The cover pages of P.G. Tenzing’s book (Top) and Dechen’s comics. A Penguin publication Don’t Ask Any Old Bloke for Directions: A Biker’s Whimsical Journey across India, costs Rs 250, while Dechen’s comic strip comes for Rs 100. Pictures by Pema Leyda Shangderpa

Gangtok, March 18: The father, an IAS officer, woke up one day to give up the staid life of a bureaucrat and thundered his way across the country in a Enfield Thunderbird.

All the while, the daughter, a 14-year-old, was trying her hand at Manga, a comic form that originated in Japan.

On Monday, the father-daughter duo will have their own tales to tell when they release their works together at Rachna Books at Jeewan Theeng Marg here.

Don’t Ask Any Old Bloke for Directions: A Biker’s Whimsical Journey across India is P.G. Tenzing’s recollection of his nine-month long whimsical tour on the bike across the country exploring a karmic network without any pre-planned route ordirection.

The book published by Penguin and priced at Rs 250 is aimed to be an inspiration for those yearning to break free from the bonds of professional life and embrace the freedom of the open roads.

With anecdotes of the staid bureaucratic life and revelations that could offend the official secrets act in a few chapters, Tenzing speaks of his encounters and acquaintances from his past: from the roadside barber in Delhi to waiters and mechanics, fleeting human interactions and connections.

Tenzing runs a hotel in Gangtok and is a part time singer too in his resto bar with a local band. He also supports a school for monks at Mangan and is also into philanthropy.

An IAS of the Kerala cadre, Tenzing was the secretary in charge of four departments. When the fifth one was thrust on him, the 43-year-old resigned from his 20-year-old service, encashed his retirement benefits, strapped his belongings on his motorcycle, bade good bye to his co workers at Thiruvananthapuram and started from the Varkala beach resort in Kerala for the countrywide tour.

Recently Tenzing had told The Telegraph that the only reason behind the sudden, desperate act, which shocked his colleagues to no end, was the desire “to take time out for the self, to be unashamedly selfish”.

While the father was riding high on his bike, 14-year-old Dechen P. Tenzing was hard at work on Wolfs Fang, considered the first Manga comic to come out of this part of the globe or the Indian subcontinent.

A proud Tenzing fears that she might be hogging all the limelight during the release. A student of Class VII at Taktse International School, Dechen’s sketches are in black and white. Original Manga style reflects the life of teenagers and high school kids.

Yuya the main character in Dechen’s comic is an ordinary schoolgirl and her story begins on an ordinary first day in school. Soon she meets interesting friends and gradually the readers realise that Yuya is no ordinary girl.

Dechen told The Telegraph that she would work on a series once the first comic was out.

Originally, Mangas were comics and print cartoons in the Japanese language. Now, it is generally identified as those that conform to the style developed in Japan in the late 20th century. While widely read in Japan by people of all ages, the genre includes a broad range of subjects: action-adventure, romance, sports and games, among others. Since1950s, Manga has been steadily becoming a major part of the Japanese publishing industry

Raman Shrestha of Rachna Books and Karchoong Diyali of Sokpa Productions, who were in charge of production of the comic, said they were conspiring to get the biker off his saddle for once and seat him on a chair so that he could sign the autographs. “We have volunteered to hide his bike keys for four hours at least,” Shrestha added.