Ramkrishna Dalmia had just a middle school education, but he managed to make himself into one of the top three industrialists of India for several decades. He was a pioneer in several new industrial fields and spanned both British India and Independent India after 1947.
The industrialist’s son, Nidhi Dalmia, was brought up in a business and industry environment since childhood. Because of his father’s legacy, Nidhi Dalmia had doors opened to him and opportunities available; however, he at times struggled with living up to what he thought his parents expected of him.
At home, where Vedas, Upanishads were a part of Nidhi Dalmia’s home schooling, his parents nurtured his spiritual side in addition to his practical side. This spirituality would make itself known later in the son’s life.
Upon graduating from St. Stephen’s College, Nidhi Dalmia traveled across several countries, including England, France, Finland, Norway and the United States, to learn all he could about business. Now, several decades later, Nidhi Dalmia is a member of several prestigious professional bodies and has received extensive professional training across the world. His professional life has exposed him to diverse business responsibilities, especially in the manufacturing sector.
With all that the younger Dalmia had accomplished in business, he still felt something was missing.
“No matter how busy I was with work, with business, there remained this irrepressible urge to express myself, little by little, on a different computer, in a different room,” Nidhi Dalmia said. “There was a story to tell – not yet clear but waiting to be shared.”
Thus, Nidhi Dalmia used not only his knowledge of the industrial world but also what he learned spiritually and experimentally in his younger years in writing his first novel, Harp.
“I draw broadly on my travels through Europe as a young man and the training I received in factories there, as well as the struggle to please my parents,” Nidhi Dalmia said.
Harp is a coming-of-age love story about the late 1960s, including the music, the sexual revolution and the sweeping cultural changes. It is also a peek behind the Iron Curtain and a Europe less traveled. The characters embody emotions that cross cultures, shown in the novel through the use of terms from five languages, and the story reveals the universality of human emotions and the human experience.
For more information, visit http://gunnidhidalmia.com/.
