From a small village in South India to the august offices of South Block in New Delhi, this is the incredible journey made by three generations of a Tamil Brahmin family during the last century: a herbal healer, a doctor practicing against the backdrop of Gandhi and the Freedom movement, and a senior bureaucrat representing the aspirations of a young, newly-independent India. Chronicling a tumultuous era, The Family from Padma Vilas is a memoir which recaptures a past that is fast receding...