2. Author Introduction

Ramachandra Guha was born on \(29\) April \(1958\), in Dehradun. Guha was born to a Tamil family but grew up in Uttar Pradesh. His father worked at the Forest Research Institute and his mother was a high school teacher. Having grown up in an enclosed hilly and forest region, Guha learnt to adore nature at its best and developed empathy towards people from all walks of life.

 

 

He went to the Doon School, where he picked up his passion for writing. He started off by editing and contributing to his school newspaper 'The Doon School Weekly'. His articles were highly appreciated as it carried an in depth research and was unbiased. He also edited a publication called 'The History Times', along with Amitav Gosh. Amitav Gosh is one of India's best novelist, columnist and a noted writer. His works most often center around themes like climate change, indigenous native tribes etc. He went on to graduate from St. Stephen's College, Delhi and later did his Master's in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics. Although he majored in Economics and is a notable economist of India, his roots in the forest camp paved the way for him to research in that area. He did his PhD in the most prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, on the topic 'Social History of Forestry in Uttarakhand', which focused on the Chipko Movement. It was later published as a book named 'The Unquiet Woods'.

 

Apart from being a writer, he is a historian, Public Intellectual and Economist. His areas of research include social, political and contemporary Environment and Cricket history. He worked as a columnist for The Telegraph and Hindustan Times. Guha had always been straight forward and honest in his opinions and laying out facts. He does not mince his words even if the subject of his work is a great politician or reformist. He is known for penning down the histories of great personalities and events in the truest form. He is highly lauded for sketching the history of Gandhiji in his book 'Gandhi Before India'. He has written several sequels to the book. The American Historical Association has conferred him with the Foreign Member Prize, making him the third Indian to receive the Award.

 

Guha's contribution to the world of cricket as a columnist and historian is commendable. He was passionate about the game and researched extensively, making him write several histories and biographies. His first book in the field of cricket, 'A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian history of a British Sport' published in \(2002\), traced the history of cricket from the British Raj to the contemporary form of the game. He later published 'The Commonwealth of Cricket: A Lifelong Love Affair with the Most Subtle and Sophisticated Game Known to Humankind', which dealt with the transformation of cricket and its evolution in schools, colleges, clubs, countries etc, with a sketch of legends from the game and his idea on cricket. He was appointed as a panel member of BCCI but stepped down owing to personal reasons. Most of his books revolved around cricket and cricketers.

 

Some of his famous works: