Romesh Thapar
Romesh Thapar (1922–1987) was an Indian journalist and political commentator. Affiliated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Thapar was the founder-editor of the monthly journal Seminar, published from New Delhi, India.
Early life and background
Thapar was born in
Thapar's family acquired wealth by making their fortune in trade during
Career
Thapar returned to India in the mid-1940s and took a job in Bombay as a journalist with The Times of India, while Frank Moraes was its editor.[3] After a couple of years, Thapar used some of his family wealth to start an English language magazine of his own, named Cross Roads.
Seminar
On 1 September 1959, Thapar started Seminar as a monthly journal, with a fund of Rs 11,000. This time, he sought to establish a stable revenue model through subscribers and advertisers.
Seminar continues to be published from Malhotra building in Connaught Place, Delhi. The publication is brought out by Thapar's daughter Malavika Singh and her husband Tejbir Singh, who is the editor. In 2009, the publication celebrated its 50th anniversary.[4][5]
Other party activities
During his years in Bombay, Thapar was associated with
Politics
Thapar and his wife grew especially close to
However, during the
Personal life
In 1945, Thapar married Raj Malhotra (1925–87), who also hailed from a Punjabi Khatri family of Lahore. The couple lived in a flat in Mafatlal Park, in the upmarket Breach Candy neighbourhood of Mumbai, and were notable mainly for being well-connected socialites.[3][7] They had a son named Valmik and a daughter named Malavika.
Thapar's son, Valmik Thapar, is a prominent tiger conservationist. He is married to occasional actress Sanjana Kapoor, daughter of Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor by his actress wife Jennifer Kendal, an Indian of British heritage. Valmik and Sanjana are the parents of a son, Hamir Thapar.
Thapar's daughter, Malavika Singh, who now runs the Seminar magazine, is married to Tejbir Singh, who edits the magazine. Tejbir Singh is the nephew of writer Khushwant Singh and grandson of the construction magnate Sir Sobha Singh.[9] Malavika and Tejbir have a son, Jaisal Singh, who runs as many as five wildlife resorts (the "Sujan" chain of boutique properties) in Rajasthan. He is married to Anjali Anand, only child and heiress of Deep C. Anand, founder of the Anand group of companies which had a turnover of Rs. 6100 crore in 2014-15.[10] Anjali is being groomed to take over the business empire built by her father; she has also been instrumental in the meteoric expansion of her husband's wildlife resort venture. Jaisal and Anjali are the parents of twin boys born in 2012.[10]
Raj Thapar died in 1987 of cancer, at the age of 61. Romesh Thapar died a few months later. A few years later, Raj Thapar's memoir, All These Years was completed, edited and published by her daughter Malvika Singh in 1991. It was based on her diary which she had kept over two decades.[4][7]
Bibliography
- Romesh Thapar (1948). Storm Over Hyderabad. Kutub Publishers.
- Romesh Thapar; M. K. Rajan (1951). Nehru's foreign policy.
- Romesh Thapar (1956). India in Transition. Current Book House.
- Romesh Thapar (1975). Book development in national communications and planning. UNESCO Regional Centre for Book Development in Asia.
- Romesh Thapar (1977). The Indian dimension: politics of continental development. Vikas. ISBN 978-0-7069-0538-0.
- Romesh Thapar (1978). Change and Conflict in India. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-90205-9.
- Romesh Thapar (1978). The Waste and the Want: Thoughts on the Future. Orient Longman.
- Romesh Thapar (1981). An Indian Future. Allied Pub. ISBN 978-0-940500-89-1.
- Romesh Thapar (1984). Indira Gandhi: Some Thoughts on a Sixteen Year Reign. Thapar.
- Romesh Thapar (1986). These Troubled Times. Popular Prakashan. ISBN 978-0-86132-127-8.
- Raj Thapar (1991). All these years: a memoir. Seminar Publications. ISBN 978-0-14-016869-3.
References
- ^ Jha, Prashant (10 June 2013). "When the Devil's Advocate has the Last Word". The Hindu. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
- ^ Singh, Nandita (2 January 2019). "Why is Karan Thapar complaining? His dynasty holds a key to Lutyens' Delhi". The Print. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4008-3594-2.
- ^ a b c d "Half a century of ideas". Indian Express. 25 October 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
- ^ Anjali Puri; Dola Mitra (14 September 2009). "Seminar: Fit At Fifty". Outlook. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
- IMDb
- ^ a b c d Bernard Weinraub (9 July 1991). "New Delhi Journal; The Kitty Kelley of Delhi Scandalizes the Nabobs". New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
- ^ Rajni Kothari (1999). "Personally speaking". Seminar. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ^ "'Delhi, the perpetual city, has a soul unlike Mumbai'". Hindustan Times. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
- ^ a b Anjali, her father's heir