Looking behind: It all seems incredible now!

One of the components of our training as IAS probationers at Mussoorie was the annual "Bharat Darshan". It was, indeed, a very valuable and unique experience designed in order to introduce us to the rich socio-economic and cultural diversity of the country. It was also aimed at giving us a foretaste of what was to be expected in the field in the years to come.

In constituting the groups, care was taken to ensure that the States to be visited by a group were not those to which the members of the group had been allotted; and the States to which they originally belonged. All officers allotted to a given State were all put in one of the groups.

Our group toured the area covering some portions of northern India including UP (as it was then known) and Bihar; West Bengal in eastern India, and the north-eastern States of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. Among many other places, our itinerary took us to Rampur, Pantnagar, Allahabad, Lucknow, Patna, Bodh Gaya, Calcutta, Kohima and Manipur. Rampur, as is well known, is famous for its variety of knives and I bought one there for a friend of mine who was a keen collector of such curios. The visit to the Agriculture University at Pantnagar was extremely educative as it was the oldest such university in the country and the place where the Indian Agriculture Research Institute was originally started.

We visited the Jim Corbett National Park, a thoroughly exhilarating experience. I remember how members of the group persuaded me to climb onto the bus, which was taking us around the park. I had carried my guitar to the top of the bus and was playing away merrily when, suddenly, I noticed that the bus was surrounded by a herd of elephants. There was a baby elephant in the herd. The way in which its mother tied the calf to its tail and was leading it on was truly the cutest sight! It was perhaps the presence of the calf that made the herd a little nervous, and when somebody accidentally honked the bus horn, the elephants got agitated, and approached the bus in a menacing way; and even rattled it with their trunks for a little while.

Yours faithfully, perched perilously on the top, had the fright of his lifetime! After our group arrived in Bihar State, it was broken up into sub-groups of two or three each and allotted for training to different districts. I was part of a sub-group comprising Aruna (then Jayaram) Roy and, Shashi (then Behl) Jain which was trained in Patna district. As part of the training, we also went to Bodh Gaya to understand the working of a Community Development Block. Whether the schedule of the training impacted on me or not, one important lesson I imbibed was from Aruna, who taught me how to pronounce the word "terrible"! I also remember an occasion when, because of me, Aruna and I were delayed for an engagement, a lapse for which she has yet to forgive me!

My wife Usha joined me in Calcutta. Both of us looked so absurdly young those days, that we were often asked whether our marriage had not attracted the provisions of the Sarada (Child Marriage Restraint) Act! I remember our being taken around the city in a tourist bus, when Vicky (Vivek Agnihotri, who retired as Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha), sang the lilting melody of Mukesh "Tere labon ke muqabil". While in Calcutta, as was the custom on such occasions, our group called on Dharma Vira, the then Governor of West Bengal. Dharma Vira had earlier received a letter from C Rajagopalachari, the first Governor General of India and maternal grandfather of Gopal Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi being the paternal grandfather). Gopal is a batchmate and was part of our group. And, strangely enough, many years later, Gopal was to become the Governor of that very State! When the Governor asked, "Where is Gopal"? and started looking for him, poor Gopal, shy and self-effacing that he was (as he still is), was so embarrassed that literally hid behind a pillar! Another interesting incident was when Charan Das Arha, Usha and I shared a meal in a popular restaurant in Cuffe Parade. Charan had Tandoori chicken and all that was left after Charan had had a go at a leg piece was a mountain of powder!

Off we went to Kohima after that via Dibrugarh and Dimapur. As we reached Kohima, news came that a railway bridge our train had crossed the previous night had been blasted by underground rebels. We were invited, that evening, to a dinner by the Governor of Nagaland. As drinks were being served, I noticed that the local 'Bhang' was also on offer. Out of sheer curiosity, I tried a bit of it. Unfortunately, however, I followed it up with my normal drink, whiskey. The combination probably upset me. As I was having my soup, our Joint Director SS Dhanoa (who went on to become the Union Health Secretary and, after retirement, served a stint with ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arif Tropics), in later years, walked across and gently enquired, "Mohan, why are you getting philosophical over your soup"?

It was a polite and mild way of telling me that I appeared to have had enough and had better be going back to the guest house! Promptly, a jeep was summoned, and I was off without much further ado!

Nagaland is a beautiful state, and we thoroughly enjoyed that visit. Particularly the visit to Chakabama, where a division of the Indian Army was located at that time. Our tour also included visits to Guwahati and Shillong (then still a part of Assam State) both truly delightful experiences. One unfortunate development was that a visit planned to the Kaziranga Sanctuary had to be dropped on account of heavy rains. On the whole the visits to the north-eastern States were a wonderful experience, especially as we were able to savour the variations in the socio- cultural backgrounds between the two States of Manipur and Nagaland. One wished the itinerary had included visit also to States such as Mizoram and Tripura. In later years, however, I was able to visit both Aizawl and Agartala. Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, however, is a place I am yet to visit.

(To be continued on next Thursday)

(The writer is former Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh)