Makarand Paranjape

{{Infobox person

| name = Makarand Paranjape

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_date = 31 August 1960

| birth_place = Ahmedabad, Gujarat

| nationality = Indian

| occupation = {{plainlist |

Former Director of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (Shimla)
Former Professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi)}}

| education = MA, PhD in English Literature

| alma_mater = {{plainlist |

St Stephen's College, Delhi
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA}}

}}

Makarand R. Paranjape (born 31 August 1960) is an Indian novelist, poet, author of Body Offering, a former director at Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla, and former professor of English at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.[https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/himachaltribune/-our-contribution-to-society-at-large-needs-to-improve-660324 "Our Contribution to Society at Large Needs to Improve."] The Tribune. 29 September 2018.[https://www.jnu.ac.in/content/makarand Professor Makarand Paranjape, Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University website]

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 at 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 and 2018, he served as professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.[http://www.uip.edu/gpss_major/spip.php?article25 Makarand Paranjape, short Biography] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070906160216/http://www.uip.edu/gpss_major/spip.php?article25 |date=6 September 2007 }} Université Interdisciplinaire de Paris, (UIP).[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4XkWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mxMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3928,4162721&dq=makarand+paranjape&hl=en INDIAN LETTERS once a month with Mohan Ramanan: Paranjape The Practical mystic] New Straits Times, 30 March 1994.

= IIAS Controversy =

Paranjape was appointed as Director of IIAS in August 2018. In August 2020, 63 charges of irregularities were filed against Paranjape according to the Vice Chancellor and he was asked to resign from the post.[https://thedailyguardian.com/war-within-its-right-versus-right-at-shimlas-esteemed-iia/ "War Within: It's Right versus Right at Shimla's Esteemed IIAS"] The Daily Guardian. Utpal Kumar and Kunal Roy. 8 September 2020. Paranjape offered a rebuttal to his critics through an interview with The Wire in April 2021.[https://thewire.in/education/iias-shimla-review-chairperson-director "As Scholars Accuse IIAS of Opaque Practices, Chairperson and Director Go Head to Head."] Akshaya Mukul. The Wire. 4 April 2021. 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.[https://thewire.in/education/iias-shimla-kapoor-gupta-director-paranjape "IIAS Saga Takes Ugly Turn as Top Functionaries Issue Statement Against Director."] The Wire. Akshaya Mukul. 9 April 2021. Paranjape resigned from the post in 2023 after he was given a farewell by the institute on 30 July 2021.

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.[http://www.millenniumpost.in/fifty-shades-darker-29026?NID=29466 "Fifty Shades Darker!"] Neha Jain. Millennium Post. 2 June 2013. 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.[http://www.sunday-guardian.com/bookbeat/paranjapes-novel-is-more-erratic-than-erotic "Paranjape's Novel Is More Erratic than Erotic."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207173438/http://www.sunday-guardian.com/bookbeat/paranjapes-novel-is-more-erratic-than-erotic |date=7 February 2022 }} Aditya Mani Jha. The Sunday Guardian. 10 August 2013.

Personal life

In 1987, Paranjape married Sarina, a graduate student at UIUC.{{cite book |last=Paranjape |first=Makarand |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sgs9BAAAQBAJ&q=sarina+makarand+paranjape&pg=PT12 |title="Prologue: The Open Door" in Acts of Faith: Journeys to Sacred India |date=2013 |publisher=Hay House |isbn=9789381398357 |page=6}} In 2006, he married{{Efn|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.}} Devaki Singh, daughter of Arun Singh.{{cite web |title=Ties and knots |url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/ties-and-knots----------/14244/ |publisher=The Indian Express |access-date=23 April 2017}} He is now married to Gayatri Iyer.{{cite web |date=5 April 2020 |title=Makarand Paranjape's Verified Twitter Update |url=https://twitter.com/makrandparanspe/status/1246834108660985859 |access-date=8 December 2020}} No date provided to the current marriage in the source.

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

References

External links

[http://www.jnu.ac.in/Faculty/makarand/ Makarand Paranjape Webpage at JNU]