Journalist-turned-author, Raj Kanwar, renowned personality and writer from Dehradun has kept his pen going till date despite his age. The 90-year-old author still writes for eight hours a day and is all set to release his fourth book next year.
The soon to be nonagenarian is currently working on his next book, likely to be named ‘Writer of Obituaries’.
Speaking on his upcoming book, Kanwar said, “We always see obituaries in newspapers and other platforms now after someone dies, but people barely know what an obituary is or the history behind it. I plan to put together these minute details in my next book and have been researching about it since almost six months now.”
Working six days a week for eight hours every day, Kanwar says that the nationwide lockdown due to the Covid-19 epidemic was a bliss for him.
“The lockdown was a blessing for me as I could focus more on my writing and researching for my new book. Earlier, many people would visit me for some or the other work and a lot of my time would go in those activities as I cannot say no to people. But after the epidemic, fewer people visit me, that too only during emergencies, and I utilise all my time writing or with my family,” he said.
“I have learnt so many new words, idioms, worked upon my vocabulary a lot in these past few months,” said Kanwar.
However, due to age, Kanwar is not able to write himself, rather mostly dictates to his secretary who writes for him.
Kanwar’s last book, ‘Dateline Dehradun, which was self-published in January this year, will also see its third revised edition by the end of this year.
“After around 1,300 copies of the first two editions of ‘Dateline Dehradun’ – a collection of all the articles I wrote about my town, its schools, its culture – were sold, I decided to change it a bit and make some additions. So, I started interviewing iconic couples from Dehradun who have added value to this city. This will be added in the revised third edition under a section called, ‘Made for Each-Other’,” said the author.
Kanwar who would celebrate his 90th birthday on October 8 said, “I might be 90 by age, but by heart, I am still very young and in my 20s. After 57 years of marriage, having experienced the bliss of togetherness, I still joke around with my wife. I do not want to have any grand celebrations, rather help out the needy and give back to the society as much as I can.”
The author has written three books so far. His first book was ‘Upstream India’ – the official history of the ONGC published in 2006 to synchronize with its golden jubilee celebrations. Next came ‘ONGC: The Untold Story’ which was published by Bloomsbury and launched in December 2018.
Anoop Nautiyal, founder of Dehradun-based think tank, Social Development for Communities said, “Kanwar sir, is an encyclopaedia and an institute on Dehradun in himself. He has seen the Doon Valley evolve over the years since Independence. He worked as a journalist when there were hardly 3-4 journalists in the whole of the valley, so he knows the city like the back of his palm. The same can be seen in his writings through his memories of Dehradun.”
