Had the privilege of moderating a fireside conversation with historian and author Manu S. Pillai, one of India’s most engaging young voices on the past on a subject close to my heart: The Deccan — India’s Original Melting Pot.
Manu held the room spellbound. Serious, funny, and bizarre — all at once. Ethiopian slaves who became kingmakers. Warrior queens. Muslim princes composing Hindu devotional music. The Story of Deccan is told like it was an episode from Game of Thrones.
I think of this as my side hustle, that of making people see the value of their own heritage. As the CEO of a company that counsels Indians to go global and return as Global Indians, I know one thing deeply: you have to be rooted before you branch out.
We come from the Deccan. What a remarkable civilisation it produced. And yet, there isn’t a single dedicated guidebook on this region. A region with more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than Rajasthan, Goa, and Kerala combined.
When I first read Rebel Sultans, I felt a deep sense of gratitude. Here was a historian who had taken an untold part of our history and made it accessible.
The depth of research is extraordinary, the details mind-boggling. I knew this story needed to reach the rooms where decisions are made. Heritage is not charity. It is leadership, enterprise, and long-term value creation.
How I wish we knew our history better. It takes time and patience to truly understand it.
Sometimes you need to spend two hours listening to a podcast or watching a thoughtful documentary to grasp the full story, rather than forming opinions based on a few seconds on Instagram or Twitter. It will be worth the effort.
Few things are more rewarding than discovering who we really are and learning to carry our rich heritage and legacy with pride.