Indian authors keep this IPS officer ‘book’ed

“I make it a point to read whenever I get free time,” smiles Kumar as he welcomes us to his office.

The last book that he read and which has left a deep impact on his mind is Mrityunjay. It is a classic literary piece revolving around the Mahabharata written by the acclaimed Marathi author Shivaji Sawant.

“Mrityunjay is about Karna of Mahabharata. In the book,Karna is shown as a dissenter against the prevailing hierarchical structure of contemporary society,” says Kumar,while sipping his tea.

Kumar feels that in the final few pages of the book,Sawant has described the events leading to Karna’s death in a very heart wrenching manner. “Though Karna was deceived and lay dying,he donated his golden teeth to a poor man,” he says.

Kumar has also read the original version of the book in Marathi. A native of Haryana,Kumar learnt Marathi very early in his career during his stint as the ASP of Kolhapur.

“Serving in the cultural heartland of Maharashtra inspired me to learn Marathi very quickly and it helped me read the works of authors like Vijay Tendulkar,Shivaji Sawant,Dilip Chitre and P L Deshpande,” adds the police officer with a literary bent of mind.