Double life of an academic & murder mystery writer

THE OTHER PART OF HIS NOM DE PLUME IS THE SURNAME. RAE SOUNDS FOREIGN, PERHAPS AMERICAN. BUT IT'S DELIBERATELY DESIGNED TO MISLEAD. IN FACT, IT'S NOTHING BUT A DIFFERENT PHONETIC SPELLING OF HIS MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME, THE VERY BENGALI SURNAME 'RAY'

- Karan Thapar

I'm writing about what used to be a well-kept secret. Today it's my intention to blow it to smithereens. It's all about someone who's not what he at first seems. In fact, he's been leading a double life in broad daylight. He's even gone so far as to create another name for himself. And it follows he also has a second career.

Now you know of him as one of our finest sociologists. In this capacity he's authored 21 reputable books with titles such as Nativism in a Metropolis on the Shiv Sena, The Context of Ethnicity on Sikh identity, Rivalry and Brotherhood on the life of farmers, Mistaken Modernity on India caught between two worlds, and From People to Citizens on India's changing profile. In Jawaharlal Nehru University, they're praised and admired.