Gurcharan Das
Encyclopedia
Gurcharan Das (born October 3, 1943), is an Indian author, commentator and public intellectual. He is the author of The Difficulty of Being Good: On the subtle art of dharma which interrogates the epic, Mahabharata. His international bestseller, India Unbound, is a narrative account of India from Independence to the global information age, and has been published in many languages and filmed by BBC.
He is a regular columnist for six Indian newspapers in English, Hindi, Telugu and Marathi, and he writes periodic pieces for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Newsweek.
Gurcharan Das graduated with honors from Harvard University in Philosophy. He later attended Harvard Business School (AMP), where he is featured in three case studies. He was CEO of Procter & Gamble India and later Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide (Strategic Planning). In 1995, he took early retirement to become a full time writer.
His other literary works include a novel, A Fine Family, a book of essays, The Elephant Paradigm, and anthology, Three English Plays.
, India (now Pakistan) into a Punjabi
Hindu family. His mildly autobiographical novel sheds light on his early life. After Independence, Das' family fled to India as refugees. His father was an engineer with the government and he spent his childhood in Shimla and Delhi. He went to high school in Washington D.C. when his father was posted there in the mid-1950s. He attended Harvard University and graduated with honors in Philosophy
. He wrote his thesis under John Rawls. Later he attended Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program, where he is featured in three case studies.
In end 1994, after a 30-year career in six countries, he took an early retirement to become a full-time writer.
He began to write a regular column on Sundays for the Times of India and continued to do so for 15 years. Gradually, he added “Dainik Bhaskar (Hindi)”, “Prabhat Khabar (Hindi)”, Eenadu (Telugu)”, “Sakal (Marathi)” and “Mathrubhumi (Malayalam)”. He also wrote occasional guest columns for Time magazine and Newsweek magazines and occasional pieces for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Foreign Affairs .
Gurcharan Das began to write soon after college. He wrote three plays in his twenties, which have been published as an anthology, Three English Plays (Oxford University Press, 2003). It consists of Larins Sahib, a prize-winning play about the British in India, which has been presented at the Edinburgh Festival; Mira, which was produced off-Broadway to critical acclaim from New York critics; and 9 Jakhoo Hill which has been performed in major Indian cities.
He wrote a novel in his thirties, A Fine Family, which follows the stories of several generations of a Punjabi family beginning with the Partition.
The Elephant Paradigm is a book of essays which ranges over subjects as varied as panchayati raj, national competitiveness, and the sacred and philosophical concerns of the average Indian consequent to India’s entry into what the author calls the ‘age of liberation’. While India may never roar like the Asian tigers, Das argues, it will advance like a wise elephant, moving steadily and surely, pausing occasionally to reflect on its past and to enjoy the journey.
He is a regular columnist for six Indian newspapers in English, Hindi, Telugu and Marathi, and he writes periodic pieces for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Newsweek.
Gurcharan Das graduated with honors from Harvard University in Philosophy. He later attended Harvard Business School (AMP), where he is featured in three case studies. He was CEO of Procter & Gamble India and later Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide (Strategic Planning). In 1995, he took early retirement to become a full time writer.
His other literary works include a novel, A Fine Family, a book of essays, The Elephant Paradigm, and anthology, Three English Plays.
Early life
Gurcharan Das was born in LyallpurFaisalabad
Faisalabad , formerly known as Lyallpur, is the third largest metropolis in Pakistan, the second largest in the province of Punjab after Lahore, and a major industrial center in the heart of Pakistan. Before the foundation of the city in 1880, the area was very thinly populated. The population has...
, India (now Pakistan) into a Punjabi
Punjabi people
The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...
Hindu family. His mildly autobiographical novel sheds light on his early life. After Independence, Das' family fled to India as refugees. His father was an engineer with the government and he spent his childhood in Shimla and Delhi. He went to high school in Washington D.C. when his father was posted there in the mid-1950s. He attended Harvard University and graduated with honors in Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. He wrote his thesis under John Rawls. Later he attended Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program, where he is featured in three case studies.
Career
Gurcharan Das was the CEO of Procter & Gamble India and Vice President for Procter & Gamble Far East between 1985 and 1992. He was later Vice President and Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide responsible for global strategic planning. Prior to P&G, he was Chairman and Managing Director of Richardson Hindustan Limited from 1981 to 1985, the company where he started as a trainee.In end 1994, after a 30-year career in six countries, he took an early retirement to become a full-time writer.
He began to write a regular column on Sundays for the Times of India and continued to do so for 15 years. Gradually, he added “Dainik Bhaskar (Hindi)”, “Prabhat Khabar (Hindi)”, Eenadu (Telugu)”, “Sakal (Marathi)” and “Mathrubhumi (Malayalam)”. He also wrote occasional guest columns for Time magazine and Newsweek magazines and occasional pieces for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Foreign Affairs .
Books
Gurcharan Das is now mainly known for his two best-selling books, India Unbound and The Difficulty of Being Good. India Unbound, is a narrative account of India from Independence to the global information age, and has been published in over a dozen languages and filmed by BBC. The Difficulty of Being Good: On the subtle art of dharma (Penguin 2009) examines contemporary moral failures through the lens of the 2000 year old epic, the Mahabharata.Gurcharan Das began to write soon after college. He wrote three plays in his twenties, which have been published as an anthology, Three English Plays (Oxford University Press, 2003). It consists of Larins Sahib, a prize-winning play about the British in India, which has been presented at the Edinburgh Festival; Mira, which was produced off-Broadway to critical acclaim from New York critics; and 9 Jakhoo Hill which has been performed in major Indian cities.
He wrote a novel in his thirties, A Fine Family, which follows the stories of several generations of a Punjabi family beginning with the Partition.
The Elephant Paradigm is a book of essays which ranges over subjects as varied as panchayati raj, national competitiveness, and the sacred and philosophical concerns of the average Indian consequent to India’s entry into what the author calls the ‘age of liberation’. While India may never roar like the Asian tigers, Das argues, it will advance like a wise elephant, moving steadily and surely, pausing occasionally to reflect on its past and to enjoy the journey.