Half Lion

In my opinion , there are 2 Prime Ministers who did most to the growth of India and also remain the most underrated. One is the former PM  Mr. Manmohan Singh . The other PM and perhaps the most 
underrated of all would be P.V. Narasimha Rao.

  While he was the PM , I remember everyone including me  mocking him for having a poker face showing no emotion at all.  I could only recollect some of the bad things from his tenure (like the Babri Masjid incident) to name one.

 Half Lion by Vinay Sitapati changed my perception on Narasimha Rao . Now I understand why some economists and investors consider him to have done the most among all the PMs of India .  All while staying away from the glare of media spotlight.

It is unfortunate that his legacy is not celebrated much . Happy to see some interest from the current ruling parties.

Anyone interested to know more about Narasimha Rao, should read Half Lion.

Here are some events/quotes from the book that I liked.

"When he returned to India , Rao carried with him electronic equipment - a life long hobby - and stories of American technological prowess. His youngest son Prabhakara was an engineering student at that time. Rao brought him a calculator made by Texas Instruments" - pg 49

"Ever the technophile, Rao brought manuals to read on his own , and within fifteen days, told the specialist he was redundant. Over the years, Rao would master two computer languages COBOL and BASIC and would go on to write code in the mainframe operating system UNIX"  - pg 67.
  (On Narasimha Rao's interest towards computers).

Scattered through the Arthasasthra are a range of upayas (techniques) to prevail upton the enemy. These are sama, dana, bheda, maya, upeksha, danda - concessions, bribery, division, trickery, indifference and finally punishment - pg 140 .

Rao had learnt from his fiasco as chief minister to neither show exultation nor claim credit.. he refused to present his own industrial policy , and throughout  Manmohan's budget speech, pouted next to him without speaking at all. At eight that night, after spendign the day orchestrating the biggest change to the economy since independence, Narasimha Rao hosted a perfunctory dinner for the prime minister of Mauritius - pg 131.
 (on how subtly the economic reforms and  liberalization announcements were made by PVNR).

The first mobile call in India was made in July 1995 , it was between the telecom minister Sukhram and Jyoti Basu, the communist chief minister of West Bengal - pg 161.

In his spare time, Rao, brushed up on this Spanish, the last of the ten languages he had learnt to speak. with fluency. He also took to playing the piano and warded off arithritis - pg 298.

How does one use power to do good , if gaining and holding power requires one to do evil  - pg 298.

picture courtesy - https://twitter.com/S_Sivakumar/status/1277094096566226945