Makarand Paranjape

Makarand R. Paranjape (born 31 August 1960) is an Indian novelist, poet, a former Director at Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla and, since 1999, a Professor of English in the Centre for English Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.[1][2]

Makarand Paranjape
Born31 August 1960
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
NationalityIndia Indian
EducationMA, PhD in English Literature
Alma mater
  • St Stephen's College, Delhi
  • University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA
Occupations
  • Former Director of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (Shimla)
  • Professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi)

Early life and education

Makarand R. Paranjape was born in 1960 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He was educated at the Bishop Cotton Boys' School in Bangalore followed by a B.A. (Hons.) in English at St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi, in 1980. Thereafter, he joined the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from where he received his M.A. in English Literature and, subsequently, a PhD, in 1985, on the topic Mysticism in Indian English Poetry.

Career

Makarand Paranjape had started his career in 1980 as a teaching assistant at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and returned to India in 1986 to join the University of Hyderabad, first as lecturer and then reader. In 1994, he joined the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Delhi as an associate professor, and between 1999–2018, he served as professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.[3][4]

IIAS

Paranjape was appointed as Director of IIAS in August 2018. In August 2020, charges of irregularities filed against him by another office-bearer, leading to a spat with the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman at the institution.[5] Paranjape offered a rebuttal to his critics through an interview with The Wire in April 2021.[6] However, it was later reported that he had violated the MoA (memorandum of association) of the institute as its Director and that it was not any clash with other specific individual heads at the institution.[7]

Works and reception

In his coffee-table book of poems published in January 2022 as Identity's Last Secret, Paranjape discussed how he "came out of a difficult relationship." In 2013, Makarand R. Paranjape published a novel called Body Offering.[8] The novel is a tale of a middle-aged man's extra-marital affair with a woman 25 years younger than him. The Sunday Guardian dubbed the book as one "that walked in the long shadow cast" by Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabakov's 1955 novel Lolita.[9]

Personal life

In 1987, Paranjape married Sarina, a graduate student at UIUC.[10] In 2006, he married[lower-alpha 1] Devaki Singh, daughter of Arun Singh.[11] They divorced in 2014. He is now married to Gayatri Iyer.[12]

Honours
  • ICCR Chair in Indian Studies, National University of Singapore, August 2010 onwards.
  • October–December 2014: Inaugural DAAD-Eric Auerbach Visiting Chair in World Literatures at the University of Tübingen, Germany.

Notes
  1. Sources do not discuss his divorce with Sarina. They were married as of December, 2004 and Sarina was a program officer at United States-India Educational Foundation.

References
  1. "Our Contribution to Society at Large Needs to Improve." The Tribune. 29 September 2018.
  2. Professor Makarand Paranjape, Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University website
  3. Makarand Paranjape, short Biography Archived 6 September 2007 at archive.today Université Interdisciplinaire de Paris, (UIP).
  4. INDIAN LETTERS once a month with Mohan Ramanan: Paranjape The Practical mystic New Straits Times, 30 March 1994.
  5. "War Within: It's Right versus Right at Shimla's Esteemed IIAS" The Daily Guardian. Utpal Kumar and Kunal Roy. 8 September 2020.
  6. "As Scholars Accuse IIAS of Opaque Practices, Chairperson and Director Go Head to Head." Akshaya Mukul. The Wire. 4 April 2021.
  7. "IIAS Saga Takes Ugly Turn as Top Functionaries Issue Statement Against Director." The Wire. Akshaya Mukul. 9 April 2021.
  8. "Fifty Shades Darker!" Neha Jain. Millennium Post. 2 June 2013.
  9. "Paranjape's Novel Is More Erratic than Erotic." Aditya Mani Jha. The Sunday Guardian. 10 August 2013.
  10. Paranjape, Makarand (2013). "Prologue: The Open Door" in Acts of Faith: Journeys to Sacred India. Hay House. p. 6. ISBN 9789381398357.
  11. "Ties and knots". The Indian Express. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  12. "Makarand Paranjape's Verified Twitter Update". 5 April 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020. No date provided to the current marriage in the source.

See also
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