Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Gautam Goswami former DM Patna passes away: Several lessons in a single lifetime

Gautam Goswami is no more.

Some of the people are able to condense many of the values and lessons of lives in a short span.

Gautam Goswami chose to get into IAS after his medicine degree. Considering that he belongs to the batch of 1991, his age must have been around 24 yrs at that time. Which means that he managed to enter the prestigious circle at a fairly young age.Thats an indicator of his intellect and also passion for public service.

He must have entered with high ideals and proved this credentials through his efforts in managing Lok Sabha elections in Patna during his stint as DM in 1999 and after that did good job for Bihar Flood victims which led him to get recognition from one of most reputed magazines of the world- The Times.

After some time, he was accused of being part of a scam in the same event which brought him those laurels. From a ground of high morals, high recognition, valour etc he falls to the dark pit of corrupt practice and was convicted. I wonder what would have instigated a person of his potential to get into those activities?

19 months from the time of his conviction, he got to understand that he was suffering from fatal disease of cancer. And now he is no more.

His life span tells us about perseverance, public service, courage, excellence at work and despite all that being pathetically prone to human weaknesses of greed. What is the nature of our mind after all in that case? I got a similar feeling the other day when I read about a former IITian turned bureaucrat being involved in corruption.

For media it must be piece of information and probably it might be followed by some reference in magazines here and there. But such pieces of information are worth diving deeper as they have hints to very critical psychological and spiritual questions related to human motivations.

From a more reflective standpoint, I wonder what his thoughts must have been after facing the insult of conviction in the same gallows which he used to visit at one point as the DM. What must have been his thinking about his acts when at his death bed, he might have faced the same question 'How much land does a man need'?

Apparently he was writing a book while lodged in jail. It may have some deep insights for people who probably lose their values and morals as they are required to work in a system which stinks off corruption from its core.

6 comments:

SHIBANI said...

That's an inteersting and insightful post. Incidentally, I knew Gautam Goswami, he was my neighbour at Bokaro Steel City. He was our beloved DM with a small and happy family. And though he never interacted much (some said attitude, and other said protocol issues), his wife did on a vague basis. Like she used to be nice if people visited her but didn't interact on her own. So this post strikes home...as to how the samll town hero (he was spoken of in high words) reached the peaks and then descended the depths of life itself...god rest his soul in peace and offer his family peace and happiness too...(they had two small boys, as i remember)!!!

Unknown said...

He was not convicted.He was just accused.So dont be so sure about his greed!I am sure, a lot of it had to with his jealous collegues and other corrupt politicians.I know him when he was in BHU medical institute.He was my junior.He was simply brilliant and innovative.Even many years after his death, thinking of him, makes me sad.May his soul rest is peace.May god keep his family peaceful.

TAPAS NATH said...

I was surprised to hear about his sudden & untimely departure. Though I did not knew him personnally, my father knew his father as we are distant relatives. I can vouch that he cannot do any wrong things........ He is most honest, educated, upright person, I have heard of. It must be his honesty & uprightness that made him fall a pray to this society full of corrupt persons. May GOD rest his soul in peace. May GOD give strengh to his bereaved family members.

TAPAS NATH

Alok Arunam said...

Hey!
How do you know that He was actually involved in that money laundering activity. You don't and still you have made sweeping conclusions from his moral strength to moral weakness. He was transfered 11 times in his first 11 years of service. Does that sound like the one who would conform to existing lawlessness and corruption? It's very easy to paint a condescending picture of him, having considered what media has presented, but I truly believe that he was not a corrupt person. I happened to meet him personally and I personally have a gut feeling for who he was.

carlton s pennyworth said...

This Gautom Goswami had his civil service interview on July 18th 1991 at 1:45 pm. Mine was at 2:30 pm. We both of us were seated in the Central Hall of the UPSC. We were both allocated to the Interview Board of Rear Admiral Hiranandani. He came out the interview board gleefully claiming that Hiranandandi allowed him to speak in Hindi in the interview. Which was against the then UPSC rules which prohibited candidates who had written all papers in English to have their interview in Hindi. His recruitment itself was an act of fraudulence. No wonder he ended up living a fraud.

Kumar Nishant said...

R.I.P :- Gautam Goswami
Sagaya Raj.B:- shut up man, even if you are in administrative job, it donot mean that you know everything. Why the hell do a man who has done his M.D. join IAS, just to serve the country not to earn money. He could have if he wanted, thereby joining the medical profession, if he had a dying desire to earn money, by playing the exploits of the poor biharis. It's the politicians who are exploiting the bureaucrats and we have to abide by them, those people whom even we can't afford to keep them as a gatekeeper in our house. They are the lawmakers of our country. Alas its our plight!! And we have to follow all this in our damn thing called Country India.