Life & Times of an INDUSTANI: Six Degrees of Separation-5
By SHIV KUNAL VERMA Lt General Mohinder Puri Former GOC 8 Mountain Division Chapter – XX The Great Betrayals Shiv Kunal’s remarkable journey from opening trekking routes between Kashmir and the Zanskar Valley in Ladakh, to print media to making world class films and writing military history books on the Indian Armed Forces, is very […]
Life & Times of an INDUSTANI: Six Degrees of Separation-4
By SHIV KUNAL VERMA Atul Dev Former Chief of Bureau GENTLEMAN Magazine Chapter – XVIII Night Without End Shiv Kunal Verma’s latest offering – INDUSTANI – reads like a work of fiction gone off the rails till one realises that this is the actual life story of a man empowered by jet propulsion. Using a […]
Life & Times of an INDUSTANI: Six Degrees of Separation 3
By SHIV KUNAL VERMA Colonel Ajay K Raina Author of Kashmir Narratives Chapter – XVI Salt of the Earth Most autobiographies, or memoirs, fall into two basic categories. First, there are the narratives of those who led interesting lives and have something to share with their readers, and then there are those who have a […]
Life & Times of an INDUSTANI: Six Degrees of Separation 2
By SHIV KUNAL VERMA Chapter – V The Crossing of Umasi-La Industani doesn’t depend on the fame of the author’s previous works for its literary place: it is sui generis, defiant of classification. The nearest one can come to is to call it a thriller in the garb of a life story in the first […]
life-times-of-an-industani-six-degrees-of-separation 1
By SHIV KUNAL VERMA General (Dr) Vijay Kumar Singh Former Chief of Army Staff Minister of State, Government of IndiaChapter – IV The Doon School: North to South In the annals of Indian writing, this book will find a place for itself as a ‘pathfinder’, as it fearlessly and bluntly recounts the incredible sequence of […]
Life & Times of an INDUSTANI: Six Degrees of Separation
Shiv Kunal, or Fauji as we called him, had always had a mastery over words right from the time he edited the extremely popular Fag Magazine in Doon School. Two and half score and some years later he has written Industani that takes a vice-like grip on the reader from the very onset of the […]
![New Delhi [India], August 6 (ANI/PNN): One Heritage Media breaks seminal ground as it initially produces three dazzlingly books that showcase parts of the Indian subcontinent in a spectacular manner. These books are part of a major ground-breaking initiative to raise the bar and majorly impact the Indian educational system through another series of slightly smaller-sized illustrated books that are a part of the developing ‘Value Education Programme.’ The three large format books authored by the versatile filmmaker, photographer and writer, Shiv Kunal Verma, brings to the fore decades of his dedicated work across various platforms. With layouts designed to enhance the quality by printing in six-colour metallic colours, the three books — Beyond Kanchendzonga: India’s Aerial Northeast (Gold); Beyond the Rainshadow: Zanskar, Ladakh, and Nubra (Copper); and Beyond Dakshinapatha: Tamil Nadu & Puducherry (Copper) are the flagship publications that the BluOne group is positioning to generate funds for its main Value Education Programme that, according to Anirudh Chakravartty, ‘is being designed to enhance the quality of education by bringing to our children, across the cross-section of society, world-class material that hopefully will open up their horizons beyond the classrooms.’ The three Gold-standard books have their soft launch at the Pondicherry Literature Festival that is being held on August 5/ 6 and 7. Shiv Kunal Verma, who is expected to reach the city by this evening, when contacted on the telephone in Kullu where he resides, said he was delighted to be returning to Puducherry that also features in one of the three books. Having done his undergraduate studies at the Madras Christian College, he recalls travelling to the city by clinging onto ropes on top of trucks in the early 1980s. ‘Pondicherry was like a magnet,’ he recalls, ‘if we got an extended weekend, we would take off and we just loved the place.’ Even the blurb, ‘Bringing India to Indians’, which would become the driving emotive slogan behind this ambitious project, was the brainchild of Krishna Kumar Candeth who was Shiv Kunal’s teacher at the Doon School, while they were sitting drinking a beer in the French Quarter four years ago. ‘Things have a way of coming around again and again. I am delighted to be heading for the PLF and thrilled to have the soft launch of the three pilot books here.’ Incidentally, Mr Candeth’s own book, considered to be a classic, All Street Dogs Go to Heaven is also being published by One Heritage Media’s sister concern, BluOne Ink. The smaller-sized Value Education series will provide an insight of not just the diverse Indian terrain and the challenges and beauty of these regions. Some of the titles in the category include An Eastern Palette, Uncharted Waters, Children of the Dawn and Eternal Tamilakam to name a few. These artistic works will showcase the serenity, history and magnificence of the various parts of India and its people. Four of the twelve books cover the entire wildlife of the subcontinent, the fourth volume of the quartet being devoted to the continental shelves and the Island chains on both the eastern and western seeboards. Speaking on the advent of the new book formats, Shiv Kunal Verma said, “These books will help facilitate the value education program and aspire to bring India to Indians. We believe our small format and large format books will not be restricted to just the student body but will extend and permeate through their families as well. These books will help us deep root our cause of bringing India to Indians and eventually India to the rest of the world.” Shiv Kunal Verma is an author who has closely experienced war situations and life in the remotest parts of the country. Some of several books, including Ocean to Sky: India from the Air, The Long Road to Siachen, The Northeast Trilogy, The Assam Rifles, 1962: The War That Wasn’t, and 1965: A Western Sunrise are a compilation of his thoughts and work. One of his many interests is to develop a Value Education Program that entails books on diverse subjects, including wildlife, military history, and anthropology. His collection of books will be a delight for the audience at the Pondicherry Literature Festival. Kunal graduated from The Doon School, Dehradun and Madras Christian College. In the mid-1980s, he worked as a journalist with India Today and the Associated Press. From 1980-the 90s, under the banner of KaleidoIndia, he shot and directed numerous films mainly for the Armed Forces, including filming the Kargil War as a cameraman. For the last six years, he has been at the helm of the seminal Military History Seminar conducted by the Welham Boys’ School, Dehradun. With such a strong legacy and background of history and art, Shiv has made his name in the world of artistic writing and illustrative depiction of emotions and history. His works at the various literature festivals including the PLF, are enjoyed by the readers. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN) This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.](https://oneheritagemedia.com/media/ANIB_12022080612294120220806125750.webp)
Bringing India to Indians (and the World): Shiv Kunal Verma conducts a soft launch of his new series of illustrated books at PLF
New Delhi [India], August 6 (ANI/PNN): One Heritage Media breaks seminal ground as it initially produces three dazzlingly books that showcase parts of the Indian subcontinent in a spectacular manner. These books are part of a major ground-breaking initiative to raise the bar and majorly impact the Indian educational system through another series of slightly […]
The Muslim card: Rise of the Lion of Kashmir
The emergence of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah in the early 1930s would play a crucial role in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. Having been instigated to play the Islamic card, even the Lion of Kashmir would subsequently find it difficult to put the genie back in the bottle. (Right) A Muslim dargah in the Poonch […]
A bipolar universe: Maharaja Hari Singh’s ‘great betrayal’
Hari Singh became the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir in 1925 after the death of his uncle, Pratap Singh. Surrounded by the pomp and glory, the 8-year old was to serve as a Page-of-Honour to Lord Curzon during the Delhi Durbar in 1903. Shortly thereafter he was sent to Mayo College, Ajmer, where the British […]
Cat and Mouse Games: British Empire and the J&K Maharajas
Post 1857 the British Empire reorganised itself, the Crown taking direct control from the East India Company. Unable to get a foothold within the state of Jammu and Kashmir during Maharaja Ranbir Singh’s reign, the British bided their time before moving in during the reign of Maharaja Pratap Singh (Shiv Kunal Verma/KaleidoIndia) In 1905, it […]
Kingdom of mountains: Dogras and the East India Company
The founder of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, Raja Gulab Singh (left); and his son and heir Maharaja Ranbir Singh. (Shiv Kunal Verma/KaleidoIndia) Gulab Singh got the tarnished reputation of a manipulator who ‘bought’ himself a kingdom. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth and the grant of de jure recognition […]
Stones of silence: Ladakh and beyond
A royal inscription engraved on stone at Hunder in the Shyok Valley, mentioning King Bhagaram Mir. (Shiv Kunal Verma/KaleidoIndia) The September 1842 peace treaty accepted the traditional boundary between Ladakh and Tibet. The village and the area around Minsar near Mansarover Lake that were held by the Rajas of Ladakh since 1583, were retained by […]
Mastermind: The emergence of Gulab Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Sikh ruler who established the Sikh Empire and also firmed up the political boundaries of North India. (Right) The Dogra ruler, Gulab Singh who bought Kashmir from the British after the Sikh Wars and established his dynasty that would then rule Jammu and Kashmir till 1947. (Shiv Kunal Verma/ KaleidoIndia) Gulab […]
Dining at the High Table: The Early Military History of Kashmir
The chain of events relating to the Jammu and Kashmir region have to be understood. The Kashmir Valley, by its very location, far from being isolated, has been an integral part of the subcontinent’s military history even before the days of the Mauryan Empire. Photos: Jahangir with Prince Khurram, c. 1635 (Painted by Balachand/Padshahnama) The […]
Puppeteers without strings: Pied pipers of hate
The men who dealt the cards that continue to influence and stymie the lives of the people of the subcontinent: Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. Winston Churchill was closely in touch with Jinnah since the early 1930s and had done the initial spadework to accept the Partition plan. Bandrol, Kullu: One of […]
The Heaven Born: The Men Who Ruled Kashmir
After spending four days and nights filming with the Hizbul Mujahideen in North Kashmir in 1995, Shiv Kunal Verma (centre) links up with an officer from 13 Kumaon. On his left is Havildar Deen Mohammad, who was his assistant. Apart from cameras, everyone had to be armed to be able to protect themselves as ambushes […]
Nights without end: Four days with the Hizbul Mujahideen
REPRESENTATIONAL PHOTO: People look at the damaged house where Hizbul Mujahideen Commander-in-Chief, Riyaz Naikoo was killed in an encounter with Army personnel at Beighpora in Pulwama district of south Kashmir in May. ANI The Sunday Guardian brings to its readers an unconventional account of Kashmir by filmmaker and author Shiv Kunal Verma. The author of […]
Target G210, deploy weapons of peace
A view of the Chinese national highway, G219. Whenever China decides to poke at India anywhere on the 4,056 kilometre boundary, we as a nation are subconsciously teleported to the events that led up to one of the greatest military debacles of all times—the war that wasn’t in October-November 1962. Mao Tse Tung and Peking, […]
Repeated intelligence failures: Time to worry
Army vehicles leaving for Leh with military contingents for troops deployed in Ladakh, on the Manali-Leh route during the ongoing dispute at the India-China Line of Actual Control, in Kullu on Thursday. ANI Keep an eye on the developments in what is known as the ‘Central Sector’ where initial though yet to be officially confirmed […]
Ladakh could be a feint, China’s big push may be coming from the east
A view of the mountains surrounding Leh on Saturday. ANI India, led by its overactive media, will continue to harp on the carefully laid out trap that focuses on ‘loss of territory’ and the Chinese will most probably pull back up to Finger 7 by early October, allowing the Indian government many small illusions of […]
