THOUGHTS & WORDS

My mortal journey began in circa 1969, in what was then the peaceful state of Jammu & Kashmir in India. Maybe the place of my birth was to determine some of the real life conflicts that I would witness in the vocation of my choice. Armed with a Masters in Political Science, I stepped into the real world as a Journalist with The Times of India, followed by a stint at India Today. That was to determine the rest of my journeys through life. After covering the riots, the plague, the drought in Gujarat, I moved to the safer climes of Singapore. And here each day at work as a Producer with a leading news channel, I re-discover life in all its richness and diversity. One of the biggest joys at work is producing a book segment Off The Shelf that was launched in January 2005.

This foray into all things literary led me to moderate writers sessions at the Singapore Writers Festival in August 2005, followed by the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival in October 2005. Ubud was a dream come true. Here I moderated two sessions. The first one was a conversation with Booker Prize winning author Michael Ondaatje and another one was 'Passages From India' with Amitav Ghosh and Randhir Khare.

2006 will see me heading to Byron Bay in Australia for the Writers Festival there followed by another appearance at Ubud. Lot's to look forward to this year!

KEY INTERVIEWS THAT I HAVE WORKED ON IN THE RECENT AND NOT SO RECENT PAST:

APRIL 2004: AMITABH BACHCHAN: The King of Bollywood gives a one-on-one interview to Prime Time Morning at the launch of IIFA in Singapore

JUNE 2004: IIFA Ceremony. A whole series of interviews with Jaya Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Mani Ratnam, Shekhar Kapur, Shah Rukh Khan,Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherji, Hrithik Roshan, Vivek Oberoi, Shankar Ehsaan and Loy, Manish Malhotra, Shreya Ghoshal,

7th OCTOBER 2004: FAROOQUE SHAIKH & SONALI BENDRE: Live in studio interview. They were in Singapore to perform Javed Siddiqui's 'Aapki Soniya'.

NOVEMBER 2004: INDIAN FESTIVAL OF ARTS AT THE ESPLANADE, SINGAPORE:
Interviews with leading Sikh Sufi Singer Dya Singh, Theatre Director Nissar Allana who produced 'Erendira' in Rajasthani

DECEMBER 2004: ADELINE YEN MAH: The author of the 'Falling Leaves', 'Chinese Cinderella' joins us in studio for a live chat.

17th JAN 2005: DIANNE REEVES: Multiple Grammy Award Winner & Jazz's pre-eminent vocalist

21st JAN 2005: HEMA MALINI: One on One interview with Bollywood's Dream Girl

18th FEB 2005: CATHERINE LIM: South-East Asia's most celebrated face held launch the first episode of 'Off The Shelf'

25th FEB 2005: BOOK REVIEWS: I review John Grisham's 'The Broker' and Assistant Professor Gregory K Clancey from the History Department at the National University of Singapore reviews Mark Ravina's 'Last Samurai'and 'The Measure of All Things'

1st MARCH 2005: ANNU KAPOOR: Indian Actor & Host of India's Longest Running Television Show Antakshari

4th MARCH 2005: VIKAS SWARUP: Q & A with the Indian diplomat and author who's debut novel has got Hollywood all excited

4th MARCH 2005: India's big business school IIM-Bangalore opens up a branch in Singapore. An interview with the Director

11th MARCH 2005: RANA DASGUPTA: Phone interview with the critically acclaimed author of 'Tokyo Cancelled'

25th MARCH 2005: ROBERT RYAN: Bestselling author of the 'Morning, Noon & Night' Series.

25th MARCH 2005: SHANKAR MAHADEVAN & HARIHARAN: Produced live studio interview on their charity concert 'Mumbai Masti & Madras Masala'

28th MARCH 2005: Gandhian centre opens in Singapore. Interview with India's Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.

8th APRIL 2005: SONU NIGAM: Indian singer, actor & Indian Idol judge

4th-6th APRIL 2005: Globalisation Conference to mark the opening of the Lee Kuan Institute of Public Policy. Interviews with analysts, experts and academics from the US, China and India. Notable interviews: Strobe Talbott, President, Brookings Institution, Kanti Bajpai, Headmaster, Doon School, Vishaka Desai, President, Asia Society

11th APRIL 2005: KISHORE MAHBUBANI: Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the launch of his book.

22nd APRIL 2005: JACK WELCH: Review of his latest book 'Winning' for book segment 'Off The Shelf.'

13th MAY 2005: JEFFREY SACHS: Interview for book segment on his book 'The End Of Poverty.'

20th MAY 2005: CHITRA BANERJI DIVAKARUNI: Live phone interview for the book segment.

27th MAY 2005: VIKAS SWARUP: Makes a stop-over enroute to the Sydney Writer's Festival. One-on-one with the author and the book reading.

MAY 2005 : Who's Reading What? The Ambassador Series.

8th JULY 2005: NEIL GAIMAN, 'The Sandman' tells us why the star-dust stays in his fan's eyes.

15th JULY 2005: Penguin Books marks 70 momentous years in publishing. What keeps the 'Orange Book Prize' bright and shining in today's day and age.

22nd JULY 2005: GAVIN MENZIES: Author of the controversial '1421: The Year China Discovered America'.

24th JULY 2005: USTAD AMJAD ALI KHAN, AMAAN & AYAAN ALI BANGASH: The sarod maestro and his sons tell me what drives their music and what is it taking to keep the tradition of sarod alive in this day and age.

29th JULY 2005: TARUN TEJPAL: Journalist extraordinaire and Author of 'The Alchemy of Desire' shares his thoughts on his first book, his passion in life and what keeps the journalist in him going.

4th AUGUST 2005: SHABANA AZMI: Even after power packed performances in over 60 films in a 30 year career, there's no stopping this internationally acclaimed actress. An activist and a UN Goodwill Ambassador as she tells us how she balances all these roles and more.

5th AUGUST 2005: ANDREW MATTHEWS: His books have been published in 33 languages and reached out to readers in over 60 countries. Author and motivational speaker Andrew Matthews tells us what it takes to being and staying Happy.

12th AUGUST 2005: JIM ROGERS: The 'Indiana Jones of Investing' gives us all the the insights from his road trip around the world together with all the 'Hot Commodities' we should be looking at.

12th AUGUST 2005: ANUPAM KHER & ASHA BHOSLE: Insights into the life and times of the critically acclaimed actor and singer.

19th AUGUST 2005: JOHN CONNOLLY: The celebrated crime author shares his thoughts on Charlie Parker and why it pays to never say die. After all this is the man who was rejected 70 times before 'Every Dead Thing' was finally published in 1999.

8th DECEMBER 2005: JEFFREY ARCHER: On his latest book 'False Impression' and why art sells?

27th DECEMBER 2005: MAHESH BHATT: The Director gives us his take on what lies ahead for Indian cinema. Also talks about the Asian Festival of First Films that launched in Singapore.