Former IAS officer Madan Gopal’s  Rainbow Years to be released on March 23

Set in the turbulent Telangana region, Rainbow Years chronicles the personal and political fortunes of three young idealists, who are members of the underground Marxist-Leninist party in the region

Former IAS officer M. Madan Gopal, who served in various departments of Karnataka for over three decades, has penned the book Rainbow Years: Conflict to Contentment, a historical fiction largely based on real life incidents.

Set in the turbulent Telangana region,  Rainbow Years chronicles the personal and political fortunes of three young idealists, who are members of the underground Marxist-Leninist party in the region.

Mr Gopal, who retired in 2015, weaved the sensitive and unusual experiences of three individuals and their journey of life through various phases into an interesting and thought-provoking narration.

The book has been published by Garuda Prakashan and will be released on March 23 by Justice N. Santosh Hegde, former Lokayukta of Karnataka, at IAS Building, Infantry Road, Bengaluru. Former Minister and MLA S. Suresh Kumar and former IPS officer and DGP Ajay Kumar Singh will be the chief guests.

In the 265-page story, Mr. Gopal narrates life experiences of three youngsters in the 1960s who were attracted to the Naxalite movement and their experience causing them to believe that the ideology is bankrupt and irrelevant. “They understand the futility of all ‘Isms’ and realise that unless there is inner spiritual growth, no change is possible,” the author writes while narrating the life of characters.

The canvas of Madan Gopal’s work is ambitious. It has a grounding in contemporary history. It encompasses pre-partition Telangana region: The Razakar movement, the police action by the Indian State, the Telangana uprising, formation of the united Andhra Pradesh, and the movement for a separate Telangana province, agrarian and industrial unrest, the Naxalite movement, State repression, the civil rights movement, the declaration of the national Emergency and the post-Emergency scenario, before bringing the curtain down in the lives of the protagonists.

Former IAS officer Chiranjeevi Singh says that the book is not just a work of fiction, but ‘a record of a revolutionary movement’s birth and demise’.