Dr Balaji’s book on Indian history launched
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HE was more widely known as a statesman and top neurosurgeon, but Dr Balaji Sadasivan’s last labour of love showed he was also a historian with a keen interest in India’s past.
On Friday, President S R Nathan launched a book which the late Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs had written during the last few years of his life. Dr Balaji, who was also a Member of Parliament for Ang Mo Kio GRC, died of colon cancer at 55 in September last year.
Titled The Dancing Girl: A History of Early India, the book is a wide-ranging survey of India’s history from the time of the Indus Valley civilisation 4,500 years ago to the height of the Mughal empire in the 17th century. It was written in a clear and engaging manner to appeal to the general reader, said Dr Balaji’s wife Ma Swan Hoo, who helped prepare the book for publication.
At the launch attended by guests including Malaysian Minister for Human Resources S Subramaniam, former Foreign Minister George Yeo and Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong. Dr Ma, 54, said her husband loved history and used to read extensively. ‘Balaji was a very good teacher, and it was this desire to share his knowledge that resulted in his writing this book on the history of India,’ she said.
‘To capture the intricacies of Indian history is no easy feat, especially for someone of Indian origin who only sporadically visited his ancestral homeland with its mysterious, exotic and incomprehensible history,’ said President Nathan. However, he said Dr Balaji’s book, which was launched as part of the South Asian Diaspora Convention organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies, managed to ‘open doors of understanding into a shared past that explains why and how South Asia has come to be what it is today’.
The book is published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Iseas) and is available at Kinokuniya and other major bookstores. Proceeds from the book will be donated to the Children’s Cancer Foundation and $61,000 in donations have already poured in, said Iseas director K Kesavapany.
Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_693519.html
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