In 1960, Lashio, Burma at 3 am, a 10 year old boy woke up crying inconsolably. When his nurse asked him why, he said that his mother had just died. Unknown to him, a few roads away his mother was, at that very minute, losing her life. Strange and curious happenings, prestige and paucity, moments of masti, achievements and brickbats - the stuff of ordinary life is narrated with frank vigour and charm in this exploration of a man's life, career and relationships. We feel his alienation and loss at the death of his mother, the troubles of an adolescence without money, the setbacks as promised job opportunities turn to dust; we cheer him on his boyhood adventures and welcome the joy of a good marriage.
We travel on a whirlwind of memories from pre Independence Dhaka to Burma, Kolkata, and to every nook and corner of India. Enlivened with wit, insight and anecdotes, this journey also offers us an inside view of bureaucracy as we follow the ups and downs of the author's career in the Ministry of Drinking Water, Government of India... and beyond.
Ultimately, like the author, we ask ourselves: Do we choose our path in life or does the path choose us?