Demystifying the life of a diplomat
Reviewed by Ashok Tuteja

Beyond Diplomatic Dilemmas’
by Amb. Surendra Kumar

Diplomacy is a complex business, more so for an Indian diplomat since the country is faced with a plethora of problems. However, the general impression is that a career with the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is highly glamorous: worldwide travel, government-paid housing, generous pay and benefits. Former Ambassador Surendra Kumar’s book Beyond Diplomatic Dilemmas demolishes that myth.

The book gives us glimpses of the challenges and sometimes dangerous situations an Indian diplomat encounters when assigned to difficult postings. The author, an ace diplomat, explains how he went through personal trials and tribulations during his long career serving in countries like Libya and Mozambique, putting the nation’s interest above everything else.

Serving as an Indian diplomat requires fortitude, flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing situations, and cultures other than your own. The book is a candid, bold and honest account put across in a simple manner, though some of the anecdotes the writer has narrated may not go down well with members of his own tribe. A few chapters are so engrossing that the reader virtually shares with the writer his joys and sorrows, anger and frustration.

Diplomacy, after all, is not all about wining and dining and dancing till wee hours or playing a game of golf early in the morning. It is also a constant struggle to survive against all odds to keep the Indian flag flying. A career with the IFS can represent an almost total loss of economic freedom and self-determination that a diplomat has learned to take for granted. The author is absolutely clear about the subject. He knows he is not writing on statecraft or the mundane affairs of the State. It’s full of memoirs and his personal experiences in different parts of the world.

He also aptly analyses some of the world’s most controversial personalities like Libyan strongman Muammar Gathafi. He also explains how a term as India’s Consul General in Chicago gave him some understanding of how the world’s oldest democracy functions and how thousands of people of Indian origin in the US have made their dreams come true. "To demystify and deglamourise" an Indian diplomat’s life is the stated objective and in this he succeeds admirably by painting a picture of the bread-and-butter aspects of diplomacy at various stages of his career and in diverse capitals.

The book truly answers several questions that a common man has in mind about the role of an Indian diplomat in Indian missions abroad.

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