Celebrating writing at the 14th Raymond Crossword Book Award

India’s most loved author, Ruskin Bond was felicitated with Lifetime Achievement Award at the 14th Raymond Crossword Book Award on November 29 in Mumbai. Interestingly, the award was presented by the legendary lyricist and poet Gulzar who shares a special friendship with Rusty. Speaking on the occasion, Gulzar saab added, “Bond sir and I share a deep friendship that goes a long way back.I would like to say, ‘Cheers’ to Bond sir, for winning this award.
Authors are no less than celebrities and it became evident at the awards. The winners included celebrated authors like Amitav Ghosh, Amish, Twinkle Khanna, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, Ranjit Lal, Sachin Tendulkar, Radhakrishnan Pillai, Payal Gidwani, Roopa Pai and Akshaya Mukul.
Another highlight of the event was when ‘Master blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar was felicitated for his writing. He won the popular award category for best biography – Playing It My Way (co-authored by Boria Majumdar). The book also entered the Limca Book of Records for being the best-selling adult hardback across both fiction and non-fiction categories in early 2016.
TOI Write India author Amish won an award in the popular fiction category for Scion of Ikshvaku – the first book from the Ramchandra Series. The jury award for this category was felicitated to Amitav Ghosh for Flood of Fire. Twinkle Khanna won the popular award in the non-fiction category for her debut book Mrs Funnybones. While the jury award for the category was given to Akshaya Mukul for Geeta Press And The Making Of Hindu India.
The business and management category was won by author Radhakrishnan Pillai for Chanakya and You. In a light moment, the author joked about how he gave his students voting targets to win the award!
One of the most sought after categories - ‘Children’s writing’ also added charm to the evening. The popular award for this category was won by Roopa Pai for Geeta: For Children. The jury award was given to Ranjit Lal for Our Nana was a Nutcase.
Also seen at the event was Sudhir Mungatiwar, State Cabinet Minister of Finance, Planning, and Forest Departments in the Government of Maharashtra, who is also a book lover. “Raymond dresses up your body and Crossword dresses up your mind,” he remarked wittily.
Few other eminent personalities at the awards night were Madhu Datta from Raymond, Chief Guest Shekhar Gupta, Payal Gidwani, Neel Raheja, author Leena Mogre, B S Nagesh, spiritual guru Mynoo Maryel, Ravi Subramanian, Anupama Chopra.
“The auditorium was packed this year. I’m grateful to the publishing industry in India who came forward as one family to recognise its own stars. This year, the award was given in 10 categories and the first ever lifetime achievement award. A total of 11 awards were given away,” said Kinjal Shah, CEO Crossword Bookstores.
Social media maven Miss Malini was the host for the evening.