Born in 1921, M. V. Kamath is one of India’s best-known journalists and writers. He was a correspondent in Bonn, Paris and Washington for The Times of India, editor of the Free Press Journal and, till his retirement in 1981, editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India. A prolific author and biographer, Kamath has 45 books to his credit. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan – India’s third-highest civilian honour – in 2004.