K.J.S.Chatrath joined the Indian Administrative Service in Odisha in 1967 and retired in 2003. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Paris–South, France for his thesis on ‘Indo-French Diplomatic Relations‘.

He has authored/edited 38 books - primarily on the Indo-French interface. Out of these, ‘India in the Debates of the French Parliament’ carried a Foreword by His Excellency the French Ambassador in India and the first copy was received by the Hon’ble President of India. First copy of his book, ‘Vers La Lumiere: A Study of the French School System’ was received by the Hon’ble Vice President of India. ‘Reminiscences: Lal Bahadur National Academy of Administration’, of which he was the co-editor, was released in September 2010 by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. Another of his books ‘Homage to the Brave Labour Force members of World War-I from Odisha commemorated in Mazargues Military Cemetery, France’ was released by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha.

The first copy of another publication ‘Go Greenland,’ was received by His Excellency the Danish Ambassador in India in 2022. Recently he had the privilege of being granted an audience with the Hon’ble President of India to present copies of his four new books on temples of Bhubaneswar.

Besides France, his other interests are travel and trekking. He has travelled to 66 countries including Greenland and Iceland and has visited Antarctica and the Arctic Circle. He stays in Panchkula where he is busy working on his blog allo.chatrath@blogspot.com. Presently he is working on two books - on the Indian non-combatants who died in France during World War-I and a second one about the great contributions made by some little known Frenchmen in India.

He has visited Thailand twice. All photos in this album were clicked by him. He can be contacted at chatrath@gmail.com.