THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Here’s an ode to Kerala and its myriad facets of public service. ‘The Kerala Club: Keepers of the Flame’, a rare collection of essays from 29 top ex-bureaucrats, would be officially launched on Wednesday.
Edited by ex-cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar and former diplomat T P Sreenivasan, it is a book of wisdom by the who’s who from the world of civil servants.
A slew of veteran bureaucrats from the IAS, IPS, IFS and IFoS streams have narrated their accounts in the work. The essayists include Shivshankar Menon, Vinod Rai, Amitabh Kant, E K Bharat Bhushan, T P Sreenivasan, S M Vijayanand, T Balakrishnan, K Mohandas, Alphons Kannanthanam, K B Valsalakumar, B Sandhya and Brandson Corrie, among others.
“It all begin with a WhatsApp group of ex-bureaucrats, started during the time of Covid pandemic. We decided to bring out a book with the experiences of 29 retired public servants.
Some have shared their experiences while some others have shared their perspective for the state. I have written about administrative change that’s required. So this is a collection of essays centred around a general idea of Kerala,” said Chandrasekhar, the brain behind the work.
Very soon a second edition of the work too will be brought out. Published by Bloomsbury India, the book has been getting a good response.
Chief Minister V D Satheesan will officially release the book by handing over a copy to NITI Ayog vice-chairman Ashok Lahiri at Mascot Hotel on Wednesday at 6 pm. Transport Minister C P John will be the guest of honour at the event.