Writing a biography is like peeping into another soul-the soul of one's subject. If the writer is lucky to have direct access to the subject, his or her task becomes less arduous While watching, talking and listening to the person, the writer becomes aware of the various facets of that personality. One can then develop clear perceptions, even get under the skin of the subject, don his garb and almost live the life he is attempting to portray. The experience, achievements and distinctions of that character become, for the moment, writer's own and makes the penning of the biography a truly worthwhile exercise.
I, however, have not been so lucky. My subject. Maharaj Dr. Nagendra Singh, ICS, Judge of the International Court of Justice, which is an important organ of the United Nations system and over which he presided for three years. passed away seven years before I contemplated writing about him. I had met him on a couple of occasions at State banquets at the Rashtrapati Bhavan when Nagendra Singh was Secretary to the President of India. Later too, I had a few brief contacts with him mostly on social occasions when he visited New Delhi during his tenure at The Hague. He was an imposing personality with the reputation of being a distinguished jurist, and as my late husband used to describe him "a thorough gentleman".
When I decided to write his biography, I took it for granted that there would be adequate sources of information on so eminent a person as Nagendra Singh, on his family heritage. on his long innings with the Indian Civil Service, and as a negotiator at International fora. But I was in for disappointment.
I expected that there would be heaps of his personal papers as he had kept all records in meticulous order. These were not readily available. I travelled to Roorkee where his papers and books had been sent to be housed in a library. Part of Nagendra Singh's collection of books was there and so also some papers - heaped in a corner of a room. On my subsequent visits, these papers had been sorted out but there was hardly anything about his, earlier days or even important correspondence with Indian authorities or with his international colleagues. There were a few documents pertaining to his latter day interests.
Not many among his friends and contemporaries in service are around except Shri Dharma Vira and Shri K.B. Lall, both ICS. I am grateful to them for sparing their time to enlighten me on the early years of Nagendra Singh's career. Then there were some who had worked with him. C.L. Kalia, his assistant of abiding loyalty, S.N. Banerjee who was in the Shipping Ministry and passed away a few months ago, Sumer Chand Bhandari and R.P. Dhokalia, Secretary General Indian Society of International Law; willingly narrated their experiences. Akshay Kumar Derashree, son of the late Pundit Ravi Shankar Derashree, Nagendra Singh's mentor during his Cambridge days, made available some valuable letters. I am much obliged to them all for their help.
My special thanks to Prof. R.P. Anand, Professor of International Law, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, who gave me his time unstintingly. He clarified many important points raised in this volume. His learned essay in the volume "International Law in Transition" has been a source of valuable information.
I owe a debt to the late Rani Pushpa Kumari Devi for her candid interviews and to Shri Narendra Singh (Munna) who accompanied me to Dungarpurand Roorkee and made available information from many sources.
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