Beyond the Veil

 My earliest recollection of an independent "thought" or wish of mine is probably something which most millennial kids might have shared, but did not care to express enough aloud. It was that the world should live on forever, that nobody should die. With time, the "desire" matured to - Okay, none of my relatives should die. And eventually to - my parents should not die. By which time, I was quite mature enough to stop processing this thought process much farther. But by then, I guess the childhood desire stuck and so did the last version of the consciously modified desire.

And then life went on for a while. Quite a while. Till now, when I realize that one of my earliest thoughts or desires, that I have cared to remember for all of my life till now (even if I did not take it seriously beyond a point), has finally run its course and been officially disproved or rather, disallowed, with the passing away of Appa.

What followed through the weeks He was hospitalized and us as family members waiting anxiously - that knock on the door at midnight to inform us to rush to the ICU, was traumatic to say the least. It was also a lesson in handling grief - a sordid realization about how the mind automatically conditions itself involuntarily. You oscillate between wishing for His recovery on the one side and then wish no more pain for Him immediately a few moments after. That piercing guilt if you were actually not being sincere in wishing for His speedy recovery, because of practical realities and an objective assessment of reality. This period tests your faith obviously, but you cant give up on that as well. And then the whole cycle continues for as long as you are at the hospital.

For a 40+ year old who suffered his first truly personal loss now, you have just had assumptions for how to deal with the trauma. One such being that the sooner you complete the mortal rites, the faster the healing process begins. But I realize that for as long as Appa's body was around, I was actually in a position to spend time with Him, if only a few more hours. The pain really starts hitting you once you're done with the rites to the mortal remains.

You're truly in a daze processing what's happening outside, what is happening inside, taking care of your mother and of course, handling relatives. In the midst of all this, you suddenly step back and marvel at the incredulity of the cremation process of Hinduism - unlike other cultures where your last memory of your loved one is of that person's face as you knew it gently lowered into a coffin or buried, our culture is truly brutal and stunningly real - you spend time with the body, you continue to feed it even though there is no more life and then you, as the son, light the pyre and watch Agni engulf the body. And you dont stop at that - you wait for the remains to come out, handle them physically until you take them out to a stream or a river, where it mixes back with nature.

We are all obsessed with our lives, our emotions and choices, probably a bit more now than before. When a reality check like death hits you, is when you are at least given a chance to realize the futility of a lot of these obsessions. That is not to say that all such obsessions are futile, or that everyone who gets this chance realizes the futility or chooses to wisen up.

At different points during the aftermath of Appa's death, I have been feeling that memories are too sasta or insignificant to deal with a life that you have been part of for all your life till now. And you suddenly oscillate to the other extreme and realize the preciousness of the same memories which you barely moments ago thought were pointless or too light. It is in these contradictions that you ultimately (not) settle.

I also realize that during the processing of grief, one probably feels extra-bad at the passing away of a loved one because of certain characteristics - like simplicity, innocence, etc. Which may not be fair - since passing away of a loved one of any kind is just as precious. But in Appa's case - it added to the pain - his quiet dignity, innocent demeanour and minimal requirements or expectations from life.

You start reminiscing the last hug, the last time you held their hand, the last time you touched their forehead. You know ultimately you will move on. With their memories of course. But the memories probably become a bit hazy over time. The specifics fade away. The intimacy may not come back to the mind as stirringly as it used to. One wishes the specifics remain etched in your memory till your time comes. After all, a loved one is a loved one. Till then, you get back to life. Or what's left of it.

Hinduism, however, makes you busy in the aftermath of your loved one's passing away. You are immediately occupied with ensuring Their safe journey to Pithruloka - or the land of the departed ancestors. It is both a diversion and a solemn-cum-sincere commitment - to honour and take care of Them after Their departure from life as we know it. I find/found this moving and noble. And as some sort of panacea to deal with the loss. That at least you can try and ensure Their onward journey is smooth.

But the pain remains. And experienced it must be, because if you have come to experience life - it is in these sorrows that you also realize joy. And it is this sorrow or suffering that you go through - that makes you realize how much They truly meant to you, and may give Them some succour - that they are missed.

Fare thee well, Appa. You were a good man. You will be missed.

A Positive Covid Story

If this is the first time I'm blogging since Jayalalithaa's death, surely something has to have happened. A few months ago, a friend shared a video of an ex-dean of Christian Medical College, Vellore, an expert in epidemiology, saying that he expected that almost 80-90% of the population would be infected in due course of time.
Now the thing with humans/Indians (as you would like it) is that even if we have something staring us in the face, if it's something inconvenient, we normally try our best to ignore it or live in denial.

Geography of the Incident

Now if the above prediction by an expert epidemiologist wasn't enough, one would've thought that someone living in the epicentre of the outbreak would at least have tried to be prepared to be infected. But that's how we are no? Precautions or not, we just aren't ready.

History of the Accident

Which brings me to what probably happened. After years of bare minimum physical activity, the normal excuse for which was always "just not enough time", I thought I owed at least myself a proof of the justification I had been doling out - that if I did get some time, I would at least use it to work out. So then March 27 happened, and I started running. Not quite like Forrest Gump, but you know, something at least. When I got fever, at first I thought it was because of carelessness - I used to run and immediately sit under the fan, all sweating. Little did I know that the bug had bit me.

Love is in the air...so is Covid-dude

My best guess is simply that I contracted Covid through community spread. Though I was working a few days a week during the period preceding my fever, there were sufficient precautionary measures at work. I did go to the market occasionally, but with all the protection. To my knowledge, I did not come into contact with any Covid-positive person, heck, I literally didn't come in "contact" with anyone during the entire lockdown period. So suffice to say, Covid is in the air and it is just a matter of time before it gets to you. I had no exposure to any known Covid-patient. Heck, I took all the necessary precautions right from social distancing to limiting my venturing out to as few instances as possible to face-masks to gloves. But that's how bad Central Mumbai is now.

There are two critical things one must understand about Covid-19 -

1. We have not understood it completely. Which means the virus manifests itself differently in different people, wherever it does end up appearing on the surface. It is inevitable that most people will end up getting infected without being affected.
2. This whole thing is a crazy mind-game. Covid impacts your thinking and attitude as much as it does your respiratory system and your lungs. So it's absolutely imperative that whether you are completely fine or infected with Covid or infected with something else, you must remain positive and cheerful.

Manifestation of the Pest

I'll cut straight to the chase, considering how much I've doodled enough. Here goes -

• The only symptom I had was fever. I usually get fever once every few years and in my case, it's always on the higher side, 102+.
• There was not a single other symptom - no cough (wet or dry), no breathing issues, no chest congestion. It was almost like the virus had targeted its entire attack on my fever.
• The fever hung around for 2-3 days and then appeared to subside. Though the temperature reduced to sub-100'ish, I still felt the discomfort of a sick patient and there was a gnawing feverish feeling inside me.
• After the 4th day, the fever returned with a vengeance and shot up to 104-105 continuously for 3-4 days, which is when I pressed the panic button.
• The high fever literally rendered me immobile because of immense body pain and severe tiredness. I was barely able to walk and couldn't even sit in a place for more than a few minutes. By then, I was beginning to wonder if I should re-establish contact with my grandparents just to, you know...be on the safe side.

My Next Course of Action

Once I hit such high fever, I was advised to get myself tested for the normal fevers, since there was no known Covid-symptom. I tested negative for Typhoid, Malaria and Dengue. Which is when the inevitable dawned on me. But I was still so confident it wouldn't be Covid, simply because of the lack of symptoms, that I went ahead with the test just to rule myself out.

Getting myself tested

Once I had decided to get myself tested, the actual process of getting myself tested was complicated. Since I had consulted multiple doctors, nobody was willing to give the prescription to test, finally I was able to get hold of a doctor who gave the prescription to test. Bear in mind that this was almost a month ago and since then, BMC has changed the rules multiple times. Last I heard, it is harder now to get a prescription from a private doctor (since apparently they have to give an undertaking that if the patient is wrongly prescribed for a test, the doctor would be stripped of his/her licence to practise).

C.O.V.I.D P.O.S.I.T.I.V.E

• I got to know that I had finally got the bug a good 11 days after I first had fever - a critical delay which, thankfully, did not cause any complications. Needless to say, it took me a few hours to digest the reality - more from the perspective of logistical issues and practical challenges of having to get myself admitted, what my wife would do, etc.
• Thankfully, my fever had started subsiding a couple of days before I was diagnosed with Covid-19. I was in a much better frame of mind then, despite a fever of around 100-101 hovering around me.
• The first thing I did was to inform my society, since it had been a Covid-negative society till then.
• The day after my positive diagnosis came, folks from BMC visited me in my apartment to check on me. They then said I would have to be admitted, though I was in a better position to stand/talk/walk, etc. and there were no other symptoms.
• Thankfully, I was able to convince the authorities to remain in home isolation and my Apartment society was kind enough to agree to this.

Medication I used

There is actually no separate treatment for Covid-19.

• For my fever, I was prescribed a 5-day dosage of 500 mg of Azithromycin and 3 Dolo-650 per day. This was the only medicine I had which started a a few days before my diagnosis and ended a couple of days after it. Despite the Covid diagnosis, my doctor advised me to not restart the dosage unless I had a relapse of fever.
• Post my diagnosis, I was advised some homeopathic medicines by a close friend who practices Homeopathy. Just listing them out here in case it helps.
  Homeopathic Medicines which could be useful in prevention and cure of corona - 
• Justicia adhatoda 30 and Antim tart 30. Both the medicines to be taken three times daily. Prescription of Justicia and Antim tart would depend upon the symptoms. It is quite likely that they may not be the appropriate medicines for the symptoms which the person is having. But there is no harm in taking these medicines as the Covid pandemic is prevalent and there is every likelihood that later on the person turns out to be Covid +ve. The doses of these two medicines need to be monitored by a knowledgeable person.
• Ocimum sanctum Q. Tinospora cordifolia Q and Withania somnifera Q - 10 drops each two times daily. These can be given to any person whether healthy or with mild fever/cough or who is Covid +ve because these are immunity boosting medicines.
• Gentiana chirata (Swertia chirata) Q - 5 drops two times daily
• In addition, I was doing the following - 
  • Gargle with hot salt water last thing before sleeping and first thing after waking up.
  • Drink an Ayurvedic concoction of ginger, turmeric, black pepper, lemon and honey twice a day.
  • Keep drinking hot water at regular intervals throughout the day.
  • Practice Pranayama (any kind would do, there are enough youtube videos for this).

What were the issues I faced?

• The scariest thing today is to get sick of anything except Covid. You have no clue where to go and what to do if things escalate. Which was exactly what happened to me in the initial 5-6 days.
• Can't blame BMC for this, but it's a pain getting the test done. Rules keep changing depending on the circumstances. Truth be told, I think unless things escalate and the patient has comorbidities, it is better to avoid taking the test. Because you are not gaining anything by getting to know you are positive. In fact, getting confirmed Covid-positive creates a whole lot of logistical and practical issues that tend to divert your attention from the main task of recovering.

What (probably) helped me recover

• Something I initially felt and which was confirmed by many people after I recovered also - the best decision I took was to remain on home isolation and do the treatment at home instead of getting admitted. In these times, for cases where there aren't any breathing problems or other complications (such as Blood Pressure, Sugar, etc.), the best course of action would be to treat oneself at home because -
• The treatment for Covid is pretty much the same as that of a common fever.
• In these torrid times, hospitals are in bad shape and someone who gets admitted is just going to see misery all around and worse patients there. It has a huge psychological impact.
• Hospital staff are so stressed, it is just not possible to give personal attention to patients. Someone I knew who was admitted in a good private hospital had to ask 4 times before he could get a glass of hot water.
• Your family will feel safer having you around, even if it increases the risk of their infection.
• A huge dose of positivity and confidence - I cant stress enough how importance these are.
• My caregiver obviously, who took such good and dedicated care of me.
• And of course - prayers and good wishes of family, friends and the Almighty.

So if you did end up coming this far, either you're Covid positive or you're a great friend. If you're the former, wish you a speedy recovery and if you're the latter, well, sorry that's an ailment for which there's no cure. (-:

PS: Usual disclaimers about medicines/treatment apply. I have recounted my personal experience with Covid-19 and listed out the medication and treatment I followed. It is always better to consult a licensed medical practitioner, even if only telephonically, to ascertain if it is okay for you to follow this. I am not a medical professional by any stretch of imagination and suggestions/advice offered here is based on personal and anecdotal evidence.

Thalavali da!

The trailer was awesome. The Neruppu da track was yet another high point. 21st July was probably the highest point. And then, it was all downhill. I thought, at its worst, Kabali would be a Mankatha - an average storyline that would ride on the hero's star-power & charisma to deliver a winner. The premise was grand - an ageing don who gets out of jail and is confronted with a hostile environment. We were smacking our lips imagining how this was a story-line tailor-made for someone like Rajni for his age. We were so happy that Rajni wouldn't be doing any of those atrocious running-around-trees with actresses half his age. We thought after the mindless splurging of money on sets by the likes of established directors like Shankar, a new young director would infuse a breath of fresh air and bring out the by-now-lost histrionic capabilities of the Superstar. And how wrong we were! There wasn't even an excuse for a storyline. What was the main theme - Kabali re-establishing his hold in Kuala Lampur or searching for his presumed-dead wife, I'm still wondering. One of the top moments in a Rajni movie is, of course the "intro scene" and that turned out to be a damp squib as well. Whatever charisma he exhibits in the movie was shown in the trailer, with little else left in the movie. Apart from Rajni, there was little else anyway – no matter how talented Radhika Apte might be. I hate to admit this, but as much as Baahubali was a symbol of pride for all Telugus, Kabali is an embarrassment for Tamils, especially after all the humongous hype and hoopla that preceded its release. Sorry Thalaiva, but you've let us down. Federer might not win Grand Slams, but at least it's still a joy to watch him play. :-(

"One" of a Kind

He was one of the few guys who I took a liking to within a few instances of having come across, which were mostly TV interviews. But more importantly, this guy turned out to be all of it and more. He might be my batch mate but the awe remains. I’m still unsure if it’s his disarming and super-affable nature or the fact that he comes closest to me as far as backgrounds go, but there is this genuineness and sincerity about his persona that struck me that has stuck on. To me, he represents how a civil servant should be. Now I don’t know him personally and I sure as hell hope I’m not wrong in what I say of him, but based on what I’ve got to hear of him, both from his IAS batch-mates and elsewhere, turns out he’s every bit the gem I think of him to be.

His almost 35-minute speech in this video will attest to what I say here. And the deepest connect I share with him is the passion & emotion with which he spoke about impacting the lives of the poor and delivering justice to the common man, and I was moved to the point of tears – both by how sincerely he conveyed the point and the fact that that was what I set out for but will not be able to do.

Irrespective of all the practical/honest answers that people will give you these days (and you get them a lot once you’re inside the service), for the sincere guy, this impacting the life of the rural poor and causing positive societal change – irrespective of how clichéd it might sound, is among the primary things civil service is all about. Now being in the Revenue Services, I’ve seen enough to know there is much I can contribute and cause positive change, but this connect with the poorest of the poor, this delivery of justice to the Kamla Devis & Kishan Lals of India – far away from the humdrum of an airport or a Central Excise office – is something I will never get. And though I do have an attempt left, you know when you’ve moved on, leaving a tiny bit of you behind.

But to Gaurav Agarwal – that tiny bit of me that prompted me to leave the financial by-lanes of Chicago and return to India, not very unlike you, will remain with the likes you. The calm demeanour, the earnestness of approach and sincerity of purpose – I hope these remain with you all through your 30-year-career, Gaurav, as I hope they do with me, and hope the winds of destiny blow us onto the same path sometime in the future, as we build a better India.

Ranbir Kapoor Urban Employment Generation Scheme

The star-power of the Gandhi family. An unending supply of funds courtesy the national exchequer. The glamour of economists like Jean Dreze & Amartya Sen. A proven intellectual like Dr.Manmohan Singh.
All of these contributed to create the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Now, replace . . .
1. Gandhi family with Kapoor family
2. National Exchequer with Sajid Nadiadwala
3. Jean Dreze & Amartya Sen with Deepika Padukone
4. Dr Manmohan Singh with Imtiaz Ali

What you get is Tamasha. A movie that makes you question the very purpose of film-making. The movie was very thought-provoking in the sense that there were umpteen moments throughout when I would sit and wonder - why did they have to make this movie? And every single time, I came up with the same answer - MNREGS.

Imtiaz Ali, by now, has a reputation as a good director. The incumbent Kapoor is Ranbir. Glamour-flavour of the season, of course Deepika. And of course, Sajid Nadiadwala for money. So now they hunted for a plot. Of course, boy-accidentally-meets-girl-in-exotic-foreign-location. That is ok, but hasn't it been done to death? Ummm, ok. So let's make it intellectuaaal (Banno tera swagger lage saaaxy). We'll try to intellectualize emotions. You know, both will be common folks. But they'll meet at this god-awesome exotic locale and be completely filmy characters. Then they'll come back to India and become normal again. Then there'll be emotional turmoil. Oh yes and plenty of scope for "acting", at least for Ranbir.
I understand split personality, I understand multiple personality disorder, I also know of special children. But Ranbir's acting transcended all this. In that he tried to exhibit one or more of all this and ended up portraying himself much beyond any of this. And ends up irritating you to nails-scratching-blackboard levels.
Deepika has had the same steady level of acting since her first movie. When the camera's not focussing on either her superbly-toned legs (there's this hilarious moment when she wakes up from bed fully clothed - a kurti on top and leggings upto her ankle. Then she sees Ranbir playing football with a couple of kids. She goes down to get coffee after changing...into hot shorts :D) or her dimples, she's trying to emote in that perennially half-choked voice of hers.

The thing with Prem Ratan Dhan Payo was that it didn't take itself seriously. It was a dumb movie from end to end and made no pretense about being otherwise. It didn't take itself seriously which contributed to some hilarity from time to time. Tamasha, while attempting to be fun, is not. It's a movie which (apparently) seeks to explore the finer nuances of human emotions blah blah.

Tamasha could very well be renamed RKUEGS.

On How Our Hidden Insecurities as a Society Surfaced thanks to #ChennaiFloods

Pardon me for being cynical but this whole business of "all communities rose as one", "Muslims serving Hindus meals", "Hindus staying inside mosques", "Muslims, Christians & Hindus together fight the floods" is getting a tad too exasperating. Are we such a failed state that we have to seek not only solace but joy at such things?

I know Chennai is among the more communally peaceful places in the country, and I am every bit proud to be a Chennaite, but do you mean to say Muslims & Hindus in Mumbai would have fought with each other when faced with a disaster of such mammoth proportions? I'm amazed at our level of insecurity as a nation. It is understandable if our media does this job of hyping up trivialities (for want of a better word), but it's plain sad to see the common people hype up what is *expected* in a mature democracy, or at least in any state that aspires to be and sees itself as a major world power.

The common man on the streets might not match your level of intellectualism in drawing room debates but he is definitely high above the incredibly low standards you set for him - that he would indulge in petty faith-based fights & not help when the very question of humanity and survival has arisen. I'm saddened that you thought so lowly of him. I didn't. And I'm glad he didn't prove me wrong.

Another thing - all of you saw what all Chennai is - all these weeks. Now here's an example of what Chennai is *NOT*.

• Chennai is not the stereotype this article portrays us to be. I've faced my fair share of stereotyping by my North-Indian friends but even the most ignorant among them did not paint such a picture of us.
• I can understand that you want to flood people's homes with positivity but this article is really scraping the barrel.
• And the saddest part - the last paragraph. One of Mudhalvan's most classic dialogues was "Kadaiseela yennaiyum arasiyalvaadhiya aakkittaangaley!" (In the end, they have made me also a politician). How sad that after all the stories of heroism, valour, determination & courage transcending caste, creed, religion, sex, Rasheeda Bhagat had to make this to be yet another story of Muslims Vs the Rest!

A Primer on life as a Probationer – for all first-timers

First of all, congratulations for having cleared one of the most prestigious examinations in the country. You are in one of those confounding situations where your life will both dramatically change as well as remain the same in a matter of months. How you react to both the change as well as the sameness will determine w̶h̶o̶  what you are.

That said, the next 1-1.5 years of your life will be one of the most interesting and will lay the foundation for the rest of your career (and in some cases, your life as well). Given below is a compendium of things I wish I’d known before joining. I wouldn’t call them “do’s and don’t’s” in the strict sense of the word, rather a breezy peek-in into how life will be as a probationer. I hope you find this useful. Here goes!

1. Training is a whole lot of fun and more! Assuming you’re coming here after some work experience, this is college all over again and a bonus fun period. Make good use of it. This is where you will (hopefully) build bonds that will (possibly) last a lifetime.
   
2. Spend time in the academy. Localites tend to go home at the drop of a hat, I’d suggest spend time at the academy getting to know people or better still, plan weekend outings.
3. Never be preachy. Folks, especially in the Service and that too, during probation, tend to stay away from preachy people, particularly from batch-mates. You are not here to correct others. Correct yourself if you can.
4. Keep your rules to yourself. More specifically adherence to rules. Don’t be overly loud about your adherence to rules. People are, in general, allergic to rule-adherence. Just like how justice should not only be done, but seen to be done, likewise, you being a strict follower of rules is one thing, but to be seen to be a strict follower of rules is quite something else.
5. You will constantly be judged whether you like it or not. Funnily, it is not only your actions but your inactions as well that will be judged. Also, people will, within a few interactions, sub-consciously stereotype you. It is an inherent trait. Why, even you will see yourself doing it. People are more comfortable bracketing you into groups/cliques.
6. Try to get a conceptual understanding of whatever law is taught. Theory can always wait, be as hands-on as possible, especially when interacting with seniors. Field-experience always helps.
7. Regionalism exists. Deal with it.
8. There will be ample opportunities to travel. Use this to go to new places, not to go back to your home town (unless you have pressing reasons). You will never get the opportunity to travel free with no pressure in your mind and deadlines to meet.
9. Love-Life – Ahem. It’s great if you manage to find your soul-mate here, but ideally, get committed once both you AND your girl/guy are both settled in a service (whether same or different). Umpteen stories abound of couples forming in FC/training only for them to go down the drain a year later because one of them got a different service. Muchly avoidable heartbreak.
10. At all times, be cognizant of the fact that you are being paid. Try to do at least a little justice to the salary the government pays you.
11. Take initiative. There is much you can do here. Do not worry about how small or insignificant your initiative might be. Every initiative is welcomed here. And if it is useful to your batchmates, nothing like it!
12. Stay away from negativity. There will be no dearth of people cribbing about stuff – whether it be the salary, the service, Sarkar, whatnot. Negativity is contagious, positivity isn’t quite. Be positive – That is the only thing that will keep you going.
13. Identify problems, but constantly keep looking for solutions. People with solutions are always wanted, especially in Sarkar. And this is the kind of people we need, if we want to take the nation forward.
14. Don’t have sky-high expectations from your batch-mates. Your batch is, after all, a microcosm of the nation at large. Elitest, intelligent'est, etc. you all might be, but there will be generous doses of hypocrisy, biases, groupism, revulsion towards rules, jealousy, pettiness, narrow-mindedness etc. This is important because it helps you prepare for what you’re going to face for the next 25-30 years.
15. Be receptive to change. Food, clothing, habits – if it helps you improve and be a better individual, government servant or citizen. Or simply if it is more convenient to you. :)
16. There will be periods during training when you’ll feel bored, pointless, etc. Always be involved in some kind of activity or the other – whether with the academy or among your group of friends. There is too much to be learnt, understood and done for you to be bored. And mind you, I’m not talking about class or studies!
17. All said and done, your batch will comprise of probably the most diverse set of people you would have ever come across in your life. The diversity is so staggering that it might sometimes overwhelm you. This is diversity in its most comprehensive sense – geography, caste, religion, region, social standing, etc. You’ll meet people with incredible stories, crazy profiles and awesome personalities. Each person is a source of wisdom, intelligence and knowledge – in most cases how to be (and in a few, how not to be too :D).
18. Treat everyone with respect – irrespective of their designation. It is quite natural that our newly acquired designation, fancy as it sounds, along with the power it entails, might disorient us and make our heads heavy, however treat even your subordinates with respect.
19. Leave a legacy – to your institution, your service and your juniors. One of the fundamental problems in India is how bad we are at knowledge-transfer, thus causing your juniors to repeat the same mistakes you did. Committing the same mistakes is a crime. There should always be novelty, even in mistakes. :D
20. Have loads of fun. Make the best use of your training. You have a challenging 2-3 decades ahead of you. Make good friends in your batch. When the chips are down or when drinks are on the house, there should always be a batchmate just a phone-call away.

All the very best! Bharat Sarkar welcomes you!

From Books & Book-Worms to Conservatives & Liberals

Contrary to popular perception, I am not a particularly well-read guy. I am very nitpicky about books and don't have the patience to devote a chunk of time on any one cause at any point of time. Now this has been a source of much embarrassment for me, because for some reason (probably because I talk a lot or because I somehow successfully portray that I'm knowledgeable-because-I'm-well-read or both) people tend to assume I've read many books. On many occasions, I've not even heard of the book or the author. Enough of narcissism, onto the actual topic - despite being badly-read, I've always held books in high regard and well-read people in higher regard (don’t ask me why. Is that a bad premise to start off with – Probably. But indulge me for a bit). Sadly though, though I still swear by books and continue to try to have “reading books” in my “must-do” list, I can’t say the same about the latter. Now generalization is something we Indians love to do (for example . . . :D). But in the recent past, I’ve come across a lot of well-read people who have deeply disappointed me. As an individual, I place a lot of premium on attitude and behaviour – and I guess I can even go on to say that building both these constitute one of the essential goals of life. Which is probably why my attitude towards reading is – though reading in itself is a pleasurable and a quite praise-worthy activity, if your reading doesn’t help enhance your attitude and/or behaviour, it’s really a shame. Over the past many months, I’ve come across many well-read folks/book-worms who have exhibited one or more of the following –

• Air of superiority – I don’t know how this comes about - whether it is because of the knowledge acquired by reading books or the conscious feeling of having read many books, but it is there.
• Utter Conviction about their point of view – They are so convinced about the opinion they hold that there will not even be any seeds of doubt that will make them entertain or even consider a contrary point of view.
• Contempt for people who are not well-read but who venture to voice their opinion on issues they might otherwise have knowledge on/exposure to.
• Mad Obsession – I’m by-and-large a moderate in most spheres of life (*wink wink*) and a strong believer in balance and not being overly taken in or consumed by any one particular person, cause or event. So I find it a little disconcerting when I see folks reading their books with complete disregard for other potentially important things. For instance, I’ve seen folks immersed in books on deep philosophical/existential issues when there’s a poor Commissioner who’s travelled hundreds of kilometers just to handle a class on how to issue show-cause notices, how to stay honest, etc.

Initially I thought these were just outliers, but pretty much every well-read person I have come across unfailingly exhibited one or more of the afore-mentioned characteristics (Ok the sample-size is so small I won’t disclose it, but take my word for it, will you? :D).

*bias alert* Another interesting observation/hypothesis I have is that these well-read folks invariably tend to be liberal. Now I’m not sure if this liberal streak is a conscious or sub-conscious development. While it is a pretty agreeable generalization that conservatives are usually not well-read (Internet Trolls for example) and liberals are well-read, it’s also a shame because there is so much literature conservatives can lay their hands on, without fear of having their political orientation changed (this fear, I am told, is one of the many factors hindering conservatives from reading up). This also probably explains how/why though the “senior” conservatives are comparably (to “senior” liberals) well-read, your average-Joe conservative isn’t anywhere as well-read as your average-Joe lib.

[On a side-note, this is also probably why I tend to lean on the conservative side slightly more often than not. ;-)]

Now we get to another interesting observation – that of how the number of articles/blogs/social media posts by average-Joe liberals on contemporary issues is more than those by average-Joe conservatives (who are more comfortable sharing the few articles written supporting their point of view. Oh how convenient!) – Yakub Memon’s hanging being a case in point. What’s interesting about this is that online social activism costs but a few pennies and a few books/articles. A software engineer-by-day becomes an expert on Yakub Memon’s hanging by night because he’s read a few articles by “investigative” journalists about how Yakub bhai turned himself in voluntarily, RAW had a deal with him, etc. The only time you spend is on reading books/articles. You don’t need to spend valuable time doing research, collecting data or learning the nuances of law. Classic example for this being Shashi Tharoor’s fantastic conclusion that – given that from 1990-2000 there were more hangings as well as a higher incidence of murder while from 2000-2010, there was just one hanging and the murder rate had substantially reduced – hence capital punishment is *not* a deterrent for murder. QED.

I realize I have digressed. To an alarming extent at that. But let that not take away my fundamental grouse with the “well-read”, which is what I had wanted my post to be about when I started. :D

Confession: For a change, I’ll de-generalize and say that this attitude towards books I have talked about here is purely personal – that a direct outcome of reading books should be to improve one’s attitude/behaviour towards the world/people. I completely agree that people’s motivations to read voraciously might range from “acquiring knowledge for the heck of it” to “getting a high for no specific reason” to “acquiring knowledge to acquire an air of superiority” to “personality development”. Given this, each person is completely justified in being arrogant, supercilious, condescending, etc.

But UPSC clear kiya hoon yaar, well-read or not, opinion to rahega na!

Jai Bajrang Bali!

It is probably an indicator of the sorry state of Indian cinema (as a whole) that you're left wondering in amazement if you've really seen two back-to-back Indian movies that not only *didn't* make you cringe, but actually left you with a contented feel when you exited the cinema theatre.

Stripped to its bare essentials and bereft of all intellectual over-complications, a movie can be judged by how it left you feeling when you take those few steps from your seat in the movie hall till you exit the building. Unless you are one of a handful of people in this world, the probability of you reviewing the movie in those precious few minutes tends to one. And this is quite a definitive opinion to hold.
And by this method, both Baahubali​ and Bajrangi Bhaijaan​ are resounding successes.

Since reviews/opinions of Baahubali are dime a dozen and the fact that I agree, by and large, with most positive reviews, I'll dedicate this post only to #BajrangiBhaijaan.

Shortly after the movie starts, your first impressions of the movie (after, of course, noticing how cute the girl is) are -
1. Bhai's dance steps reminded me of Rajinikanth's dance moves ever since he turned 50. And what's with the constipated look? Was he trying to be funny, cute or both?
2. How Kareena Klux Klan is still eye-poppingly attractive in those chudidhars so many years after Jab We Met.
3. How it must be such a hard time to be a left-liberal these days - if Baahubali's not-only-unabashed but also in-your-face Hinduism wasn't enough, we now have Bhai playing a Hanuman-bhakt who keeps chanting "Jai Shri Ram", even to Pakistani Rangers. #BurreDin indeed. :D
4. Sallu bhai, however your subtle point about the RSS being a political body was not missed. Like at all. ;)

And then Harshaali Malhotra takes over. And HOW! Her initial cuteness is merely a smokescreen to unprepare you for how she would later tug at your heartstrings. We all know how humans have this inherent *inability* to *not* fall for cuteness in children (notwithstanding the "all children are cute" epithet). Now add generous doses of innocence to that cuteness (it may be personal, but innocence has always ranked high on my list of attractiveness). Top that with mind-blowing expressions for every situation. What you get is the simply irresistible visage of Shahida.
At some point in the 2nd half of the movie, you reach a stage where every time she appears on screen, you either go "Awww" or there's a few droplets lurking in the corner of your eyes (monsoon has officially set in, no? :) ). It doesn't help that the cuteness gets compounded by actions such as her piggybacking on Bhai, her head-shake, her hand-shake, her holding the corn, her dropping the corn on the road, her curled up next to Bhai, her recording him on the video camera - so that's basically most of the scenes she appears on screen - you get the drift right? The girl carries the entire film on her fragile shoulders. Politically incorrect though it might be, but the movie wouldn't have been half as effective had the girl even been half as cute. However, credit where due - simply being cute would hardly have sufficed. And that's where all that I've said above comes into the picture.

Sallu bhai has played very well. No not his role, but the overall scheme of things - a role which doesn't require much histrionics (KKK fell in love with him in approximately 4.5 minutes and 3 scenes) but allows him to express essential emotions at strategic locations - a fight, an intro dance - just about enough to establish his mass'ness.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui​ is officially my favouritest character artiste today. I have begun to adore him as much as I felt Irrfan Khan​ was overrated. The screen lights up every time he appears. Life's unfairness hits you when you see him and Salman Khan​ share screen-space and you realize how famous each person is.

And the rest - well Harshaali is simply awesome to take over. But credit again to Sallu bhai for choosing such a script. By the end of the movie, there would probably have been 3 people in the movie hall who didn't shed a tear - all 3 being the security personnel waiting to show directions.

A movie has won if the audience know what's going to happen in the climax but are waiting for that exact same thing to happen with the eagerness of a child - which is exactly what happens here.

With all the essential ingredients taken care of (Harshaali, her looks, her expressions, her actions), the director just needed to ensure he didn't mess up the other aspects. And he doesn't.
A movie with an excuse for a story, a superstar for a hero and an angel for everything else - #BajrangiBhaijaan is a tear-jerker alright but a tearing succcess all the way!

To two Gentlemen Officers With Respect

"Officer-Like Qualities" or "OLQ" are one of the first things one hears of after entering the Services. Though there exists no textbook definition for the same, by popular perception, it is identified and understood. If you are one for discipline, sincerity and a stickler for rules, you are in for a rude surprise when you enter the Services. As much as it requires passion, dedication and consistent effort to get in, sadly, once inside, very little of that translates to behaviour *towards* the Service. It isn't about implicit acceptance of the System (however 'flawed' it may be) as it is about respecting the rules of an institution.

These days, it appears as if the default "setting" in many individuals is "unacceptance" of established rules (as opposed to norms, convention, etc.). While not wearing sunglasses when receiving the Prime Minister might be a norm, attending classes regularly, avoiding usage of phones during classes, attending PT's in the morning, etc. are closer to "rules". Besides, incorrect thought it may be, there is this tendency to think that obedience to these rules, especially in a severely lax environment, reflects the sense of idealism and commitment an officer has (to have) - towards the service, society and nation.

Swapnil Tembe and Prianceu Pandey are two of those rare officers with full possession of such "Officer-Like Qualities". I am not sure if his ITBP background (in Swapnil's case) contributed to his officer-like persona or if he has always been this way, but both were among the few who you could look up to - a constant in the morning PT sessions notorious for mass bunking, two guys who stood by the very principles you came to the Service expecting to see - be it in attending classes or not using unfair means during the exams or back-biting about other batch-mates. They were two of the few who shared my sense of idealism - towards the Service, Department and the Nation, despite a bleak outlook for especially the first 2. Barely 2 days ago, we were talking about how it'd be great if this "idealism"-based group (of 5-6 of us) could be together in whichever service we got/remained and promote/propagate it. Fortunately or unfortunately, Swapnil was the only one to get into the IAS, while Prianceu got into the IPS. But fate has its way of binding people and both these chaps ended up with the same cadre.

In a batch notorious for its delinquent behaviour and studious violation of rules, principles and general sense of idealism, Swapnil and Prianceu gave hope as fellow comrades - someone whose thoughts you could echo, someone with whom you could share your disillusionment without fear of being ostracized as an "inconvenient idealist", "pro-establishment guy", etc.

Farewell Swapnil and Prianceu, both of you were people I had (and will continue to have) tremendous respect for - the two of you were right on top of the list of people I wanted to get through to the next stage - be it IAS or IPS. I am sure you two will make fabulous officers. Have that sense of idealism running high and remember our motley group of "idealists". Would love to exchange notes with you two from time to time and look forward to working with you guys some time in the future!

One Final Time . . .

5 hours. 300 minutes. Or thereabouts. The tension. The anticipation. The exhilaration. One final time. There are moments in your life when it all boils down to one specific incident. At the risk of over-hyping UPSC (technically, it's "just another part of life", "exam", etc. Yeah right. Try telling it to the 3000-odd folks who gave the interview :D), one has to admit that these moments do impart that extra zing to life. You know...adrenalin rush and all that.

30 is a lot of things to a lot of people. To me, it signals coming out of experimenting with life (that's how I'm thinking of it right now at least ;)). I know there will definitely be more exams. I know there will be more moments of tension. Hell, there might (or definitely will) even be a life-altering event or two. But few that will come announced-yet-unannounced. Few that would have had your prepare for years. Few that would have 3000 others waiting with bated breath, with you. And to add to the intrigue, UPSC announces, probably for the first time, the exact date the result would be out.

Which brings me back to these twenty hours.

Truly one of a kind. Irrespective of what happens at the end of these 20 hours, and I know I'm repeating myself, What a pulsating journey it has been.

May the best man (ok woman too)! smile emoticon

*tick tock* *tick tock* *tick tock*

Adieu NACEN!

I wonder if it is the inherently sentimental nature of us Indians that even 5-odd months are enough for us to get attached to a place. Or it might be the kind of people you meet and/or the kind of involvement you had in the activities of the place. For many of us folks who joined the Academy with a passion to be part of ‪#‎BharatSarkar‬, the National Academy of Customs, Excise & Narcotics, Faridabad was our first brush with bureaucracy. And it was disappointing, exciting, motivating, fun - all at once. But of all the things Academy was, the sense of warmth it induced in us - it gave us the feeling of belonging and ownership only a family member can.

What friends we made! What fun we had! What (all) stuff we did! But yes, I must admit that though I did make a few *good* friends, I could never quite get those one or two *inseparable* friends - (you know, the kind whose company you can't live without *and* [more importantly :D], the kind who love your company just as much!), whether for good or bad, I don't know, leading me to occasionally wonder if I should've spent more time on people around me than the plethora of activities I was involved in. Khair, being in Bangladesh, I did try my best (or at least that's what I would like to think wink emoticon. Plus anyhow, I did have tons of other wonderful company - be it the guard-dogs which barked me all the way back to my room at night from Alaknanda or the beautiful little squirrels chasing one another across the road or the mynaahs that kept chirping away to glory.

Starting with early-morning PT's in the freezing cold at the tennis court, then shifting to neighbouring Police Lines, frantic rush to get attendance (and in some cases, put proxy...sshhhh!), finally dwindling to just 2 or 3. :D)

No post on NACEN, Faridabad is complete without mention of the stupendous Mess food we had, so ably managed by our wonderful Mess Committee (shortly to be elected unopposed in Hyderabad) - such delicious food that any PT we did would be immediately compensated for!

Well, I guess that's enough nostalgia and emotion for 5 months. I know we're going to be coming back for our refresher in another 6 months (or not! wink emoticon, but our first love will always remain our deepest, truest and most heart-rending love. And for all of us from the current batch for whom NACEN, Faridabad was our first destination in #BharatSarkar, it will be our first love.

Adieu, NACEN! You will be missed, if only for a while, but loved . . . always!

Buying my peace

Assuming the journey began in August 2011 when I officially started preparing (June 2010 if you consider my return to India for the Services), it is with a sense of relief, fondness and of course, the inevitable regret that I reach closure. Exactly a year ago, I got selected into the Services and just short of 1 day to the year, I have had my final tryst with UPSC. Though I started off aspiring for the Foreign Services (which has hence been overshadowed by the Administrative Services smile emoticon ), I have realized that there is much constructive work that I can do in the Revenue Services as well. The constant sense of negativity and dissing of the Service by a few "blessed" souls notwithstanding wink emoticon , I am confident that as long as one is resourceful, motivated and initiative-driven even in our blessed service, there is much we can achieve, both at a personal as well as professional level. I would definitely have liked to sign off on a high, but what with yesterday's semi-disaster of an interview, I realize fairy tales like Ivanisevic's Wimbledon are, but rare. Besides, in the words of a friend, in the pursuit of a "better" service, we overlook the basic point of "public" service that we are here for.

Farewell UPSC, it has been a memorable journey with you! Though I did feel shortchanged on both the occasions I was privileged enough to enter your hallowed portals, and despite a few complaints about your process, I have nothing but respect for you.

My 2nd (and Final) UPSC Interview

Date: 11th June, 2015

Session: Afternoon

Board: Vice Admiral D.K.Dewan

Chairman – Can you tell me your roll number?

Me - ******

C – So K*****k, are you working currently? Let me see, ah so you are in the Trade Services?

Me – Sir, I was allotted the Trade Service, but I have since been upgraded to IRS (Customs)

C –      1. Can you explain the issues with drones?
            [Vague answer. Mentioned privacy concerns, regulatory issues. Thought security

concerns were applied, mentioned in passing. He seemed interested in Security &

Regulation]

2. In the Arab Spring, which are the biggest and smallest countries?

[Answered Egypt and Tunisia. Apparently smallest nation was Bahrain.]

3. Are you sure? What about Bahrain? What is the name of the square in Bahrain?

[Had no idea about the Square in Bahrain. He compared it to a more famous

square where a massacre happened. I answered Tiananmen Square. One of the

members asked the square in Egypt. I answered Tahrir Square]

4. Ok, which are the countries in the Arab Spring which were ruled by monarchs

and which by dictators?

[Started off with Hosni Mobarak, answered Monarch, then changed to Military

Ruler. Somehow didn’t go farther.]

5. Do you know about India’s strategic oil reserves? How much quantity of oil

reserves do we have?

[I didn’t really understand reserve. Answered Bombay High & KG Basin. Turns

out he was specifically expecting “reserves”. And location of our strategic

reserves are in Vizag, my birthplace.]

M1 –    1. You have read the Customs Act. Can you tell me which are all the

organizations that are empowered under the Customs Act to use its laws?

[I could think of only NCB. I asked him a few more questions about NDPS Act,

arrest provisions, etc. but organizations none other.]

2. You are from Vizag. In recent times, there have been extremes of floods along

the AP/Orissa coast. Why do you think this is happening?

[Global Warming, Climate Change, El Nino.]

3. While the loss of life has been minimal, there has been significant loss of

resources, amounting to many thousands of crores. Why do you think this is

happening?

[Regulations are in place, but not followed. Gave example of Uttarakhand floods

where many homes/buildings built close to the river bank were washed away. He

asked if we didn’t have regulations. I said we do, but they are not followed.

Implementation and regulation was an issue.]

M3 (Lady) –    1. You have worked at **** as a Software Developer. What kind of

software did you develop there? (then repeats the question for my 2nd

company)

[Trading Software to enable proprietary traders to trade in the market]

2. How will you use this experience in your Customs Department?

[Gave example of NIDB, prediction of potential smuggling cases]

3. Can you give specific examples?

[Gave a small example wrt shady importers importing small amounts of a

commodity frequently.]

4. Who was awarded the Bharat Ratna recently? What was his

contribution? He has a major contribution.

[Of all the people, I remembered only Malviya and totally forgot

Vajpayee. Told Malviya was a great educationist. Didn’t tell he founded

BHU. When the member prodded me and told he founded something, I

finally blurted out BHU.]

5. Your department is notorious for having a large number of cases getting

quashed by the higher judiciary. Why does this happen?

[Answered that 2 reasons – 1. Our officials do not follow the procedure

meticulously leading to many good cases being washed out on

technicalities. She asked if problem with law. Specifically told her that

law is fine, just that people are not careful enough to follow procedure

meticulously. 2. Superiors do not strike down frivolous cases for fear of

vigilance action, hence many bad cases reach higher courts and get struck

down there.]

M2 –    1. You have been in the US for 4 years. You also have Public Administration. Can

you give my out-of-the-box (repeats this to stress on it) solutions for public

service delivery?

[Explained that main problem in service delivery is presence of middlemen. Gave

a convoluted solution of having an efficient e-Governance system where

consumer can file requests online, where it is processed without human

intervention. Also, a token number is generated for each customer which reaches

the head (say Commissioner, Collector, etc) who checks on a periodic basis, how

many pending, why a certain case wasn’t completed on promised time.]

2. Your suggestion is already implemented in some places but hasn’t seen any

major success. There are many states currently legislating on public service

delivery. Can you explain how effective they are in some states?

[This was too detailed and vague, flatly said I hadn’t seen any such schemes at

ground level to comment.]

3. Recently, an American broke a World Record. Do you know what it is?
[I had no idea. Asked him if it would be Michael Phelps. He said it was in Athletics. Then I thought maybe he wrongly thought Usain Bolt was an American. Wasn't Bolt either. Then asked me if I knew where the 2008 Olympics was in. I said Beijing.]

C - Do you know a recent news about Michael Phelps?
[I said I didn't. Apparently, Phelps is participating in the 2016 Olympics after 8 years.]

M4 –    1. You were a “Student Orientation Leader” at Illinois Institute of Technology.

Can you elaborate what you did there?

[Helping new students get used to surroundings, help them complete paper-work,

explain US culture, enable them to acclimatize, show them around Chicago, etc.]

But that is not the definition of a “leader”.

[Just smiled.]

2. You have studied Computer Science. Can you tell me what are some of the

recent developments in Server Technology?

[Crazy random. Had no idea about servers. Just blurted out that latest technology

in servers was servers that let out much lesser heat and didn’t need AC’s. He went

on to PC’s that heated up. I explained about processors and heat sinks. Basically

meandered there.]

C –      1. Tell me who wrote the US Constitution and when.

            [Could only remember Benjamin Franklin. Date was towards end of 1700’s.]

            2. Do you know how far is Cuba from the US?

            [I said Cuba was very close to US, but I wasn’t sure of exact distance. He was

surprised and asked me if I had not visited southern part of US. I told I’d been to

the East & West coasts, but not to the southern coast. Interview ended abruptly

there. He said “you can go”.]

My Take –

Very average at best and borderline disaster at worst. Though most of the questions pertained to my background, somehow they were never close to my strengths or were so vague that I couldn’t come up with a convincing answer (or at least one that I was satisfied with). Plus a whole lot of factual questions that I either messed up or didn’t know much about. Halfway through, I was visualizing IAS & IFS slipping away from my hands. Will be a miracle if I cross 170. Personally, I’d be happy if I got last year’s score.

[For the transcript of my interview last year (ironically with the same board), click here.]

UPSC and My Best Friend

UPSC preparation is never a solo-effort. There are so many people who have contributed to your preparation, directly or indirectly, one way or the other. Arguably the one guy who both backed me to the hilt in my (potentially crazy) decision to return to India to prepare for the Services *and* helped me in much of my preparation is @keshyperion
Particularly in the one year when I spent working as a Probationary Officer in a govt bank in a remote village in Tamil Nadu with a population of some 800 people with 8 hours of power cuts everyday and hardly any net access around, my one link to the outside world (apart from my phone) was my bank email. In the bank, only the intranet would work, apart from official email. What @keshyperion used to do (rather, I made him do :P) was to meticulously copy-paste all mrunal articles (the daily email digest contained only a snippet of the full article) by email, apart from other UPSC-related links I used to send him (almost on a daily basis).
Why am I reminiscing this now? I had an epiphany when, over the past few days, during the course of interview preparation, I've been asking him to email/DM me the many links shared on whatsapp in the groups so I can read the articles properly (for the uninitiated, my phone is such a collector's item that apart from whatsapp & fb, using any other app would eat into its memory and cause it to stop working. When today's smart phone-sizes are in terms of GB's and screen-sizes are in terms of 5-7 inches, my vintage item has a grand total of 15 MB for internal memory and a screen size of 2.4 inches, respectively. For whatever reason, I'm obstinately sticking on to it. :D).
And then I realized that I'd never officially ever thanked him. As they say, better late than never, no? But then again, with best friends, thanks are hardly needed, are they? smile emoticon

Bitten by the Bombay Bug!

In a memorable coincidence, on our way back from Shirdi/Nashik early Sunday morning, on the last day of our attachment, just as we had paid the last toll and were entering Mumbai, the MP3 player started playing “Bombay Bombay- Tararararumpum”. Little would anyone have thought that in a matter of just 2 weeks, we would be overcome by so much nostalgia and emotion – the city does this to you – and *that*, coming from a die-hard Chennai’ite, is quite something.

Here’s a quick recap of what I did over the last 2 weeks, apart from hectic work-days, gold seizures, interrogations and snooping that is. wink emoticon

Day 1 – First Vada Pav
Day 2 – Kailash Parbat + Marine Drive
Day 3 – Siddhi Vinayak + Bandra_Shopping + Carter Road
Day 4 – Bade Miyan + NH10 Premiere
Day 5 – Mahalakshmi + Haji Ali + Gulshan-e-Iran
Day 6 – Some_ mall_in_Bandra + Service Dinner
Day 7 – Daman
Day 8 – Juhu Beach + ISKCON + Santa Cruz + Carter Road (again)
Day 9 – [Airport Night Shift]
Day 10 – CST + Holy Pilgrimage of Mumbai Local at Peak Hours
Day 11 – Mumba Devi + Gateway + Leopold Café + Taj + Double-Decker
Day 12 – Farewell Call on C’s/ADC’s
Day 13 – Shirdi + Nashik + Shani Shingnapur
Day 14 – Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Maratha Mandir) + Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (Rajdhani Express)

What I find immensely satisfying is that on most days, I returned to the academy much after 12 AM and travelled by the local as much as possible. Though I find it a little embarrassing that having spent 2 weeks in Mumbai, not a single disco/pub finds mention in my “hung out” list, given that I’ve been occupied enough even otherwise, I think I’m excused.

grin emoticon

Being part of Zone 3 meant that our default_hangout_group size was reduced to 5, but despite that, I did manage to spend time with many others as well. The only regret I have is that I couldn’t spend more time with more people. Still, I loved the time I spent with whoever I got to. 

smile emoticon
Wherever there was company, it was wonderful and wherever there wasn’t, I could tolerate myself enough not to feel bored or irritated. grin emoticon

On the professional front, the Mumbai attachment well-and-truly marks our arrival into the Service – while we had our share of fun, it is the work ethic that we learnt in this city that impressed upon most of us.
As the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani chugs out of Mumbai Central, each of us is sure to have left a small part of us behind and taken a large part of Mumbai with us, hopefully thopefully to return some time in the not-so-distant future.

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