“As I lived it” by Pramode Verma: A Book Review

This is an autobiography of a pioneering telecom engineer, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science, and of the Indian Telecommunication Service (ITS), earlier known as the Telegraph Engineering Service. Interest in great ideas in telecom, particularly that of Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) and Digitalization of telephone networks, took him to universities in Canada and USA and to a job at the Bell Labs of AT&T before the days of the breakup of AT&T. Careful career planning, and the employee-friendly practices of Bell Labs made sure that he could earn a Management Degree from the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Pramode Verma continued working with new ideas all through his career – adding to his interests computer networks and the use of techniques based on quantum theory to provide secure communication. He created a Telecommunication Program at the Tulsa campus of the University of Oklahoma, and ran it till his retirement at about the age of 75.

This book is his autobiography beginning with his birth in rural Bihar. He had decided to arrive while his parents were traveling from Salehpur to Bettiah on a bullock cart with a canopy on top. The book covers a lot: growing up in the towns and cities of Bihar, engineering education at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, acing the TES examination, working with PCM, moving to Canada and then to the U.S. Any professional of Indian origin who lived through the second half of the twentieth century would find a lot in common with Pramode and his experience: tremendous growth in technology, new ideas and new technology, new opportunities, the exhilarating experience of spending some time abroad, preservation of family bonds and family values, the warmth of the Indian communities everywhere, seeing children and grandchildren grow up to match or surpass oneself!

It is a common belief that all engineers are poor writers. Pramode Verma is an excellent counterexample. His autobiography reads very well. He is socially very sensitive, and his values are very modern. His wife, Gita is given full credit for her abilities as a working professional, an able mother, and an able support to Pramode Verma as he deals with a demanding career.   

The author has travelled widely and his comments on life in the Soviet Union and China in the eighties are interesting. His comments on life in India are particularly interesting to Indian readers. His comments on people he has worked with, organizations he has worked for, and the hotels he has stayed in, etc., are insightful and relevant to every manager.

I read the Kindle edition of the book.

Srinivasan Ramani
14-Jun-2022