Sunanda K. Datta-Ray
Encyclopedia
Sunanda K. Datta-Ray has been a leading Indian newspaperman and journalist for half a century. He has been Editor of The Statesman
(Calcutta and New Delhi) and has also written for the International Herald Tribune
and Time Magazine. He was Editor-in-Residence at the East-West Center
in Honolulu. He was Editorial Consultant to Singapore's The Straits Times
newspaper. Datta-Ray also worked in Singapore in the mid-1970s with S.R. Nathan
. After The Straits Times, Datta-Ray was a supernumerary fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
.
Datta-Ray returned to Singapore in 2007 to work on book with Lee Kuan Yew
at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies based on a series of one-on-one conversations and a host of classified documents. The book was published in 2009 as Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India
and won that years Vodafone Crossword Book Award
.
, Calcutta. After graduating in English from the University of Calcutta
, Datta-Ray trained as a chartered accountant in England.
In 1958 he was with the Stockport Advertiser
, and in 1959 with the Northern Echo
. In 1960 he joined The Statesman
as junior London correspondent. In 1960-62 he was The Statesman's roving features editor, and 1962-68 the Sunday Magazine editor. In 1980-1986 he rose to be Deputy Editor and became Editor in 1986.
A Hindu — though his mother is of the Brahmo Samaj
— Datta-Ray had a catholic wedding in Australia to a Bengali woman whom he met in Sydney.
Datta-Ray sees himself as the product of the intermeshing of high-caste Bengali society and upper-class English society throughout the 18th and 19th centuries which, writes Datta-Ray, has now 'vanished'. Known as the Ingabanga, Datta-Ray defined his society thus:
Datta-Ray is a direct descendant of B.L.Gupta
who was one of three Indians (the others were Surendranath Banerjea
and Romesh Chunder Dutt
) who in 1869 broke through the colour bar and became the first native (Indian) civilian in the Indian Civil Service. B.L. Gupta was educated at University College London
. Datta-Ray's grandfather, K.P. Basu, went to Downing College, Cambridge and Basu's sister is the mother of India's former Chief of Army Staff Shankar Roychowdhury
. Another ancestor is Jatin Sen Gupta and his wife the English woman Nellie Sengupta
who was the first woman President of the Indian National Congress
. Datta-Ray's father was a student at the London School of Economics
.
Datta-Ray's is a member of the India International Centre
and London's Travellers Club
. He is also a member of the Bengal Club
and the Calcutta Club
. He resigned from the National Liberal Club
(London).
Datta-Ray's monograph Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India (2009) charts aspects of Indian foreign policy with Singapore. Completely overlooked by academics, Singapore was also ignored by successive Indian prime ministers. Yet, Singapore is today the conduit for the bulk of foreign investment into India. Based on unique access to key decision makers including Lee Kuan Yew
, Datta-Ray, for the first time, illuminates an essential aspect of Indian foreign relations on which hinges not only India's renewal but also the future of India's major foreign policy innovation since Non-Alignment
-- the 'Look East' policy.
He wrote the monograph Waiting For America about which the Doon School headmaster Kanti Bajpai
wrote:
Earlier Datta-Ray published Bihar Shows the Way, a caustic take on India. and edited Issues and Challenges in Asian Journalism
Smash And Grab: The Annexation of Sikkim (1984) has become a touchstone for historians of the Indian subcontinent and is based on his personal friendships with the King of Sikkim and Indian decision makers.
The Statesman
The Statesman is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper founded in 1875 and published simultaneously in Kolkata, New Delhi, Siliguri and Bhubaneswar. The Statesman is owned by The Statesman Ltd., its headquarters at Statesman House, Chowringhee Square, Calcutta and its national...
(Calcutta and New Delhi) and has also written for the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
and Time Magazine. He was Editor-in-Residence at the East-West Center
East-West Center
The East–West Center , headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific and the United States....
in Honolulu. He was Editorial Consultant to Singapore's The Straits Times
The Straits Times
The Straits Times is an English language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore currently owned by Singapore Press Holdings . It is the country's highest-selling paper, with a current daily circulation of nearly 400,000...
newspaper. Datta-Ray also worked in Singapore in the mid-1970s with S.R. Nathan
S.R. Nathan
Sellapan Ramanathan is a Singaporean politician who was the sixth President of the Republic of Singapore. Usually referred to as S. R. Nathan, he was first sworn in on September 1, 1999. In 1999 and 2005, he was elected President in uncontested elections. In 2009, he surpassed Benjamin Sheares to...
. After The Straits Times, Datta-Ray was a supernumerary fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
.
Datta-Ray returned to Singapore in 2007 to work on book with Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...
at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies based on a series of one-on-one conversations and a host of classified documents. The book was published in 2009 as Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India
Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India
Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India won India's most prestigious literary non-fiction prize, the Vodafone Crossword Book Award for 2009. Written by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, the book is a "profound" and "intricate" analytic-history of India's first major foreign policy innovation...
and won that years Vodafone Crossword Book Award
Vodafone Crossword Book Award
Vodafone Crossword Book Award is an Indian book award sponsored by Vodafone and Crossword Bookstores. It is India's biggest private sector award. The Award was instituted in 1998 with the intention of competing with The Booker Prize, Commonwealth Writers' Prize or The Pulitzer Prize.The award...
.
Personal history
Datta Ray was born December 13, 1937 in Calcuta, and educated at La Martiniere for Boys SchoolLa Martiniere Calcutta
La Martiniere Calcutta comprises two separate private schools in Kolkata, India. The schools were established in accordance with the will of Major General Claude Martin in 1836. They are day schools although they both have a small number of boarders...
, Calcutta. After graduating in English from the University of Calcutta
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
, Datta-Ray trained as a chartered accountant in England.
In 1958 he was with the Stockport Advertiser
Stockport Express
Stockport Express is the local newspaper of Stockport, England. It has a paid-for circulation of 12,635 and is published every Wednesday.The sister free paper the Stockport Times, published every Thursday and distributed to all households in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, has a circulation...
, and in 1959 with the Northern Echo
The Northern Echo
The Northern Echo is a leading daily regional morning newspaper, serving the North East of England. The paper is based in Priestgate, Darlington. Its covers national as well as regional news. It is one of the UK's most famous provincial newspaper titles....
. In 1960 he joined The Statesman
The Statesman
The Statesman is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper founded in 1875 and published simultaneously in Kolkata, New Delhi, Siliguri and Bhubaneswar. The Statesman is owned by The Statesman Ltd., its headquarters at Statesman House, Chowringhee Square, Calcutta and its national...
as junior London correspondent. In 1960-62 he was The Statesman's roving features editor, and 1962-68 the Sunday Magazine editor. In 1980-1986 he rose to be Deputy Editor and became Editor in 1986.
A Hindu — though his mother is of the Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of the Brahmo religion which is mainly practiced today as the Adi Dharm after its eclipse in Bengal consequent to the exit of the Tattwabodini Sabha from its ranks in 1859. It was one of the most influential religious movements responsible for the making of...
— Datta-Ray had a catholic wedding in Australia to a Bengali woman whom he met in Sydney.
Datta-Ray sees himself as the product of the intermeshing of high-caste Bengali society and upper-class English society throughout the 18th and 19th centuries which, writes Datta-Ray, has now 'vanished'. Known as the Ingabanga, Datta-Ray defined his society thus:
It meant "England-worshipping Bengali" for Rabindranath TagoreRabindranath TagoreRabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
. Krishna Dutta and W. Andrew RobinsonW. Andrew RobinsonW. Andrew Robinson is a British author and former newspaper editor.Andrew Robinson was educated at the Dragon School, Eton College where he was a King's Scholar, University College, Oxford where he read Chemistry and finally the School of Oriental and African Studies in London...
translated it as "Anglomaniacs". It was always an outsider's description, never used by anglicized Bengalis themselves. Born in the heartland of that world, my grandmother spoke always of "the set".
Datta-Ray is a direct descendant of B.L.Gupta
Behari Lal Gupta
-Early life and education:He was born in Calcutta and studied in Hare School and Presidency College, Calcutta before proceeding with his childhood friends R.C. Dutt and Surendranath Banerjee to England for higher studies...
who was one of three Indians (the others were Surendranath Banerjea
Surendranath Banerjea
Sir Surendranath Banerjee was one of the earliest Indian political leaders during the British Raj. He founded the Indian National Association, one of the earliest Indian political organizations, and later became a senior leader of the Indian National Congress...
and Romesh Chunder Dutt
Romesh Chunder Dutt
Romesh Chunder Dutt, CIE was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, writer, and translator of Ramayana and Mahabharata.- Formative years :...
) who in 1869 broke through the colour bar and became the first native (Indian) civilian in the Indian Civil Service. B.L. Gupta was educated at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
. Datta-Ray's grandfather, K.P. Basu, went to Downing College, Cambridge and Basu's sister is the mother of India's former Chief of Army Staff Shankar Roychowdhury
Shankar Roychowdhury
General Shankar Roychowdhury served as 18th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 22 November 1994 to 30 September 1997.An alumnus of St...
. Another ancestor is Jatin Sen Gupta and his wife the English woman Nellie Sengupta
Nellie Sengupta
Nellie Sengupta was an Englishwoman who fought for Indian Independence and was elected President of the Indian National Congress-Family:Born Edith Ellen Gray, she was the daughter of Frederick and Edith Henrietta Gray...
who was the first woman President of the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
. Datta-Ray's father was a student at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
.
Datta-Ray's is a member of the India International Centre
India International Centre
The India International Centre is a well known non-official organization situated in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1958, and inaugurated in 1968...
and London's Travellers Club
Travellers Club
The Travellers Club is a gentlemen's club standing at 106 Pall Mall, London. It is the oldest of the surviving Pall Mall clubs, having been established in 1819, and was recently described by the Los Angeles Times as "the quintessential English gentleman's club." Visits are possible by invitation...
. He is also a member of the Bengal Club
Bengal Club
Located in Kolkata, India, The Bengal Club was opened in 1827 as the Calcutta United Service Club. The club's first President was Lt. Col. The Hon. J. Finch...
and the Calcutta Club
Calcutta Club
Calcutta Club is a social club located on Lower Circular Road in Calcutta India. It was established in 1907 and the first president of the club was H H The Maharajah of Cooch Behar....
. He resigned from the National Liberal Club
National Liberal Club
The National Liberal Club, known to its members as the NLC, is a London gentlemen's club, now also open to women, which was established by William Ewart Gladstone in 1882 for the purpose of providing club facilities for Liberal Party campaigners among the newly-enlarged electorate after the Third...
(London).
Monographs
Datta-Ray has been published in Asia, Europe and the United States for over 40 years. He was asked to contribute to Penguin's book of 'new' Indian writing in 2005. In addition to this Datta-Ray has penned four monographs and edited one. His "Didima: The Last Ingabanga" appears in the Penguin anthology First Proof: The Penguin Book of New Writing from India, vol. I.Datta-Ray's monograph Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India (2009) charts aspects of Indian foreign policy with Singapore. Completely overlooked by academics, Singapore was also ignored by successive Indian prime ministers. Yet, Singapore is today the conduit for the bulk of foreign investment into India. Based on unique access to key decision makers including Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...
, Datta-Ray, for the first time, illuminates an essential aspect of Indian foreign relations on which hinges not only India's renewal but also the future of India's major foreign policy innovation since Non-Alignment
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...
-- the 'Look East' policy.
He wrote the monograph Waiting For America about which the Doon School headmaster Kanti Bajpai
Kanti Bajpai
Kanti Bajpai is an Indian academic-analyst and the former headmaster of The Doon School, Dehra Dun, India, and is noted as a popular international affairs analyst on Indian television.-Early life and education:...
wrote:
[A] huge book ... Datta-Ray is one of India's most respected journalists. An elegant writer with an eye for story-telling and a no-nonsense analytical pen, he traces the course of Indo-US ties from the time Indira Gandhi opened them in 1982. We in India lack contemporary history of the digestible, Datta-Ray kind. This book will sit well on our shelves. We would do well to ponder the implications of Datta-Ray's analysis: Indo-US ties will be stilted as long as Americans see Pakistan as a strategic asset; India's strongest asset is its economy, hobbled by its domestic politics.
Earlier Datta-Ray published Bihar Shows the Way, a caustic take on India. and edited Issues and Challenges in Asian Journalism
Smash And Grab: The Annexation of Sikkim (1984) has become a touchstone for historians of the Indian subcontinent and is based on his personal friendships with the King of Sikkim and Indian decision makers.