Italy confersknighthood onTOI columnistJug Suraiya

Veteran

TOI columnist

and author

Jug Suraiya

has been conferred a

knighthood

by the president of Italy. Suraiya is now a Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy, an honour awarded to Italians and foreign citizens for their efforts to promote friendly relations and cooperation between

Italy

and other countries.

The honour was formally conferred on Suraiya by Italian ambassador Vincenzo de Luca on Thursday night at a ceremony in the ambassador’s residence.

Suraiya has been writing his much loved humour column, Jugular Vein, in TOI since August 1987. Another column, Second Opinion, began 14 years ago and still continues. He served as the editor of the Sunday Times of India from 1994 to 1997 and was TOI’s Edit Page editor from 1996 to 2006. For many years, he also penned a popular comic strip, Dubyaman (later renamed Desh Ka Neta), which was drawn by Neelabh Banerjee.

Speaking on the occasion, Suraiya said, “My wife and I first visited Italy in 1972 and have returned innumerable times since then. Italy gave us the great gift of being a home away from home. How could we not fall in love with this beautiful country and its wonderful people, who are so like Indians in the warmth of their hospitality?”