This is the second book of Harshavardhan garu that I completed reading. It is a compilation of humorous and yet very real and informative pieces about life in the government service. He has served as a senior officer in the commercial taxes department and his observations coupled with his fine sense of humour make the book a highly interesting read. Good humour writing is rare.
The articles are written in a manner that with a little more detail or some connectors it almost reads like a novel. It starts with his preparation to write Civil Services exams (the places they would eat, the various types of people they met), training at the MCRHRD in Hyderabad, his early days at Narsapur (with a picture of Taylor School where my father also studied and where apparently Bapu also did), a note about Pushkaralu and attendant issues, a sharp observation of how meetings were conducted, one on transfers, another on performance appraisals. There is a fine one on computerisation and how the department was one of the first in India to successfully do it (and how the air conditioned rooms were used and misused). He wrote about his visits as an investigation officer to various places - from Kalady to Kurukshetra, of tact and of adaptability. In many ways, it reminds one of a book he mentioned in this very book - 'English August' by Upamanyu Chatterjee.
Harshavardhan garu is blessed with many gifts -observation, kindness, empathy, a sense of humour, a learning mindset, a way of seeing the best in all things and a deep knowledge of many subjects. His use of the Telugu language made me wonder at how wonderful it is, and felt I could have learned it some more too.But thanks to him and his books I think I will now read more Telugu books. Thanks Harshavardhan garu for sharing your books with me.
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