Ex-IAS officer Ravi Sawhney’s ‘Living a Life’ is a memoir with a difference. It shows how the author with a sharp intuitive mind and firm resolve successfully tackled major challenges during his career, including during the height of the Khalistan movement in Punjab. As a young IAS officer, Sawhney mingled with the rural people wherever he was posted, and came up with innovative ways to boost their farm productivity and income, and also helped the local industry bloom. During his long innings at the United Nations while working with the ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), the author made major contributions. He was also majorly involved in conceptualising BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), that has now become a major regional cooperation bloc focussed on the Bay of Bengal. Ravi Sawhney, who excelled in sports and studies in his youth, invested similar zeal in his work. What stands out in the memoir is his cool head, remaining unflustered even in the midst of very challenging circumstances. A must-read account.