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Dilip D'Souza
Dilip D'Souza used to be a computer scientist. Today, he writes for his suppers about politics, society, travel and mathematics. He has won several awards for his writing. He is the author of eight books: most recently, with Joy Ma, The Deoliwallahs: The True Story of the 1962 Chinese-Indian Internment. He lives in Bombay with his wife, two children and cat. He misses his Rhodesian Ridgeback, Shaka.
Session
The Deoliwallahs
Joy Ma and Dilip D'Souza in conversation with Shashi Tharoor
The internment of 3,000 Chinese-Indians following the Sino-India war of 1962 is a story not known to many. In a disused World War II POW camp in Deoli, Rajasthan, Indian citizens of Chinese descent were locked away for five years. Seven survivors of this camp have spoken to the author, Joy Ma, who has also documented the history of the Chinese community in India, and of how they came to be a significant section of the country of their adoption. Ma is aptly placed to relate this section of unhappy history as she was born at the Deoli internment camp. Educated in India until she left for graduate school in the US, she is now settled in the San Francisco Bay area. Dilip D'Souza has had a global education in India, the UK and the US. Now a resident of Mumbai, he has won a number of significant awards for his writing, which include The Statesman Rural Reporting Award, the Outlook-Picador India Non-Fiction Prize and the Newsweek South Asia Commentary Prize. In conversation with retired diplomat, politician and celebrated author Shashi Tharoor.