T.S.R. Subramaniam retired as the Cabinet Secretary of Government of India, the seniormost position that an IAS can reach. The vivid career that he had in IAS in UP Cadre, where he reached till the Chief Secretary as well as his deputations abroad and those in the Central government, all give him a wide canvas to develop a complete viewpoint on Indian Administration.
Written in an autobiographical-anecdotal manner, the book is more than just the life of TSR. He does not talk about his family or his background too much. He devotes about 99% of the book to the work that he did in the Services. His memoirs of his District Collector days are a joy to read. He has been very candid about the various individuals he met during his career and narrates some really amusing incidents about officers as well as politicians.
As a writer, probably, he rates average and this book may be of interest to only those with an inherent interested into the administration of the country. However, as an IAS, his achievements are noteworthy and as a visionary, his didactic portions of the book leaves one pondering.
The chapters on his collector days and then later his Chief Secretary days in UP, just after the Babri Masjid incident and then the Cabinet Secretary days under Deve Gowda and I K Gujral are the most interesting ones. Some of the chapters are a little dragging, but then one's life is not a bollywood movie and dull moments are part of life.
Overall, the book sounds more cynical than it tries to and less optimistic than it attempts to. Nevertheless, it is a good read to get an insider's view about what holds our administrative system from achieving what it should.
CMT's rating - 2.5/5
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