Left of Centre

On an amavasya night, eight-year-old Rhea mysteriously lands at the doors of Shaktidham, a Tantric house of worship, in a trance. Realizing that she is blessed with unusual faculties, the guru of Shaktidham, Satya, chooses her as a disciple over his own son, Krishnam, to carry on his lineage, a privilege previously bestowed only to males. But the lineage has been cursed for generations, and it is up to Rhea to either break the curse or perish in the attempt. Will she succeed in her endeavour? Will her love for Krishnam become an obstacle in her path? The Tantric Curse, an unusual story set in the world of Tantra that aims to dispel most of the myths about the practice, will keep you spellbound till the very last page.

Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) president and from a well-known industrialist family of Bombay, Kamal Morarka was a union minister in the Chandra Shekhar government and a Rajya Sabha member during the tumultuous 1990s. As a parliamentarian (1988 94) and minister, Morarka s speeches and replies reflected his vast reading, knowledge of the economy and, more importantly, his concern that the ordinary citizen should not get short shrift from the lawmakers and bureaucrats. As an industrialist, newspaper proprietor (Afternoon Dispatch & Courier and Chauthi Duniya), politician and part of the think tank Centre for Policy Analysis, he continues to read voraciously, intervene effectively in issues and concern and follow the ideas of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan and Acharya Narendra Dev.

He has also served on several government committees. He was president of the All India Manufacturer s Organization in 1989 90, president of Indian Council of Foreign Trade, vice president of All India Association of Industries and president of National Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs.

Morarka chairs a number of non-governmental organizations that work for water conservation and harvesting in Rajasthan, wildlife research (he is an avid photographer), arts and crafts, and organic farming and research.