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Oxford Bookstore presents an exclusive interaction around A.S. Dulat’s Memoir ‘A Life in the Shadows’ with
Kolkata, 24 February 2023– Oxford Bookstore hosted an exclusive interaction around ‘A Life in The Shadows: A Memoir’ by Amarjit Singh Dulat, Former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and special director of the Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB). He was in conversation with Jawhar Sircar, MP, Rajya Sabha around his latest book “A Life in the Shadows: A Memoir”, published by HarperCollins India.
The audience enjoyed a lively, insightful, and captivating conversation between the author Dulat and Jawhar Sircar. They discussed the fascinating memoir of a life richly lived and insightfully observed, by the former Chief of RAW.
About the Book ‘A Life in the Shadows’:
A.S. Dulat is India’s most successful spymaster, his name synonymous with the Kashmir issue. Very little is known about him, in the public sphere primarily because the former spymaster has been particularly private about his personal life. Dulat however breaks that silence for the first time in this book. This is not a traditional, linear narrative as much as a selection of stories from across space and time. Still bound by the rules of secrecy of his trade, he tells a fascinating story of a life richly lived and insightfully observed. From a Partition-bloodied childhood in Lahore and New Delhi to his early years as a young intelligence officer; from meetings with international spymasters to travels around the world; from his observations on Kashmir-political and personal-post abrogation of Article 370 to his encounters with world leaders, politicians, and celebrities; moving from Bhopal to Nepal and from Kashmir to China, Dulat tells the story of his life with remarkable honesty, verve, and wit.
What we feel after a more than an hour discussion about many facets of the illustrates life of the EX Chief of RAW with another Ex-IAS counter part Jawhar Sircar now MP of Rajya Sabha from Bengal raised many issues about Kashmir and Article 370 and it seemed both of these illuminated veterans are not ready to accept that new India is just not the prisoner of the past and Kashmir has come down to normalcy and no terror element from the valley can reach the PM office for a “CHAYE PE CHARCHA”. Also, the structure of India in World diplomacy even raising the voice for Kashmiri Pundits was not a welcome idea for the duo through “The Kashmir Files” film.
Listen to the debate and discussion live here and make your understanding clear whether India is having ‘A Life in the Shadows’ or just has come out of “Life in the Shadows”.
About the author
Amarjit Singh Dulat is a former head of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency. After retirement, he was appointed adviser on Kashmir in the Prime Minister’s Office and served there from January 2001 to May 2004. During this time, he accumulated a vast reservoir of goodwill with Kashmiris of all shades. As Jane’s Intelligence Digest put it in 2001, ‘Well known for his social skills, Dulat preferred dialogue to clandestine maneouvers’. In his heyday, Dulat was referred to as ‘Mr. Kashmir’. Dulat was born in Sialkot, Punjab, in December 1940. With India’s partition, his father Justice Shamsher Singh Dulat relocated his family to Delhi. After schooling in Delhi, Simla, and Chandigarh, Dulat joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1965, and then the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in 1969, where he served for almost thirty years. At IB, he headed the Kashmir Group during the turbulent 1990s till he joined and headed the R&AW.
Oxford Bookstores
Established in 1919, Oxford Bookstore is one of the oldest heritage bookstores of the nation. It is India’s only bookstore to curate multiple literary festivals like Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, Apeejay Bangla Sahitya Utsob and Hindi Sahitya Utsav. The Oxford Bookstore not only offers book lovers access to the very best books and ambience, but also India’s first of its kind tea boutique, Cha Bar. At Oxford Bookstores, success is measured by the smiles on millions of happy readers that the brand has served over the last 100 years. Each time you walk into our iconic store in Kolkata, its old-world charm leaves you enchanted and desiring for more. Our fleet of ‘happy to help’ the knowledgeable booksellers and conversant hosts, work round the clock to bring to our vendees and world-class reading experience. Be it through our books or our fine teas we abide by the brand’s motto – Much more than a bookstore – at every Bookstore.
Please log on to www.oxfordbookstore.com for any further information.
