Nave Nibandh – Collection of New Essays

Amb. Bal Anand

Ambassador Bal Anand, a senior colleague in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) during our diplomatic service and one of our family friends is an intellectual and a literary personality apart from his professional acumen as a diplomat. His latest book ‘Nave Nibandh’ – a collection of new essays, which he very kindly sent to me with personal greetings and dedication, is in hand. It is Ambassador Bal Anand’s second book in Punjabi. Earlier, he wrote ‘Sukh Sunehe’, a collection of letters exchanged with his friends in literary and social circles. I wrote about this book in my blog: diplomatictitbits.blogspot.com in August, 2014. It is gratifying to write that Ambassador Bal Anand has a masterly flare and attribute in writing good prose both in Punjabi and English languages. It is an excellent co-curricular activity in the post retirement life. He rightly writes in his brief bio-profile, given at the back cover of the book, that his hobbies are “free-lance writing, brain-storming and friendship”.

Nave Nibandh is a bouquet of essays on diverse subjects of contemporary relevance. It is a kaleidoscope of thought provoking, informative and interesting ideas and issues concerning the society at large. I think the collection would be a useful study material for the young aspirants to sit and write competitive examinations.  In the essay on education, the author underlines the importance of education with a poetic quote from a famous Punjabi poet Dhaniram Chatrik and rightly so:

ਜਿੰਨ੍ਹਾ ਵਿਦਿਯਾ  ਦੀ ਜੋਤ ਜਗਾ ਲਈ ਹੈ, ਉਨਾ ਕੁੰਜੀ ਖ਼ਜ਼ਾਨੇ ਦੀ ਪਾ ਲਈ ਹੈ !

With this, I wish Ambassador Bal Anand all success and good personal health in the years to come. I am confident that the book ‘Nave Nibandh’ would be well received.