"AN ASYNCHRONOUS HISTORY SCRAPBOOK"
(Authored By Jwala Narasimha Rao)
(Authored By Jwala Narasimha Rao)
FOREWORD by J. Harinarayan
Jwala, as
he is known to his wide circle, is always curious, inquisitive and adventurous.
In the past four decades there has not been an event or a personality in Andhra
Pradesh he has not made his interest to know intimately. Several are the
enjoyable evenings I have spent in Hyderabad in the company of Jwala and
friends, evenings of talk, discussion, and conviviality. Writing this foreword
to his musings is reliving those wonderful evenings.
"Reading maketh a full man;
conference a ready man; and writing an exact man" so wrote Francis Bacon about four hundred years ago. By his standard
every year about 3 Lakh ‘exact’ men emerge in the US, about 2 lakhs in China,
about 1.5 lakhs each in the UK and Russia and about 80 thousands each in India,
Germany and Japan. About a million-and-a-half new writers every year the world
over! Considering that the world population is about 7000 million and increases
by about 75 million annually, the numbers of emerging new writers in all
languages taken together is not staggeringly large. Hence every writer is to be
cherished, even if not read!
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By Bacons’ measure Jwala then is
an exact man. A thinking person is either involved in or observes the events of
his times and the musings titled “An Asynchronous History Scrapbook” reveal the width of his
engagement. The collection contained in this volume is 87 of Jwala’s essays,
articles and reports written and speeches delivered, over the past four
decades. They cover a host of subjects including Hinduism, health, handicrafts,
history, international political events, notable personalities, administrative
reforms and of course Telangana. Jwala’s musings reflect his career and his
heritage. He has worked variously as a librarian, as a faculty member of the
MCR HRD Institute, as also a task force member on administrative reform, an
officer of a Government Handicrafts Development Corporation, on the staff of a
senior political leader and as a manger of the public relations of an entity
which introduced new dimensions in healthcare in Andhra Pradesh in a
public-private partnership mode. Deeply rooted in a village in Khammam District
and having schooled in Khammam and Hyderabad in the early years of independent
India, Jwala has imbibed a Nehruvian philosophy grounded in a liberal tolerant Hinduism.
“An
Asynchronous History Scrapbook” reveals an
observer’s rather than a participant’s perspective. As in
the best of reportage, there is an accurate collation of reported facts and
little cant or ideological posturing. Some of the articles are dated, in that
the events relate to a period prior to more significant developments, but his
observations, particularly in the articles dealing with the Middle East, are
strangely prophetic. Practically in all the chapters there is some interesting
and little known nugget of knowledge.
J.
Harinarayan IAS (Rtd)
President,
National Information Services
Former
Chief Secretary to Government of AP
V Srinivasarao Mantripragada:
ReplyDeleteThe foreword gives glimpses of wide ranging topics covered and author's rich experience in various fields of activity. It also gives author's unbiased coverage of facts with nuggets of knowledge in all chapters which are special and rare insights of the author. In a nutshell that the foreword gives the flavour of the book.I hope the book which received the stamp of appreciation from the former chief secretary of Government of A.P, Sri. J. Harinarayan garu, I.A.S. will receive wide appreciation.
Nandiraju Radhakrishna:
ReplyDeleteDeeply rooted in a village in Khammam District and having schooled in Khammam and Hyderabad in the early years of independent India, Jwala has imbibed a Nehruvian philosophy grounded in a liberal tolerant Hinduism. ----- the observation made by Dr Harinarayan is very much interested..