India’s nuclear scientists, a Kargil martyr, and a forgotten Andaman rescue — three books that tell the stories mainstream India never heard.
At Mumbai’s Max City VOW Lit Fest, three authors present books that recover India’s unsung strategic and military history. Air Commodore Nitin Sathe discusses Born to Fly and the story of rebuilding a remote Andaman outpost post-tsunami. Dr. Soumya Avasthi’s India’s Nuclear Titans gives faces to the scientists behind India’s nuclear deterrent — people as obscure as the 1983 World Cup team is famous. And Colonel Ashutosh Kale’s Rambo chronicles Major Sudhir Walia, Ashok Chakra awardee, who died at 30 after volunteering for Kargil — a meditation on why some men choose death in service of something greater. Geopolitics, told as literature.

About the Speakers:
Commodore (Dr) Srikant B. Kesnur, VSM (Retd) – Moderator of the talk, decorated Navy veteran, scholar, and author, blending operational excellence with academic depth in maritime and strategic affairs.

Colonel Ashutosh Kale– ex-Army officer, author, naturalist, and motivational speaker, inspires through stories of resilience, passion for nature, and leadership with integrity.

Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (Retd) – Veteran IAF officer, author, and motivational speaker, with expertise in leadership, disaster management, and the SSB interview process.

Dr. Soumya Awasthi – Fellow at ORF, specializing in technology and national security, with research focus on counterterrorism, deradicalization, South Asia, and India’s strategic policy.