MANAGEMENT BOARD
Parveen Chopra
Founder of alotusinthemud.com, Parveen is a seasoned media professional who has specialized in wellness, personal growth, and spirituality. A trained teacher of TM, he founded Life Positive, India’s first body-mind-spirit magazine in 1996, from New Delhi, India. He has also worked in senior capacities at India Today, called the Time magazine of India, and DNA (Daily News & Analysis) in Mumbai. He has contributed articles to leading publications including Yoga Journal and a chapter on wellness for a coffee table book published by the Government of India.
Moving to the US in 2008, he edited The South Asian Times for over a decade and One World Under God interfaith journal. He writes a regular Lotus Pond column on Patheos.com, a multireligion American platform, and contributes to Asking the Clergy column of Newsday, the main daily of Long Island.
He founded the Lotus webmag in the aftermath of Covid 19.
Padma Shri D.R. Kaarthikeyan
D.R. Kaarthikeyan is a farmer-turned-lawyer-turned-senior police officer-turned-human rights activist-turned-promoter of interfaith harmony and environment protection. He held very high positions in the Government of India, including Director General of the National Human Rights Commission and Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
He is associated with several organizations promoting spirituality, value-based education, health for all, rural welfare, environment, and renewable energy. He has visited over 150 countries, addressing conferences on human welfare subjects.
His popular books include “Triumph of Truth - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination - The Investigation”. Following his successful investigation of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s killing in 1991 by a human bomb, the government honored him with the Padma Shri award. The President of India has awarded him the Medal for Meritorious Service and the Medal for Distinguished Service.
Neel Thakur
Neel Thakur is an Indian adventurer, explorer, seasoned tourism entrepreneur, and a writer. “An untold saga”, his upcoming book, touches on the extraordinary story of his life.
He has sojourned solo in isolated ashrams, monasteries and high meadows in the Himalayas learning about human life, its real purpose and meaning, its invisible energies and defining elements. He has also personally met and spent much time with enlightened Yogis, Lamas and Gurus. He has been intently studying ancient human sciences, techniques of meditation and nature healing practices.
In 2004, he pioneered the concept of live-tourism in India, which was hailed by the world press at the ITB travel and trade show in Berlin. For over four decades, he has been involved with various aspects of tourism and has received several prestigious awards and international recognitions. He was interviewed by the Russian TV for his groundbreaking initiative and role in introducing eco-friendly pristine landscape yoga and human wellness therapies through specially curated exclusive leisure travel programs and sojourns.
He created some of the most imaginative and extraordinary travel concepts and tourism products for Incredible India and marketed them globally. As a frequent traveler himself, he has crisscrossed the globe on numerous occasions.
Neel has always been ahead of the curve. Inspired to bring eco-awareness among India’s rural communities and the luxury hospitality resorts that employed them, he initiated Silver Earth India (a non-profit project) that helped a number of rural primary schools with eco awareness programs and supported many resorts in different locations. It was his specially trained team that imparted eco-orientation and staff training to many hospitality units for the first time in India, triggering the trend of eco-friendly resort categories and tags. He was also the man behind the outstanding idea of bringing direct economic benefits to native communities and their colorful habitats in India (which earlier were being ignored), through the flow of mainstream tourism. His philanthropic efforts and concerns for the OBCs and tribal communities, have been commended by many and appreciated in many countries.
A passionate mountaineer, he has been a leading part of several major climbing expeditions in the Himalayas. Driven by a compelling desire to explore pristine untouched nature and find ways and places for human tranquility and wellness, he has been closely engaged with beautiful mother-nature for a very long time.
Awarded by the Honorable President of India Shri V.V. Giri, he successfully climbed his first Himalayan summit at a very young age. He has also received the Prix-de-Piolet d’honneur from Club Alpin Francais, apart from several other certifications and accolades.
Born in New Delhi, Neel hails from the Suryavanshi Rajput lineage that traces its descent to the Kshatriyas of aristocratic clan, worshipping the Sun God and Lord Rama.
A man who has forever underplayed his accomplishments and kept well away from public eye, he finds joy and peace in anonymity. However, Neel is one of the very few people with such wide and impressive experience in various nature sports and challenging adventures. He is an exceptionally talented and versatile personality who has inspired and helped many young people build their life and professional careers.
A writer by choice, Neel has been publishing articles covering his many travels and experiences at various enchanting destinations, sharing with readers exciting facts and moments wrapped in his uniquely striking style. He also writes on the human wellness and spiritual wellbeing through therapeutic destination travel experiences and sojourns.
Neel is a visionary with remarkable spirit and ideas. We feel greatly privileged to finally have him on board as our honored friend and Advisor.
You can often find Neel at his wilderness farm near the Sariska Forest Reserve in Rajasthan in India. He provides professional consultancy and expertise support to young entrepreneurs and new startups. He aspires to help the young minds find their rightful place in the world.
Raji Menon Prakash
In her own words: I am a writer, a published author, a gentle grammar nerd, an entrepreneur, an urban farmer, and a kindfulness practitioner. I have documented and written on sustainability, the environment, Indic philosophy, and travel for various publications such as A+D, Life Positive, The South Asian Times, The Awakening Times, and The Punch Magazine. Quitting running a niche communications company, I support green innovation and document the interconnection of lifestyles, heritage, health, and food. Deeply influenced by Fukuoka, I regard Nature as my guru and believe that working together as a community will keep us on the right track and open all doors
EDITORIAL & MARKETING
PADMAMALINI GALI RAO
Consulting Editor for A Lotus in the Mud web magazine, Padma worked for Tata McGraw-Hill, Life Positive, and Eternal Ganges Press before going independent. Today, she is an end-to-end publishing consultant, helping authors bring their books from writing to publication, an author of children’s books herself, and a practitioner of the Buddhism of the Soka Gakkai. Educated and raised in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, she resides in New Delhi, India, committed to a life of interfaith, inter-nation, inter-community, and inter-individual understanding and harmony.
Ashish Virmani
Senior contributor Ashish is a human of Mumbai and that's the way he wants it to stay. He loves his city, where he's lived for over four decades, with its madness and mayhem, its amazing spirit and resilience.
He also happens to be a Nichiren Buddhist and says he owes his life and destiny to his Japanese mentor Daisaku Ikeda. Other things that he claims as his own are an inborn love for coffee, for exercise, for reading and listening to pop and rock legend Tina Turner. And yes, he has been a journalist since the early 1990s, for which he is grateful.
Vedant Chopra
A visual and communication artist from India who loves to take an unorthodox approach towards design and tries to get as much rest as possible between deadlines.
Navni Chawla
With expertise in journalistic writing, social media management, and creative inputs, Navni brings a strategic approach to enhancing the US-based web magazine’s presence and reach in India. She has earlier worked with Life Positive magazine.
Dharamveer Negi
Dharamveer is an experienced marketing and sales professional known for his strategic approach and ability to drive growth. With a strong background in market analysis, customer relationship management, and team leadership, he excels in developing and executing innovative sales strategies. He has consistently delivered results by identifying market opportunities, building brand value, and fostering long-term client relationships.
Priti Thakur
Priti is a software Developer. Being passionate about web development, she designs websites using the latest technologies. She constantly seeks to enhance user experiences by building responsive, intuitive, and high-performance web applications.