Major General Amil Kumar Shori is the Chief Postmaster General of Himachal Pradesh and enjoys a status equivalent to the Additional Secretary to the Government of India (See photo). His office is responsible for governing nine postal divisions, one railway mail service division, one postal stores department and the office of Director of postal accounts. The postal circle of the state was carved out of the erstwhile north-west circle in December 1986 and proudly claims to have the highest post office in the world at Hikkim (14,567 feet) under Rampur Bushahr postal division.I met General Shori for the first time on the university campus where both had gone to deliver lectures on gender sensitivity. His deliberations were engaging. Later, I came to know that he had a flair for writing too and had authored a couple of books. ‘Seven Shades of Rama’ gives expected shining hue to the character of Rama as son, brother, husband, warrior, king, Rishi and Maryada Purushottam (See photo).The base of what Shori had written in the book is the Cantos taken from different chapters of the Ramayana and portraying Rama as we all know him. The new dimension to the character given in the novel ‘Asura – Tale of the Vanquished’ by Anand Neelkantan that I had recently finished, continued reverberating in my mind while reading the book.Earlier, Acharya Chatursen Shastri had written a novel ‘Vayam Rakshamah’ depicting the establishment of Raksh Sanskriti in the South, i.e. a culture that provides security to the people and that is why Ravana is Rakshas – the saviour, a king given to good governance. General Shori dedicates the book to “Rohit Suri whose untimely demise left an unfilled void in our family”. It is upsetting and pained me.Another book that Shori has penned is ‘Indian Rajarshi and Greek Philosopher King – Principles of Good Governance’. It is from this one that I have dug out the tenets of good governance as these existed during the times of the Mahabharata. Bhishma, when he was steadily dying on the bed of arrows – sharshaiyya – sermonises Yudhisthir about the governance as is narrated in Shanti / Anushasan Parva of the great epic.He says that vigilance is the main attribute of governance. An ignorant king living in the dark blackens the art of governance. What happened in Pathankot recently? The second tenet is self-discipline. Bhishma gives 36 components of it and expected the king to have self-control over him. Before Seneca could utter “Auditur et altera pars” or the other side shall be heard as well, Bhishma had already lectured Yudhisthir on impartiality as tenet of governance. Trust is the next attribute and Shori writes, “It is the duty of the king to make sure that there are no signs of any distrust among the people and officials.”The Mahabharata is also concerned about public wealth and has added taxation as part of governance. It says that taxation should be handled as bumblebee does a flower, extracts its sweetness but does not damage it. Fear is the next tenet and Bhishma has its two concepts. When Arjuna said without the fear of the law and the rules, the social edifice would crash, Bhishma agreed to it and added that the king should also be afraid of the hands of the law which could hook him, similarly an Adharmi (unrighteous) should have this fear but a Dharmatma should always enjoy the freedom from fear.The Mahabharata also emphasised on proper balancing of kshma (reconciliation) and bala (force). Bhishma says in Shanti Parv that a king should be like an autumn sun which is neither very hot nor too cold, i.e. he should neither be too harsh nor extremely gentle. Those desirous to know where in the Mahabharata these shlokas appear, they may go in for the book. I would call it as short and sweet compilation.—The writer is a retired bureaucrat