This contains several sections dealing with my special interests – Hinduism, the Environment, Education, Interfaith harmony, Travelogues, Essays, Literature and Music, Trusts and Forums and my personal biography. You will find that I have been privileged to enjoy a rather unique spectrum of experiences. Indeed my life seems to fall into 18-year modules. I was born into the ruling family of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, one of the largest of the hundreds of Indian States within the British empire. My father was Maharaja, and as the only son, I would have succeeded him in due course. The first phase of my life therefore was as a Crown Prince, although in public school I got no privileged treatment. Then began a prolonged medical problem which had me on my back for 18 months, a year of which I spent in hospital in New York.

Soon after I returned to India in 1949, the second phase of my life started when my father, under political compulsion, left the State which had by then acceded to India, and I was appointed as the Regent of the State. For 18 years I remained head of the State, first as Regent, then as elected Sadar-i-Riyasat and finally as Governor. This phase ended in 1967 when I moved from the State to federal politics, joined Mrs Gandhi’s cabinet and stood for election from Udhampur from where I was elected four times. I am now in the fourth phase, in which my interests have broadened considerably to include the whole area of global consciousness, education for a sane global society, the interfaith movement, the Environment and Hinduism in its universal formulation.