Formerly director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, Makarand R Paranjape was educated at St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he got his master’s and PhD in English. Author/editor of over 50 books, in addition to hundreds of academic papers and articles, he is also a well-known poet and public intellectual. His latest books include Swami Vivekananda: Hinduism and India’s Road to Modernity (2020), New Perspectives in Indian Science and Civilization (2020), and The Death & Afterlife of Mahatma Gandhi (2015). Makarand has been professor of English in JNU since 1999.