Description
About the book
Memoirs of a Tota-Rani Boy is largely an anthology of struggles, that carved a scientist out of a boy born in the remote village “Tota-Rani”, in 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 man 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 fueled by an impassioned interest in innovations and to do something for the wellbeing of mankind. 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.
About the author
Suresh Pande was born on 7 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 Dhramshala 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), 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 colors – Bachelor in Agriculture from Punjab University Chandigarh, Masters in Agriculture (Plant Pathology) with Gold Medal, from Himachal Pradesh University and Doctor of Philosophy (Plant Pathology), from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, (IARI), New Delhi, 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, Uttrakhand. 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 man that remain unknown in the annals of the history of mankind.
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 man that remain unknown in the annals of the history of mankind.
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