Book: Memoirs Of A Tota-Rani Boy
Authors: Suresh Pande
Publisher: Evincepub Publishing (2022)
Total Pages: 760
Reviewed By: Neel Preet
“Life is a beautiful gift and we must make sure that when we look back at the days of our lives then we do not have much to regret. We should be able to have a happy memory of our golden old days and stay content in our present too!”
Well, before starting the review of this amazing title, “Memoirs Of A Tota-Rani Boy” by Author Suresh Pande, let me mention that the Author has made a brilliant effort with this memoir. This is truly an incredible read and the readers are bound to love the author’s journey. The author has dedicated this book to his mother and father (amma & bauji), who gave him the love of life and who taught him to look up to people.
About the Authors: Author Suresh Pande was born on 7th of April 1948, in Tota Rani, a remote village in district Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India. His schooling involved an adventurous walk of five miles through dense forests and crossing rivers in an unpredictable mountain weather of Dharamshala and Shimla. Even today Tota-Rani, his birthplace situated on the banks of a rivulet “Dal-Khola” does not have a proper motorable road. He had a fractured schooling like any other kids of an army soldier, who are often posted to guard the frontiers of their country.
Despite hard schooling and initial failures, his scholastic achievements won him the prestigious National Scholarships of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, (ICAR), and Government of India to step into professional education in Agriculture Sciences. He determinedly won this competitive scholarship for the next eleven years in a row and completed his professional education in flying colours – Bachelor in Agriculture from Punjab University Chandigarh, Masters in Agriculture (Plant Pathology) with Gold Medal, from Himachal Pradesh University. In addition, he did the Doctor of Philosophy (Plant Pathology) from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, which is one of the premier national institutions in the agriculture education of International acclaims. He qualified the 1977 Agricultural Services of India (ARS) competitive examination and joined as Scientist S-1 at the Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Shala, Almora, Uttarakhand.
He resigned from this prestigious position in 1980, to pursue career in the International Agriculture Research and Development at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). ‘Memoirs of a Tota-Rani Boy’ is the story of his life, condensing seventy-five years of somewhat vigorous and diversified activity into a few hundred pages. His struggles and successes are the struggles and successes of a common person that remain unknown in the annals of the history of humankind.
Book’s Introduction: This book, Memoirs Of A Tota-Rani Boy by Author Suresh Pande covers the life journey of the author in an incredible manner and comes under the category of ‘Memoir!’ The book is largely an anthology of struggles that carved a scientist out of a boy born in the remote village “Tota-Rani”, in Himachal Pradesh, India. It is the story of an ordinary man, where events at every stage of his life tried to pull him down, demoralized him or bullied him. On one hand, it is the true and iconic story of a common person and his every day struggle for survival and sustenance, and on the other hand, it tells the reader how through determined efforts one can bulldoze these hurdles and push life higher, faster and further.
The memoir traces the journey of a young boy as a great observer, walking through long lonely miles with his head high in the clouds and giving vent to his thoughts. Believing in life as one time opportunity, the Tota-Rani boy made the unlikely journey from his village, to an accomplished International Agriculture Scientist. As an ambitious poor boy, he quenched his thirst for knowledge by borrowing books. His journey was fuelled by an impassioned interest in innovations and to do something for the wellbeing of humankind.
The book ascertains the importance of family, his observational skills and descriptions about the people, places and culture and takes the reader to those unknown destinations through 25 Reading Worthy Chapters.
Readers Connect: Through this book, Author Suresh Pande has attempted to present the journey of his life in a very honest and raw manner. Being a memoir, the book takes the readers to an amazing life journey of a boy, coming from a small town in India falling under the Himalayan regions. Knowingly or unknowingly, the author has given the readers numerous life lessons to the readers from his own journey and this is probably the best part of the book. The readers are indeed bound to love the book as the overall philosophy of the book, stands for most of us who have picked up this book for a read.
Verdict: A Book like “Memoirs Of A Tota-Rani Boy” is for sure a Must Read one& deserves a chance by the readers. The way Author had presented his life journey in this book is truly incredible. His work is seriously praise worthy as he had succeeded in making a great book in the highly challenging category of memoir!
Suresh Pande is a promising Author, who is very creative with his thoughts, which the readers can feel through his spectacular writings. In addition, his honest work makes this book even more reading worthy.
Book Link: https://www.amazon.in/dp/9354466583/