P.P.Ramachandran, 76 years
old (in fact young), is a postgraduate in Economics, postgraduate in Comparative Mythology, and
Certificate and Diploma holder in Sanskrit from Mumbai University. He has served
in the Reserve Bank of India for 40 years and retired as Deputy General
Manager. He writes for a number of journals and is a prolific reviewer of
books and a book selector for libraries. He gives lectures regularly to
audiences, young and old, on different disciplines. He is a rare bird — a
literary banker. His hobbies are reading, writing, and watching English and
Malayalam movies and art-films.
On his 76th
birthday today, the book entitled "A BUNCH OF FRAGRANT
ROSES" authored by P.P.Ramachandran is published Academic Foundation. The
book has a Foreword by Shri S.S.Tarapore, Former Deputy Governor of RBI.
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| S.S.Tarapore |
Foreword
P.P. Ramachandran,
“Chandru” as he is affectionately known, was an official of the Reserve
Bank of India for forty years. The stereotyped view of a
central banker is a dry, humourless person focussed exclusively on his
profession. Ramachandran is one of the rare birds who just cannot be classified
into a cubby hole.
Ramachandran’s canvas is
the whole wide world and he paints life with a vignette and readers will find
this Collectors’ Item an unputdownable book. The sheer breadth of his vision is
wonderful to the point of bewilderment. In this slim volume, Ramachandran
deftly handles subjects as widely variegated as contemporary issues, religion,
science, the fine arts, mythology, social issues and biographical sketches.
Ramachandran is a reconnoitre
of events and encounters with eminent personalities. He is at his scintillating
best handling vastly different subjects and in one life time he has
successively performed as central banker, journalist, social worker, critic,
biographer and many more.
At the Reserve Bank of India functions
he would regale the audience with his amazing memory of events and inter-action
with prominent personalities. Like the Village School Master in Oliver
Goldsmith’s ‘The Deserted Village’ it could be said of
Ramachandran: “And still they gaz’d and still the wonder grew, that one
small head could carry all he knew”.
Ramachandran’s writings are
a Sonata-- a sheaf of memories-- and the reader’s appetite would be whetted by
this book and look forward to future volumes by him. Ramachandran is
truly a Man for All Seasons.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Here is a delightful medley
of essays, articles, speeches, travelogues, book reviews and correspondence
with the greats.
The book is divided into
five sections.
The first section includes
his tributes to great personalities at various functions. We have a chance to
read his tribute to Vinda Karandikar, Durga Bhagwat, Albert Einstein, Dwaram
Venkataswamy Naidu, M.S. Subbulakshmi, Mumbai’s bookseller T.N.Shanbag, and S.
Chandrasekhar.
Section two consists of 16
book reviews. Ramachandran is a regular reviewer of books for Free Press
Journal and “Shanmukha”. He covers a variety of subjects with an authority that
is impressive.
The third section is
dedicated to travelogues. These are based on his travels to Europe, America,
Ashtavinayak, Uttaranchal and Konkan and contain vignettes of a delightful
nature.
The fourth section covers
essays on a variety of subjects such as religion, science, mythology, and light
articles on a number of interesting subjects.
The fifth section covers
his correspondence with great personalities like Rajaji, Radhakrishnan,
Khushwant Singh, H.R.F. Keating , Pope John Paul I I and Paul Gallico.
In sum, this book is a
veritable feast.
