Ramachandra Guha is a famous Indian historian and intellectual. Guha’s research work covers Indian environmental history, modern India, forestry, cricket, economics, society, politics, anthropology and contemporary events. Ramachandra Guha was awarded the Padma Bhushan (2009) and the Sahitya Akademi Award (2011), was named one of the world’s 100 intellectuals by Foreign Policy magazine in 2008, and was named by India People Daily named him one of the most powerful Indians in 2022.
Wiki/Biography
Ramachandra Guha was born on Tuesday, April 29, 1958, in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India (age 66; as of 2024). His zodiac sign is Taurus. He grew up in Dehradun, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand), India, and was raised by a Tamil Brahmin family. He received his primary education from Cambrian Hall and The Doon School, Dehradun.
Doon School, Dehradun, where Ramachandra Guha completed his studies
He graduated with a degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, in 1977 and pursued a Master’s degree in the same subject from the Delhi School of Economics, North Campus, Delhi University.
St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, where Ramachandra Guha studied
He pursued a PhD in sociology from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta, where he researched the social history of forestry in Uttarakhand, with a special focus on the Chipko movement, and published his first paper, “The Unquiet Forest”. He then began working as a visiting professor at various universities and in 1994-95 he worked as a researcher at the Wissenschaftskollegzu in Berlin, Germany.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′10”
Weight (approximately): 70kg
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye color: black
family and caste
Ramachandra Guha comes from a well-educated Hindu Tamil Brahmin family.
Parents and siblings
Ramachandra Guha’s father, Subramaniam Ramdas Guha, is a research specialist and director of the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, and the family lives on the institute’s campus.
Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. Its campus was the student home of Ramachandra Guha
Guha’s mother is a high school teacher.
wife and children
Ramachandra Guha is married to Sujata Keshavan, an Indian graphic designer, entrepreneur and co-founder of Ray+Keshavan design company and handmade luxury fashion brand Varana. She designed the Infosys logo and has designed and branded for big companies like Reliance, Wipro, McKinsey, Dr Reddy’s, Dabur, Max Group, TVS and many more.
Ramachandra Guha and wife Sujata Keshavan
Young photos of Ramachandra Guha and his wife Sujata Keshavan
The couple has a son Keshava Guha and a daughter Ira Guha. Keshava is a writer who published his first novel, Accidental Magic, in 2019.
Keshava Guha, son of Ramachandra Guha
Ira is an entrepreneur who founded the menstrual cup company ‘Asan’ with a vision to eradicate period poverty in India by providing cost-effective menstrual cups.
Ramachandra Guha’s daughter Ira Guha
other relatives
His grandfather S. Ramaswamy Iyer was the first Attorney General of Mysore.
Religion/Religious Views
Although he believes in some of the teachings of Hinduism, he calls himself an agnostic rather than an atheist.
I really don’t know if there is a God. I do know people whose faith encourages them to be selfless rather than selfish, putting the good of their family or community before their own personal gain. The most generous philanthropists and heroic social workers of the past and present have often been inspired by religious beliefs. “
Signature/Autograph
Signature of Ramchandra Guha
Profession
professor
From 1985 to 2000, Ramachandra Guha served as a professor at many foreign universities such as the University of California, Berkeley, Yale University, Stanford University, and the University of Oslo.
Ramachandra Guha (front: center) poses with Yale students
Guha joined the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore in 2019 as a visiting professor.
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Ramachandra Guha joined the institute as Professor in 2019
Guha held the Philippe Roman Chair in International Affairs and History at the London School of Economics in 2011-12, a position in which the recipient delivered four formal lectures. All four lectures were widely circulated among academics and sparked global debate. His first speech on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi caused controversy and in his second speech he defended Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru against India’s 1962 Defeated by China. In his third speech, he talked about ten reasons why India will not and should not become a superpower. .
Ramachandra Guha served as Chairman of Philippe Roman from 2011-2012
environmentalist
Ramachandra Guha’s first historical research was in the field of environment. Some of his popular books on the environment include:
- The Unquiet Forest: Ecological Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalayas (1989) – This book provides a glimpse into the history of the Chipko movement.
- This Divided Land: An Ecological History of India (1992) – This book, a collaboration between Ramachandra Guha and Madhav Gadgil, traces the changing ecological patterns of India from early humans to modern humans.
- Ecology and Equity (1995) – This book highlights the use and abuse of nature in contemporary India. It tells how India’s crisis is rooted in ecological exploitation.
historian
Ramachandra Guha is famous for his works on the history of modern India. He is the third Indian historian (after Romila Thapa and Jadunath Sarkar) to receive the American Historians Association (AHA) Honorary Foreign Member Award. Among many history books, his famous ones include:
- India After Gandhi: A History of the World’s Largest Democracy (2007) – Selected as a best book of the year by The Economist, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, and selected by The Times of London Newspaper selected it as the best book of the decade and The Hindu. In 2007, Ramachandra Guha’s book “India After Gandhi” was selected as the Book of the Year by The Economist.
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- The Makers of Modern India (2010)
- Resistance to the Indian Rulers: Western Fighters for India’s Freedom (2022) – chronicles the stories of seven foreigners – four British, two Americans and one Irish – who fought for India’s freedom struggle. Guha wins 2023 Elizabeth Langford Award for this book
cricket analyst
As a cricket writer, Ramachandra Guha’s analytical writings won him the English Cricket Association’s Literary Award. Guha was a cricket fan and his cricket books earned him a reputation as an international cricket journalist. In his fourth speech during his tenure as Philippe Roman Chair in International Affairs, he spoke of cricket as an expression of colonial and post-colonial India. His three famous books on cricket are:
- Spin and Other Turns: The Coming of Age of Indian Cricket (2000) – Ramachandra Guha wrote this book when the Babri Masjid was demolished. He wrote the book in a week. The underlying theme shows how cricket was considered a religion at that time and the players were considered gods.
- A Corner of a Foreign Pitch (2002) – In this book, Ramachandra Guha tells the story of cricket through the biographies of important Indian and British cricketers who played for the British Raj ball history. The book won the 2002 Daily Telegraph Cricket Association Book of the Year Award.
- Commonwealth of Cricket (2020) – Written in the voice of a memoir, this book charts the life and history of Indian cricket.
- The Picador Book of Cricket (2001) – This book is an anthology of the best cricket writings by popular cricket writers. Ramachandra Guha edited this book.
biographer
He is best known for his historical documentation of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, which sparked worldwide debate about Gandhi. His famous biographies include:
- Savage Civilization: Viril Erwin, His Tribe, and India (1999)
- Gandhi Before India (2013)
- Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World (2018)
critic and columnist
Ramachandra Guha is a critic and columnist with a passion for contemporary issues. As a columnist, he has written for many well-known newspapers and magazines. He has written for newspapers such as The Hindu, The Telegraph, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Hindi Daily News and Amar Ujjara. He is also a columnist for Outlook and The Caravan magazines. As a critic, his notable books include Patriots and Partisans (2012) and Democrats and Dissidents (2016).
These works established him as an outstanding public intellectual.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- Leopold-Sheedy Award (2001)
- Fukuoka Asian Culture Award (2015)
- Elizabeth Longford Prize in Historical Biography (2023)
- RK Narayan Award at the Chennai Book Fair (2003)
- Ramnath Goenka Award(2007-08)
- Daily Telegraph/Cricket Association Award
- The New York Times described Guha as “the best of Indian nonfiction writers.”
- Time Magazine called Guha’s achievements a preeminent chronicler of Indian democracy.
- Ranked as one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world (2008) by Outlook and Foreign Policy magazines, No. 44
Favorites
- Leaders: Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Facts/Trivia
- Ramachandra Guha was influenced by Marxist theory during his student days and was a leftist.
- Guha considers food scientist KT Achaya, popularly known as “Thammu”, as his godfather.
- In his book Cooking with Books – A Literary Memoir, published in January 2024, Guha talks about his close friendship with editor Rukun Advani.
Preprint copies of Book Cooking have just arrived. This account of my friendship with the brilliant, reclusive editor Rukun Advani is the most personal book I have ever written, and the shortest. I believe readers will appreciate the latter, if not the former. This book… pic.twitter.com/t768klZf3e
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) January 18, 2024
Ramachandra Guha (left) and Rukun Advani (right)
- The famous Indian writer Amitav Ghosh was a classmate of Ramachandra Guha, and together they edited a publication called “History Times”.
- On December 4, 2019, Ramachandra Guha was detained for protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
- The American Society for Environmental History awarded Ramachandra Guha the Leopold-Sheedy Prize for her essay “The Prehistory of Community Forestry in India.”
- Guha expressed his opposition to the construction of the Statue of Unity in Gujarat by refusing to take up a professorship at the Gujarat University.
- Ramachandra Guha’s hobbies are traveling, reading and writing.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education