Father Dearest (The Life and Times of R. K. Dalmia)

This narrative is an endeavour to resurrect the memory of a grand and forgotten man-my father. I will not trivialise him by claiming that I have accomplished an all-comprehensive survey of his life. Nor have I forayed extensively into his world of commerce and finance because those do not constitute the subject of this book. I have only attempted to enter the mind of a multifaceted person who evoked sharply conflicting reactions ranging from derision, anger and sympathy to curiosity, amusement, perplexity and admiration. A man who has been largely viewed as carnal and depraved owing to his polygamous lifestyle. I have arrived at the conclusion that his persona defies the insular boundaries of words.

During my research and writing, I have rid myself of many angers and fears and have exorcised many phantoms from my soul. For me the journey has been both cathartic and liberating. I have learnt to recognise the frailty and impermanence of human life. I have learnt that the mind follows its own logic and can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven!

I am proud to have undertaken this journey unto neutrality, and even more so of being a part of the genealogy that makes me the daughter of this exceptionally charismatic man.

My intent is not to injure the sensitivities of those innumerable others who shared his life with greater or lesser intensities-I only shared with him a time span of twenty-six years (he was fifty-eight when I was born)! I may be accused of an underlying personal bias but to the best of my ability I have tried to divorce the daughter from the writer.

The perceivable gaps in my narrative remain because of the practical limitations of accessibility to more factual material. However, on an emotional level, I have said it all and set myself free in the knowledge of truth!

**Contents and Sample Pages**