In Era of Modi

This book is a collection of well researched 66 articles of R.K. Sinha. The writer has taken special care to see to it that there is no deviation from the theme of the subject written about. This is not the only introduction of the book. I would like to narrate a short story to unfold R.K. Sinha’s background as a journalist. I was in Patna some time back. I rang up my old friend and colleague Surendra Kishore and visited his new house. Rather calling him to meet me at some central place in Patna, I preferred to visit him at his new house. The reason was, Surendra Kishore is one of few journalists who has his ‘reference library’ built over decades with great care and interest. I wanted to see it. When we were in conversation, it was difficult to miss reference of ‘Yathavat’, a fortnightly magazine in Hindi published from Delhi which I edit and R.K. Sinha is its Chairman. When Sinha’s name cropped up in discussion, Surendra Kishore recalled an incident, some 50 years ago which proved a turning point in the life of Suendraji. In 1960s, R.K. Sinha, who wrote with his full name in credit line as ‘Ravindra Kishore Sinha’ was an icon for journalists then. There was flow and consistency in R.K. Sinha’s writings. Impressed by Sinha’s style of journalism, Surendraji added Kishore in his surname and from ‘Surendra Akela’ he became Surendra Kishore. —Rambahadur Rai