Mr. Hindol Sengupta, Editor- at- Large at Fortune India, launched his latest book ‘The Modern Monk’ at our campus recently. A journalist and entrepreneur, Mr. Sengupta, has celebrated books like ‘Being Hindu’, ‘The Liberals’ and ‘Recasting India’ to his credit. ‘Recasting India’, was shortlisted for one of the world’s most renowned prizes in economic writing, the Hayek Book Prize, given by the Manhattan Institute. The author became the youngest writer ever, at 34, to be nominated for the Hayek Prize and the first ever from India.
His latest, ‘The Modern Monk’ is already eliciting international interest because everyone wants to know what Sengupta has to say about Vivekanand, that hasn’t been said, debated, digested and forgotten already. The author’s answer is in the blurb at the back of the book which reads –
He loved French cookbooks, invented a new way of making khichdi, was interested in the engineering behind ship-building and the technology that makes ammunition. More than 100 years after his death, do we really know or understand the bewildering, fascinating, complex man Swami Vivekananda was? Vivekananda is one of the most important figures in the modern imagination of India. He is also an utterly modern man, consistently challenging his own views and embracing diverse, even conflicting arguments. It is his modernity that appeals to us today. He is unlike any monk we have known. He is confined neither by history nor by ritual and is constantly questioning everything around him, including himself. It is in Vivekananda’s contradictions, his doubts, his fears and his failings that he recognize his profoundly compelling divinity—he teaches us that to try and understand God, first one must truly comprehend one’s own self. This book is an argument that it is not just because he is close to God but also because he is so tantalizingly immersed in being human that keeps us returning to Vivekananda and his immortal wisdom.
It was LPU’s privilege to host such a stimulating, inspirational thinker, like Hindol Sengupta. This man who became the youngest television journalists to have a prime time interview show, Talk Back on Bloomberg TV, at age 28, has matured into a gifted speaker. His very informative talk on Indian liberals was an enlightening experience for LPU staff and students alike.
