NARENDRA LUTHER: DEFYING THE STEREOTYPE
An autobiography full of anecdotes about revered political figures
Acelebrated civil servant’s memoir is expected to be about issues of governance, resistance from lawmakers and overall, an aversion to taking risks lest the sarkar gets annoyed. Narendra Luther’s autobiography defies most of these stereotypes. The author, one of the first officers of the Indian Administrative Services, keeps the narrative lively. At Partition, the Luther family’s journey in the train from Lahore, with rioters trying to waylay them and a platoon of Gurkha soldiers guarding the passengers, makes the reader fear for their safety. Once in east Punjab, the author’s father, a scholar who loved translating the
ayats of the Quran as well as slokas from the Gita into Sanskrit and Urdu respectively, hankers for the lost tehzeeb of Lahore, something Luther himself rediscovers when he migrates to Hyderabad as an IAS officer. When writing about Hyderabad, Luther appears to be at his best. Luther’s city is the laid back Hyderabad of cultured soirees and Urdu mushairas, Rs 2 per head Udipi thalis and a quaint airport where you could walk onto the tarmac and get into a waiting Dakota.
Luther’s stint as principal secretary during the reign of NT Rama Rao, the flamboyant actor-turned-chief minister, leads to some epic encounters. When NTR sends him to New Delhi to get central clearances for replicating a Disneyland in Hyderabad, the bureaucrat at the PMO brushes his demand aside as another of Mr Drama Rao’s Quixotic demands. At another time, he gets a call from the chief minister at the crack of dawn and initially fails to recognise his voice. An embarrassed NTR gruffly tells him that he had called Luther to compliment him on his ideas to revive tourism in Andhra Pradesh.
The candour with which Luther writes isn’t restricted to the foibles of public representatives alone. He is equally honest when it comes to his own life. This lends his autobiography an intimate, personal subtext. A large chunk is devoted to his son’s struggles with alcoholism and drug abuse. Luthers’ response evolves from disbelief, to rejection, to despair and acceptance. The sections in which the son moves in and out of rehab and his struggle holding on to his dignity and his loved ones are particularly poignant. After close to three decades, the son overcomes his personal demons and returns home. Despite all his tribulations, the former Andhra Pradesh chief secretary’s autobiography isn’t a sombre life story. Luther’s humour often lifts the narrative. Sample this: “During Nehru’s visit to the state in November 1959, at my suggestion he (PV Narasimha Rao] was chosen to interpret Nehru’s speeches from English to Telugu… Nehru opened his speech with his usual ‘Friends and Comrades’ when Narasimha Rao proceeded to translate it into Telugu. Nehru waved his hand imperiously at him and said, ‘O, shut up. Let me finish my sentence.’ This snub was carried over the public address system and we heard a snigger rising from the audience much to Narasimha Rao’s discomfiture.”