T.S.R. Subramanian's book is anecdotal, combining wit with irony. It incisively pieces together the gradual decay in public administration in post-British India. The growing subservience of the bureaucracy to the political system unravels, step by step. A self-serving elite is formed that is preoccupied with its vested interests.The voice of the common man goes unheard. The poor continue to remain in poverty. The humour and crispness of the narrative barely conceal this underlying theme TSR bases his book on his rich repertoire of experience and a prodigious memory for detail.