Book Review [147] : Before And After

'Before And After' is an autobiography of Shri B N Lahiri (Indian/Imperial Police Officer) who was one of the first IP Officers selected through competitive exam held for the first time in India in Dec 1921. Indians were debarred from direct recruitment to IP until 1921. Shri B N Lahiri started his IP training in 1922 when he joined 11 other IP Trainee officers at PTC Moradabad. He felt lot of subtle discrimination at the hand of his fellow probationers as he was the only Indian in 12 men strong batch. IP was heavily dominated by Britishers unlike ICS. In ICS about 50% officers were Indians by 1946 this percentage was just 25% in case of IP. B N Lahiri later became the first Indian IGP of UP Police and lived a long life after retirement. 

He writes that Police Officers should focus on discipline, control, leadership and frequent checks and inspection of their men and material. He should be always on move, meeting people and his men. He should be perceived as person with courage and strong morals. He should be able to defend his men at all cost if they have done no wrong and should punish heavily if they are found doing wrong. Discipline is the bedrock of any Uniform service and Police is no exception. The mediocrity and inefficiency creep in when senior police officers start bending themselves before politicians and others for sake of favors and start influencing bonafide decisions of their subordinates for the benefit of their 'benefactors'. 

He also talks about degrading morals and character of Indians in general. The lack of morals and punctuality is gradually sapping the foundation of our cultural ethos. We lack faith and courage in our own convictions and this further creates doubts in our people. The problems of Police can only be fixed by the firm and strong initiatives of its leaders otherwise it can only become worse.

He also mentions that in British period the IP officers were prohibited from mingling with subordinate officers (i.e. DySP etc) on equal footing and the presence of Subordinate officers were banned in IP Officers Mess. He also talks about the poor imitation of IP ceremonial dinner during British period. In the parade we have simply replaced King Emperor with Indian President, everything else remains same. Unlike only 3 Ceremonial Dinners in entire IPS training these days, in his days there were 5 dinner parades every week. He also mentions the institution of bearers that still plays a key role in training of IPS Officers.

This book also includes anecdotes involving various cases he was involved in as well as those involving Pundit Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Govind Vallabh Pant. B N Lahiri was the IGP of UP Police when UP Police and PAC were granted colors by Pundit Nehru in magnificent parade held at Lucknow led by Ghamandi Singh (IPS) and Avtar Narayan Kaul (then UP PPS) in 1952. 

This book was suggested by Librarian of Dr. B R Ambedkar Police Academy, Moradabad (formely PTC Moradabad), the same center where this legendary officer B N Lahiri underwent his training in 1922 and i reluctantly accepted his advice. It was a very good advice. I am really feeling very good to share the same PTC premises as shared by legendary officers of his level.

Highly Recommended (8/10)

Book Review [146] : Jharokhe Se

'झरोखे से ' श्री अवतार नारायण कौल द्वारा लिखी गयी पुलिस विभाग पर एक प्रासंगिक पुस्तक है।   श्री अवतार नारायण कौल ने उत्तर प्रदेश पुलिस सर्विस सन १९५२ में ज्वाइन की तथा सन १९८६ में  पुलिस महानिरिक्षक के पद से सेवा निर्वित हुए। यह पुस्तक महोदय के संस्मरण के रूप में है।  उन्होंने काफी पुलिस केस हल किये तथा कई कानून व्यवस्था  की समस्यायों का निवारण किया। यह पुस्तक पुलिस अधिकारियों समेत सभी रैंक्स के लिए बेहद उपयोगी साबित हो सकती है बशर्ते किताब में उल्लेखित बिन्दुओं पर गंभीरता से विचार किया जाये।  

He appeared in Civil Services Examination in 1951 but was not given good marks on account of his giving preference to IPS over IAS (as he claims), so he joined UP PPS as DySP in 1952 and completed his training at PTC Moradabad. He later became IPS (after promotion) and retired as IG in 1986. 

Shri Avtar Narayan Kaul had solved main important cases including the gory Kheria murder case of 1957 in which a house servant raped and killed the wife of Squadron leader Kamath posted in Agra. He also killed their daughter and looted properties worth lakhs. He showed astute leadership and fine investigating skills to crack this case that had made entire Indian Military nervous. The leadership he showed when he was posted as SP of Mathura after the brutal murder of previous SP of Mathura by an angry Constable in his office in 1963 was simply exemplary. 

He spent major part of his career in western UP and defused many incidents of communal frenzy. The cutting of telephone wires to allow the passage of Tazia procession in Muradabad in 1968 was his brain child. This defused the volatile situation created by lakhs of Muslims who did not want to bend their Tazias below those wires and had gathered at that place blocking everything. Police Officers need to show such ingenuity more often.

He writes that good relation between SP and DM is an absolute must for proper maintenance of law and order in district. They should give their ego a good toss and work for the district instead of inflating their false egos.

Highly Recommended (8/10)

Book Review [145] : Meditations

'Meditations' written by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180 AD) in Greek is generally considered a great work of western philosophy. Marcus Aurelius was much influenced by Stoic philosophy that was prevalent in Rome in that era. Though i am not much impressed by this book and read it only because it features among great books of all time. This book contains advises and directions to live a meaningful life.

I love this part from the book when Marcus says "Stop drifting. You are not going to re read your brief comments, your deeds of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the commonplace books you saved for your old age. Sprint for the finish. Write off your hopes and if your well being matters to you, be your own savior while you can".

Read if you are really interested (5/10)

Book Review [144] : Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind

'Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind' by Yuvan Noah Harari is one of the seminal books that has come out in last few years. In this book Harari explores the history of Humankind from the genesis of Genus Homo to the possible advent of Super Humans.
Humans first evolved in East Africa about 2.5 million years ago from genus of apes called Australopithecus. About 2 million years ago some of these Humans migrated to settle vast areas of Europe, Africa and Asia. Humans in Western Asia and Europe evolved into Homo Neanderthalensis, in East Asia they evolved into Homo Erectus, Homo Rudolfensis in East Africa among others. 

Homo Sapiens evolved from humans in East Africa about 200,000 years ago and by 70,000 years ago they spread out to rest of the world. By 30,000 Neanderthals of Western Europe became extinct and by 13,000 years ago Homo Floresiensis also became extinct and Homo Sapiens became only surviving Human species. Homo Sapiens played a 'stellar' role in destroying the pristine flora and fauna of the world and colonizing even the remotest places. They changed the ecosystem where ever they went. Red Indians, Maoris, Aborigines etc were perhaps the first colonizers of America, New Zealand and Australia. 

The Homo Sapiens ability to communicate and organize themselves in bigger groups made them distinct and powerful from the other Homo species and this enabled them to outsmart all other species. An average Homo Neanderthal can defeat an average Homo Sapiens on any given day but an Army of Homo Sapiens can never be defeated by an Army of Homo Neanderthals. No one knows for sure how Homo Sapiens got this unusual gift, was this random selection by Nature or was this a design by providence, no one knows. Harari has termed this as 'Cognitive Revolution' It happened about 70,000 years ago. This was followed by Agricultural Revolution about 12000 years ago and the current age of Industrial Revolution that started about 400 years ago. These three revolutions have made Homo Sapiens the master of this Planet and are daring to colonize other planets.

Harari also talks about various 'myths' like religions, companies, nations etc envisaged by Humans to create different kinds of organizations in order to keep Homo Sapiens organized and ensuring their lives full of meaning. He also mentions in details about the credit revolution that enabled the small peninsula to conquer the entire world. How Spain was able to destroy mighty Aztecs and Incas and how a small company was able to conquer India, he has tried to explain this. Its a very fluid and interesting read.

Highly Recommended (10/10)