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ice-cream. My sister reminded me, that after my father's accident and his awakening from his coma, ice-cream was the first thing he asked for as well! His life was no fairy tale. He was human after all and had to go through all the trials and tribulations that most of us have to pass through in our lives as well. There were pluses and minuses in his character. He was riddled with contradictions and his quirks drove all of us who loved him to frustration at times. Today, as I have grown older and more accepting, I see him and his work in a different light. When the initiative for this book was still in its embryonic stage, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people raised their hands and wanted to do their bit for the book. That my father still evoked so much warmth and affection nearly thirty years after he passed away was touching. It was also a reflection of his empathetic nature and uncompromising ethics that built bonds in the hearts of a cross section of society. Unfortunately, we do not have my father's diaries and extensive notes that he maintained all through his life which would have helped us immensely to enrich this text. We have therefore had to depend on secondary material.MANSAS would like to acknowledge and thank the people who have put the book together: The Hyderabad Book Trust for painstakingly researching PVG Raju's life and reconstructing the same for the readers of the book. The team of Gita Ramaswamy, Sashi Kumar, Jaideep Unudurti, Sivani Kasinathuni and Anant Maringanti who invested their energy in writing and editing the book within very tight deadlines. The Vizianagaram born artist A Rajeswara Rao whose photographic memories of PVG Raju bring alive a bygone era that evoke so 4