Friday 31 March 2017

At The Launch Of Harp By Nidhi Dalmia...

What?
Launch of Harp by Nidhi Dalmia

Where?
French Embassy, New Delhi

When?
Monday, March 27

The French Ambassador to India, H.E. Mr. Alexandre Ziegler launched the romantic fiction novel ‘Harp’ by entrepreneur Mr. Nidhi Dalmia at his residence on Nyaya Marg yesterday. Mr. Dalmia has always been ardently inclined towards writing, but his professional commitments kept him occupied. Writing Harp got him closer to his dream. The book is set in the late-sixties and revolves around the lives of three young protagonists.



Harp has been presented as a heartwarming love story set mostly in Europe, offers an interesting blend of characters and takes the reader through their notable progress. It is a story of love revolving around three central characters. Ashok, who belongs to an industrial background, wants to learn more about dairy production. He travels from India to Europe, where he meets a musician Lauren and falls in love with her. As the story progresses, he falls in love with an Indian girl named Aparna. The story is refreshing as it a contrast to the regular love stories.

Speaking at the launch Mr. Dalmia said, "It is truly an honor to be here and to have my book launched by H.E. Mr. Alexandre Ziegler.  Harp is a romantic novel which speaks a lot about travel, music, and culture. The book is partly set in France especially Paris - The City of Love. It is fitting that it is being launched at the French Embassy Residence".



Mr. Dalmia read excerpts from his book and interacted with author-journalist Vaiju Naravane and the audience. This was followed by cocktails. The evening ended on a high-note with Mr. Dalmia signing copies of Harp for guests in the lawn.

Harp is set in the context of the zeitgeist and idealism of the late sixties and captures love, longing, and coming of age. The three main protagonists – a young man travelling in a Europe-less-travelled including the Iron Curtain, a young woman who has a calling to music, and another young woman who has loved and lost once – provide the frame of this narrative about journeys we make across countries, even as we embark on a private quest within to know ourselves better, and to seek what it is we really want from life. Moving through India, Europe, and the USA, Harp follows the lives of these three young people even as they engage with the cultural influences, student revolutions, and the music of the sixties.


Nidhi Dalmia is an alumnus of St Stephen’s College in Delhi, and he pursued a postgraduate education at Oxford University and the Sorbonne and Management education at Harvard Business School. His professional life exposed him to diverse business responsibilities, especially in the manufacturing sector. Harp is his first novel.

Vaiju Naravane was The Hindu’s Senior Europe Correspondent based in Paris for 20 years. A lecturer, she has taught at the Sciences Po Paris School of Journalism. To the many hats she wears, Navarane adds Foreign Fiction Editor with the French publishing house Albin Michel, where she has published authors like Vikram Seth, Manil Suri, Alan Hollinghurst, Esther Freud, Daniel Alarcon, Anita Nair and Anita Brookner, among others. She currently teaches journalism and media studies at Ashoka University in Haryana, where she also serves as the Executive Director of the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change.



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