Sunanda K. Datta-Ray
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Sunanda K. Datta-Ray is an Indian journalist. He has been editor of ''
The Statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...
'' (Calcutta and New Delhi) and has also written for the '' International Herald Tribune'' and ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
''. He was editor-in-Residence at the
East-West Center East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *''East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salma ...
in Honolulu. He was editorial consultant to Singapore's ''
The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establish ...
'' 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 Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...
. Datta-Ray returned to Singapore in 2007 to work on book with
Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...
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 year's
Vodafone Crossword Book Award The Crossword Book Award (formerly known as the Crossword Book Award (1998–2003), the Hutch Crossword Book Award (2004–07), the Vodafone Crossword Book Award (2008–10), the Economist Crossword Book Award (2011–13), Raymond & Crossword Bo ...
.


Personal history

Datta Ray was born 13 December 1937 in Calcutta, and educated at La Martiniere for Boys School, Calcutta. After graduating in English from the
University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, ...
, 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 A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...
'' as junior London correspondent. In 1960–62 he was ''The Statesmans 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 ( bn, ব্রহ্ম সমাজ, Brahmô Sômaj, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance. It was one of t ...
– 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 Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
. Krishna Dutta and W. Andrew Robinson translated it as "Anglomaniacs". It was always an outsider's description, never used by anglicised 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 who was one of three Indians (the others were Surendranath Banerjea and
Romesh Chunder Dutt Romesh Chunder Dutt ( bn, রমেশচন্দ্র দত্ত; 13 August 1848 – 30 November 1909) was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, writer and translator of ''Ramayana'' and ''Mahabharata''. Dutt is considered a natio ...
) who in 1869, after tackling British ethnic nationalism, became the first Indian civilian in the
Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...
. B.L. Gupta was educated at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
. Datta-Ray's grandfather, K.P. Basu, went to
Downing College Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...
, Cambridge and Basu's sister is the mother of India's former Chief of Army Staff
Shankar Roychowdhury General Shankar Roychowdhury is a former Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army, and a former member of the Indian Parliament. Early life General Roychowdhury was born in Kolkata, West Bengal, India into the Zamindar family of Taki (India), ...
. Another ancestor is Jatin Sen Gupta and his wife the English woman
Nellie Sengupta Nellie Sengupta (''née'' Edith Ellen Gray; 12 January 1884 – 23 October 1973) was an Englishwoman who fought for Indian Independence. She was the first woman Alderman for Calcutta and was elected president of the Indian National Congress at ...
who was the first woman President of the
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
. Datta-Ray's father was a student at the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
. Datta-Ray's is a member of the India International Centre and London's
Travellers Club The Travellers Club is a private gentlemen's club situated at 106 Pall Mall in London, United Kingdom. It is the oldest of the surviving Pall Mall clubs and one of the most exclusive, having been established in 1819. It was described as "the ...
. He is also a member of the
Bengal Club The Bengal Club is a social and business club in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1827, the club is the oldest social club in India. When Kolkata was the capital of British India, the club was considered to be the "unofficial headquarters of the Raj ...
and the Calcutta Club. He resigned from the
National Liberal Club The National Liberal Club (NLC) is a London private members' club, open to both men and women. It was established by William Ewart Gladstone in 1882 to provide club facilities for Liberal Party campaigners among the newly enlarged electorate ...
(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 (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...
, 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 The Doon School (informally Doon School or Doon) is a selective all-boys boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, which was established in 1935. It was envisioned by Satish Ranjan Das, a lawyer from Calcutta, who prevised a school mode ...
headmaster
Kanti Bajpai Kanti Prasad Bajpai (born 1955) is an Indian academic, international affairs analyst, and the former headmaster of The Doon School, Dehradun, India. He is known to be an expert on Indo-China relations. He is currently a professor at National U ...
wrote:
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) is based on his personal friendships with the King of Sikkim and Indian decision makers. As the book described the process of the annexation of the
Kingdom of Sikkim The Kingdom of Sikkim (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་ལྗོངས།, ''Drenjong''), officially Dremoshong (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་མོ་གཤོངས།) until the 1800s, was a hereditary monar ...
by the Indian government of Indira Gandhi in 1975, as "imperialism" it was banned in India. Datta-Ray's views on 'The Rangzen Myth' have been challenged. The article claims "mysterious" changes in the reports on the Tibet at conferences.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Datta-Ray, Sunanda K Bengali writers Indian male journalists Indian newspaper editors Living people La Martiniere Calcutta alumni University of Calcutta alumni Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford 1937 births 20th-century Indian journalists Writers from Kolkata Journalists from West Bengal