FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

An Afternoon with Kamla K. Kapur, presented by The Anad Foundation in association with Bel-la Monde, brought poetry, music and conversation to the launch of her new book from HarperCollins India.

NEW DELHI, 8 October 2026 — The Anad Foundation, in association with Bel-la Monde, hosted the Delhi launch of Awakening with Nanak: A Journey of Self-Discovery by poet, playwright and author Kamla K. Kapur on Saturday, 3 October, at Bel-la Monde, NH-8. The afternoon was the first event co-produced by Anad and Bel-la Monde.

Nine speakers and hosts on stage holding copies of Awakening with Nanak at the Delhi launch at Bel-la Monde, 3 October 2026
At the Delhi release of Awakening with Nanak at Bel-la Monde on 3 October 2026, from left: Simar Singh, Prof. Surinder Singh Jodhka, Sachin Sharma, Dr. Vanita, Dr. Sanjeet Kumar, Kamla K. Kapur, Dr. Taran Mehndi, Bhai Baldeep Singh and Dr. Gurmeet Singh. Photograph: Gurjot Singh.

The afternoon opened with a recital of The Mridang of Sultanpur by Parminder Singh Bhamra, with Sandeep Singh on the taus. Bhai Baldeep Singh and Dr. Gurmeet Singh, Chairman of Bel-la Monde Hotels and Group, welcomed the gathering. “I have always enjoyed bringing people together,” Dr. Gurmeet Singh said, looking forward to many more programmes with The Anad Foundation. Chief guest Dr. Sanjeet Kumar, Director, Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, formally released the book, with Prof. Surinder Singh Jodhka presiding.

In conversation with Bhai Baldeep Singh, Founder and Managing Trustee of The Anad Foundation, Kapur explained why she calls Guru Nanak her friend: “What else can I call him but a friend?” Of the lotus, she said, “We can have our roots in the mud… But yet we can bloom.” Resisting the role of teacher, she added: “I’m not a guru. I am a human.”

Kamla K. Kapur seated beside Bhai Baldeep Singh in conversation on stage at Bel-la Monde, New Delhi
Kamla K. Kapur in conversation with Bhai Baldeep Singh at the Delhi launch of Awakening with Nanak: A Journey of Self-Discovery, presented by The Anad Foundation in association with Bel-la Monde on 3 October 2026. Photograph: Gurjot Singh.

Prof. Jodhka, who knew Guru Nanak first through the sakhis his mother told him at bedtime, said: “Baba Nanak was somebody you could play with. Baba Nanak was somebody you could complain to.” He called kirat a radical proposition in a caste-ridden society and stressed the order of listening and speaking: first listen, then speak.

Dr. Kumar spoke of Guru Nanak as one who challenged superstition and rose above caste, creed and sectarian divisions, and said no nation could be great while the gap between rich and poor remained wide. In the audience exchange, Guest of Honour Dr. Vanita described Kapur as “the new mystic writer poet” who “feels Nanak.” Asked by Dr. Taran Mehndi how dukh becomes daru, Kapur replied, “Dukh is medicine,” and spoke of gratitude: “Gratitude changes everything in your life.” Historian Simar Singh said young people in particular could draw inspiration from the book.

Kamla K. Kapur speaking, hands raised, during the Delhi launch of Awakening with Nanak
Kamla K. Kapur speaks at the Delhi launch of her book Awakening with Nanak: A Journey of Self-Discovery at Bel-la Monde on 3 October 2026. Photograph: Gurjot Singh.

Sachin Sharma, Publisher at HarperCollins India, said the cover carries no image of the Guru so that the book can serve as an initiation for a non-Sikh reader, like the spoonful of karah prasad received in a gurdwara, a “perfect sampler.” Every Sikh, he suggested, should gift it to a non-Sikh friend.

In his closing remarks, Bhai Baldeep Singh thanked Prof. Jodhka, Dr. Gurmeet Singh, the musicians, the hosts and HarperCollins India, particularly Nandini Tripathi and Rajeshwar Prasad. “I look forward really to what we shall create together,” he said. High tea and a book signing followed.

About

Awakening with Nanak: A Journey of Self-Discovery is published by HarperCollins India.

Kamla K. Kapur is a poet, playwright and author. Born and raised in India, she studied in the United States. Her poetry and prose have appeared in Parabola and The Sun, and she divides her time between the Indian Himalayas and San Diego. Her books include Awakening with Nanak: A Journey of Self-Discovery (2026), The Privilege of Aging (2024), Into the Great Heart (2018), Rumi: Tales to Live By (2017), The Singing Guru (2015) and Ganesha Goes to Lunch (2007).

The Anad Foundation is a New Delhi-based not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the conservation, study, transmission and contemporary understanding of India’s intangible cultural and knowledge traditions, bringing together research, archives, pedagogy, publications, performance and practice.

Bel-la Monde Hotels, chaired by Dr. Gurmeet Singh, is a New Delhi-based hospitality organisation developing a programme of cultural and intellectual engagement, creating space for music, literature and conversation. Its collaboration with The Anad Foundation began formally with An Afternoon with Kamla K. Kapur on 3 October 2026.

Photographs

Photographs for publication (8×10 in), free to use with credit to Gurjot Singh, can be downloaded here: Delhi launch photographs.

Full-resolution photographs are available on request.