<p>The book deals with the Reserve Bank’s Economic Department which was conceived to undertake research work and provide guidance to the authorities not only in the narrow sphere of money and banking but over a broad spectrum of economic problems. The Department was organised into three major divisions, the Division of Monetary Research, the Division of Rural Economics and the Division of Statistics, the first Directors of the Division being&nbsp;Dr. B.K. Madan, Dr. B.R. Shenoy and Dr. N.S.R. Sastry, respectively.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The book deals with a number of great personalities who left a lasting impression on the Economic Department which is the “Brain” of the Reserve Bank of India.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>After covering the founding fathers like Dr. P.S.N. Prasad, Dr. K.N. Raj, Dr. Dharma Kumar, the book leads us on to the intellectuals like Shri M. Narasimham, Dr. A.G. Chandavarkar, Dr. V.V. Bhatt, Dr. Deena Khatkhate and Dr. K.S. Krishnaswamy.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Their glorious period was succeeded by the electrifying presence of highly regarded economists like Shri S.S. Tarapore, Dr. N.A. Mujumdar and Dr. Meenakshi Tyagarajan.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The book is replete with hilarious anecdotes which impart an air of levity to a highly charged department.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The reader will get an inkling of how the Brains Trust of a Central Bank works.</p>

<p>“This stellar collection of anecdotes about veterans of RBI is a delightful trip down memory lane.”&nbsp;<br /> (From the Foreword)<br /> <strong>— Duvvuri Subbarao,&nbsp;Governor, RBI (2008-13)</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>“It reads very well. It is both informative and interesting. Congratulations!”</p> <p><strong style="font-size: 13px;">—&nbsp;</strong><strong>C. Rangarajan,&nbsp;Former Governor, RBI</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>“It is a delightful read. I sat through the whole morning and went through what you have written carefully. It is informative, educative, enlightening, and above all enjoyable, full of humour. I must place on record my deep appreciation of outstanding narration of interesting episodes of memorable personalities.<br /> “I have enjoyed reading your book. There were many things that I did not know before. You have done a great service not only to RBI but to many others. Please keep it up.”<br /> <strong style="font-size: 13px;"><strong>—</strong>&nbsp;</strong><strong>Y.V. Reddy,&nbsp;Former Governor, RB</strong>I</p> <p><br /> “I thoroughly enjoyed it. You have phenomenal memory and you seem to be keeping good notes of past RBI events. For me it was a memory ride of friends and my gurus in RBI. What a galaxy it was!”<br /> <strong>— S.A. Dave,&nbsp;Former Chairman SEBI</strong></p> <p><br /> “I just finished reading it and it is a real treat. You have brought home vividly the characteristics of these legends.”<br /> <strong>— Usha Thorat,&nbsp;Former Deputy Governor, RBI</strong></p> <p><br /> “Your book is an impressive addition to the central banking literature and gives us a glimpse of the aspects that would normally have been lost to history.”<br /> <strong>— Deepak Mohanty,&nbsp;Former Executive Director, RBI</strong></p> <p><br /> “I am deeply impressed by your fantastic memory of anecdotes and events during your stint in RBI. As you appreciate the records do not carry the anecdotal aspects of the RBI’s history. I would suggest that your anecdotes and analysis be published as a series of articles.”<br /> <strong>— S.S. Tarapore,&nbsp;Former Deputy Governor, RBI</strong></p>

<p><strong>P.P. Ramachandran,</strong> 86 years old, is a post graduate in Economics, post graduate in Comparative Mythology, certificate and diploma holder in Sanskrit from Mumbai University. He has served in the Reserve Bank of India for forty years in a number of Departments and retired as Deputy General Manager. He has a rich collection of illuminating stories and entertaining anecdotes about RBI personnel—high and low—from Governors to Economic Assistants. His repertoire is quite impressive and his recounting quite racy. He writes for several journals and is a prolific reviewer of books, and a book selector for libraries. He gives lectures regularly to audiences, young and old on different disciplines. He resides in Mumbai with his wife and two daughters. He is a rare bird—a literary banker his hobbies are reading, writing and watching English, Malayalam movies and art-films. He has published two books—“A Bunch of Fragrant Roses” and “RBI—An Anecdotal History”. Both books are published by Academic Foundation.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>According to late Shri S.S. Tarapore,&nbsp;ex-Deputy Governor, “Shri Ramachandran is at his scintillating best handling vastly different subjects and in one lifetime he has performed as central banker, journalist, social worker, critic, biographer and more”.</p>