Prateep K. Lahiri has had a distinguished career in the civil service as an IAS officer spanning thirty-six years and has held the positions of secretary in the Government of India successively in two ministries: the Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of Finance. Early in his career, as district magistrate in several districts, he had first hand experience in dealing with communal conflicts and riots. For about four years, he was India's executive director on the Resident Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila, with the personal rank of Ambassador. After retiring from the civil service, Lahiri was also associated with the media in the capacity of secretary general of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), an apex chamber of the newspaper industry in India. He was also the chairman of the General Council and Executive Board of the ISM University, Dhanbad, a leading institute for technical education in the country. Author of Decoding Intolerance, this is his second book.|A Tide in the Affairs of Men are reminiscences of a senior administrative officer from his working in the secretariat in the central government and in the state of Madhya Pradesh to his varied experiences during other relevant postings. From handling students' agitation in the Guna district of Madhya Pradesh in 1964 to his special posting in Bagladesh after the liberation of East Pakistan in 1971; and from his years in Manila as executive director in the ADB to working closely with Dr Manmohan Singh as revenue secretary, the narrative is a public servant's journey that relooks at some of the important milestones with passion and candour.