How To Placate An Angry NagaBy Jiwesh and Leena Nandan171 pp, PenguinPrice: Rs 195
He came in a Scorpio, wielding the latest mobile phone. But when he got down from the car, he didn’t have a thread of cloth on him. He was a Naga sadhu.
The lack of attire of the sadhu made everyone around react – some turned pale, some were in a deep shade of red and yet some others simply beat a hasty retreat the moment he appeared in the scene.
But an IAS officer stood there, trying to look unmoved and wearing an aura of authority around him. That’s the moment, Jiwesh Nandan “found his feet” in the IAS and the book, How to Placate An Angry Naga, germinated.
Jiwesh’s career bureaucrat wife Leena, however, found it somewhere else – in her numerous (mis)adventures through the corridors of power, dealing with the tiers and tiers of political authority. The two then ended up jotting down all the perils and pleasures of being a civil servant to produce a book that tells several true-to-life stories from behind the scenes.
It’s a self-effacing account of the two IAS officers without any effort at self-aggrandisement. Narrated with dollops of humour, it’s an unusual attempt to look at the funny side of things while reflecting on them in the hindsight.
The book is full of subtle plots of ideas, which at times tend to remind the reader of the great classic English August, fizzling out at other times as yet another thinly disguised account of life in an elite service.
But How to Placate An Angry Naga retains the novelty. One may come across candid accounts on the insides of ‘the steel frame of India’ on news magazines or 24x7 news channels; but it’s a rare kind in non-fictional form.
The stories on this book cover a whole gamut of experiences in the life for an IAS officer – from whimsical bosses to autocratic politicians, from over-zealous juniors to suspicious spouses or even communal riots or disasters.
The authors also reveal valuable lessons for aspiring officers, which are not taught in the training academy. Like for instance, they share what they call the ‘secret sauce’ to inculcate what they call OLQs — or Officer-Like-Qualities.
"The cornerstone of impeccable OLQs was learning how to say 'no'. The more boorish members of the faculty did not even wait for you to finish your sentence... but others said it with a smile, which not only took the edge off the negative reply, it even made you feel guilty about putting the person in this position...” goes one observation.
“An IAS officer’s life through the cuts and thrusts of politics is full of drama and experiences – good, bad and ugly. This book splits open the enigmatic life of an IAS officer,” says Delhi Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna, who released the book at a function in Delhi on Friday. Khanna also certifies that the book exemplifies a unique harmony and unity of style between two authors.
For Leena Nandan, it was a big opportunity to put down all of it in black and white. “There is so much to capture, so much to express,” she reveals. The book simply confirms her love for the written word and certifies her ability to flow lucid prose.
So, do the authors say what’s the best expression for an IAS officer to adopt when a naked sadhu approaches him/her to voice his grievances? Well, it’s not a simple tip to be shared in one sentence. The Nandans share it over 171 pages of their book.
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