Not the Usual PR Story

A public relations professional looks back on a career spent managing power utilities, people, and personal loss

- MOHD SHEHWAAZ KHAN

V Lakshman's story begins with a word: house, which he spelt V correctly. It was during admission to an English-medium school, something the teacher opposed because Lakshman had completed his kindergarten in Kannada.

But his unlettered mother didn't give up. She asked the teacher to test her children's English skills, and thus begins the journey of the seasoned media and public relations professional, told gently in his memoir, Unshackled: Reminiscences of a Wandering Soul.

The book details Lakshman's life as a public relations professional, particularly his days at ESCOM, a power utility undertaking, and the sheer volume of work involved in maintaining relationships with the media, bureaucrats, consumers, and colleagues.

But behind this career trajectory, the book also offers a slice of life, a mix of humour, nostalgia, and lessons learned along the way. In every story Lakshman tells, there is a reflection and re-evaluation of the incidents that occurred, and of how life, even when it unfolds in unexpected ways, is often dictated by fate.