Editions Speakers - History Literature Festival

Best Indian Historians Under One Roof

Powerful historians, archaeologists, academicians, and authors coming together to weave the threads

of the India story through lucid stories.

Peggy Mohan

Historian | Author | Professor

Peggy Mohan is an acclaimed author and academic who has taught linguistics in some of India’s reputed institutions such as Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia University. She has authored three novels – Jahajin, The Youngest Suspect and Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The story of India through languages. Currently, she teaches music in Vasant Valley School, New Delhi.

Peggy Mohan

Historian | Author | Professor

Dr. Uday S Kulkarni

Author | Retired Surgeon Commander

Dr. Uday Kulkarni is an alumnus of the Armed Forces Medical College (Pune) who retired as the Surgeon Commander of the Indian Navy. He is the writer of the critically acclaimed ‘The Peshwa Trilogy.’ Dr. Kulkarni made his writing debut with Solstice at Panipat in 2010 and went on to write six books in English and Marathi, giving comprehensive accounts of Maratha History. He recently published the third part of his trilogy The Mastery of Hindustan: Triumphs and Travails of Madhavrao Peshwa.

Disha Ahluwalia

Archaeologist | Researcher

Disha Ahluwalia is an archaeologist and researcher. She did her BA (Hons.) History from Delhi University and then her Master’s in ancient history and archaeology from the University of Mysore. As an archaeologist, Disha has worked at significant excavation sites such as Binjor, Sinauli, and Rakhigarhi. Currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. at MSU University.

Disha Ahluwalia

Archaeologist | Researcher

Chinmay Tumbe

Historian | Author | Economist

Chinmay Tumbe loves to laugh and learn. He is a faculty member in the Economics Area of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and the author of India Moving: A History of Migration (2018) and The Age of Pandemics, 1817-1920: How they shaped India and the world (2020).

Ami Ganatra

Author | Business Leader

Ami Ganatra is an Indian Institute of Management- Ahmedabad alumnus, management guru, and avid yoga practitioner. She has worked as a management consultant for over 15 years across four continents. As a Sanskrit student, Ami developed a keen interest in Indic Knowledge Systems and wrote two books on Indian Epics- Mahabharata Unravelled: Lesser-known facets & Ramayana Unravelled: Lesser-known facets of Rishi Valmiki’s epic.

Ami Ganatra

Author | Business Leader

Prachi Deshpande

Historian | Professor | Author

Prachi Deshpande is an Indian historian who teaches at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences in Kolkata. She studied history at Fergusson College (Pune) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi) and then shifted to the US to pursue her Ph.D. at Tufts University. Dr. Despande has served as a professor in America’s top-tier education institutions. She made her writing debut with Creative Pasts: Historical Memory and Identity in Western India, 1700-1960 (2007), and went on to publish two more books- Shuddhalekhan Orthography, Community and the Marathi Public Sphere & The writerly self: Literacy, discipline, and codes of conduct in early modern western India in 2016.

Sonal Ved

Author | Journalist | Content Director

Sonal Ved is an author, journalist, and content director at India Food Network, Tastemade India. Food is her muse for writing. Two of her books- Tiffin and Whose Samosa Is It Anyway?, have been accredited by The New York Times. Besides, she is also a food editor at Vogue India. She also contributes her pieces to food publications such as Food52 and Thrillist.

Sonal Ved

Author | Journalist | Content Director

Shubhra Chatterji

Screenwriter | Director | Social Entrepreneur

Shubhra Chatterji is an award-winning filmmaker who goes by the name of Historywali. She has written and directed famous fiction-non-fiction shows for various networks. Her relationship with Indian food began a decade ago when she wandered around India, scaling the length & breadth of the nation while exploring the secrets behind Indian cuisines. Incorporating all her experiences, Ms. Chatterji is ready to make her writing debut with her book ‘Rasa- history and stories of Indian food’.

Prakash Magdum

Civil Servant | Author

Mr. Prakash Magdum is a 1999 batch IIS Officer designated as the Additional Director General of PIB in Gujarat. He has previously served at the National Film Archive of India and the Film & Television Institute of India. Besides being a dedicated civil servant, Mr. Magdum is a movie buff who enjoys writing about Indian cinema. His recently published book The Mahatma on Celluloid has been the talk-of-the-town for its distinct subject angle on Mahatma Gandhi.

Prakash Magdom

Civil Servant | Author

Jahnavi Phalkey

Founding Director, Science Gallery Bangalore

Jahanvi Phalkey is an author, historian, documentary filmmaker, professor and the founding director of Science Gallery Bengaluru. She gained her doctoral degree in history of science and technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. She is the author of Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth Century India and co-editor of Science of Giants: China and India in the Twentieth Century. She also produced and directed the documentary film Cyclotron.

Vasant Shinde

Archaeologist | Author

Prof Vasant Shinde is a world-renowned archaeologist and the founding Director General of the National Maritime Heritage Complex in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He has also been the former Vice Chancellor of the famous Deccan College Deemed University, Pune, India. In addition, he has authored five books based on the various aspects of South Asian civilizations. Prof. Shinde also contributes to newspaper columns of some of the prestigious dailies.

Vasant Shinde

Archaeologist | Author

Amarendra Dhaneshwar

Hindustani Classical Singer | Author

Amarendra Dhaneshwar is a well-known classical singer with 200 performances under his name. The legendary Neela Bhagwat trained the music maestro under the famous Gwalior Gharana. He is known as one of the pioneers who took Indian classical music abroad. His duets with the famous sitarists Ravindra Chary, Sahana Bannerjee, and his guru were an uproar in Europe. He has also contributed his words to mainstream newspapers on Indian music. Mr. Dhaneshwar has authored Guniyan Gaye Bajaye in Marathi.

Shishir Saxena

Sanskritist & Philosopher | Professor, Ahmedabad University

Shishir Saxena’s research explores the epistemological debates in the Indian philosophical tradition (darśanaśāstra) as well as the ethics in the two Sanskrit epics, Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata. He pursued his post-doctoral research at IKGA, Vienna and received his PhD and MPhil from the University of Cambridge. He began his studies in Indian Philosophy with an MA from the Banaras Hindu University.

Shishir Saxena

Sanskritist & Philosopher | Professor, Ahmedabad University

Dayasindhu N

N. Dayasindhu is an avid researcher, focusing on the evolution of innovations in globally distributed R&D and IT. He is the co-founder and CEO of itihaasa Research and Digital. itihaasa has created an online archive of oral histories of key actors in Indian IT. He is a co-author of Against All Odds: The IT Story of India.

Tejaswini Niranjana

Director of Centre For Inter-Asian Research, Ahmedabad University

Tejaswini Niranjana is an award-winning translator, author, and Indian academician. She is also a cultural theorist best known for her theory of the relationship between colonialism and translation. In addition, her writings on feminism and her research on ethnomusicology are noteworthy. Currently, she serves as the Director of the Centre for Inter-Asian Research and as Dean of Online Programs at Ahmedabad University. Tejaswini has authored two books on Music: Musicophilia in Mumbai: Performing Subjects and the Metropolitan Unconscious (Duke University Press, 2020) & Music, Modernity and the Public Sphere in India (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Tejaswini Niranjana

Director of Centre For Inter-Asian Research, Ahmedabad University

Aparajith Ramnath

Professor, Ahmedabad University

Prof. Aparajith Ramnath is a historian of science, technology, and industry in South Asia. His first book, The Birth of an Indian Profession: Engineers, Industry and the State, 1900-47, was published by the Oxford University Press. His articles are published in prestigious Indian dailies and online publications such as the Hindu, Scroll, The Wire, thread, and the New Indian Express. Prof. Ramnath is an Oxford University alumnus and has done his Ph.D. from the Imperial College London. Currently, he serves as an associate professor at Ahmedabad University.

Srijan Deshpande

Hindustani Classical Musician

Srijan Deshpande is a performer, scholar and educator of Hindustani Khayal music. He receives training in the genre from Satyasheel Deshpande, with whom he also works on archival research and dissemination projects at Samvaad Foundation, Mumbai. Srijan writes on music for major publications, and has just received his Ph.D. from Manipal University for a dissertation that constructs a rigorous account of the musical alternity of Kumar Gandharva in the context of the twentieth-century tradition of Khayal.

Srijan Deshpande

Hindustani Classical Musician

Rahul Sarwate

Professor, Ahmedabad University

Rahul Sarwate is an author, academician, and historian of Modern South Asia. He is one of the awardees of the inaugural NIF Translation Fellowships. He is currently working on a book manuscript, which is a revised version of his Ph.D. dissertation, Reimagining the Modern Hindu Self: Caste, Untouchability and Hindu Theology in Colonial South Asia, 1899-1948 defended in the History department at Columbia University, where he examined the interrelations between forms of Hindu-ness and the narratives of cultural progressivism in the particular context of the western Indian region of Maharashtra. He serves as an assistant professor at the Humanities and Languages department at Ahmedabad University.

Mallika Sarabhai

Co-Director, Darpana Academy Of Performing Arts

Mallika Sarabhai is a noted classical dancer, actor, and writer who has contributed significantly to Indian classical dance, theatre, and cinema. She is the co-director of the prestigious Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, which her parents founded in Ahmedabad. Mallika Sarabhai has received several awards and accolades for her work in dance, including the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian honors, and the Order of Academic Palms from the French Government. Apart from being a multi-dimensional artist, Mallika is an activist who has been vocal about issues related to gender equality, environmental conservation, and social justice.

Mallika Sarabhai

Co-Director, Darpana Academy Of Performing Arts

Sathya Saran

Author | Journalist

Sathya Saran is an eminent writer well-known for her longstanding association with Femina magazine as an editor for twelve years. In addition to her editorial prowess, she has gained applause for her remarkable biographical works, including Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi’s Journey, Baat Niklegi toh Phir: The Life and Music of Jagjit Singh, and Hariprasad Chaurasia: Breath of Gold. Sathya is a consulting editor with Penguin Random House India.

Tana Trivedi

Professor, Ahmedabad University

Dr. Tana Trivedi is an esteemed Indian scholar with research interests centered on Diaspora studies, Business History, Postcolonial Studies, and Gender Studies. She studied English Literature at St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad, and completed her M.Litt. in Postcolonial Diaspora from the University of Stirling, UK. In addition, Dr. Trivedi earned her Ph.D. in Contemporary Indo-Fijian poetry from Christ University, Banglore. She has designed and taught courses such as Business History, Science Journalism, Diaspora Studies, Gender Studies, Postcolonial Studies, British Literature, World Literature, and Indian Writing in English. In addition, Dr. Trivedi is the Academic Advisor for the Pattani Archives, which involves archiving and researching the life of and times of the erstwhile diwan of Bhavnagar State, Sir Prabhashankar Pattani. Currently, she serves as a Communication and Business History faculty at Ahmedabad University.

Tana Trivedi

Professor, Ahmedabad University

John Mathew

Historian | Professor, Krea University

John Mathew is an Associate Professor at Krea University, where he chairs the Division of the Humanities and the Social Sciences and primarily leads courses in Biology, Environmental Studies, and History, often in conversation with each other. He has taught previously at Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Duke University, and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune. He holds BSc, MSc, and M.Phil degrees in Zoology from the Madras Christian College, an AM in Medical Anthropology from Harvard University, and PhDs in Ecological Sciences (Old Dominion University) and the History of Science (Harvard University). His work focuses on making natural zoological history in Eurocolonial India and on the effect of pandemic disease in the subcontinent, particularly the Bombay Plague and the Great Influenza/Spanish Flu. Apart from his research and teaching, John retains an active interest in music and theatre and was the founding director of the choir at both IISER and Krea.

Dinesh C Sharma

Journalist | Author | Media Trainer

Dinesh C Sharma is an award-winning journalist, author, and media trainer with 35 years of experience covering science, technology, health, and the environment. He was Science Editor at Mail Today and founding managing editor at India Science Wire. Mr. Sharma wrote The Outsourcer: The story of India’s IT revolution, which won the 2016 Computer History Museum Book Prize, and a science travelogue- Witness to the Meltdown, based on his climate change reportage from the Arctic in 2008. His latest book, Indian Innovation, Not Jugaad, explores 100 innovations transforming India. He is a Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow researching Hyderabad’s evolution as a technology cluster. Sharma holds a doctorate from Banaras Hindu University and a post-graduate degree from Osmania University.

Dinesh C Sharma

Journalist | Author | Media Trainer

Vrunda Pathare

Author | Head, Godrej Archives

Vrunda Pathare, Head, of Godrej Archives, was instrumental in setting up the Godrej Archives and establishing archival processes as an integral part of the organizational activity at Godrej. Earlier, she worked as Assistant Archivist at TIFR Archives of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and as Research Assistant on the following projects: Rajbhavans in Maharashtra (a book published in 2002) and ONGC Museum Project (2003). She was also formerly a member of the Advisory Board of the Rajbhavan Archives (Govt. of Maharashtra, India) and IIM-A Archives. She is currently the Secretary of the Steering Committee of the Section on Business Archives of the International Council on Archives (headquartered in France). She has been a founding member of the Oral History Association of India (OHAI) and is its President. She has been a resource person at many workshops, seminars, and panels on archives and has presented papers at national and international conferences.

Yuvraj Somraj Singh Jhala

Maharana Somraj Singh’s ancestors ruled Sayla from 1751 to 1947. He currently runs a heritage homestay called Old Bell Guest House that was built 150 years ago and was used as a guest house in the pre-Independence era near the Sayla Palace, Gujarat. Born in Lucknow, he went to the Colvin Talaqudars College for his primary education, then to Mayo College Ajmer, a renowned public school of India with a history of 150 years, initially established to groom erstwhile royalty of India. After graduation from Sydenham College Bombay, he started working in the corporate world, occupying key positions in various companies engaged in the hospitality, energy, paper, metals, and mining and services sectors. In the mid-90s, he came back to look after his family and properties in Gujarat. He is an avid traveler and enjoys meeting people.

Yuvraj Somraj Singh Jhala

Arunaraje Patil

Filmmaker | Writer | Editor | Director

Arunaraje Patil is a critically acclaimed award-winning filmmaker, writer, editor, director, and producer. A gold medallist from the Film Institute of India, she was the first trained female technician in the Indian Film Industry. Arunaraje has landed her expertise in every entertainment medium in ad films, documentaries, tv-series, and feature films. As a film professional, she has strived for gender equality which is visible in her movies with strong female characters. Arunaraje has held many important positions, including Vice President of the FTII Society and Vice Chairman of the Governing Council. She was also the founding member of Whistling Woods International. Arunaraje has won six National awards for her awe-inspiring documentaries such as ‘Mallika Sarabhai’, ‘A New Paradigm’ and ‘Behind the Glass Wall’.

Prof. Amar Farooqui

Historian | Author | Academician

Amar Farooqui is a notable Indian historian & author who specializes in modern Indian history. He has been a Professor in the Department of History at the University of Delhi, and Hansraj College, Delhi. A prolific author, his books include “Smuggling as Subversion: Colonialism, Indian Merchants and the Politics of Opium, 1790-1843“, and “The Colonial Subjugation of India.“

Prof. Amar Farooqui

Historian | Author | Academician

Rakesh Raghunathan

Chef | Youtuber

Rakesh Raghunathan is a South Indian culinaryambassador, whose vision is to showcase the rich heritage of the region to audiences across the world. He brings a unique perspective and experience of the South Indian cuisine, while also seeking to turn the spotlight on the custodians of these traditional knowledge systems. A food raconteur armed with a wealth of anecdotal history, and a deep insight into socio-cultural practices, Rakesh has taken food to the realm of the performative. His presentations are a multi-sensory and aesthetic experience with an element of romance and drama thrown in, as he draws his audiences into a space where food and art converge seamlessly. He is credited with hosting award-winning shows on national television channels and OTT platforms such as Highway Dreams and 100% South Indian for Zee Zest, Super Samayal for Sun TV, ‘Dakshin Diaries’ on Living Foodz as well as Sutralam Suvaikalam for News7 Tamil.

Amit Arora

Journalist-in-the-Past | Co-founder-at-present

Amit is an ex-journalist with about 20 years of experience with leading news dailies – The Times of India and DNA. In senior editorial positions, Amit oversaw coverage of parliamentary and assembly elections in four different states. In addition, he enjoyed writing on policy matters and social issues. His love for gathering and sharing knowledge led him to co-found the History Literature Festival. An avid history reader, Amit often delves into myriad themes of history and weaves them into stories about our past. In addition, Amit is a passionate woodworker who blends novel functionalities to revive old and heritage furniture.

Amit Arora

Journalist-in-the-Past | Co-founder-at-present

Kanchan Marathe

Creative Director | Producer

Kanchan Marathe is a media professional with 18 years of experience in the Indian Film Industry. She has remained creatively involved in distinguished projects across TV, Film, TV commercials, short films, and OTT series. She has been associated with films like Drishyam, Andhadhun, and many other feature films through her role as Creative Director – Viacom18 Studios and, more recently, shows like Jamtara, She, CAT, and others as Director, Original Series at Netflix India. She co-founded a Production House named “Little Mad Pictures” last year. She plans to take her passion for cinema and her learnings over the years into producing entertaining, meaningful, and futuristic content.

Yuvraj Shree Yograjsinhji of Mansa

Yuvraj Shri Yograjsinhji of Mansa is the 52nd descendant of King Vanraj Chavda, who founded the Chavda empire in Gujarat. Born on 20th December 1968, he received his education from The Doon School, Dehradun, and The Sydenham College, University of Bombay. Yograjsinhji is an avid historian interested in Gujarat’s early history, specifically the Gujarat settlement by various Rajput clans.