This is the first of a three part conversation with Professor Bharat Gupt. Prof Gupt, a former Associate Professor in English at the College of Vocational Studies of the University of Delhi, is an Indian classicist, theatre theorist, sitar and surbahar player, musicologist, cultural analyst, and newspaper columnist.

Trained both in modern European and traditional Indian educational systems, he has worked in classical studies, theatre, music, culture and media studies and researched as Senior Fellow of the Onassis Foundation in Greece on revival of ancient Greek theatre. He writes for research journals and national newspapers on cultural and educational issues. As a reviewer, he is a frequent contributor to Journal of Sangeet Natak Academy, Journal of Music Academy Madras, Indian Musicological Society, Baroda.

His practical involvement with traditional Indian temple architecture resulted in initiating the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ashok Vihar (Delhi) it’s a “nagar style” stone temple with carvings which will give Delhi a traditional temple after a millennium.

This part of the interview is semi-biographical and therefore, provides us a peek into the nature of Indian academia and the very many hurdles that it confronts. In part 2 of the interview, we talk about Dr Gupt’s book, ‘India: A cultural decline or revival’ in which the author looks at Indian society and how it is dealing with modernity. In the third and final part of the interview, we discuss Prof Gupt’s most important work, “Dramatic Concepts Greek and Indian” (first published in 1994).