A recently released book Challenges of Governance by B K Chaturvedi, a former cabinet secretary, is a compelling addition to the growing collection of memoirs written by retired civil servants. Since Mr Chaturvedi had worked at the helm of bureaucracy, his memoirs promised to be more revealing by providing insights into governance challenges at the higher echelons of government and interplay of forces between the professional bureaucracy and the political executive. Indeed, the book has achieved this in ample measure. In the preface, Mr Chaturvedi says he felt inhibited to talk about issues where decisions were taken in complete confidence