April 21 yet again! On this day, without fail, my mind goes back to the dedicated duty that Papa excelled at. As 21 is the date of his demise, as on every 21, I do keep a fast on April 21, too. Unlike other 21's, on this day, dedicated to Civil Services, I remember his commitment to his work.
He retired as an IRS Officer. Happy were his memories at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administrative Training at Mussoorie. He took his job truly seriously. He was absolutely non-corrupt. He went by the rule book, and yet he always saw to it that the humane touch is not lost. There was this junior colleague of his who met with an accident on duty. I remember the way Papa literally moved the earth and the skies to help him.
Any number of his colleagues would talk about how he helped them in small to big ways, though he obviously was a thorn in the flesh of those who were corrupt and would bend rules to suit their ugly purposes. As a result, he would get repeatedly transferred.
Both of them, Aai-Papa, sacrificed a lot hence for our education. It obviously never occurred to either of them to send us to boarding schools so that they could be together.
Well, in my opinion, he took people at the face value. To a straightforward person, it is difficult to imagine or understand the dubious duplicities of people who wear myriad masks. May be, if he were to be the committed government officer in this Modi era, his genuineness would have been more recognised.
Well, the real tribute to him would be to perform everything one does with dedication and perfection. I try to for sure! Here is my soulful salute to Papa for being a sincere civil servant!
Pratima@Hidden in him was a teacher who would break out of the civil servant mode time and again. Why, during my SSC year, he used to guide me through letters about how to write essays! Of course, I still have all these letters, written in his trademark green ink and unique handwriting.
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