The book deals with the Reserve Bank’s Economic Department which was conceived to undertake research work and provide guidance to the authorities not only in the narrow sphere of money and banking but over a broad spectrum of economic problems. The Department was organised into three major divisions, the Division of Monetary Research, the Division of Rural Economics and the Division of Statistics, the first Directors of the Division being Dr. B.K. Madan, Dr. B.R. Shenoy and Dr. N.S.R. Sastry, respectively. The book deals with a number of great personalities who left a lasting impression on the Economic Department which is the “Brain” of the Reserve Bank of India. After covering the founding fathers like Dr. P.S.N. Prasad, Dr. K.N. Raj, Dr. Dharma Kumar, the book leads us on to the intellectuals like Shri M. Narasimham, Dr. A.G. Chandavarkar, Dr. V.V. Bhatt, Dr. Deena Khatkhate and Dr. K.S. Krishnaswamy. Their glorious period was succeeded by the electrifying presence of highly regarded economists like Shri S.S. Tarapore, Dr. N.A. Mujumdar and Dr. Meenakshi Tyagarajan. The book is replete with hilarious anecdotes which impart an air of levity to a highly charged department. The reader will get an inkling of how the Brains Trust of a Central Bank works. Contents: Contents in Detail Foreword Introduction B.K. Madan K.N. Raj Dharma Kumar P.S.N. Prasad V.K. Ramaswami The Gang of Four M. Narasimham V.V. Bhatt Anand Chandavarkar Deena Khatkhate S.D. Deshmukh K.S. Krishnaswamy S.S. Tarapore P.D. Ojha V.G. Pendharkar Morarji in a Night Club N. Rajagopalan N.A. Mujumdar H.B. Shivamaggi Chandi Batliwala Kum. Nalini Ambegaonkar S.L.N. Simha A. Vasudevan S.L. Shetty K.N.S. Unni V.B. Kadam Meenakshi Tyagarajan T.K. Velayudham A. Seshan Abdul Hasib Piloo Mirza Experts in the Economic Department Vidwan Joseph A Few Light Moments Subba Rao Meenakshy’s Ghost Tehmi Mistry K.A. Shroff V.P. Karandikar Cultural Ambassadors Y.M. Paranjape R.S. Bapat Book Reviews About the Author: P.P. Ramachandran, 86 years old, is a post graduate in Economics, post graduate in Comparative Mythology, certificate and diploma holder in Sanskrit from Mumbai University. He has served in the Reserve Bank of India for forty years in a number of Departments and retired as Deputy General Manager. He has a rich collection of illuminating stories and entertaining anecdotes about RBI personnel—high and low—from Governors to Economic Assistants. His repertoire is quite impressive and his recounting quite racy. He writes for several journals and is a prolific reviewer of books, and a book selector for libraries. He gives lectures regularly to audiences, young and old on different disciplines. He resides in Mumbai with his wife and two daughters. He is a rare bird—a literary banker his hobbies are reading, writing and watching English, Malayalam movies and art-films. He has published two books—“A Bunch of Fragrant Roses” and “RBI—An Anecdotal History”. Both books are published by Academic Foundation. According to late Shri S.S. Tarapore, ex-Deputy Governor, “Shri Ramachandran is at his scintillating best handling vastly different subjects and in one lifetime he has performed as central banker, journalist, social worker, critic, biographer and more”.