New Delhi: Oxford Bookstore Connaught Place hosts an illustrated talk on ‘Shanghai Tales’ with acclaimed author Mishi Saran, in conversation with Riva Ganguly Das, Joint Secretary, Latin America and Carribean. The panelists will be introduced by Namita Gokhale. The talk takes us through the life of an elderly Parsi gentleman, born in Shanghai and the texture of his life in that extraordinary city, until the communists won the civil war in 1949 and changed the face of Shanghai, and of China.
In the spring of 2012, writer Mishi Saran stumbled on the story of the 93-year-old Parsi gentleman, Jehangir Bejan Tata who had been waging a long flight to get his families Shanghai home back. Through great good fortune, it was possible to interview him at great length despite his advanced age. During the interview with Mr. Tata, it emerged that Jehangir was the brother of Sam Tata, a well-known photographer of Shanghai in 1949. How did the Parsis come to be in China? What were they doing there? These are some of the additional questions this illustrated lecture with explore.
Oxford Bookstore Connaught Place offers a carefully curated list of titles for booklovers to browse through and buy and perhaps the world’s largest assortment of teas in the hip Cha Bar, to create a holistic experience for book lovers. The entrance leading to the bookstore houses a big Neon Wall, a cloud of words in English-Hindi-Latin that envelopes book lovers in a universe of emotions linked to reading. Inside, in the tranquil space, hands-on staff, knowledgeable and highly trained book specialists, offer suggestions of handpicked titles from major, independent and indie publishers: a great selection of books, some exclusive to Oxford Bookstore. The selection features both emerging and established authors from India and the world. Shelves stocked with the best in Indian Writing, International Fiction and Translations take one into a spacious, elongated Reading Room which opens onto a dedicated Events Space. Well-researched sections on Languages and New Age books address issues of addiction, relationships, unexplained phenomena, and showcase the best of thinkers and Indian gurus. A wide range of titles in Travel Writing, books that showcase the very essence of New Delhi and a specially curated section of books on tea are other highlights. Children have an exclusive space for browsing, activities and reading and parents can look forward to the Top 10 Gift Books in each age group for a quick and easy pick. Amongst the best in books for different age groups are ones that help the young ones deal with experiences relevant to their age.
About Mishi Saran : Ms. Mishi Saran was born in India and spent the first ten years of her life in New Delhi. Since then, she has lived in Switzerland, Indonesia, the United States, China, Hong Kong and Korea. She is the author of the travel book-cum-memoir Chasing the Monk’s Shadow: A Journey in the Footsteps of Xuanzang (Penguin, 2005). To research the book, she spent a year tracing the footsteps of Xuanzang, a 7th Century Chinese Buddhist monk who travelled along the Silk Road from China to India, passing through Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Her first novel, The Other Side of Light is published by HarperCollins India (June 2012). She is currently working on her third book, also a novel, set in Shanghai in the 1930s. After eight years in Shanghai, she moved back to in Hong Kong in the summer of 2014.
Ms. Saran writes in English and is also fluent in Mandarin, French and Hindi. Following an undergraduate degree in Chinese Studies from Wellesley College (USA), she worked in Hong Kong as a news reporter and as a freelance writer. Her articles have appeared in a variety of international publications including the Financial Times, the International Herald Tribune, the South China Morning Post and the Asian Wall Street Journal. Her short stories have won awards and been broadcast on the BBC.
About Riya Ganguly Das : Mrs. Riva Ganguly Das is the Joint Secretary (Latin America & Caribbean), she joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1986. She is a Post Graduate in Political Science from Delhi University. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, she was a Lecturer at the Delhi University. Her first posting was in Spain. Thereafter, she was at Headquarters dealing with External Publicity, Nepal and Passport/Visa work. She was Head of the Cultural Wing of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka. After her return from Dhaka, she took over as Director at the United Nations Economic and Social Affairs Division and participated in environmental negotiations, particularly climate change. She was the Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India, The Hague. She was also the Alternate Permanent Representative of India to the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons at The Hague. Before returning to HQs in July 2012 she served as Consul General of India in Shanghai. She was Joint Secretary Public Diplomacy before joining LAC Division.
About Namita Gokhale : Namita Gokhale has written six novels, a collection of short stories, and several works of nonfiction, all in English. Her first novel, Paro: Dreams of Passion, 1984, a satire upon the Mumbai and Delhi elite caused uproar due to its candid sexual humour. Gods Graves and Grandmother- an ironic fable about street life in Delhi was adapted into a musical play. Gokhale was diagnosed with cancer when she was just thirty-five and her husband died a few years later. The experience of illness and loss has informed her later books, A Himalayan Love Story, The Book of Shadows and Shakuntala, the play of memory. Gokhale has written two books of non-fiction. Mountain Echoes which deals with the Kumaoni way of life through the eyes of four highly talented and individualistic women. The Book of Shiva is an introduction to Shaivite philosophy and mythology. She had retold the Indian epic, The Mahabharata, in an illustrated version for young and first time readers. In Search of Sita - Revisiting Mythology, co-edited with Dr Malashri Lal, presents fresh interpretations of this enigmatic goddess and her indelible impact on the lives of Indian women. Gokhale's recent Priya: In Incredible Indyaa, resurrected some unforgettable characters from her debut novel Paro. A collection of short stories, The Habit of Love, was published in January 2012.
