Govindas Vishnoodas Desani (1909–2000), known as G. V. Desani, was a British-Indian novelist, poet, and social commentator. He was born in Kenya, reared in India and came of age in Britain. Knowledgeable about ancient Eastern spiritual traditions, Desani is best known as the author of All About H. Hatterr (1948), a comic farce which lampooned Anglo and Indian culture and spiritual traditions. An epic-style poetic work, Hali (1950), and its subsequent pairing with his short stories, Hali and Short Stories (1991) made up most of his fiction. Other writings included news reporting, humour and commentary. In later years Desani taught Eastern Philosophy in the United States. Biography Early life Born in Nairobi, Kenya, the son of a well-off wood merchant, he grew up in Sindh, now part of Pakistan. He described himself as a rebellious child who ran away from home three times and, at the age of 13, was expelled from school as unteachable. The third time he left home, he made it to England where, at 17, he connected with British middle-classes. He was personally recommended by George Lansbury MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, for admission as a reader to the British Museum Library. By the age of 25, Desani had become a foreign correspondent for The Times of India, Reuters and the Associated Press. He was sponsored by the Central India Railway as a lecturer on antiquities. A circular from the Director of Education, Delhi, stressed the great value of his lectures. It was during this period that he changed the spelling of his last name from Dasani to Desani and, like many writers of the day, started going by his initials: G.V. He returned to Britain at the beginning of World War II. Waiving their academic requirements, the Imperial Institute, the Council for Adult Education in the British Armed Forces, the London County Council, the Wiltshire County Council, and the Royal Empire Society accepted him as a lecturer and teacher. Career Desani lectured at many well-known educational and research institutes including New College, Oxford, Rhodes House, Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Psychology Laboratory of the University of Amsterdam. He was also a commentator for the BBC. The BBC's The Listener welcomed him as "... a broadcasting discovery ... a voice singular in its beauty." Many of his public lectures were sponsored by the British Ministry of Information. By the end of the war he