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 When
I joined the National Academy of Administration in 1972, the Academy
Director Sathe was a senior officer of the Maharashtra cadre. He was
full of life and always got us involved in activities. Perhaps to
keep us out of trouble!
He encouraged outdoor activities, especially
trekking and touring to historical sites. Permission was granted to
probationers who wanted to go for trekking. We were treated on-duty
and our TA, DA were also paid.
Now I feel, Sathe was right in taking such decision.
Because mountaineering might give many rewarding experiences, making
us strong enough to face real life situations than all the theories
of leadership put together. It could inculcate team spirit and
provide the ability to withstand adverse circumstances.
One is exposed to the simple and non-materalistic
world based on love and compassion. It also feed an aesthetic sense
in our vision of reality. Quite naturally, one tends to have the
desire to preserve and conserve nature.
The year 1972 was a golden era for trekking. Since
very few girls were interested in trekking, I was always in demand.
I went for many treks, which included a 'Rock Climbing Course' at
the Institute of Mountaineering at Uttarkashi. I had to miss the
foundation course and professional course for months. Of course, I
had the pleasure of escaping the dry theoretical classes!
One of the remarkable treks we had in this period
was at Badrinath and Kedarnath. Actually there was a tougher trek to
Badri and Kedar via the valley of flowers and Hem-Kund. On some
days, the trek was to cover about 30 kms at a stretch. On these
circumstances, I settled down for the one going to Badri-Kedar
alone.
The friends accompanied with us included Subash Pani,
an IAS Officer of the ORISSA cadre. He was a resourceful personality
with many talents. Pani was the director of the plays we made. He
was also a music and dance Composer, a scholar and a literary figure
of sorts. He stood 3rd in the IAS All India Competitive examination.
Pani had directed several plays in the Academy. I
was always given a prominent role, in spite of my bad diction
(favoritism). One play, which got us a lot of applause, was Badal
Sarkar's 'Baki Itihas'. People said it was better than the one put
up by professionals in Delhi.
I played the role of the innocent wife of an
existentialist author. He was so thoroughly identified with the
characters of his novel that he was almost on the verge of
committing suicide, but saved by the noisy arrival of a friend at
midnight.
Besides the serious stuff, Pani had also directed
many comedies, some of them quite silly but rather entertaining.
There was one in which I played the role of a 13 year old
schoolgirl. I still remember going down to Tibetan School in the
happy valley and borrowing a white and navy blue school uniform. In
the play, my mother, who magically turns young, tries to steal my
boy friend.
He was an ardent devotee of Mother at Pondicherry.
He continues to be a good friend of mine for the past twenty years.
As on other occasions, he was at the helm of affairs, taking such
important decisions whether we should eat 'alu with parathas' or
alus stuffed inside the parathas.
Another person who was with us was Trivedi of
U.P.Cadre. He was very intelligent and sharp and cared a lot for me
in the Academy. He played my father in one of the plays and almost
behaved like one. I never met him after 1974. He was also a constant
member of our 'theatre group'.
Yet an other one was Naveen Bajpai, also of
U.P.Cadre. Naveen was a refined, sensitive and reserved person. Son
of a professor, very caring and understanding. He used to play the
role of my boy friend in several plays.
I vaguely remember making endless journeys from
Mussoorie to Badrinath, in a very rickety bus, half of which was
loaded with vegetables, sacks of potatoes and an assortment of hens.
The other half was filled with human beings. Mercifully there was a
wiremesh in between.
Actually it was a truck converted to a bus. The
seats were only the two long benches with no dividers on either side
of the bus and the entrance was at the back, which meant we were all
the time falling over each other or falling down.
Roads were utterly narrow and bumpy. At times, our
bus jumped more than a feet high. Sometimes it hung precariously at
curves. All of us would have to get down and a stone would be put
before the front wheel of the bus to prevent it from falling down
into the Valley thousands of feet below.
After that the driver-muttering prayers to Lord
Hanuman and Lord Ganesh would negotiate the narrowest bend on the
earth, while all of us pushed the bus very delicately towards the
right direction. This was to happen at least 9 times on this route.
Eventually after two days and nights the bus reached
Badrinath. I came across a tiny little hill town with a temple. I
vaguely remember some South Indian style of stone work. What I
remember more now are, the hot sulphur springs, where we took
several baths, in the cold climate.
In the morning, we walked two miles to the village
on the Indian border and met one of the exotic people on the earth.
I was so thrilled to see them recently at Chidambaram temple. I
realised that things must have been improved a great deal, enabling
them to travel across the country. They could meet the barest
requirements with their cattle etc., but they hardly had any cash
and were still conducting their transactions in barter.
(to be continued next week)
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