Short Meditation Retreat, Singapore

Spend a peaceful and joyous 2 hours in a beautiful natural setting with Pamposh Dhar, who will lead you in calming meditations and relaxing visualisations at the beautiful Aramsa Spa in the middle of Bishan Park 2 (Singapore).

Email terataii@gmail.com to book your place today! 

The Allah Debate (Malaysia) - here we go again!

Incredibly, the so-called Allah controversy is back in Malaysia! 

Here is what I wrote about it when it first surfaced back in early 2010:

Allah by Any Other Name

And here's a more scholarly look at the issue, published Oct 14 and pointing out, pertinently, that Christians throughout the Middle East pray to Allah without any outcry from the predominantly Muslim populations in these countries:

Word "Allah" is not exclusive to Islam

(The Oct 14 article, published in The National, does not give the name of the author.) 

Dark is Beautiful: Shah Rukh Khan, Let's Be Fair

Dark is Beautiful: Shah Rukh Khan, Let's Be Fair: By Pamposh Dhar | Dark is Beautiful campaigner We are bombarded by print ads and TV commercials all day long. So much so that we hardl...

Book Launch in Singapore!

From Partition to Operation Bluestar: Tales of a Journalist, Bureaucrat, Spy- by Som Nath Dhar

To be released at a book launch at the Singapore Management University by Prof. Kirpal Singh, Director, Wee Kim Wee Centre, on 3 April 2013.

And the book is now available in bookshops in Singapore, as well as in India; through several online stores in India; and through amazon.com internationally.

I welcome genuine comments, not spam!

I am sorry I get so few comments on this and other blogs now that so much of the action has shifted to facebook! But I'm not desperate enough to publish spam thinly designed as a comment.

I moderate comments on this blog and do not publish such obvious spam as the following comments, all of which end with a request to visit another blog:

- I really appreciate the information here... pls also visit my blog xxx.

- I like your blog, do you face xxx problem (something technical)... btw, pls visit my blog yyy.

- I appreciate your recommendation. Let me try it. Now visit my blog...

etc etc

But if I had to give a prize to the weirdest one it would be the one praising the audio features on this blog! Those would be the non-existent audio features, ha ha.

So, please do share your ideas, opinions and genuine comments - even questions, if you have any, but don't make blandly, obviously generic comments followed by a url!!

Cheers.

Partition to Bluestar - availability UPDATE!

From Partition to Operation Bluestar: Tales of a Journalist, Bureaucrat, Spy
- by Som Nath Dhar

Available in bookstores all over INDIA and SINGAPORE!

In all major bookshops in several Indian metros and cities.

As of 1 April, also available in Singapore stores:
Kinokuniya (Orchard), Times bookshop in Tampines 1, airport bookshops, MPH stores throughout the city...

Book launch in Singapore on 3 April. 

A friend who just received his copy from an online store in India sent in this picture:


ONLINE ORDERS:

Internationally
Amazon

In North America
SOUTH ASIA BOOKS

In India
flipkart
BOOKadda
StackKart
infibeam
CROSSWORD

The publisher's website
Harper Collins India

NEW BOOK - Reader-friendly, journalistic view of modern Indian history

An excellent book - OK I'm just a little bit prejudiced because it's written by my father! :) But it really is a wonderful book, very readable, very interesting, kind of a personal view of Indian history from the partition of the country into India and Pakistan (1946) until the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (1984).


FROM PARTITION TO OPERATION BLUESTAR - TALES OF A JOURNALIST, BUREAUCRAT, SPY
- By Som Nath Dhar
published by Harper Collins India
ISBN: 9789350293775

Available in India through the flipkart and stackkart online stores; and will be in Indian bookstore very soon. Available in Singapore through me! Email me: pamposh@gmail.com


FROM THE PUBLISHER'S website: 

BOOK SUMMARY

An engrossing, personal view of the public events that have shaped India's recent history 

From Partition to Operation Bluestar provides an engrossing, personal view of the public events that have shaped India's recent history, written by a man who had a ringside view of these.

As we follow Som Nath Dhar's career in journalism, government and the world of covert intelligence, the book transports us from pre-Partition Punjab to Delhi and Kashmir, with side trips to East Africa and Europe.

Dhar writes in a compelling, journalistic style about the turbulence of Partition; the heady experience of working closely with India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru; the dramatic events leading up to the 1947 invasion and accession of Kashmir; and later developments such as Indira Gandhi's accession to power, her fall from grace and eventual return to power, and much else.

Full of charming anecdotes, the book deepens our understanding of recent Indian history and provides insights into the character of many of the personalities who shaped it.


THE AUTHOR

Som Nath Dhar started his career as a journalist in Lahore in 1946. He moved to Delhi in 1947 and was part of Jawaharlal Nehru's staff for a few months, after which he returned to journalism, this time as a radio reporter. He went on to work in the government's Central Information Service (now called the Indian Information Service), and later as a diplomat and as an intelligence officer. He ended his career in government as director of news, All India Radio. After retirement, he taught for five years as head of department at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication.