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Candid Conversations
is a treasure trove of interviews of
major personalities of modern times—from home and abroad—who
have left their imprint on history. A renowned journalist and
former correspondent of All-India Radio, whose columns have appeared in
major national newspapers, including National Herald, Times of India,
Hindustan Times, The Hindu and The Statesman, Bhanumathy is
particularly known for her attention-grabbing interviews during a long
career spanning over five decades.
This volume preserves candid exchange of dialogue with 60 giants of yesteryears ranging from national figures and international leaders to writers, thinkers, diplomats and Nobel laureates. The list includes almost all Indian Prime Ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Presidents Radhakrishnan and R. Venkatraman, and such towering world leaders as Ho Chi Mirth, Zhou Enlai, Che Guevara, Clement Attlee, Aneurin Hevan, Willy Brandt, Olof Palme, Yitzak Rabin, Lee Kuan Yew, Leopold Senghor, and a host of others of comparable stature. However, it would be wrong to presume that Bhanumathy’s emphasis is on politics and politicians alone. There are other celebrities as Buckminister Fuller, the polymath, the Pakistani Nobel Laureate in physics, Abdus Salam, Vikram Sarabhai, John Kenneth Galbraith, Gunnar Myrdal, and Pierre Cardin. The women megastars she has chosen to interview range from Indira Gandhi, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Begum Liaquat Ali Khan and Mrs. Sun Yat Sun, Agatha Christie, Han Suyin, Mrinalini Sarabhai and Aruna Asaf Ali. Except for a few shortcomings that cannot be overlooked and can be corrected in the next edition, e.g., writing about His Holiness The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso she states, "Later, the Dalai Lama moved to Dharamsala in Mussorrie" (P.32). Dharamsala is in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, where he is presently residing. Then again on page 48, writing about Vijay Laxmi Pandit, she records, "In 1946, she led a delegation at the behest of the Indian Government to the United Nations at Lake Success. The delegation comprised of high-level statesmen, bureaucrats, politicians and an ex-Chief Justice, all men led by a woman. The Indian delegation was to protest against discrimination against people of Indian origin in South Africa, known as the Ghetto Act of South Africa. It was the first delegation to the UN from an independent India". A confused reader senses a gap here for India got its Independence much later—the interviews are enlightening. Many of us may not be acquainted with the prominent persons appearing in the book, and this is what accentuates the value of the document. It displays vignettes from the past with extraordinary people who represented an epic era, to posterity. The essence and aroma of those bygone times that this volume carries can undoubtedly prove to be a very significant source of unvarnished material for historians and researchers. Enriched by the sophistication and articulacy of the distinguished people interviewed, and by the author’s skill in drawing them out, the book makes a fascinating read.
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