Entitled with a beautiful oxymoron, Sweet Tamarind, a collection of writings of Prasanna Kumar Mishra, a former top bureaucrat, immediately arrests the attention of the avid readers. The author’s reflections and reminiscences conjure up his views on almost anything and everything encompassing powder, mixture, herbs and hybrid to agriculture and finance.
Mishra has dissected and diagnosed the real issues of the society under scanner. While he notices Anna Hazare’s juggernaut that rolls on, he intends to swim and sink together with Hazare’s ideas to make the voters as the King. His concern for the poor and the downtrodden is reflected in his writings ‘Financing the Poor’, ‘Financial Inclusion through Microfinance’, ‘Infocity and Saliasahi’ and the like. He vouchsafes for restoration of dignity in civil servants and aptly quotes Socrates, “It is not living that matters but living rightly.”
The author opines that bureaucracy has to act without fear or favour and must uphold the law of bureaucracy while advocating political neutrality for bureaucrats. He expects them not to be like weathercocks swept by every gentle breeze. A piece of writing christened as “Some Exclusive Moments with legendary Biju Patnaik” is a masterpiece of memorabilia by the author. The book covers a wide range of subjects, bristling with foresights, far-sights and new insights. His style of writing is crystal clear. Sometimes he wields his pen with a rare dexterity when emotions appear flesh like. He leaves his readers to plunge in an ocean of thoughts within few drops of words.
The book, released in Bhubaneswar recently, is almost handy, offers stimulating reading with a price tag of Rs 220 available with Om Prakshan, Markat Nagar, CDA, Cuttack.