The Contrarian

Despite the bleak and foggy weather,a large number of people gathered at Crossword at Select Citywalk for the launch of Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao’s book,Notes from an Indian Conservative—a selection of columns that have appeared in The Indian

Express on issues ranging from art and literature to Hindutva. “I’ve always admired Jerry’s discipline when it comes to writing and being so readable on a variety of topics,” said Saurabh Srivastava,former NASSCOM chairman,seated alongside panelists,writer Gurcharan Das and Finance Commission Chairman Vijay Kelkar. The panelists read out their favourite among Rao’s columns and the crowds eventually spilled over,outside the store.Genpact’s Pramod Bhasin and glass artist Malavika Tiwari were seated in the audience,as was Rao’s wife,Neelambari.