Friday
10
October 2025
4:30 - 6:00 PM IST
Location
Bookstore
University Centre
Central Campus
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My Truth: Autobiography of Narmadashankar Dave
Book Talk
Abhijit Kothari
Entrepreneur
Academic, Business Management
Speaker
Mona G Mehta
Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Arts
School of Arts and Sciences
Moderator
Originally titled Mari Hakikat, this is the autobiography of one of the foremost figures in Gujarati literature: Narmadashankar Dave (1833–1886), popularly known as Narmad. The book, part of the Chronicles series of non-fiction translations from Indian languages, is a fascinating assemblage of different forms of writing―diary, reflection, poetry―that document the early period of Narmad’s life. It is an example of a new awakening and new genres that enabled the self to be expressed within the framework of traditional thought. Abhijit Kothari's English translation, My Truth, brings to readers beyond Gujarat and India this landmark book for the first time. Scholars of India's intellectual history, as well as literary scholars and students, will find this significant text made available in an elegant translation valuable.
Speaker
Abhijit Kothari
Abhijit Kothari is an entrepreneur and academic in the area of business management. His academic interests focus on the overlaps of sociology and business management. He has previously translated (with Rita Kothari) K. M. Munshi's Patan Trilogy published by Penguin India as 'The Glory of Patan', 'The Lord and Master of Gujarat' and 'The King of Kings'.
Moderator
Mona G Mehta
Mona G Mehta is a political scientist (PhD, University of Chicago) with research interests in urban transformations, democracy and middle class politics in the context of Gujarat and India at large. She is currently working on a book manuscript that examines the cultural politics of urban transformations and youth aspirations in post-liberalisation India. Her book explores what we can learn about India’s urbanisation by examining the trajectories of pastoralists or maldharis, who have increasingly settled into urban spaces, and their strategies to navigate the precarious urban informal economy. Her previous work explored the vulnerability and complicity of democratic and civic spaces in the production of exclusionary politics. Her academic writings have been published in journals such as Economic and Political Weekly, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Contributions to Indian Sociology, Contemporary South Asia and International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.
Professor Mehta has previously taught in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Scripps College in Claremont, USA (2010-2012) and in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (2012-2020).
