This was a surprise choice! And there has been a mixed response to India’s nominee Shashi Tharoor, senior U.N. official and author, to succeed Kofi Annan when the latter’s 10-year term as United Nations secretary-general ends in December this year. However, the US administration does not seem averse to his candidature (in fact Tharoor enjoys “a greatest regard”).
Tharoor, 50, an Indian who is currently the U.N. undersecretary general for communications and public information, has been with the world body since 1978, in refugee affairs, peacekeeping and in Annan’s executive office.
Born in London, and educated in India and the United States, Tharoor received a doctorate and two masters degrees at the age of 22 from Tuft University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, says Reuters. His two sons are studying at Yale.
He is the author of nine books — three novels, a collection of short stories and five nonfiction books. His books include Reasons of State (1982), a scholarly study of Indian foreign policy; The Great Indian Novel (1989), a political satire; The Five-Dollar Smile & Other Stories (1990); a second novel, Show Business (1992), which received a front-page accolade from The New York Times Book Review and was made into a motion picture titled Bollywood; and India: From Midnight to the Millennium (1997), published on the 50th anniversary of India’s independence.
On August 13, 2001 Penguin Books (India) published Tharoor’s latest novel Riot. The US edition was published by Arcade on September 28, 2001.
Other Asians in the running include South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Sri Lankan diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala. Pakistan may also join the race by declaring its nominee soon.
The US holds India’s nominee for UN Secretary General’s post Shashi Tharoor in “greatest regard”, but has not made any decision on whom it would support to succeed Kofi Annan, says TheTimes of India.
“Our administration has not yet made a decision on whom we will support to succeed Secretary General Kofi Annan. But we certainly hold Shashi Tharoor in greatest regard and I look forward to meeting him in my office,” the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns told reporters on Wednesday.
“I don’t think President Bush will make this decision until much further into the process” he added.
Tharoor’s article that gives a fairly good insight into his thinking on the present situation, appeared in The Indian Express today.
Shashi Tharoor also has an interesting website.
There is an interesting blog devoted to the forthcoming UN election race, and provides comments on the candidates and their chances of winning.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.