A Marriage to Remember - (Dec 28th, 2006)
I was Sub-Collector at Karur. One night, as I was returning from an official engagement from Tiruchi around midnight,....

My Father - (Dec 21st, 2006)
My father, Vishwanathapuri Nagappan Chokkalingam, (affectionately called VNC), passed away on 20th of July 1999,....

A Rajasthani Wedding - (Dec 14th, 2006)
‘Meetu’ the daughter of my batch mate and friend S.P. Mathur, an IPS officer, was to marry ‘Rajat’ a handsome young man at Jaipur....

Street Musicians of Oxford - (Dec 7th, 2006)
I spent a year as a visiting Fellow at the Queen Elizabeth House in Oxford University....

The Queen Elizabeth House at Oxford – 1997 - (Nov 29th, 2006)
During the year 1997 I was a visiting fellow at the Queen Elizabeth House, at Oxford, for one academic year. While there,....

Banbury Road in Oxford – 1997 - (Nov 23rd, 2006)
During my visiting fellowship at the Queen Elizabeth House I was to stay at North Oxford Overseas Centre (the NOOC)....

The Pundit and the Maulvi - (Nov 16th, 2006)
During October 1997, I departed for Oxford on Queen Elizabeth House Fellowship....

My Teacher In Oxford – Shirley Ardner - (Nov 9th, 2006)
In the year 1997, I was awarded Queen Elizabeth Fellowship to study ‘the political empowerment of women’ at the Oxford University....

Booth capturing and Seshan Sahib 1996 - (Nov 2nd, 2006)
I was posted to Jhunjhunu Distrct of Rajasthan which is somewhere in the ‘Thar’ desert for performing the duty......

The General Election of 1996 - (Oct 26th, 2006)
The general election of 1996 was a watershed election due to many reasons......

Drought in Tamilnadu - (Oct 19th, 2006)
I joined as District Collector of South Arcot District during March 1983.....

Temple of Nataraja at Chidambaram - (Oct 12th, 2006)
The only temple dedicated to Lord Shiva as cosmic dancer is at Chidambaram in Tamilnadu....

Getting to know Auroville - (Oct 5th, 2006)
In 1983 when I took over as the District Collector of South Arcot District,...

Encounter with Krishna Ji - 2 - (Sept 21st, 2006)
Every year in the month of December, Adyar used to wear a festive look coinciding with the birthday of the great contemporary...

Encounter with Krishna Ji - (Aug 31st, 2006)
My brother Shiv Gariyali, an architect in Victoria, Canada and his wife Nora Deene got involved with Krishna Ji...

‘The Missionary and me’ - (Aug 24th, 2006)
I have always been impressed by missionaries and their work. However, generally they operate through nice mission buildings...

Dikshitars of Chidambaram - (Aug 17th, 2006)
I found that the temple was administered by an ancient community of Brahmins whose origin at Chidambaram...

Sepoys who never returned home - (Aug 10th, 2006)
During 1988, I visited Philippines on a Health Ministry Delegation lead by then Health Secretary Mr. Dhanoa...

Visit to Sky-Chef, New-Delhi - (Aug 3rd, 2006)
While I was on a visit to Delhi I ran into Mr. Murli, an old friend from my tourism days. Murli used to be a senior executive of Ambassador Pallava Hotel,...

Natyanjali at Chidambaram (Part 2) - (July 27th, 2006)
Last week I was narrating the resurgence of the tradition of dance at Chidambaram temple in South Arcot where I was District Collector during 1983-84...

Natyanjali at Chidambaram - (July 20th, 2006)
The only temple of Nataraja, the Lord of Dance is in Chidambaram. Here,....

‘Bala’ - (July 13th, 2006)
Balasaraswathy affectionately called ‘Bala’ was one of the greatest exponents of Bharat Natyam in our times....

Holi in the National Academy of Administration - (July 6th, 2006)
Chandra Kanta Gariyali, IASThe festival of Holi is always celebrated with great gusto and fervour in all parts of India...

My first friends in Coimbatore - (June 29th, 2006)
In 1973 I arrived in Coimbatore to undergo my District training...

Indianization of the National Academy of Administration - (June 22nd, 2006)
The National Academy of Administration had for long remained a school for training anglicised...

Coming to Tamil Nadu - (June 15th, 2006)
My romance with Tamil Nadu started when, at the age of seven or eight, I saw my first Bharat Natyam performance in Delhi...

First Woman Police Officer of India - (June 9th, 2006)
Everybody knows Kiran Bedi in India. She was a fellow trainee officer in the Academy in 1972 and Chandra Kanta Gariyali,...

2nd Sikh at Wagha Border (Amritsar District) - (June 1st, 2006)
Chandra Kanta Gariyali, IASOne of the requirements for training in the Indian Administrative Service used to be a month long...

Encounter with the big boss - (May 25th, 2006)
Soon after I joined as assistant collector on training in Coimbatore there was a great hub-hub in the district...

Republic Day Celebration in UK - (May 18th, 2006)
I have always attended the ceremonies conducted with Chandra Kanta Gariyali, IAS the Independence Day...

Getting lost in Calcutta - (May 11th, 2006)
During training in the National Academy, Administrative officers are taken for Chandra Kanta Gariyali, IAS Bharat Darshan (IndiaTour)...

Academy becomes egalitarian An Officer's Diary - (May 4th, 2006)
To the disappointment of many a bright young officer, I arrived in the National Academy wearing an engagement ring...

Portrait of a Village Officer - (April 27th, 2006)
As part of my training as Assistant Collector, I had to do a socio-economic study of a village. This part of the training is most important,...

Portrait of a District Collector - (April 20th, 2006)
District Training is the most important part of the training of an officer of the Indian Administrative Service...

Learning Tamil - (April 15th, 2006)
At the age of twenty-four, on a cold night, I landed at the Coimbatore railway station...