My heroes in government service:

Shri K.D Saksena, the collector of Durg (1972)
He was a man of utmost simplicity and straightforward in personal behaviour and dead honest in official dealings and transactions. As an Assistant Collector under training (a probationer in I.A.S) he kept me in his residence as a member of his family and allowed me to undergo training as per the schedule given by the Mussouri National Academy of Administration, General Administration Department of Government of Madhya Pradesh and the Collector's Calendar of Training. Very rarely collectors used to follow this example in those days. I was lucky to enjoy the hospitality of my mentor, trainer and boss in the district training. I imbibed his good qualities in a good measure. Minute examination of the files and documents that are put up before the collector for taking a fair and bold decision and the habit of hardworking in office assignments were the precious gifts handed out to me as a trainee. To a great extent my daily interaction with the collector and his family enabled me to pick up Hindi-speaking in a few months time,

The lady of the house, Mrs Saksena, with a smile on her face all the time gave me a motherly treatment throughout my stay in the bungalow. She and her husband, the collector looked after me very well when I was down with chickenpox for a fortnight. I can never forget their caring and magnanimity showered on me for more than six months before I got married and settled in a separate house with my young wife in July 1972.

2) Shri Ram Bihari Lal, the Commissioner of Bilaspur Division (1973-74)

The cadre of deputy collectors in a state is a sine quo non for an inter mediators role in the governmental setup. The state of Madhya Pradesh was lucky to have a good team of dedicated deputy collectors who rose to the ranks of collector and commissioner. Shri Ram Bihari Lal was one of those rare specimen in terms of efficiency and integrity in office. I was lucky to have this gentleman as my Divisional Commissioner at Bilaspur while I was the Sub Divisional Officer at Jashpur Nagar and Officiating Collector at Raigarh on two occasions (1973-75).

The amount of experience, the level of maturity and the rare quality of real leadership exhibited by him as my second-level senior in hierarchy can hardly be forgotten and brushed aside even now. I had occasions to interact with this official indirectly mostly but directly only once. Once I had insisted and succeeded in shifting of the government agriculture market from the busy market area to the newly created premises in the municipal town of Kharsia town despite resistance from the business community with someone making a complaint against me to the commissioner. He never questioned my conduct on this account, probably he knew the value of my bold action and contribution in public interest. On a second occasion when a complaint was filed against me in connection with the withdrawal of Rs 1.5 lakh from the district treasury as the officiating collector in anticipation of formal sanction and allotment of funds from the state government for the purchase of gunny bags to facilitate the procurement of paddy from the farmers according to the targets fixed by the government. He supported my timely action taken in public interest again. Technically speaking he could have initiated disciplinary action against me for drawing money from the treasury by an executive order. Such was the bold and supportive leadership that I enjoyed at the beginning of my career.

I am forced to compare and contrast this action on the part of this divisional commissioner with those of later-day powerful and supposedly-successful politicians, ministers and chief ministers (Who miserably failed in my estimation) who gladly adopted double standards and doubted the good motives behind my actions at the fag end of my career in Central India.