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 When I went to Mussoorie as Trainee Officer in 1972, I shared a room in a New Block in Happy Valley, with Sudha Sinha now Sudha Anchalia, Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Gujarat. At that time Agam Chand and Dil Bahadur were assigned to us as room boys. Dil Bahadur was particularly a darling and he did everything for us. He was young, charming, ever smiling and ready to carry out any errands for us. He was a chatterbox. Through him we learnt a lot about the life of the kitchen and the serving staff in the academy. The first thing in the morning he woke us up from our sweet slumber which we very much resented. Both myself and Sudha were in love and already engaged to be married to our sweethearts. We did not like to be woken up from the world of dreams and fantasies. Not withstanding our anger he brought us our chota haziri which was bed tea (milk and sugar separate) and a few cookies and insisted that we get ready to go for riding or PT whichever we were supposed to do on that chilly morning.
Soon he would be back with buckets of hot water so that we could bathe. Those days he had to first carry buckets of cold water and fill the water boiler, then light a fire inside with charcoal or firewood and then wait for the water to be heated. After which he carried the buckets, climbing all the way up on cold wintry mornings, from the Jha block where the boiler was kept. Having done that he would run to the dinning hall, on most days, to get breakfast for Sudha. Sudha was weak in constitution, had been a pampered and spoilt child and felt cold all the time. As a result, she avoided riding and PT mostly, and instead, preferred to have her breakfast in bed like a princess. On most days I had to cover for her with some genuine-sounding excuse or the other.
After we left for classes Dil Bahadur cleaned our room, polished our shoes, made our beds, sent our clothes to the laundry. He also posted our love letters. Those days our romance was on peak and we wrote love letters thrice a day. A brief one during the lunch break, a medium size one as soon as the classes were over and a long one in the night for which we burnt the mid-night oil. Hence keeping the track of letters coming and going was the most important activity in our lives in which he assisted us. In the evening he would bring us South Indian coffee with hot masala dosa or tomato omelette. Whenever we were sick or room bound he would make several visits to see if we took the medicines on time, if we needed anything like tea, milk, a hot water bottle or even an ice-cap.
When we finally left the Academy in mid-1974 he gave us a tearful farewell. We did not know if we will meet again in life or not. Whenever myself and Sudha met, we always remembered him fondly. During October 1999 when I was on a short course at the Academy I somehow managed to locate both Agam Chand and Dil Bahadur. Agam Chand had hurt his leg and has now been posted in the dinning hall, but Dil Bahadur still serves the trainee officers. Born in 1940, he was the son of an army driver, who was first posted at Lahore and later at Amritsar and Ludiana. In 1943 his father got posted as a driver in Mettcalf House, (the then Civil Service College). In 1959 when the Academy was shifted from the Mettcalf House to Mussoorie the family also moved there. He joined as a bearer in the academy, in the same year, at a daily wage of two rupees.
He has served the IAS trainees for the last forty years with a smile and would be retiring in June 2000, as a contented man. In 1972 when he worked for me and Sudha his daily wage had been raised to Rs. 10 and he earned Rs. 300 per month. Things in the Academy have changed for the better. Now he gets a salary of Rs.3500. Living Quarters have been built for the staff and a school has been built for their children. Health facilities have been extended to them. Their services have been regularised and the mess committee run by the trainees have extended them a pension. The Academy itself has also undergone a lot of changes. In our times one room boy served four trainee officers, now one person serves thirty two officers. Life in a way is much easy. There are telephones and computers with Internet and E-mail facilities in every room. There are geysers and pantries and there in no drudgery of burning the wood to heat the water and to carry it up-hill. One of the Directors Mr. Sathe, ICS, abolished the practice of polishing the shoes by the bearers so there is none of that nonsense.
Today Dil Bahadur is a happy man. His son works in the ordinance factory in Dehradun and his daughter has completed her B.A. One of his sons had to undergo a kidney transplant for which the entire faculty and the trainees at the Academy pitched in. His son has recovered from the ailment. After his retirement in June 2000 he will go to Dehradun to live with his elder son. Once again we gave a tearful farewell to each other, but with a definite feeling that we may not meet again in life. But I was happy to know that he was happy and peaceful. His greatest happiness remains in people like me coming to Mussoorie and looking him up.
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