FIRST EDITION

Manish Tewari is a Member of Parliament Representing the Sri Anandpur Sahib Constituency in Punjab in the House of the People - Lok Sabha. He also serves on the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Finance and the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Defense. He served on the Joint Committee of Parliament that conceptualised the Law on Data Protection. Manish Tewari practices Law at the Supreme Court of India, and served as Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.

He was Elected as a Member of Parliament from Ludhiana for 2009-2014. He was a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC from 2017-19 He currently is the Senior National Spokesperson of Indian National Congress (INC) and Secretary General of the Foreign Affairs Department of All India Congress Committee.

Muzaffar Ali is a versatile and multi-faceted Filmmaker, Fashion Designer, Poet, Artist, Revivalist and Social Worker. After working in advertising, he turned to movies, producing, directing and acting in films like Jaanisaar, Anjuman, Aagaman, Umrao Jaan and Gaman, which went on to win the Filmfare Award for Best Director in 1981. He was also conferred with the coveted Padma Shri for his contributions to art in 2005. Later, he became a fashion designer and co-created a fashion label.

A revivalist promoting Lucknow’s culture and heritage, Nawab Jafar Mir Abdullah has been a member of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural heritage since 1978. By and large, considered a connoisseur of traditional Awadhi cuisine, Nawab Jafar Mir Abdullah is also an advisor to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Lucknow, and was awarded the coveted Yash Bharti by the Uttar Pradesh government in 2016.

Professor and Head, Department of Anthropology, Vidyant Hindu P.G. College, University of Lucknow. She had been adviser for opening up new gallery and research centre on ‘Awadhi Culture, Language and Architecture’ in Folk Art Museum, Lucknow. She did her D.Phil from the University of Allahabad. She currently pursuing D.Litt from the Sambalpur University and awarded post-doctoral fellowship from ICSSR for carrying a research in naxal area.

She has been associated with various national/international academic bodies and been through several countries across world to present her extensive research work. Through her academic journey which is about 20 years, she has been in the panel of examiners for- M.P. PSC, U.P. PSC. She was selected in U.P. PSC in 2001 and 2002 but chose to be in academic line. She has convened several conferences, have authored couple of books. Many of her research papers are published in Scopus indexed journals and UGC-CARE listed journals. She has completed five research projects fully funded by department of culture. Currently working on in U.P. Govt’s prestigious project ‘Global Encyclopaedia of Ramayana’.

Professor Nishi Pandey is a noted educationist, a social activist and an invaluable part of some prominent institutions working to uplift the marginalized and underprivileged sections of concurrent society, specially the girl child and women. Deeply interested in literature, theatre, films and all forms f performing arts, Nishi has made innumerable contributions to the intellectual and cultural life of Lucknow.

She has travelled to the University of Oxford, the London University and the University of Louisville, USA,teaching, working collaboratively, delivering lectures, studying and attending conferences and seminars. Also, she has worked with the faculty of certain institutions of great prominence, namely the University of Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Maryland, Philadelphia, etc.

Pragya Sharma has performed several shows in different parts of the country. 'Qissa Jhansi ki Rani ka' was her premier Qissagoi along with Himanshu Bajpai. A series of this Qissa was organised by UP Police - 112 Emergency Services in different districts of Uttar Pradesh under the Mission Shakti Abhiyan. Her Dastangoi on Rani Durgavati, Tulsidas and Ganga is widely popular and loved by the people. Himanshu and Pragya's Qissagoi on Rani Durgavati has been appreciated by PM Modi. She has a PhD in Economics on the issue of Groundwater Sustainability in India’s Agriculture Sector. She is presently working with National Green Tribunal and has keen interest in working on environmental issues. She has published multiple research papers and book chapters on different aspects related to environment.

Pratyaksha writes both in English and Hindi and has published eleven books from major publishers like Harper, Juggernaut, Rajkamal, Aadhar, Bynge and Gyanpeeth. Her books have won critical acclaim and love from readers as well as senior writers. She has won a number of awards, among them the Indo Norwegian Award, Sonbhadra Katha Samman, Hans Katha Samman, Krishna Baldev Vaid Fellowship and has also been a resident of Sangam House.

She also paints and is passionately into music when she gets time after working five and sometimes six days a week as Chief General Manager at Powergrid Corporation of India ltd. She lives currently in Gurgaon. She shares her home with her husband, two wonderful grown up children, a cockatoo and a darling dog.

Over the years, poems, articles and reviews by Preety Chaudhary have been a regular feature in numerous significant Hindi publications and magazines like the Hindustan, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala and the Jansandesh Times.

Her first short story, Reshmi Lal Gamcha was published in one of the most reputable Hindi magazines, Tadbhav. Later, in October 2022, the magazine went on to feature another story by Preety.

In 2005, she was awarded the coveted Harikrishna Dwivedi Writer’s Award, followed by the Sahitya Award in 2016.

Preety is also the author of Deh Dhare ko Dand, a Hindi novel revolving around women-centric issues.

Recently, a research paper by her was published in the London-based Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance.

Also, in 2018, Preety was nominated for a Lok Sabha fellowship, wherein she diagnosed the role of elects in the development of Indian foreign policy.

Priyanka Pradhan is a Dubai-based journalist with experience of 13 years in television, print and electronic media, across India and the UAE. Specializing in Business and Lifestyle genres, she reported for CNBC Network 18 (Storyboard) and Economic Times Now (Brand Equity) as correspondent and assistant producer in Mumbai.

She is the recipient of the ‘Ruskin Bond Promising Writer Award 2019’ at the Dehradun Literature Festival held in October 2019, which was awarded on the basis of the unpublished manuscript for ‘Tales from the Himalayas’ by Mr. Ruskin Bond. She is also runner-up for the Montegrappa Writing Prize 2020 at the Emirates Literature Festival 2020 for a short story called, ‘Postcard’, which is part of the book, ‘Tales from the Himalayas’.

Rakhshanda Jalil is a multi-award-winning Translator, Writer, and Literary Historian. She has published over 25 books and written over 50 academic papers and essays. Some of her books include: Liking Progress, Loving Change: A Literary History of the Progressive Writers Movement in Urdu (OUP, 2014); a biography of Urdu feminist writer Dr Rashid Jahan: A Rebel and her Cause (Women Unlimited, 2014); a translation of The Sea Lies Ahead, Intizar Husain's seminal novel on Karachi (Harper Collins, 2015) and Krishan Chandar's partition novel Ghaddar (Westland, 2017), among others. She runs an organization called Hindustani Awaaz, devoted to the popularization of Hindi-Urdu literature and culture.

Ratan Mani Lal is a prominent columnist and TV commentator. He has been an active journalist for over 46 years and has worked as Editor in The Times of India, Hindustan Times and The Bhaskar Group. He also headed the Jaipuria Institute of Mass Communication for several years. He learnt the basics under the legendary M. Chalapathi Rau and S.N. Ghosh. His expertise now includes media academics and content management across platforms.

Ravi Bhatt is an internationally acclaimed historian working on the history of Awadh, India. He had been the visiting faculty at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, American Institute of Indian Studies and University of Lucknow. His research findings are widely quoted all over the world.

His mastery of narrating interesting incidents of legendary Nawabs of Lucknow and their lifestyle in a short, crisp and lucid style has raised the expectations of general readers. As a result, he has written a complete and comprehensive book, The Life and Times of The Nawabs of Lucknow, covering all aspects of Nawabi Lucknow, like royal romances, courtesans, court intrigues, life in harems, royal hunting parties, superstitions, typical language, literature, cuisines, rites and rituals and the impact these things have had on the people.

Rohit Gandhi is an Indian Journalist and Documentary Filmmaker. He was the Editor-in-Chief of World is One News (WION) and DNA India. His documentary on Afghanistan won an Emmy Award in the editing category. He has spent 3 decades in first being a frontline journalist covering war zones and then managing newsrooms and innovating technologies to make the life of journalists safe.

He works on reducing global conflict by using journalism, and good communication plays a positive role. Rohit is an award winning journalist with some of the highest honours like the Edward R. Murrow, DuPont Award, Golden Cine Eagle, Healiner Award, Webby Award, multiple Emmy nominations for investigative journalism, just to name a few. He uses AI for helping organization's look at open intelligence.

Born in a very poor scavenger family. Mother cleaned the utensils and worked in different house and so brought us up. For better upbringing admitted in the school with the help of government scholarship and the mother's struggle studied. To help mother did sweeping on the road and collected dirt from gutters. Thereafter did High school and Intermediate with second division as pavement dweller and worked as hawker. In the mean time interest in writing. Stories and poems for children had beer published in the weekly magazine of "Swatantra Bharat", "Navjeevan and "Amrit Prabhat" Stories and poems have been broadcast and telecas from AIR and Doordarshan.

Graduated from Lucknow University and then Indian institute of Mass Communication New Delhi in the year 1989 as the best trainee in Hindi Journalism Diploma Course Awarded "Indian Institute of Mass Communication Awarded* by Union Minister K R Narayan research by bureau of parliamentary Studies and training. Lok Sabha Secretary New Delhi practical training in Hindi news unit of Navbharat times New Delhi and All India Radio in the workshop of trainee Journalist based on parliamentary procedure held by 28 April 1989 to 28 April 1989.

Shantanu Gupta is the founder of The Ramayana School, an Indian Author, TEDx Speaker and Political Analyst. He is a published author with renowned publications like Sage, Bloomsbury, Garuda, Prabhat and Rupa Publications. He is the biographer of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, with his book titled ‘The Monk Who Became Chief Minister’ – the Biography of Yogi Adityanath listed as the ‘Most memorable Non-Fiction Books of 2017’ by Amazon India.

Shantanu wrote a sequel to this book with the title – ‘The Monk Who Transformed Uttar Pradesh’. His another Book – ‘BJP – Past, Present & Future’ is now available in four Indian languages. Shantanu has an engineering degree from GB Pant University (India), Management education from XLRI, Jamshedpur (India) and did his Masters in Policy and Politics from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex (United Kingdom).

Shobhaa De, voted by Reader's Digest as one of India's Most Trusted People and by Daily News and Analysis as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in India is a bestselling author and a popular social commentator. Her works, both fiction and non-fiction, have been featured in comparative literature courses at universities in India and abroad. Her writing has been translated into French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish, among other languages.

Tigmanshu Dhulia is a film dialogue writer, director, actor, screenwriter, producer and casting director known for his works in Hindi cinema and television. He wrote the dialogue for the 1998 film Dil Se, the first Bollywood film to chart in the UK top ten, and screened at the Berlin International Film Festival. His directing career has also garnered international recognition with the biographical film Paan Singh Tomar, which premiered at the 2010 BFI London Film Festival and the thriller drama Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster. Paan Singh Tomar eventually went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 2012. He is also known for his role as Ramadhir Singh in Anurag Kashyap's modern cult film Gangs of Wasseypur.

Squadron Leader Toolika Rani has served in Indian Air Force for ten years and as Outdoor Training Instructor, has trained several officers in outdoor military training, including India’s first three female fighter pilots. With 24 mountaineering and trekking expeditions in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Iran, Africa and Russia, she is the first woman from the state of Uttar Pradesh to climb Mt. Everest in 2012, and is the first Indian woman to climb Asia’s highest volcano Mt. Damavand in Iran.

A phenomenal speaker, she has delivered over 200 talks and interviews in India, USA, UK, Bulgaria, Italy and Malaysia on forums such as TEDx, Rotary International, Shri Ram College of Commerce Delhi, Lucknow University, Manipal University Jaipur, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Vadodara etc. She is the Ambassador of India, Women Empowerment Committee, in World Leader Summit ecosystem, and was the Brand Ambassador, SVEEP program of Election Commission of India, with Uttar Pradesh govt, in 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections.

Uday Mahurkar is an Author, Historian and the former Senior Deputy Editor of India Today. He has authored two books on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Centrestage and Marching with a Billion. His latest book, Veer Savarkar: The Man Who Could Have Prevented Partition features a foreword by RSS chief, Dr Mohan Bhagwat. He currently functions as the Central Information Commissioner for the Government of India.

The author of “Bisra Chulha Bisrey Swad- Awadh Key Lok Vyanjan,” Urmila Singh has, over the years, closely observed the traditional folk foods prevalent across Awadh. She has spent a good part of the last few decades visiting the remotest regions of the province, understanding the concepts surrounding folk cuisines, and how seasonal and traditional foods cure the body and mind. Eventually, she documented these recipes and compiled them into a book, ensuring that the generations to come benefit from her culinary experiences

Vidya Shah is a Singer and Musician from New Delhi, India. She was initially trained in Carnatic music, and later received guidance in the North Indian genres of Khayal (from Shubha Mudgal and Mujahid Hussain Khan) and Thumri Dadra, and Ghazal (from Shanti Hiranand). She has performed at national and international forums, including the Tansen Samaroh in Gwalior, the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C, the Asia Society in New York and the Bode Museum in Berlin. A popular performer and a prolific composer, she is a recipient of the Charles Wallace Award and a Senior Fellowship from the Government of India for her project "Women on Record", a performance highlighting the contributions of the forgotten women performers in the Gramophone era. She writes and speaks on music and is the Author of Jalsa: Indian Women's Journey from the Salon to the Studio (Tulika Books). She was the Nana Shirgaokar Chair Professor for Indian Music at Goa University for 2016-20.

Vijai Trivedi is best known for his Political reporting, Parliamentary coverage, and his unique style of interviewing top politicians, bureaucrats, and celebrities. With a more than 35-year-long stint in political reporting and deep understanding of the Indian political arena, he softly puts the hardest of questions to his subjects without being shrill and unnecessarily loud. He is Editor-in-Chief at News India 24x7, a national satellite news channel. He has written 4 books focussing on how BJP evolved from the days of Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath. His latest book - Sangham Sharnam Gachchhami on the journey of RSS and BJP: Kal, Aaj Aur Kal drew a lot of attention. Herein, he thoroughly analyzed the rise of BJP and its place and future in Indian Politics. His other two books are Yada Yada hi Yogi on the emergence of Yogi Adityanath in BJP and Haar Nahi Manunga on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the founding architect of the BJP.

Bangalore- based historian, Vikram Sampath is the author of eight acclaimed books: “Splendours of Royal Mysore: the Untold Story of the Wodeyars”; “My Name Is Gauhar Jaan: The Life and Times of a Musician”; “Voice of the Veena: S Balachander, A Biography”; “Women of the Records”; “Indian Classical Music and the Gramophone: 1900-1930” and “Bravehearts of Bharat.” His two-volume biography-“Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past” and “Savarkar: A Contested Legacy” went on to become National Bestsellers and were acclaimed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Dr. Sampath was recently conferred the honour of being elected as a Fellow of UK's prestigious Royal Historical Society. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi's first Yuva Puraskar in English Literature and the ARSC International Award for Excellence in Historical research in New York for his book on Gauhar Jaan. The book has also been adapted to theatre as a play "Gauhar" by Lillette Dubey and is being adapted into a Bollywood film by Ashutosh Gowariker.

Virendra Sarang is a multi-faceted Hindi author and poet. He published his first anthology of poems, Kon Se Kate Huye in 1993. Since then, Sarang has authored another five collections, including Hawao! Laut Jao, Apne Paas Hona, Chalo Kavi Se Poochhte Hain and Katha Ka Prishth.

Sarang has also penned as many as five Hindi works of fiction so far, namely Aryagaatha, Haata-Rahim, Baanjh Sapooti, Jananayak Krishna and Algani Par Samay.

He has, over the years, won numerous awards and recognitions for his writing prowess, the Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi Samman, the Vijaydev Narayan Sahi Samman (UP Hindi Sansthan), Bhojpuri Shiromani and the Balkrishna Bhatt Samman, to name a few.

Yatindra Mishra is a celebrated Hindi Poet, and Music and Cinema Scholar. He has four collections of poetry to his credit- Yada-Kada, Ayodhya Tatha Anya Kavitayein, Dyorhi Par Aalaap and Vibhas. He has several well received books on Indian Classical Music and Cinema, including 'Girija' (Based on Thumri Singer Girija Devi), 'Devpriya' (Dialogue with danseuse Sonal Mansingh), 'Sur Ki Baradari' (Life & Times of Shehnai Maestro Bismillah Khan) and 'Akhtari: Soz Aur Saaz Ka Afsana'(Based on Thumri and Ghazal Queen Begum Akhtar). He is the editor of a cultural gazetteer of Faizabad titled 'Shahernama Faizabad'. His book 'Lata : Sur-Gatha' (Musical Journey of legendary playback singer Lata Mangeshkar) won a total of Seven Awards in 2017 including the prestigious 64th National Film Award for Best Writing on Cinema (Swarna Kamal) and MAMI Mumbai Film Festival Award for Best Writing on Cinema, Mumbai, 2016-17.