KIRAN SIVAKUMAR IPS

Kiran sivakumar IPS Born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, he grew up in a family deeply rooted in education, discipline and service. His father, Dr. P. J. Sivakumar, retired as Head of the Department of Hindi from University College, Thiruvananthapuram. His mother, Mrs. Girija K. Nair, retired from the State Bank of India. He has two brothers: Mr. Sandeep, an engineer working in Bengaluru, and Dr. Anoop, a plastic surgeon working in Kolenchery. The home he grew up in was one where language, learning and public values were not abstract ideals, but part of everyday life. That early foundation would eventually lead him to the Indian Police Service. His professional journey began in Varanasi, a city where history, faith, crowds and conflict meet every day. It was here that he received his first lessons in the demanding world of policing in Uttar Pradesh. Over the years, he went on to serve as police chief in several important districts, including Noida, Jhansi, Sultanpur and Pratapgarh. Each posting brought a different face of policing. Noida required the handling of urban crime, rapid growth and complex coordination. Jhansi brought the responsibilities of a historic Bundelkhand district. Sultanpur and Pratapgarh offered deep engagement with rural and semi-urban society, public order challenges and the realities of grassroots policing. His career also extended beyond district command. He served in the Central Bureau of Investigation as Superintendent of Police and later as Deputy Inspector General, handling assignments that demanded discretion, precision and investigative depth. In 2019, he was selected for the Chevening Fellowship, giving him exposure to global perspectives on leadership, governance and public policy. Later, his work took him to INTERPOL, the world’s largest international police organisation. In a multinational environment dealing with international police cooperation, he contributed to work of global significance. His service there was recognised with the INTERPOL Medal of Excellence, a distinction that marks professional commitment at the international level. After his stint abroad with INTERPOL, he returned to the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He is presently posted as Inspector General of Police, Lucknow Range, continuing his service in one of the state’s important field formations. But away from the world of policing, investigation and international assignments, another story was taking shape. He is married to Mrs. Neenu Kiran, a lawyer. Their daughter, Ms. Tanvi Kiran, is ten years old. It was Tanvi who unknowingly became the inspiration for his first book. Like many fathers, he often found himself beside his daughter at bedtime, tired after a long day but still expected to produce one more story. Children, after all, are not very interested in official fatigue. They want dragons, dinosaurs, jokes, mischief, questions and one more tale before sleep. One night, when the usual stories had run out, the father began inventing. Out came Dino. Then came Rhino. And gradually, a small bedtime improvisation became the beginning of a book. The Dad Who Ran Out of Stories is the result of those intimate father-daughter moments. It is a children’s book, but it is also something more personal: a tribute to parenthood, imagination and the tender absurdity of bedtime conversations. The book captures the familiar comedy of a parent trying to keep up with a child’s imagination. It is playful, affectionate and gently humorous. At its centre is not merely a fictional adventure, but a relationship — a father trying to make his daughter laugh, and a daughter turning an ordinary night into a memory. For a police officer whose career has involved discipline, command, investigation and public responsibility, writing the book offered a return to a softer world. In its pages, he is not an officer dealing with crises, systems or institutions. He is simply a father, sitting beside his daughter, trying to find a story where none seems to be left. That is perhaps the quiet charm of the book. It reminds readers that stories do not always begin at a writing desk. Sometimes they begin when a child refuses to sleep. Sometimes they are born from tiredness. Sometimes they come from love. The Dad Who Ran Out of Stories speaks to children, but it may speak even more deeply to parents. It recalls the nights when imagination had to be summoned after a long day, when a silly name could become a character, and when a small laugh from a child made the effort worthwhile. From Thiruvananthapuram to the IPS, from Uttar Pradesh’s districts to the CBI and INTERPOL, his professional journey has been marked by duty and achievement. But this book comes from a different place — from home, from fatherhood, and from the magical moment when a tired parent discovers that he has not really run out of stories after all. The Father Who Ran Out of Stories began where many family legends begin: beside a child’s bed, with a tired father, an alert daughter, and no story left to tell. From that small moment came Dino and Rhino, two unlikely detectives born from rhythm, love and panic, and Paul Barber, the mischievous villain who refused to leave. Behind them stood another world too: a childhood shaped by Malayalam cinema, by comic heroes, memorable villains, family stories, familiar phrases and characters who stayed long after the films ended. What followed was a comic universe of stolen crowns, missing dolls, mountain rescues, runaway cars, museum heists, snow chases, Japanese charms and bedtime adventures borrowed from cinema, travel, memory and the ordinary magic of home. At its heart, this is not just a book about stories. It is about fatherhood, childhood, repetition, laughter, and the quiet miracle by which a child who first listens from the bed slowly becomes the one leading every case.