Karan Singh: A Tryst with History

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 Karan Singh: A Tryst With History was born of a series of exclusive interviews, spread over a year, with Dr. Karan Singh, a man of exceptional, achievements and scholarship. Yuvaraj Karan Singh, the heir apparent to the throne of Jammu and Kashmir, was just eighteen in 1949 when he was appointed Regent. For the next eighteen years he served the State as Regent, Sadar-i-Riyasat and Governor. Since his early years he was deeply influenced by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in whom Yuvaraj Karan Singh found his political mentor, guide and philosopher. In 1967, Dr. Karan Singh was inducted as a member of the Union Cabinet. He first held the portfolio of Tourism and Civil Aviation. In 1973 he moved to the portfolio of Health and Family Planning. In 1979 he was assigned the portfolio of Education and Culture. Dr. Karan Singh was Chancellor of the Jammu and Kashmir University and the Banaras Hindu University. He did his Master's in Political Science from Delhi University with a first class first—a record that still remains unbroken—and then went on to do his doctorate on The Political Thoughtof Sri Aurobindo. A cultural stalwart, an educationist, a revered scholar, he has received several honorary degrees and other awards, including doctorates from the Banaras Hindu University and the Aligarh Muslim University. An upholder of interfaith harmony, he is Chairman of the Temple of Understanding, an international interfaith organization. He is also a member of the prestigious Club of Rome. An environmentalist and conservationist, he is Chairman of the People’s Commission on Environment and Development, India. He was also Chairman of the Indian Board of Wildlife and head of ‘Project Tiger’. A prolific author, Dr. Karan Singh has written several philosophical essays, travelogues and poems in English, besides books on political science and Vedanta, and has been President of the India International Centre, and the Authors Guild of India. Dr. Karan Singh has composed, rendered and recorded devotional and folk songs in Dogri. A connoisseur of Indian classical music, he is beheld as a true rasik by the flag-bearers of the Indian performing arts. He is presently Vice-Chairman of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, and Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Extensive travels in India and abroad led him to a finer understanding of the ‘self’ and/in the ‘other’. An avid reader with an eclectic taste, he has deep knowledge of the Indian cultural tradition, Western literature and civilization. As India’s Ambassador to the United States, he was held in high esteem as a man of many distinguished achievements. An orator of unparalleled eloquence, he has lectured in five continents on philosophy and culture, politics and the environment. Dr. Karan Singh, a family man, is married to the gracious Smt. Yasho Rajya Lakshmi. An eminent social worker she is President of the Delhi Society for the Welfare of Mentally Retarded Children, and devotes her time to the Okhla Centre where mentally handicapped children are taught to be equal partners in India’s walk towards progress. Dr. Karan Singh and Smt. Yasho Rajya Lakshmi have three children—a daughter Jyotsna and two sons, Vikramaditya and Ajatshatru, and six grand-children—Vivaswat, Viveka, Mriganka, Martand, Adishree and Ranvijay.