Padam Shri Keki N. Daruwalla sends books for his alma Mater’s Alumni Authors Book Shelves in SCD Govt. College, Ludhiana Library
Babushahi Bureau
Ludhiana, May 25, 2024; Alumni Authors Book Shelves of SCD Govt. Ludhiana Library is further enriched with the books of its renowned alumnus Padam Shri Keki N. Daruwalla IPS (Retd.) who has been a student of the college for 6 years completing his education in the early 1950s.
While sending his books from New Delhi, residents appreciated the efforts of the Alumni Association and college authorities to collect the college's Alumni Authored books from the year 1920 onwards when the college was established. Keki, a student of English Literature, had a niche for writing from his college days.
He joined the Police Service in 1958 and working as a police officer offered him various opportunities to work in different parts of the country. He witnessed the harsh realities of life from which he drew the substance for his literary pursuits.
He has already published twelve volumes of poetry, including Under Orion (1970), The Keeper of the Dead (1982), Landscapes (1987), The Map-Maker (2002), and Nishapur and Babylon (2018).
His first novel, For Pepper and Christ, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Fiction Prize in 2010. His short-story collections include The Minister for Permanent Unrest (1996), A House in Ranikhet (2003), Islands (2014), and Going (2022). Daruwalla was awarded Padma Shri in the year 2014 and he was honored with the Poet Laureate award at the Tata Literature Festival Litlive! 2017.
His work has been translated into Spanish, Swedish, Magyar, German, and Russian, and books published overseas also. He was a recipient of the Sahitya Academy Award in 1984 for his book ‘The Keeper of the Dead’ from which his poems have been part of the school curriculum.
Principal of the college Prof. Dr Tanvir Likhari while acknowledging the gift of books said that literature students of the college will be immensely benefited from the books of one of its illustrious alumni who is a man of letters and his writing style imagery captivates the readers.
Dr Jernail Singh Anand, President of, the International Academy of Ethics also an alumnus of the college with more than 160 books to his credit said,” The SCD Govt College, Ludhiana has set a unique example by giving special space for Alumni Authored Books. Padam Shri Keki N Daruwala is a poetic alumni luminary of this college and his books will be enriching the creative and philosophic traditions of the college. It will inspire the young students when they see the alumni of this college in high positions and engaged in creative writing. It will help generate a perfect ambience for real scholarship which is based on love for reading and creating good literature”.
Principal (Retd.) Prof Ashok Kapoor an English poet and alumnus too felt elated at new collections of books of Keki Daruwala. Brij Bhushan Goyal, Organizing Secretary of Alumni Association of the college informed that so far about 260 alumni-authored books have been made available to the college which have been procured from Alumni spread globally. Effort is on to know about all the other alumni authors, said Goyal.