Prasanth Nair - Collector Bro: The quixotic thallals of a civil servant

COLLECTOR BR O COLLECTOR BRO The quixoticthallals* of a civil servant PRASANTH NAIR Foreword by SHASHI THAROOR ABOUT THE AUTHOR Prasanth, son of Dr. N Radha and PV Balakrishnan hails from Thalassery. He did his studies in Loyola School, Mar Ivanios College and Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram and got enrolled as an advocate before the High Court of Kerala. Prasanth joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 2007 and he served in various capacities in different sectors including tourism, taxation, roads, water supply, shipping, energy, skill development, irrigation etc. He headed two World Bank projects. As District Magistrate in Kozhikode he earned the moniker of Collector Bro for his citizen friendly and participative approach in governance.

Internationale Tourismus-Brse Berlin chose his Compassionate Kozhikode as one of the 50 inspi rational projects from around the world. Digital Empowerment Foundation and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation selected it for the Social Media for Empowerment (SM4E) award. Prasanth is considered a pioneer in using social media for governance. An avid film buff, Prasanth has co-scripted and acted in Malayalam movies, directed short films, documentaries and musicals. His short film, Daivakanam was premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2018. Collector Bro ISBN 978-93-5457-088-9 Authored by Prasanth Nair Illustrations by Nithya Deepak Layout and design by Ranjith Ramadasan Published by Lekshmy Sankar Compassionate India, 1/574, Ambadi, Kallara Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India Printed by Akshara Offset Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India Copyright 2021 by Prasanth Nair All rights reserved. Collector Bro ISBN 978-93-5457-088-9 Authored by Prasanth Nair Illustrations by Nithya Deepak Layout and design by Ranjith Ramadasan Published by Lekshmy Sankar Compassionate India, 1/574, Ambadi, Kallara Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India Printed by Akshara Offset Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India Copyright 2021 by Prasanth Nair All rights reserved.

No part of this book maybe used, transmitted or stored in a retrieval system or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews or for bonafide educational or training purposes. All illustrations used in this book are original, whereas other pictorial representations and social media stickers and graphics are sourced from the public domain. While every effort has been made to trace relevant copyright holders and obtain permissions, any oversight brought to our attention will be remedied in future editions. The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author's own and the facts are as reported by the author which have been verified to the extent possible, and the publisher is not in any way liable for the same. To the Universal Mother HEAPS OF LOVE My sincere thanks to Dr B Ashok, Prof. Vinayakumar, Neetu, Arun, Hari, Gopika, Noufal, Saiju and scores of others close to me, who spared their time to make this book a reality.

I also have to thank the hundreds of unsolicited advisors, both the busy and the jobless, and their sustained critical scrutiny on how to conduct myself as an officer, that has equipped me over time to ignore them in toto and write this book. My thanks to Amma who taught me not to become someone elses football to be kicked around in all directions to please the beholders; to my Achan who made me understand what classy perseverance is; and to Lekshmy, Ammu, Varshan and Vasu for their immense patience and love. TABLE OF CONTENTSFOREWORD Filled with warm humour and no little wisdom, Collector Bro, the memoirs (or quixotic thallals, as he eloquently puts it!) of Prasanth Nair, are a fascinating look into the world of a young and hard-working IAS officer. A life that is sometimes frustrating, often uplifting, and certainly never boring, comes alive on the page. Aspiring civil servants, serving officers, and lovers of storytelling should all enjoy this book. Dr Shashi TharoorINTRODUCTION Often imitated, but never duplicated is what comes to my mind when I think of Prasanth.

Most of Kerala knows Prasanth Nair, IAS as The Collector Bro. He has made his presence felt through his remarkable career and being a massive social persona, but what sets him apart is his compassion for fellow humans and his boldness to drive positive change. This book by Prasanth is his tribute to the everyday heroes, during his tenure as the Collector of Kozhikode - a must read for aspiring and current administrators and for those hoping to make a social impact. It is a roadmap on how to build a visible and sustainable brand and leverage social media effectively, making it a nice read for anyone in the marketing and management spectrum. The real-life examples of crowd sourcing to drive community projects, how empowered common folks created major social changes, are worthy of case studies at Civil Service Academies and Business Schools. Above all, this book is a testament to the goodness of the average human being that when pooled together miracles are created.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the incidents narrated here is the strategy adopted to find many solutions - as an early adopter leveraging the massive power of technology and social media. With his penchant for doing good, Prasanth used his influencing skills to tap into the power of people and bring positive change to the society instead of being burdened by the weight of bureaucracy. He made volunteering mainstream and with his humble approach, he has proved that all effective organizations are inverted pyramids, where the most ordinary will become the true leaders when those at the tip of the pyramid act as selfless enablers. In the end, we are left with the positive feeling that bureaucracy is not about hiding away from people behind a mountain of files, but a chance to make lives around us better by standing together in support to each other. I cannot think of a better way to conclude other than quoting a SanskritShloka from Samayochitapadya Maalikaa: amatramakara nsti nsti mlamanauadhamayogya puruo nsti yojakastatra durlabha. that translates to There is no letter which doesnt have a charm, there is no rootwhich doesnt have medicinal property.There is no person who is not able, but rare is the one whoknows how to make proper use of all these. Collector Bro, with the hand that hes dealt with, created a sense of purpose for many around him and created incredible positive change. Tony Thomas