Myth and Memory | Amish and Shashi Tharoor in conversation | JLF London 2023

Myth and Memory | Amish and Shashi Tharoor in conversation | JLF London 2023
Myth plays an important part as a mediator of memory. Indic culture has a mythopoeic imagination and the two foundational texts of the Ramayana and Mahabharata are interpreted anew time and again. The Director of The Nehru Centre in London and the fastest-selling author in Indian publishing history, Amish's latest addition to hi
s Ram Chandra series, War of Lanka, brings together the narratives of Ram, Sita and Raavan in an epic tale of rage, grief, honour, love and ultimately, the victory of light over darkness. Iconic writer, diplomat and politician Shashi Tharoor is the author of books like Inglorious Empire, The Battle of Belonging and a work of fiction, The Great Indian Novel, which recasts characters from the Mahabharata in a contemporary light. Together, they examine the significance and interplay between memory, myth and culture.
Amish is a diplomat and author. His books have sold 6.5 million copies and been translated into 20 Indian & international languages. His Shiva Trilogy is the fastest-selling book series in Indian publishing history. His Ram Chandra Series (4 of 5 books released) is the second-fastest-selling. Amish was also selected as an Eisenhower Fellow, and won the 21st Century Icon Award in the UK in 2021. In his diplomatic role, Amish works as the Minister (Culture & Education) at the Indian High Commission to the UK and is the Director of The Nehru Centre in London.
Shashi Tharoor, a third-term Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, is the bestselling author of twenty-four books, both fiction and non-fiction, besides being a former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and a former Minister of State for Human Resource Development and for External Affairs in the Government of India. He has won numerous awards, including the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Crossword Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019, Tharoor was also awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in the category of ‘English Non-Fiction’ for his book An Era of Darkness. He chairs Parliament’s Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers and has previously chaired the Standing Committee on External Affairs and the Committee on Information Technology.
#MythAndMemory #JLFLondon2023 #AmishTripathi #ShashiTharoor #RamChandraSeries #WarOfLanka #IndicCulture #Ramayana #Mahabharata #MemoryAndMyth

[@jamilkhan715]

Brilliant discussion. The essence of Mahabharat highlighted by the two giants is an eye opener for me.Essentially all religions are accommodative but the vested interests and politicians make it problematic.

[@whomraja1704]

Watch how logical Shashi is with Sanatan Dharma. He never even once wants to combine logic with Islam or Christianity as that would mean probable dismissal from congress party and riots in INDIA

[@MrPeaceGuy54]

"Our fight against Hindutva extremism should give no comfort to Islamic extremism either." -From a tweet by Dr Tharoor that was written on 29 December, 2019. It is only natural (and logical) that he, as a Hindu, would focus more on his own faith.

[@whomraja1704]

@@MrPeaceGuy54 Christians are killing lakhs of Christians in Russia Ukraine war. Muslims are killing lakhs of Muslims in wars everywhere. Only Hindus have sanity and calling them extremist shows how jealous people are of Hindus

[@Heretic-007]

​@@MrPeaceGuy54more Inversions of Reality fueled by Depraved Doublespeak from serial Marxist Jihadist Mouthpiece. There is no Hindutva extremism, he supports Islamic Extremism which he considers normal and Secular He comrades with Pakistani IUML, attacks Kerala Story, Supports Hamas and is a serial liar Je

[@Heretic-007]

​​@@MrPeaceGuy54there is nothing natural about "Hindu" focusing on his "own faith". People are mostly born into their faith. Shashi Tharoor however is a Gandhi-Nehruvian not a Hindu, all he does is pathologically lie and Hatemonger against Hindus. Everything from 33 million gods, to his book "Why am I Hindu" is just rabid lies

[@Heretic-007]

​@@MrPeaceGuy54Tharoor aggressively supports Islamism, attacks article 370 abrogation, considers Moplah Genocide a peasant rebellion against Brits, abuses CAA, supports lynching of Blasphemers of Islam like Nupur Sharma while promoting Blasphemy against Hinduism

[@miriamdossa6611]

opened my mind. Brilliant.

[@davidsingh4417]

VERY INTERESTING.

[@diptibistaswal4604]

Brilliant !!!

[@miku1408]

We were taught about Monsoon season in Maharastra state board.. not sure which school Amish attended.

[@user-zz1zb1ki2f]

In most of states, it isn’t taught as they are still attached to syllabus put up by Maulana Azad (1st ed min of India). Amish sir is right and most of Indian students can relate. You are lucky I must admit in this sense 😊😊

[@chrissingh4730]

Always a joy to listen to your discussion Shashi ji. Rajiv Gandhi would have enhanced your thoughts with his thorough knowledge of the Upanishads as he is teaching the French!!

[@johnsonsrigiri657]

Hats off to Sashi and his commitment to objectivity and Amish wordy and tricky and no wonder he mixes up fact with fiction and so playful and decietful. The man who asked the first question nailed it.

[@samarthagarwal4393]

Its fades away when it comes to other religion Or when he his with Jai sai deepak

[@aavakaaya1]

Amish seems to be surprised that people are aware of other versions of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

[@cmahima]

That's the downside of being intelligent, they tend to underestimate the general public

[@Humbert-Humbert]

I found that EXTREMELY condescending, and not as a sign of intelligence at all, but of insecurity. I saw this condescension also in Tripathy's Oxford Union debate appearance (my first experience of the 'Amish phenomenon; I've never read him) where he often broke off from his speech to ask the audience whether they had heard of this or read of that. Also, he says that his use of anachronisms (linguistic and conceptual) were not considered decisions but came naturally to him... that's just appalling! That is just a damning indictment of his credibility as a writer. And that declaration that he reads a lot ("five-six books a month") and name-dropping Gore Vidal and Scientific American is just a laughably desperate attempt to hold his own.

[@monojdas-gupta5918]

This Amish guy looks like to me as a smarmy pedant whippersnapper school boy who may have read Proust.

[@philipgeorge8242]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@smithanair4800]

🙏

[@sampoornamkannan]

The elephant head on a human body only means this: marriage of Purusha and Prakrithi ,post creation of a body (part of Prakrithi) in order to make it complete. Lord Ganapathy who exists in the Muladhara, where Parasakthi (Prakrithi after separation from her beloved) had established him before becoming Kundalini and going to yoganidra only to be reawakened, by the sadhana of the Jivathma, and going up the sushumna recapturing all the principles and Devas at different Chakras , for reunion with Lord Shiva (purusha or consciousness) at Brahmarandhra. Brahmarandhra represents older version of the LHC of modern science.

[@sandponics]

Religion, the never ending story.

[@sampoornamkannan]

The history that one would like to categorise as Real, is ultimately only a fiction of his own expectations . All things or concepts held by a mind is a mental projection only. Reality is ever beyond mind and one cannot Realise it unless one surrenders his mind together with one's ego.

[@ananda7863]

MY OPINION WHY DONT U INVITE RAM GOPAL VARMA INSTEAD OF THROUGH GENTELMEN SHASHI THAROOR:BECUZ INHERENT RASCALS REQUIRED FOR SUCH DESKTOP CONVERSATIONS/ANAND VAIDYA

[@miku1408]

Honestly I am surprised too how Immortals of Meluha was not criticized by the right wing 😅 love the book btw

[@apoorvnaik4703]

Cause they don't read only watch

[@incubusk8r]

@@apoorvnaik4703 That's a pretty lazy analysis. I hope you are joking.

[@oyehoyemon2286]

because context matters, meluha approached indian stories and philosophy with compassion and empathy not contempt a la romila

[@literarymusings8886]

​@@oyehoyemon2286what contempt did Professor AK Ramanujan Show?

[@literarymusings8886]

​​@@oyehoyemon2286you fools are contemptible towards indian culture and hate women, you fools would smash the nude painting of Khujaraho of Indian goddesses if you fools had some brain which thankfully you don't have

[@parthdeepsingh]

Amish Tripathi is one of the best thing that happened to Indian as well as world literature.

[@angshukNag]

4:19 .. Shashi tharoor says his side is slow to take offense. Correct, but only when its on Hindus. When its on muslims they react even before the act happens.

[@alter_ep]

Amish Tripathy is love

[@korathmathew]

The angrez in the crowd is conspicuous due to their ignorance. They have to look beyond the Indian history written by the British to rule India. Two patriots presenting the glorious India unpalatable for the angrezi.

[@Humbert-Humbert]

Where did you see any unpalatability?! You are right about the history that's taught to British kids in schools. Most Brits don't even know about events like Jallianwalabagh, and are shocked when they hear about it. To their credit, a lot of them are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that the history they read is skewed.

[@korathmathew]

@@Humbert-Humbert you have answered your question.

[@Humbert-Humbert]

@@korathmathew Have I?! Okay.

[@shubhamkumar5888]

28:00

[@monojdas-gupta5918]

Nobody talked about caste system the bane of Hinduism.To condemn a person because of accident of birth chips away veneration from this otherwise great faith. What this Mr Triphati did is to publish a dumbing down version of a great work of literature and philosophy. A great disservice to our profound heritage, I would think.

[@chrissingh4730]

Shashi because your side are unaware.

[@Piku.thinks]

Liberalism without a sense of extremism* 🙌

[@prernakanakia8707]

fantasy fiction should be read as fantasy fiction. Game of thrones breaks all rules of known history , Dr Tharoor did you question the author if he is propagating ignorance?

[@jeanmenezes8446]

Sashi Taroor,you went to Convent schools and colleges which taught you English

[@sayedsayed2635]

What a shame and loss of opportunity!!. You may criticise the British but as a hindu majority intellectual you become a coward. No criticism of oppression and physical attacks on the minority in lndia. Mr , UK has started ,as much as it can, to improve respect, independence and rights of British Indians and it is obvious. What will hindutva oriented minds do with reparations??

[@utsavkumar33]

@@sayedsayed2635Muslims have drive the whole population of Kashmiri hindu from Kashmir this is what happens when muslim grow in population

[@vsjasrotia8906]

​@@sayedsayed2635Muslims are very loud about claiming oppression, but are very quiet about atrocities and crimes and forceful conversion being done in Every Muslim countries

[@alter_ep]

I think Islam’s philosophy of God is derived from Brahman not the way Mr Tharoor says! Islam is so new that it doesn’t even hold a chance! That’s why Buddhism Jainism Sikhism came into the dharmik fold!!

[@Humbert-Humbert]

They didn't come into the Dharmic fold; they were actually derived from, and based on Dharmic concepts. And, Tharoor is not saying that the Dharmic faith learnt from Islam! He just says the concept (of a universal, formless, unknowable god) was similar.

[@colarunjoshi]

Amish please do not waste your time with this "colonial mind set" "Hindu Pakistan " exponent, who is totally cluless about Sanatan Dharma. He was stripped bare by J Sai Deepak & Rajiv Mahlotra

[@rakhimukerji7937]

With all respect who are Malhotra and sai Deepak

[@colarunjoshi]

@@rakhimukerji7937 i pity your ignorance. God bless

[@Humbert-Humbert]

​@@rakhimukerji7937 Sai Deepak is one of those truculent self-styled -right- "Indic" wing ideologues. He's a lawyer by profession, but seems to have realised that there is more capital to be gained from polemics on "news" channel "debates". Apart from being a disingenuous cherry-picker when it comes to framing his arguments, he is also a blatant gish-galloper who never uses one word when he has a chance to use ten. He's hilarious when you can see through his schtick, but he's dangerous because a lot of people buy into his demagoguery without analysing it critically. Malhotra, on the other hand, is an Indian-American conspiracy theorist ("global order", Soros, "cabal type") who has made his millions (supposedly) from investments and the stock-market in America but professes deep love for his Bharat and wants to "reclaim" it from other Indians who disagree with his cultural pseudo-nationalism. Anyway, this Sai Deepak and Tharoor participated in some discussion a while back, where each of them was on a different paradigm of discourse: one was trying to engage in a discussion, and the other was constantly focussing on oneupmanship, and the whole event just derailed right at the get-go. And people on either side of the political divide both claim "victory" in what was never really intended to be a contest. As for Malhotra, I'm not aware of any specific contretemps between Tharoor and him. From what I know of Malhotra, it was probably just him slinging mud wildly, accusing Tharoor and others he disagrees with of all manner of subversion... most of which would have been ignored as senile ranting.

[@ananda7863]

AS FAN THIS IS MY SPL REQUEST TO SHASHI THAROOR DO SOME CONSTRUCTIVE WORK WITH RISHI SUNAK UK PM & US INDIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE RAMSWAMY? IF U R IN UK NOW U WOULD HAVE DY PM OR EDUCATION MINISTER INDIA IS NOT FOR EDUCATED CULTURED CLASS I AM SORRY TO SAY TODAYS INDIA IS FOR ONLY HOOLIGANS SCOUNDRELS ROUGHS RASCALS WHO R ELIGIBLE FOR FREE 2BHK _ANAND VAIDYA

[@ashimdan]

Aah aah aah .... learn to talk

[@sayedsayed2635]

SHAME MR THAROOR HAS NOTHING TO SAY ON MINORITY OPPRESSION

[@pallavmishra]

The theme of this discussion: it had nothing to do with minority oppression. And muslims are not a minority in India- they are the second largest majority.

[@8251322233]

I think the ppl with jihadi mindset should be oppressed for the better ment of country.. or else future is in danger for sure ...evidence is seen in Europe...

[@rajhegde5955]

Who is a minority in India and where is the oppression? Good joke of this non sense called minority and oppression 😂

[@diptibistaswal4604]

They are here to discuss books. Real minorities in India are parsis or Jains who never complain of oppression. Stop playing this victim card and spread modern education in your community. Look what Christian community has achieved when it comes to education.

[@Medico9814]

@sayed26 you are a shame .use your brain atleast. don't try to politicize everything and anything.

[@i7xworld702]

RRR is a one of the great movie, Britain keep burning🤡💥

[@AjjutheConqueror]

tharoor .......the english sellout