[This article has been written by Premanjana Das (Pranjal Joshi) in January 2015 in Jaipur, India. The writer is seen giving the books of Srila Prabhupada to some famous personalities at hotel Diggi Palace in Jaipur (Rajasthan), India on the occasion of Jaipur Literature Festival which is held every year in January at this hotel since 2006. It is the largest literature festival in the whole world.]
I gave a copy of Srimad Bhagavad Gita As It Is by HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to Christiane Quenard, she is a writer and has been coming to India for twice a year for many years now.
Premanjana Das distributing The Bhagavad Gita to Christina Quenard- a writer & ex-finance minister of France
Presently, the book she is writing is about ‘Feminism in India’, she has also been the finance minister of France about15 years ago. She is a feminist and desires to talk to leading feminist leaders of India. An interesting thing she told me was that she has been travelling extensively in India for last many years all alone but she never had any bad experience nor she was mistreated by anyone, but the only people she is scared of are the policemen of India!
Christiane Quenard holding Bhagavad Gita As It Is
She told me that Catholic Christianity is the biggest religion of France but the French mock at all religions and religious authorities due to wide-scale malpractices and corruption in churches by the so-called religious leaders; she was converted to Buddhism long ago and practices it now.
Next, I gave Srimad Bhagavad Gita As It Is to Shri Narayan Murthy(founder and chairman of Infosys), he is one of India’s richest and most influential men.
Narayan Murti- the founder & chairman of Infosys holding Bhagavad Gita as It Is & Premanjana Das
I attended a session given by his wife Srimati Sudha Murty who is a well known philanthropist and writer. She has written many books for children, she answered many questions asked by children at the end of her session. She spoke about her books and how she became a writer; she used to travel with her mother and used to write a travelogue, this is how she grew up as a writer. Her speech was on developing morals, principles and values. Narayan Murty ji was surrounded by young Indians who wanted his autographs and a selfie with him, I jumped into the crowd and started requesting everyone to take my photo with him and someone turned up and took this photo while I managed to give him the Gita while he was in a hurry to leave.
Next, Shri Indrajit Hazra who is a well known novelist and writer, cheerfully accepted to pose to promote the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, it was very easy to get this photo with him, I just sat on the chair right next to his chair.
Premanjana Das and Indrajit Hazra- a well-known novelist holding Bhagavad Gita As It Is
Shri Salman Khurshid- Congress party leader & ex-foreign minister of India with Premanjana Das
Sri Salman Khurshid is a veteran congress party leader, writer and lawyer and has been the foreign minister of India. He hails from a political background and has also been a lecturer of law at the Trinity College, Oxford. He was pleased to accept the Gita in spite of being a Muslim as dozens crowded around him for his autographs and their photos with him. There was one more wonderful photo I had with him but that did not get store in my camera for some technical reasons.
Premanjana Das trying to give Bhagavad Gita As It Is to Salman Khurshid
Shri Salman Khurshid with the Bhagavad Gita As It Is
Saadaan Peerzada ji is a Pakistani artist who performs shows all over the world, I asked him if he would like to have the Bhagavad Gita As It Is being a Muslim from Pakistan, he hugged me and was very affectionate, we discussed that how politicians have divided the people and how artists are bringing them together, he loves India and he loves the Gita.
Saadaan Peerzada holding Bhagavad Gita As It Is
He also gave me his visiting card when I told him that Indians are big fans of Pakistani artists like Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sahab, Ghulam ji and Mehedi Hassan sahab and the young generation likes Atif Aslam. He told me that he brought a group from Pakistan having the family members of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I am holding a helmet in this photo as I travel everywhere on my bike and wearing helmet is mandatory for a rider here in Jaipur, India. His daughter Yamina Peerzada took this photo who is a Pakistani actress and puppeteer. I searched for them on Google and connected again through the information given in their visiting card.
Saadaan Peerzada with Premanjana Das
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng was born in London; he is the Member of Parliament for Spelthorne (UK) since 2010. He is a historian, a writer and a politician and is 6 feet 5 inches tall! He told me to read books as much as possible when I handed him the Bhagavad Gita As It Is. He has books on history and wars. He too was pleased to promote this great book through this photograph. He attended Havard University on a Kennedy scholarship, and then earned a PhD in Economic History at Cambridge University.
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng holding Bhagavad Gita As It Is & Premanjana Das
Submitted by—
Premanjana Das
(Pranjal Joshi)
Please give your feedback to the writer at pranjal280@gmail.com
Source: WHN Media Network