Abstract
In May of this year we lost S. Kalyanraman, a valued member of our Editorial Committee, to the pandemic.
Kalyan, as we knew him at the India Quarterly, was our go to man for many things. For letting us know if there was a glimmer of potential in a tortuously written paper, for turning his critical eye on one that would have passed muster elsewhere, for making the positive suggestions that helped many younger scholars on their way to writing publishable papers and for brainstorming our way to more interesting issues of the India Quarterly and for writing us the best book reviews we received, even when the books we sent him were not always interesting. And this was work for which we gave him nothing. Nothing, except our regard, our affection and our belief that he was one of the better presences in our midst.
Invaluable as he was for us, Kalyan was better known as a member of the strategic community in Delhi. Here, as a research fellow at the Manohar Parikkar Institute for Defense Analyses he was an insightful analyst of Indian foreign and security policy. His expanse was wide, ranging from Nehruvian foreign policy, the history of wars in the subcontinent to India’s relations with the United States, China and Pakistan. Many of his papers are persuasive contributions to current debates on the direction of policy, and provide the analytical depth for serious considerations of present policy. Never one to be swayed by the political currents of the time, he grounded his writing in the post-colonial history of South Asia. In this he was that rare policy wonk who marches to his own tune.
Kalyan will be sorely missed for his generosity in reaching out to us whatever his own deadlines (and there were many), for his contributions to Delhi’s strategic community, but for all those who came his way for the person he was: bright, positive and deeply engaged with those around him.