Virgins Dreams of An IAS

With Pyramid of Virgin Dreams yet another IAS officer Vipul Mittra (1986 batch, Gujarat Cadre) has turned writer. Mittra, is  secretary of tourism under the state industry department, has come out with a fiction presenting a glimpse into the world of promotions, hierarchies, fawning subordinates etc. The Pyramid of Virgin Dreams is his maiden book, published by Rupa.

Mitra is of course not the first. There were and still are many other bureaucrats who had been writing. The most famous of them is perhaps Upamanyu Chatterjee. But besides Chatterjee, there are others too like 1995 Orissa cadre IAS Bishnupada Sethi and 1981 batch Indian Foreign Service officer Amarendra Khatua, IFS officer TS Tirumurthy, and of course etc. 

Much of these books have however not survived the test of time. Nonetheless the effort on the part of Vipul Mittra is worth mentioning. Not a regular writer, the author has succeeded in seaming through a coherent piece. 

And there is humour in the novel too. Sample this: 

 '(Kukreja's children) Chirag and Roshni rolled on to the front seat of the car, continuing with their sputter and tattle. Almost customarily, they pulled at the driver's white hat as though his hat was the car-starter that was necessary to be pulled for igniting the engine. "Behave yourself kids. Chandu is no more our driver, He is Sharma uncle's driver now, scolded the mother of the children". Mittra is refreshingly without political clap trap, but one hopes that his next novel will have more substance than mere style.

The story overall is pretty interesting too. It is broken in different bits that reveal Karthikeye’s growing up years; his determination to get into IAS; his will to be an idealistic officer; his disagreement (sometimes) with his conscious (selfmusing); his fantasies; his constant transfers; his married life; and his interaction and perception of other people in the bandwagon of bureaucracy and society. He is a mature, wise, idealistic, humorous and an honest IAS officer (a rarity in real life!).

The narration is interesting and the instances very relatable. The books gives a good insight to the world of babudom – the tongue-n-cheek incidents, the sarcasm, the power play by the ones in higher seats, and the ass-kissing agents (Joshi), are very smartly portrayed