Amit Dasgupta: A diplomat and a writer

Amit Dasgupta

Amit Dasgupta was an Indian diplomat for over three decades and travelled extensively, on assignment, within India and abroad. This unique experience brought him in contact with different cultures and ways of seeing. Having retired from diplomatic service, he has now decided to become a fulltime writer, in both fiction and non-fiction, exploring ideas that are related to the meaning of life and the pursuit of happiness. He presently lives, with his wife, in Visakhapatnam, a quiet coastal city in southern India. They have one daughter. Regular, though inconclusive, discussions continue on getting a dog. He has edited The Divine Peacock: Understanding Contemporary India, The Perennial Tree, Telling Tales – Children's Literature in India, Salvaging the WTO, India for a Billion Reasons. His has also published fiction: The Lost Fragrance, and Indian by Choice. His latest book is Lessons from Ruslana: In Search of Alternative Thinking.

Lessons from Ruslana by Amit Dasgupta

A view
Human beings are taught from their very childhood on how they must think and behave. While most of us tend to conform, so that those around us might accept us, many others consciously choose to deviate. They are willing to think and see different, despite social pressures, including ostracism and other forms of punishment. The book explores the innumerable stories when ‘thinking different’ brought about not only change but rather, transformational change. The core inspiration behind the book is, quite simply, the basic question: How does this happen? But, more importantly, why does it happen in some cases and not in others?Drawing extensively from philosophy, social sciences, art, literature, culture, management sciences and inspirational biographies, this book takes the reader through a sweeping journey to unravel the mysteries behind the one question that bothers us all: Why am I unhappy, why do I fail and will I ever matter?Happiness is a journey, not a destination.