NAACAccreditation-'A'Grade
You are cordially invited to participate in the
Book Launch and Panel Discussion
on
The Purveyors OF
DESTINY
A CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY OF
THE INDIAN RAILWAYS
Chief Guest
Mr. Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu
Hon'ble Union Minister for Railways
Ministry of Railways, Government of India
Guest of Honour
Mr. Shakti Sinha
Director
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
Published by
Date: Monday, 22 May 2017 | Time: Registration – 6:15 pm | Book Launch – 7:00 pm
Venue: Multipurpose Hall, INDIA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE
40, Lodhi Gardens, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi – 110003
Programme
6:15 pm - Registration
Welcome Address
7:00 pm – 7:05 pm
Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University
Author’s Introduction of the Book
7:05 pm – 7:10 pm
Professor (Dr.) Arup K. Chatterjee, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School
Release of the book, The Purveyors of Destiny
A Cultural Biography of the Indian Railways by the
Hon'ble Union Minister for Railways
Address by the Chief Guest
7:10 pm – 7:25 pm
Mr. Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Hon'ble Union Minister for Railways, Ministry of Railways,
Government of India
Address by the Guest of Honour
7:25 pm – 7:40 pm
Mr. Shakti Sinha, Director, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
Vote of Thanks
7:40 pm – 7:45 pm
Professor (Dr.) Y.S.R. Murthy, Registrar, O.P. Jindal Global University
Panel Discussion: 7:45 pm – 8:15 pm
Ms. Himanjali Sankar, Publisher/Editor, Bloomsbury & Author, Talking of Muskaan
Professor (Dr.) Amit Ranjan, Assistant Professor, Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi
Mr. Manu S. Pillai, Author, The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore
Professor (Dr.) Arup K. Chatterjee, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School
Dinner: 8:15 pm
About the Book
In 1853 Karl Marx predicted the Indian Railways would foster the growth of parallel industries 'not immediately
connected with the railways.' But the most successful industry-which Marx could not possibly have dreamed ofwas that of cultural representations of the railways, which began even before the railways, themselves. From
Rudyard Kipling to Mark Twain to R.K. Narayan to Ruskin Bond-the aura of Indian trains and railway stations
have enchanted many. What imperialism made opulent, nationalism embraced a swadeshi tool, Partition turned
into theaters of the macabre, and the nation's destiny marked for its favorite foster child, came to embody the
portable architecture of India's modernity. And, what with iconic railway cinematography from Aradhana (1969),
Sonar Kella (1974), Gandhi (1982), Dil Se (1997), or Parineeta (2005), Indian cinema has forged mythical
railroads in the national psyche. The Purveyors of Destiny brings together all these elements together, for the first
time, in a book replete with anecdotes from colonial and Indian accounts, the battlefronts of the Indian nationalist
movement, Indian cinema, advertisements, and much more, in an ever expanding cultural biography of the Great
Indian Railways.
About the Author
Professor (Dr.) Arup K. Chatterjee was awarded his doctorate at the Center for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, in 2015. He has taught English, as Assistant Professor, at colleges in the University of Delhi. In 2014-15
he was a recipient of Charles Wallace fellowship to the United Kingdom. He has worked as a correspondent for The
Telegraph, India. He is the founding-chief-editor of Coldnoon: International Journal of Travel Writing
& Travelling Cultures. He is an Assistant Professor at the Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global
University. He is currently engaged in writing a history of India, and a historical novel set in Edwardian India.
RSVP: Mr. K. Harischandra Rao, Office of the Vice Chancellor, +91 8396907363, [email protected]