The history of modern India is almost always told through the careers of wellknown
political leaders. But the Indian nation, especially in the first decades
after Independence, was shaped as much by a few hundred remarkable, largely
invisible civil servants—part of the ‘steel frame of India’. This fascinating book
is the memoir of one such extraordinary administrator.
Y.N. Varma rose from modest beginnings in a village in the Faizabad/Ayodhya
district to become one of India’s most senior bureaucrats. He joined the
Provincial Civil Service in 1936 and worked in the districts with some
extraordinary—sometimes extraordinarily eccentric—British Collectors.
During the Quit India movement, he struck a difficult balance between
nationalistic sentiment and the duties of governance. He witnessed the tragedy
of Partition and worked for the rehabilitation of refugees. Immediately after
Independence, as Home Secretary of Delhi, he was instrumental in setting up
the state’s administration, and supervised the building of the Tis Hazari courts
and Tihar Jail. In the mid 1950s, he managed the Indian Airlines Corporation,
and in the ’60s, he was Director General of All Indi Radio and also worked
closely with the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Indira Gandhi.
Drawing upon these rich experiences of over thirty-five years, Y.N. Varma
gives us a rare and revealing glimpse into governance in both British and
free India with insight, honesty and rare humanity. In the process, he also
gives us memorable anecdotes about luminaries like Nehru, Rajaji, Sardar
Baldev Singh, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Indira Gandhi, Nandini Satpathy and Josh
Malihabadi. Clear-eyed, insightful and always engaging, this a record of a
remarkable life, and also a valuable historical document.
