Introspections by Seema Nazareth

K Jayakumar was the former Chief Secretary of Kerala and is the President of the Poetry Society of India. He was the first Vice-Chancellor of the Malayalam University. A poet, lyricist, screenwriter and painter, he has written twenty-five books in Malayalam and four in English, held seventeen solo exhibitions in India and abroad, and published acclaimed translations of Tagore, Kahlil Gibran and Rumi. In 2021, he received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Overall Contribution and in 2022, the Asan Poetry Prize.

Arundhati Raja is the Founder Trustee of the performance arts space, Jagriti. She co-founded the Artistes’ Repertory Theatre in 1982. The company and its productions are now an integral part of Bangalore’s cultural history. While directing and acting, she also taught French, Biology and Drama for several years and considers her life as a teacher to be instrumental to her deep desire to encourage and support new talent. Arundhati Raja has now directed over 30 productions and continues to perform, teach and motivate a new generation of theatre makers.

Annie Chandy Mathew − (former) Professor and Head of the Department of English and Communicative English, Mount Carmel College − is a woman of varied interests. She taught at Mount Carmel College for 23 years and set up the UGC-sponsored Communicative English Course there. She was also a popular resource person and motivational speaker in many schools, colleges and leadership camps conducted by the Rotary and Lions Clubs.

She has presented several papers on Literature and pedagogical strategies at seminars hosted by the British Council and Bangalore University, and papers on Solar Cooking at the NREL Denver and the Department of Physics, University of Chicago. She has conducted workshops on Creative Writing at the ECC, Media Centre and St Agnes College, Mangalore. Passionately interested in quiz, she has compiled and conducted an All-India Quiz on Renewable Energy and an audio-visual quiz to mark 400 years of Shakespeare.

As an editor and publisher for eight years, she organised and conducted annual short story and poetry competitions and compiled several anthologies of original poetry, including Heartbeat, Peacocks Cry, Mosaic and I Me Myself, and collections of short stories A Cup of Chai, The Shrinking Woman, Vanilla Desires and The Curse of the Bird. She was also the Editor of the revised New Horizon Series for Macmillan India.

Her own publications include Fireflies in the Dark (a collection of short stories), Sunshine Meals (an introduction to solar cooking) and Because We Care (a handbook for parents of preschool children). In addition to several articles in academic journals and newspapers, she has published interviews with Sir Stephen Spender the legendary poet, playwright and critic and Alistair Niven, critic and expert on Commonwealth Literature.

She would like to be remembered as a teacher of English Literature especially poetry, which keeps her grounded and gives her wings.

When she was eight, Samhita Arni started writing and illustrating her first book. The Mahabharata – A Child’s View went on to be published in seven language editions, sold over 60,000 copies, and won the Elsa Morante Literary Award. Samhita’s second book, Sita’s Ramayana, a graphic novel developed in collaboration with Patua artist Moyna Chitrakar, was on the New York Times Bestseller list for Graphic Novels. She is also the author of a mythological thriller, The Missing Queen, and The Prince, a work of historical fiction set in South India. The Prince won the 2020 Neev Book Prize.

Samhita spent six months in Kabul, Afghanistan, where she was head scriptwriter for an action-packed police drama, titled ‘The Defenders’, and was the scriptwriter for ‘Good Morning Karachi’, a film directed by Locarno award-winning director, Sabiha Sumar. Earlier this year, she worked on ‘Barroz’, a Malayalam film featuring and directed by the legendary superstar, Mohanlal. In 2021, India Today magazine listed Samhita as one of “The Next 100 Young Achievers who symbolize India Tomorrow,” a list which included Tapsee Pannu and Aditya Thackeray.

The literary journal Out of Print produced an issue on Sexual and Gender Violence, which was conceived by and guest-edited by Samhita, and which went on to receive a Laadli Media award for Gender Sensitivity. Samhita was the 2014 artist-in-residence at the FIND Foundation in  Zagarolo, Italy, and also received their 2015 grant. She was also the recipient of the 2015 Charles Wallace – British Council Fellowship, and was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Kent.

She also is a consultant with the Starlight Effect, a firm that uses storytelling to transform businesses and organizations.

In his 35-year career in the Indian Foreign Service, 1959 – 1994, Ambassador Alan Nazareth has served in India’s diplomatic missions in Tokyo, Rangoon, and Lima, as Director General of the ICCR, as India’s Consul General in Chicago and New York, Deputy High Commissioner in London, High Commissioner to Ghana, and Ambassador to Egypt and Mexico.

Since his retirement in May 1994, he has lectured at numerous prestigious universities and institutes in India and abroad, such as the National Institute of Advanced Studies Bangalore, Benares Hindu University and Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Heidelberg, Uppsala and Peking Universities.

His book Gandhi’s Outstanding Leadership, published in March 2006, has come out in 12 Indian and 23 foreign languages, including Arabic. French, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has written the Foreword for 12 of the foreign language editions.

On October 9, 2007, he was presented the U Thant Peace Award for his “Lifetime of World Service”. Among its previous recipients are the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

On October 2, 2012 and 2017, he delivered the keynote addresses at the International Day of Non-Violence event at the United Nations in New York and the United Nations Library in Geneva.