0-1434-2341-6 . 20 April 2019.
  26. News: A Conversation With: Historian Ramachandra Guha . The New York Times . Basharat . Peer . 21 October 2013.
  27. Web site: Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World, 1914-1948 by Ramachandra Guha: 9780307474797 PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books . 2022-07-14 . PenguinRandomhouse.com . en-US.
  28. Web site: Rebels Against the Raj by Ramachandra Guha: 9781101874837 PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books . 2022-07-14 . PenguinRandomhouse.com . en-US.
  29. Web site: Jaishankar. Dhruva. India's 5 most important public intellectuals – and what this list says about our national discourse. 2022-01-13. Scroll.in. 6 February 2018 . en-US. Ramachandra Guha: Guha has written eloquently on history, politics, environmentalism, and cricket. No other writer is read as much by aspirants to the Indian civil services examination..
  30. Web site: Ramachandra Guha. VIGNETTES OF VAJPAYEE, The Hindu. 2021-11-20.

    Welcome to Ramachandra Guha.in

    . en-US.
  31. Web site: Savaging The Civilized . 2022-07-14 . Penguin Random House India . en-US.
  32. Web site: Environmentalism - Ramachandra Guha - 9780321011695 - History - United States & the Americas (92) . 5 February 2023.
  33. Book: Guha, Ramachandra . How Much Should a Person Consume?: Environmentalism in India and the United States . November 2006 . Rukun Advani . Univ of California Press . 978-0-520-24805-2 . en.
  34. Book: Guha, Ramachandra. A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport. 2003. Picador. 978-0-330-49117-4. en.
  35. http://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/ramachandra-guha-accepts-sc-s-nomination-to-bcci-s-panel-of-administrators/story-DimGN3nJQrDIVEtsPXgJyL.html "Ramachandra Guha accepts SC's nomination to BCCI's panel of administrators"
  36. Book: Guha, Ramachandra. The Commonwealth of Cricket: A Lifelong Love Affair with the Most Subtle and Sophisticated Game Known to Humankind. 2020. Harper Collins. 978-93-90327-28-7. en. 16 September 2020. 16 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200916234647/https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780008422509/the-commonwealth-of-cricket-a-lifelong-love-affair-with-the-most-subtle-and-sophisticated-game-known-to-humankind/. dead.
  37. Vidya Iyengar (11 November 2019), "Could have been compared to my father if he wrote fiction: Author Keshava Guha", The News Indian Express. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  38. Web site: Keshava Guha is a contestant on the new series of Jeopardy .
  39. Guha . C. Ramachandra . December 2004 . Personal Reflections: A Nephew Remembers . Resonance . 9 . 12 . 78–80 . 10.1007/BF02834312.
  40. Web site: The Constant Writer . Open Magazine.
  41. Web site: Guha . Ramachandra . 2020-10-11 . Ramachandra Guha: At Koshy’s Parade Café, memories of lime juice – and an owl on a moonlit night . 2024-08-14 . Scroll.in . en.
  42. https://foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4293 Foreign Policy: Top 100 Intellectuals
  43. Web site: Padma Bhushan for Shekhar Gupta, Abhinav Bindra. 25 January 2009. 26 January 2009.
  44. POETS DOMINATE SAHITYA AKADEMI AWARDS 2011. Sahitya Akademi. 21 December 2011. 21 December 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120508031321/http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/pdf/award-2011.pdf. 8 May 2012. dmy-all.
  45. Web site: Yale Awards 12 Honorary Degrees at 2014 Graduation. YaleNews. 19 May 2014. New Haven, Connecticut.
  46. Web site: Historian Ramachandra Guha Selected for Japan's Fukuoka Prize. NDTV. 21 June 2015.
  47. Web site: Honorary Foreign Member Recipient . historians.org . American Historical association . 1 March 2021.

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