Harsha V. Dehejia

Harsha Venilal Dehejia (born 1938) is an Indo-Canadian allergologist, author, and radio host, and Professor of Indian Studies at Carleton University. He was the winner of the 2003 Raja Rao Award for Literature for outstanding contributions to the literature and culture of the South Asian Diaspora,"Preserving a culture under attack," ''The Ottawa Citizen'', Ottawa, Canada, 4 Oct. 2003, P. C3. and the host of the radio show ''An Indian Morning'' for over 40 years.

Earlier career

Born and raised in Malabar Hill, South Mumbai, Dehejia received his medical doctorate from Bombay University, "with six gold medals", and then studied allergy and respiratory diseases at Cambridge University.Marianne Ackerman, "Those bloomin' allergies... About all you can do is cope", ''The Ottawa Journal'', July 30, 1976, p. 32. He moved to Canada, where he began practicing medicine in Ottawa around 1968.

In 1975 Dehejia helped the radio station CKCU-FM obtain its first broadcast license, and began hosting the radio show ''An Indian Morning'' that November. In 1976, he wrote "a pocket-book sized manual entitled ''I CanCope With Allergy''", and in 1980, he published ''The Allergy Book''. In a 1984 news piece, he noted his displeasure with "all the myths surrounding allergies," noting that people often misuse the term to refer to normal responses to toxins, when an allergy is defined as an abnormal response to substances harmless to most. Dehejia continued to engage in numerous civic and cultural activities as well, with ''The Ottawa Citizen'' noting in 2003:

By that year, Dehehjia was regularly travelling to India, working towards earn his PhD in religion from the University of Bombay and participating in seminars. Dehejia was also presented with the 2003 Raja Rao Award for Literature for outstanding contributions to the literature and culture of the South Asian Diaspora. In 2008, Dehejia was one of five recipients of a recognition for community leadership by the Indo-Canada Ottawa Business Chamber.

Later writing and activities

In 2014, Dehejia published his only work of fiction, the novel ''Parul: A Love Story'', a story of a man who slowly surrenders his conviction in the principle of '' Maya'', that the world is an illusion. The protagonist experiences romance with a beautiful and sensual woman who induces him to accept the reality of the beauty of things in the world. In 2015, he celebrated the 40th year of his radio show, ''An Indian Morning'', the only show to have been broadcast continuously on CKCU-FM for that length of time.

In 2017, Dehejia published ''Walk With Me On Mumbai Footpaths'', recounting discoveries encountered while walking in Mumbai. The following year he published ''Radhayan'', which "explores the many stories that feature Radha," a Hindu goddess. Dehejia "spent over two years researching and writing" for this book. In 2019, Dehejia further explored this mythos with his chapter, “The heart-throb of Chaitanya” in the book ''Finding Radha: The Quest for Love'', and in an edited collection, ''Radha: From Gopi to Goddess''.

Personal life

Dehejia's son, Vivek Harsha Dehejia, is also a professor at Carleton University, teaching in the areas of philosophy and economics.

External links

H.V. Dehejia
at Carleton University

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dehejia, Harsha
1938 births
Living people
Canadian radio hosts
Physicians from Ontario
Allergologists
Canadian people of Indian descent
Scientists from Mumbai
University of Mumbai alumni
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Academic staff of Carleton University
21st-century Canadian male writers
20th-century Canadian male writers