Salil Gewali: Difference between revisions

'''Salil Gewali''' (born 21 January 1971) is an Indian researcher, writer and journalist. He is a writer of 18 books, including school textbooks.<ref>{{cite web |title=Salil Gewali |url=https://www.newsbharati.com/authors/Salil_Gewali.html |website=www.newsbharati.com |access-date=11 May 2021 |language=en}}</ref> He is best known for the publication of the book ''Great Minds on India''. The outcome of an extensive research spanning over two decades, the title by Gewali has been translated into thirteen languages.<ref>{{cite news |title=CM releases German edition of Salil Gewali’s “Great Minds of India” |url= https://themeghalayan.com/cm-releases-german-edition-of-salil-gewalis-great-minds-of-india/ |date=11 November 2022}}</ref>

Gewali was born in [[Shillong]], [[Meghalaya]] in 1971. He completed his post-graduation in English Literature. His father, (Late) Krishna Prasad Gewali was a scholar of ancient scriptures and a writer. He passed his School Leaving Certificate examination from Mawprem Modern High School in 1986 and joined St. Anthony College, Shillong, Meghalaya for further studies.

Gewali started his career as a freelance writer in late 1980s. Gewali is credited with several articles on social menaces, such as drug abuse, alcoholism and social media addiction among youths discussing how they have adversely affected society at large. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsgram.com/general/2020/10/05/the-rise-of-drug-addiction-among-youth |title = The Rise of Drug Addiction Among Youth |date = 5 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsbharati.com/Encyc/2018/7/18/Drug-menace-taking-a-heavy-toll-on-modern-society.amp.html |title = Drug menace taking a heavy toll on modern society |date = 18 July 2018}}</ref> He has prolifically written to raise awareness about the environmental fallout due to excessive exploitation of the earth's crust and greenhouse gas emission.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsbharati.com/Encyc/2018/7/18/Drug-menace-taking-a-heavy-toll-on-modern-society.amp.html |title = Opinion I Mega oil palm plantations may upset the environment |date = 6 September 2021}}</ref> His articles and letters appear in several local, national and international newspapers and magazines.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bio-Profile of Salil Gewali |url=https://www.worldhindunews.com/bio-profile-of-salil-gewali/ |website=World Hindu News |access-date=11 May 2021 |date=7 August 2014}}</ref>

From an early age, Gewali was inspired to study various ancient texts, and the philosophy of vedanta and the Bhagavad Gita fascinated him the most.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldhindunews.com/western-greats-awestruck-by-indian-wisdom-sandhya-regmi-vietnam/ |title = Western greats awestruck by Indian wisdom – Sandhya Regmi (Vietnam) |date = 3 October 2015}}</ref> Gewali was convinced from early age that world renowned Quantum physicists including Erwin Schrödinger, Neils Bohr, Julius Oppenheimer, Werner Heisenberg, and Brian David Josephson; and also front-ranking philosophers of the modern times including Voltaire, Johann Goethe, Hegel, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau had obtained ideas for their researches and writings from the ancient Indian literature. Gewali had undertaken his research from this belief and it also greatly influenced writing of his book ''Great Minds on India''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Indian Author launches book highlighting Glory of India, gets support from NASA Cheif Scientist |url=https://www.theyouth.in/2019/07/11/indian-author-launches-book-highlighting-glory-of-india-gets-support-from-nasa-cheif-scientist/ |access-date=11 May 2021 |work=The Youth |date=11 July 2019}}</ref>

Gewali is also an India correspondent for AltNewsMedia of London, UK.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.altnewsmedia.net/countries/india/indian-farmers-the-covid-19-lockdown/|title = Indian Farmers & the Covid-19 Lockdown|date = 16 April 2020}}</ref> He is appointed as a volunteer of ''International Human Rights Commission'', Zürich, Switzerland in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sikkimexpress.com/news-details/lessons-from-ghastly-murder-of-shraddha-walker/|title = Lessons from ghastly murder of shraddha walker |date = 3 December 2022}}</ref>

 

Gewali published his book entitled ''Great Minds on India'' from Penguin Books in 2013. The first edition of the book was published in Xerox format in 1998 and the regular print was published in 2009 which was formally launched by the Governor of Meghalaya – [[Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsgram.com/western-thinkers-indias-literary-wisdom/|title = The Western Thinkers Spellbound by India's Literary Wisdom|date = 21 May 2018}}</ref> Later, the book was translated in thirteen languages including Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil and Nepali.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2018/06/13/research-based-book-released/|title=Research-based book released|date=13 June 2018|publisher=}}</ref> It is a collection of the thoughts and quotes of world-renowned personalities on India's cultural heritage and ancient wisdom.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2W4WooQGUkMC&q=Salil+Gewali|title=Great Minds on India|last=Gewali|first=Salil|date=2013-02-15|publisher=Penguin UK|isbn=9788184759266|language=en}}</ref> It is edited by a former NASA scientist – Prof A.V. Murali of Houston, USA and prefaced by a NASA Chief scientist – Dr. Kamlesh Lulla of Texas, USA. The book was launched by the respective [[Government of Gujarat]], Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya. The Bengali version of the book was released on July 5, 2019 by the Governor of West Bengal [[Keshari Nath Tripathi]] at Raj Bhavan in Kolkata. The book has been translated by Dr RN Das and edited by Prof. Nirmal Maity of Kolkata.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.millenniumpost.in/features/governor-of-west-bengal-releases-book-on-rich-indian-civilisation-362230|title=Governor of West Bengal releases book on 'Rich Indian civilisation'|last=MP|first=Team|date=2019-07-08|website=www.millenniumpost.in|language=en|access-date=2019-07-23}}</ref>

The German edition of ''Great Minds on India'' has been translated by Caroline Hagen of Cologne, Germany.

<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theshillongtimes.com/2019/12/17/book-by-city-based-author-to-be-translated-into-german/|title = Book by city-based author to be translated into German|date = 17 December 2019}}</ref> In 2022 the German edition of ''Great Minds on India'' was released by the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, [[Conrad Sangma]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hubnetwork.in/meghalaya-cm-releases-german-edition-of-great-minds-on-india/|title = Meghalaya CM releases German edition of ''Great Minds on India''|date = 10 November 2022}}</ref> The Urdu edition has been translated by Dr. Syed Hussain, edited by Abdul Khalique and published by a Muslim organisation, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Foundation of [[Howrah]], [[West Bengal]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theshillongtimes.com/2022/03/21/city-authors-book-translated-in-urdu/|title = City author’s book translated in Urdu |date = 21 March 2022}}</ref> On December 9, 2022, the Chief Minister of Manipur, N. Biren Singh and the Chief Minister of Sikkim, Prem Singh Tamang, jointly released the Manipuri edition of Gewali's book in Manipur.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://highlandpost.com/shillong-author-releases-manipuri-edition-of-book/ |title = Shillong author releases Manipuri edition of book |date = 13 December 2022}}</ref> Governments of Punjab, Karnataka and Assam have also consented o translate ''Great Minds on India'' into their respective states official languages such as -- Punjabi, Kannada and Assamese.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theshillongtimes.com/2021/10/27/assam-to-translate-city-authors-book/|title = Assam to translate city author’s book |date = 27 October 2021}}</ref>

 

 

 

''Know Your India'' is Gewali's other title published in 2022 which was released by the Chief Minister of Sikkim, [[Prem Singh Tamang]] n Gangtok. The forewords to the book were written by an eminent Lahore-born scholar from London - Khalid Umar and another scholar Linda Epton from Perth, Australia. ''Know Your India'' is a collection of articles that are essentially about the significance of the literary wisdom of ancient India and its relevance in modern times.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://meghalayamonitor.com/city-writers-book-released-by-sikkim-cm/|title=City writer’s book released by Sikkim CM |date=25 July 2022|publisher=}}</ref>