Centre for the Study of Developing Societies: My Virtual Home - Part I

I worked at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) from 1977 to 1983 with Mr CRM Rao who edited China Report. I also did proofreading for the journal and also looked after the subscription and distribution of it as well as that of Alternatives: A Journal of World Policy when the Centre started co-publishing it.

It was great working at the Centre with a lot of good people. I learned a lot in the process. I grew from a hesitant stenographer to a self-confident professional in a short time. I was sad to leave the Centre. But, is not change the basic law of life? Life should move on and one needs to move in search of greener pastures, which I too had to do.

The Centre is celebrating its Golden Jubilee. If this is not the most appropriate occasion, then what is, for one to recount the past and note down a few things from one’s experiences at the Centre? That is what I have attempted here. This small booklet talks of a few of my experiences at the Centre. Not all of them, though; this was prepared somewhat in a hurry.

I joined Directorate of Publications Division (DPD), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in 1975. I was posted in the stenographers’ pool.  The pool was a facility from where any official could request typing or stenographic assistance over and above the staff from their own sections. There was normally very little work in the pool and I used to get quite bored. Within a year I had written a departmental test and had been promoted as junior stenographer. I was preparing for the stenographers’ examination.

One day Mr Ram Lal Sharma, the pool in-charge, told me, ‘If you sit here, you will be given work. You take your books and go out. I shall take care of any requirement that might arise.’

I used to study during the week days continuously for several months on the lawns of the Delhi High Court, which was adjacent to DPD. In the examination, I got a rank just above 100 and was expecting a posting soon.

It was around this time that Mr PKS Namboodiri asked me if I was interested in working with the editor of a journal. He warned me that if I agree it meant that I might have to leave the permanent and secure government job and join a private organization, which in those days was very unnatural. He himself was my guide and guru in Delhi. Therefore, I had no hesitation in saying ‘yes’. It had become nearly meaningless to work in DPD and I thought this was a golden opportunity. Mr CRM Rao, Editor, China Report, was in need of a personal assistant. I met Mr Rao, was interviewed and appointed. This was in 1977.

At that time the Centre was smaller in size, staff, infrastructure, and popularity. The Centre consisted of only the main building. The Annexe and the mezzanine floors in the library and other places were built much later. The front lawn included the current parking space and was so huge that I remember attending a couple of wedding receptions there. As for parking, yes, we didn’t need much parking space during those days. The only vehicles that regularly used to come into the Centre were the office car and Prof. Rajni Kothari’s official car when he was ICSSR Chairman. He used to visit the Centre often. We had much bigger lawn on the side too, including the space where the Annexe has been built. The courtyard behind the building was also huge. The store room, staff quarters, and so on were all built several years later.