P.V. Rajgopal is a former Director General of National Police Academy (NPA), the premier IPS officers바카라 training institute in Hyderabad. He earned fame in that assignment by introducing several reforms to bring that institution on par with global standards.
He also has the distinction of bringing to light the life and achievements of legendary senior police officer Khusro Framroze Rustamji, by writing two bestselling books 바카라I was Nehru바카라s Shadow바카라 (2005) and 바카라The British, The Bandits and The Border men바카라 (2009).
But for his patient work, Rustamji바카라s achievements would have been unknown or unread and would have been lying in the form of 4,000 handwritten dairy pages in Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML- now renamed as 바카라Prime Ministers' Museum and Library Society바카라) and another 7,000 pages of typed articles and clippings stored at Rustamji바카라s last residence in Mumbai.
Rajgopal has now published a potpourri of his reminiscences as 바카라Fascinating musings of an IPS officer바카라. The subjects covered are varied, interesting and informative: policing problems, historical quotations from national leaders, significance of temple architecture and a motely of other subjects.
He mentions Pyarelal바카라s address at the NPA in 1978 on what Gandhiji expected from the police: 바카라The police that I would maintain would be a body of reformers바카라. He then quotes Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel바카라s address to the police cadets in Ludhiana on 3 March 1949 바카라not to bring dishonour to their uniforms and to the flag they salute바카라.
A very interesting story in this collection is on the real Gabbar Singh from Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, subject of the blockbuster movie 바카라Sholay바카라, who was eliminated in 1959 by Deputy Superintendent of Police R.P. Mody through a grenade. This was before the author joined the police. In 1993 he met the dreaded dacoit Mohar Singh who had killed 440 people between the 1940s and 1972, when he surrendered to Jai Prakash Narain (JP).
Other interesting pieces are on his meeting with Queen Elizabeth II and her consort Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh in 1986 in Nepal and how in 1955 the visiting Soviet Prime minister Nikolai Bulganin and Secretary of Soviet Communist party were forced to travel in a police van meant for carrying prisoners in Calcutta, as their VIP car broke down due to the pressure of 바카라the largest crowds in Indian history바카라 as described by the New York Times.
In between he describes sobering incidents like how he could not locate a publisher for 바카라I was Nehru바카라s Shadow,바카라 despite the book carrying the gist of nearly 1600 pages of Rustamji바카라s notes on his 6 years of working with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, including some rare photographs.
Ultimately when a young publisher took the risk, the book entered the 바카라best selling list바카라 in December 2005 and January 2006. He mentions his 바카라crowning glory,바카라 which was a 2-page review by renowned editor, the late Khushwant Singh in 바카라The Outlook바카라 magazine. When he thanked him, Singh replied: 바카라You did an excellent job with Rustamji바카라s diaries and deserve all the praise you received. Keep it up바카라.
A similar disheartening experience was faced while writing his second book 바카라The British, The Bandits and The Border men바카라 with NMML: out of seven cartons of Rustamji바카라s papers stored there, he was given access only to six and not the last one containing his diaries from December 1970. This was despite his meeting Rustamji and getting his permission to write his biography.
Later he came to know that this was reserved for a BSF officer who was commissioned by the organisation to write 바카라Rustamji바카라s official biography바카라 in Hindi. This time he was encouraged by an excellent review by the late Keki Daruwalla who complimented him: 바카라You preserved his language, which is a feat in itself바카라.
One of the most interesting chapters in the book is 바카라A policeman files the first PIL바카라. Rustamji, then member of the National Police Commission (1977- 1981), decided to expose our prison system where thousands of undertrials were languishing without trial, by drawing the judiciary바카라s attention through a PIL. He was building upon his experience of judicial support to him in 1960, while he was the police chief of Madhya Pradesh, for publicly opposing the presidential pardon of dacoit Tehsildar Singh even after the Supreme Court had upheld the sentencing.
In 1979 Rustamji published 8 such cases, which were brought to the attention of Chief justice Y.V. Chandrachud who assigned the PIL to Justice P.N. Bhagwati. As a result, nearly 40,000 undertrials languishing in several jails all over the country were released.
