raamesh gowri raghavan

आम्हां घरी धन शब्दांचीच रत्नें | शब्दांचीच शस्त्रे यत्ने करु ||

शब्दचि आमुच्या जीवांचे जीवन | शब्दे वाटू धन जनलोकां ||

तुका म्हणे पाहा शब्दचि हा देव | शब्देचि गौरव पूजा करु ||  

Mr. Raamesh Gowri Raghavan, B.Sc., M.S., Cert. Archaeol. is a scientist by training, and epigraphist by choice. For his daily take, he moonlights as an award-winning copywriter by day and daylights as an award-wanting poet by night. Currently he serves as Director on the board of Ioncure Tech Pvt Ltd; Director of the INSTUCEN Trust School of Languages and Literature, Mumbai; as member of the editorial board of Café Haiku; and as Editorial Member of Retrospect, a Sri Lanka-based peer-reviewed journal of archaeology, anthropology, history, and heritage tourism (Editor-in-Chief Prof. Anura Manatunga). He was formerly editor of the literary e-journal Narrow Road. He sandwiches running a literary club, the occasional trek, peer counselling for suicide prevention, and learning languages and scripts in between.

He has worked with several advertising and marketing agencies including Pinstorm, Better Communications, RK Swamy BBDO, OgilvyOne India, 4nought4, Indigo Consulting, Fruitbowl and White, before launching an independent career. With 15 years of experience in writing scintillating marcom copy, he helps strategize and help bring a brand to market in memorable ways. Prior to this, he had 7 years of experience as a research associate, with skills including microscopy, PCR, ethology, and DNA sequencing.

His academic publications span numerical linguistics, bacterial and archaeal microflora of the Lonar crater lake, the ethnoarchaeology of the Bene Israel, ancient board games, the archaeology of ballistic weapons and fortifications, Indo-Roman trade, and Śaiva iconography. He has delivered two TEDx talks and authored several e-books on epilepsy-related drug discovery and clinical gloves.

He has given talks and conducted workshops (online and offline) on maritime archaeology; archaeopaizology; sustainability of traditional Indian sciences; Vijayanagar studies; epigraphy and manuscriptology; Dravidian linguistics; Indian poetics; evolutionary biology & genetics; haikai literature; the taxonomy of ants; the French language; English poetry appreciation; Danish colonial possessions in South Asia; and digital copywriting at the University of Mumbai's Centre for Extra Mural Studies, INTACH Bangalore, KJ Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies, Maritime Mumbai Museum Society, KJ Somaiya College, Sathaye College, Tamil Heritage Trust, Wilson College, INSTUCEN Trust, Mumbai Research Centre of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai, SIES College, Shri. M. D. Shah Mahila College of Arts & Commerce, Speaking Archaeologically, Foreign Academic Consultancy & Training (FACT), and Miami Ad School Mumbai. He has taught archaeozoology and palaeobotany at the MA in Archaeology of the University of Mumbai. He has also co-written a column in the Marathi weekly Lokprabha on ancient games (2018-19) with Dnyaneshwari Kamath.

With the INSTUCEN Trust, he organized the first National Conference on Ancient and Medieval Indian Games "Playing with the Past", sponsored by the Indian Council of Historical Research (1 & 2 June, 2019).  He has also helped organize the Explorations in Maharashtra Workshops (2015-2019) and Archaeology of Maharashtra Conferences (2015-2019) at the University of Mumbai’s Centre for Extra-Mural Studies, including publishing their Proceedings. Currently, he is coordinating the yearlong International Diploma in Buddhist Studies at the India Study Centre (INSTUCEN) Trust, which is now in its second batch.

He also offers public and custom heritage walks in Mumbai and Thane on subjects such as indigenous deities (Thane & Dharavi), Buddhist caves (Kanheri, Mahakali & Mandapeshwar), religious harmony (Thane), forts and fortifications (Fort area, Ghodbunder, Vasai), trade heritage (opium & cotton) and many others.

His literary publications include poems, short stories, haiku and haibun in several magazines and anthologies. He also organized "Distilled Images", a national conference on haikai literature in India, in collaboration with SIES College in 2014. He recreated Passepartout and Phileas Fogg's epic journey from Jules Verne's Around The World in 80 Days as if live tweeted: https://x.com/traverslemonde?lang=en 

He thinks he is funny, but friends vehemently disagree.