An Interview With Arun Ramamurthy | Author Of Suvarna Mohur – A Coffee Table Book

Hi friends,
Allow me to introduce Arun Ramamurthy, the author of “Suvarna Mohur: India’s Glorious History Illustrated Through Rare Coins“. Suvarna Mohur is a coffee table book which lives up to the expectations and travels the reader through the history of India (that is Bharat) through the evolution of coins (the primary instrument served as the currency). You can read our detailed book review for the same at:

• Suvarna Mohur: India’s Glorious History Illustrated through Rare Coins by Arun Ramamurthy | Book Review

Going through the book and exploring various aspects of the same will make you admire the efforts the author and his team spent for the research work and presentation. Impressed by the same, we thought that it would be interesting to know more about Arun and you will find it interesting too.

Arun Ramamurthy, the author of – Suvarna Mohur: India’s Glorious History Illustrated Through Rare Coins

So we’ve approached Arun for an Author Interview and fortunately, the things worked out positively. And, here is the Q/A session with him.

I feel life is about attaining much more than professional accomplishments. Following your passions and doing something in the field of your choice is a definite step to bringing you closer towards self-actualization.

Before setting out on the entrepreneurial journey, I had the privilege of working with some of the largest financial organizations in the world. I completed my graduation in Economics before joining IIM Calcutta.

Thereafter, I worked with Citibank and Deutsche Bank and was instrumental in setting up large businesses and contributing towards their growth. However, with the 2008 credit meltdown and the severe impact that it had on the population at large, I felt that it was time to do something about solving the rampant financial illiteracy problem in India.

I, therefore, decided to start a credit analytics company. That is how Credit Sudhaar came into existence and over last few years we have been able to help innumerable individuals in understanding, improving and maintaining their credit profiles.

I turned into a numismatist at an early age. My keen interest in history topped up with my grandmother’s modest collection of historical coins was the trigger behind Suvarna Mohur.

The research is not restricted to a certain time frame. There has been an ongoing effort to understand various historical aspects through the coinage.

Suvarna Mohur: India’s Glorious History Illustrated through Rare Coins by Arun Ramamurthy | Book Cover

The research, I would say started during my school days and will continue even in future. The book is culmination of my learnings so far.

As mentioned earlier, my keen interest in history and my passion to study coins, being a collector myself, is what made me attempt a numismatic walk through 2500 of Indian History. A coffee table book seemed to be the apt way to present this concept to the public at large since it gave me the freedom of expression through interesting artwork, pictures and exhibits.

This is an interesting question. From what I have observed, a large number of writers are impulsive to begin with and once they draft a framework and start to put the pieces in place, they become more methodical. Rewriting and revisiting the content a couple of times, I believe, has helped me immensely.

The popular saying that “the book is known by its cover” is so true! The cover plays a vital role to motivate the reader to pick up the book and have a look. Therefore, the visual impact has to be in line with what the readers can expect out of the book. Since a cover is highly important, the same usually undergoes 4 to 5 revisions before getting finalized. If I say that the cover of the book is my own perception on what I would have liked to see on such a book, I will not be wrong. I have been completely involved from the conception to finalization of the cover. Not only the cover, all presentations inside the book have been my ideas.

While this is not my first book, but yes, a first for a coffee table version. The journey of this book has been an exciting one. Since I had this book on my mind for a few years, the thoughts gathered over time in respect to the matter, presentation and display helped in speedy writing and publishing of the book. The process, I must admit, has been very fulfilling. It is similar to seeing the seed growing into a tree laden with fruit that would spread taste and nutrition.

I agree with the statement that the books affect its authors in many ways. This impact goes beyond the creative aspects and has the potential to impact the personal and professional sphere as well. Writing Suvarna Mohur has helped me gaining a deeper understanding of our rich culture and history. This has only enhanced my pride about our country’s rich and diverse legacy. I can say that today my understanding of our glorious culture and ethos is much better that it was in the past.

I like reading a wide variety of books but my favourites are William Dalrymple and Shashi Tharoor.

My favourite book(s) is actually a series – I love reading Tinting. It’s amazing how even almost a 100 years after they were written, these books remain as relevant and engaging as if they were written just yesterday!

Currently, I am reading a book called The White Mughals by William Dalrymple.

Apart from reading and writing, I am highly involved in fitness. I try to follow a regimen of diet and exercise which helps me to keep physically and mentally fit. Other than this I love to travel since it helps in changing perspectives and becoming more adaptable.

EBooks are a great source of ease on availability of books at any given point of time. I have experienced people catching up on reading to break the work monotony without having anyone to know. Even a ten minute reading break can be quite refreshing. Other than this, the convenience of reading, making notes, referring to dictionary etc. are some of the great advantages that the EBook readers provide to the users. Goes without saying that this version of books is more environmental friendly than the traditional paper books.

Till sometime back I was only a paper edition fan, but the convenience of carrying books on my device everywhere has also got me to experiment with EBooks. Today I read both versions. The ease of carrying multiple EBooks on a device also helps me in catching up with the kind of book that I may be inclined to read at a particular point of time.

Indeed, I grew up listening to my grandmother telling me stories from the Panchatantra and Jataka Tales. I think these stories helped me to think beyond the ‘classroom’ and view any issue, not just from my perspective, but also from other people’s points of view.

Universally, kids do want to hear stories. The type of stories that were orally passed on from one generation to the other seem, somehow, to have got lost. Nuclear families, social media, television and an obsession with gadgets have meant that kids hardly read stories.

In my opinion, childhood stories not only arouse curiosity in children but also help them to better understand their moral and ethical responsibilities.

Suvarna Mohur is my second book and is the first book covering history through the prism of India’s rare coins. My first book was on the subject of credit scores. This was the first book written on this subject in India, and continues to be the only book so far. While I am not sure, but I may want to work on a different genre as well in future.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy Book From Amazon India – Hardcover

Over To You:

Hope you have enjoyed the Q/A session with her. And many of your questions might be already answered. Let us know that what do you think about this Interview session? Do you want us to ask anything else to her on your behalf? Do let us know. Also, let us know which other authors you like us to interview? Do let us know your thoughts and remarks via comments below. Do not forget to share this article with your friends over various social networks via Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and others. And yes, you may like to subscribe to our RSS feeds and follow us on various Social networks to get latest updates for the site to land right in your mail box.