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By:

Shiv Sethi

10 January 2026 at 2:43:11 pm

‘Never Give Up’

Get ready to meet the extraordinary Dr. Shadab Ahmed , a true gem of a person whose story is sure to inspire and impress you. Dr. Ahmed is a professional Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon and Quality-Assurance expert based in India, who as the protean author of more than 12 books on Ethnic Culture, Linguistic Historiography and Socio-Cultural Analysis , is renowned globally as an author, poet, translator and columnist. Over the past decade, Dr. Ahmed has carved an unparalleled place for himself...

‘Never Give Up’

Get ready to meet the extraordinary Dr. Shadab Ahmed , a true gem of a person whose story is sure to inspire and impress you. Dr. Ahmed is a professional Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon and Quality-Assurance expert based in India, who as the protean author of more than 12 books on Ethnic Culture, Linguistic Historiography and Socio-Cultural Analysis , is renowned globally as an author, poet, translator and columnist. Over the past decade, Dr. Ahmed has carved an unparalleled place for himself in the Indian, Ottoman and Persian anthropological prose poetry. An extra-academic scholar of Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Urdu, Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Brajbhasha and Castilian literature, Dr. Ahmed has translated, paraphrased, transliterated, composed, edited and published numerous books and articles, several of which are trailblazing in the Indian and overseas literary communities and libraries. Dr. Ahmed is self-taught in several literary traditions and critics and scholars often remark on the way he reconstructs complex verses, preserving the spirit of the original text while expanding its imagery and context. Here are the excerpts of his interaction with Shiv Sethi . Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind your writing, and what readers can expect from it? My inspiration to write was precociously initiated by my father, who asserted that you won't be able to write a book ever. Since my formative years, I was into books and reading, so much so that books became my avocation. Preceding to mature as a Bibliomaniac, I became a Bibliophile penultimately. My readers can expect from me an abridged version of history across the Indian, Ottoman and Turkish empires and dynasties, which is versified considering both the “pre-text” of the verse in the bygone times and the “cont-text” of the verse in contemporary times. Can you tell us about your background? I come from a deprived and destitute background, strictu sensu, and it was an arduous endurance to keep up reading and adopt a multi-linguistic attitude. I would just say over the years, I have seen my pneuma altering perception from a protagonist to an antagonist and vice-versa. How do you balance your work as a doctor with your passion for writing? When am working, am not writing? When am writing, am not working? This is the most fundamental and elementary balance I maintain. I love both working and writing. When you love the things you do, they aren't things anymore. They become your love affairs. So much so, my perception & outlook has adapted over it. I find explicit words in arbitrary observations which most people will attribute to inexplicit randomness. My submerged mind keeps making climacteric observations all through the commotions by the day, and the panorama of the silent night develops those implicit annotations the mind has made, extrapolating them in words. The words combine to form sentences. The sentences get rearranged to rhyme versified. The verses together form a narrative. What challenges have you faced as a writer, and how have you overcome them? The road up there was not so easy, a lot was sacrificed to retain so many. When I started writing - I was mocked, ridiculed, hated, despised and disliked from my near and dear ones. It was made abundantly clear to me that writing is a colossal mistake, and you would incur the wrath of all the authoritative and benevolent Gods across the Abrahamic and Non-Abrahamic religious spectrums. But at the end, it was just a poor simple boy who followed his dreams. He fought and prevailed against all odds. But when the steaks are juicy, the lobsters would be buttery as well. One last question before we conclude the interview for today. What are your future plans for writing, and can we expect more books from you in the future? I am working on several academic and non-academic books at the moment, and I am focusing on the foremost publishing conglomerates across both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres for future publications. My future books will be more contextually verified and historiographically informed. There would be a key balance of both the Revisionist and the Dialectical historico-critical analysis. Progress is undoubtly slow for my other professional and personal commitments, but the books are coming out substantially interesting that I presumed, both perceptively and contextually. This year, two of my books would be releasing - "The Capetian House", which is translated from Latin and Anglo-Norman, and takes the reader back to the dominant influence of religion in Europe through the House of the Capet monarchs, and documents the rise and fall, heroism, persecution and Holy Wars, religious upheaval and adulterous affairs of the most powerful kingdom of Christendom in Medieval France. Another book based on Medievalist and Feudal History would be "The Lord's Battalions - The First Crusade for the Holy Land", and takes the readers back to the rise of Militant Catholicism and the consolidation of Papal power in the Levant and Anatolia against the Seljuk Empire, Sultanate of Rum, Fatimid Caliphate and Turkish Danishmends. Stay tuned and make sure to buy your copy. Godspeed and Godbless!

Lingua Pragmatica

Updated: Mar 20, 2025

As Southern leaders like M.K. Stalin rage against Hindi, Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu offers a model of pragmatism over parochialism.

Chandrababu Naidu
Andhra Pradesh

Amid the cacophony of opposition in southern states to Hindi, Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu has taken a markedly pragmatic stance by remarking recently in the state Assembly that there was no harm in learning other languages. Hindi, Naidu noted, was useful for communication across India, particularly in political and commercial hubs like Delhi. His remarks, though avoiding explicit mention of the NEP, were widely seen as an endorsement of multilingualism and a rebuke to the linguistic chauvinism that has gripped parts of the South.


Few issues in India stir political passions quite like language. It is not merely a means of communication but a marker of identity, a relic of colonial resistance, and a source of political mobilization. In the southern states, where anti-Hindi sentiment has long been entrenched, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its three-language formula have reignited old tensions. No state embodies this defiance more than Tamil Nadu, where the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by M.K. Stalin has framed the policy as an assault on its linguistic autonomy.


Naidu’s words, welcomed by his ally and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, mark a sharp contrast with the DMK’s position. Tamil Nadu’s hostility towards Hindi dates back to the 1930s, when C. Rajagopalachari’s attempt to introduce it in schools met with fierce resistance. The anti-Hindi agitations of the 1960s cemented the DMK’s ideological stance, with its first Chief Minister, C.N. Annadurai, famously warning that Hindi imposition could push Tamil Nadu towards secession.


The question, however, is whether this rigid opposition serves Tamil Nadu’s interests. While Stalin, with an eye to the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, has been relentlessly portraying Hindi as a threat to his state’s regional identity, Naidu, a partner of the BJP-led Centre, is framing it as a tool for economic mobility. His argument is not that Hindi should replace Telugu or English but that it offers a competitive advantage.


The economic case for multilingualism is compelling. Indians who speak multiple languages tend to have better job prospects, higher earnings and greater geographic mobility. Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu-speaking diaspora is a case in point. Telugus make up a significant proportion of Indian-origin professionals in the United States, the Gulf, and Southeast Asia as Naidu pointed out, hinting that this success story was built not on linguistic rigidity but on adaptability.


In a country where inter-state migration is rising and where Hindi remains the most widely spoken language, refusing to learn it amounts to self-imposed isolation. Tamil Nadu’s approach, by contrast, risks limiting its youth. The DMK government has refused to implement the three-language policy, keeping schools strictly bilingual with Tamil and English. Its justification that Hindi is not necessary for global success could be true in a narrow sense but ignores the domestic context. If Tamil filmmakers can dub their movies into Hindi to expand their audience, why should Tamil students be denied access to the language that could open more doors for them within India?


The DMK has accused successive central governments, particularly under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of pushing Hindi at the expense of regional languages. Yet, rejecting Hindi outright is an overcorrection. The reality is that Hindi is an important language in India’s economic and political landscape. Naidu’s position, one of accommodation rather than confrontation, offers a middle ground that other Southern leaders would do well to consider.


Some states already recognize this. Karnataka, despite its own history of linguistic pride, has allowed Hindi to be taught as an optional language. Kerala, whose migrants work in Hindi-speaking regions and the Gulf, has been less hostile to Hindi education. Naidu’s model, balancing regional identity with practical necessity, offers a way forward. Languages should be embraced, not politicized. Southern leaders would do well to listen to him.

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