Just Being: A Memoir (The India List)
Romila Thapar, one of India's most influential historians, opens the door to her remarkable journey in this absorbing memoir. Just Being captures a life devoted to rigorous scholarship and intellectual curiosity, beginning with her formative years in pre-independence India, continuing through her studies abroad, and extending into decades spent excavating archaeological treasures across Asia. What emerges is far more than a chronological account. Thapar weaves together the pivotal relationships, unexpected discoveries, and philosophical insights that guided her path as she helped establish the Centre for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. The writing combines scholarly precision with genuine narrative flair, allowing readers to experience both the intellectual weight of historical inquiry and the human moments that defined her trajectory. Her central conviction runs throughout these pages: that we cannot understand our present or build a better future without grounding ourselves in verifiable evidence about what came before. This is the story of a scholar who refused to accept easy answers, who travelled far to seek truth, and whose work continues to reshape how we see India's complex heritage.
- Author: Romila Thapar
- Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd
- Genre: Cultural Studies
- ISBN: 978-1803096308
- Pages: 540 pages