The Global Man  (Paperback, Ranjit Kumar Ray (Pen-name: RAKURA))

The book describes a series of conversations between two very close friends, Bijan and Rakura, who are also close neighbors. The Corona pandemic provided the perfect background and time for holding these long meetings. Rakura is an avid history and nature lover. He has always been a seeker of truth about the history of man and a worshipper of nature in its most pristine form. These two emotions drove him through all his discussions with Bijan, during the pandemic period. Since the history of humans is, to a large extent, shaped by politics, this aspect has also figured prominently from time to time in their conversations. India and the USA, two great democracies in the world, provided the perfect backdrops and examples for their discussion, extending from nature to history to politics. The political scenario in the present world made Rakura to believe that a confrontation between the democratic countries of the world, on one side, and a combination of Communist China and some of its militant Islamist friends, on the other, is not only a strong possibility, but could happen in the very near future. He strongly feels that humans can have lasting peace and happiness only if man changes himself from his narrow selfish being into a ‘global man’ who will genuinely feel as if the entire humanity is his own family and who, at the same time, will take utmost care of nature in the same way he would of his aging mother. The book consists of ten chapters, based on apparently unrelated topics; although the discerning reader will invariably be able to discover the common thread that binds them together. Though it is essentially India-centric, its appeal is universal.