It's The Foundation Day of NABARD. Over the years I or some colleagues I know have done crazy things~ with due apologies to Sh Raghbir Singh I share two such episodes.
We were in a remote watershed ~ both of us with a group ~ somewhere near Varanasi. The day had been long and hot in a rocky area. We were on our way back but we could make out a couple of local youth wanted to interact more. The two of us stopped. It started in Hindi and then suddenly the quieter guy launched most vociferously into the discussion in the local dialect. It was all incomprehensible and totally impossible to understand. I did not have the heart or stamina so late in the day to ask him to stop or ask his friends to translate. But Raghbir, he was all ears, leaning forward, encouraging him and saying 'well done', 'bahut acha' "shabash' and at times ' theek kiya'. The young man, encouraged by such gestures, would just carry on. I was puzzled as to how he knew the language so well but kept quiet. I thought during his stay at Lucknow he would have picked it up from some friend. In any case the one sided flow of words ended and we made our way back. I finally asked Raghbir about his understanding of the language and his getting so involved in the discussions. His answer had me in splits and makes me laugh even today, he said nonchalantly " understanding, come on, I did not understand a word, but seeing how involved he seemed to be, I was just encouraging him" !
And then in Punjab, we were neighbours in the Districts, he at Hoshiarpur and I at Ropar. Once we had a task ~ we had to send an estimate of some business we could do in the next financial year. It was more of an idea, nothing concrete at all. We discussed it at night, a.little late at night. I know I was slightly' happy' and I can presume in those days maybe he was too ! We.agreed on Rs 15 crore and Rs 25 crore, confirmed we had.mailed it and forgot about it. After a couple of days we met at Chandigarh for a review and realized the others had just posted notional data, it being just an idea in the works. Lets just say it took a lot of straightfaced smooth sincere talking by both of us to reduce it to Rs 1.50 crore and Rs 2.50 crore !! We called it a decimal error !! Never again would I mail at night on such issues.
The third ~back to Varanasi and the watershed. We were nearing the jeeps to head back to town around dusk when a couple of women passed by and with heads covered by their sari's pallu, they said loudly and most angrily something about us which had the drivers laughing and most amused. I persuaded the driver to translate, which he did readily and happily, the essence was "just because we adopted the ideas and guidance of these guys, it does not mean they can keep coming here and interviewing us and thinking we were duffers before they came'. It really brought us down to mother earth.
Raghbir ji, hope you don't mind, these are happy memories! And some memories are to be shared later.
Happy Foundation Day Friends.
We were in a remote watershed ~ both of us with a group ~ somewhere near Varanasi. The day had been long and hot in a rocky area. We were on our way back but we could make out a couple of local youth wanted to interact more. The two of us stopped. It started in Hindi and then suddenly the quieter guy launched most vociferously into the discussion in the local dialect. It was all incomprehensible and totally impossible to understand. I did not have the heart or stamina so late in the day to ask him to stop or ask his friends to translate. But Raghbir, he was all ears, leaning forward, encouraging him and saying 'well done', 'bahut acha' "shabash' and at times ' theek kiya'. The young man, encouraged by such gestures, would just carry on. I was puzzled as to how he knew the language so well but kept quiet. I thought during his stay at Lucknow he would have picked it up from some friend. In any case the one sided flow of words ended and we made our way back. I finally asked Raghbir about his understanding of the language and his getting so involved in the discussions. His answer had me in splits and makes me laugh even today, he said nonchalantly " understanding, come on, I did not understand a word, but seeing how involved he seemed to be, I was just encouraging him" !
And then in Punjab, we were neighbours in the Districts, he at Hoshiarpur and I at Ropar. Once we had a task ~ we had to send an estimate of some business we could do in the next financial year. It was more of an idea, nothing concrete at all. We discussed it at night, a.little late at night. I know I was slightly' happy' and I can presume in those days maybe he was too ! We.agreed on Rs 15 crore and Rs 25 crore, confirmed we had.mailed it and forgot about it. After a couple of days we met at Chandigarh for a review and realized the others had just posted notional data, it being just an idea in the works. Lets just say it took a lot of straightfaced smooth sincere talking by both of us to reduce it to Rs 1.50 crore and Rs 2.50 crore !! We called it a decimal error !! Never again would I mail at night on such issues.
The third ~back to Varanasi and the watershed. We were nearing the jeeps to head back to town around dusk when a couple of women passed by and with heads covered by their sari's pallu, they said loudly and most angrily something about us which had the drivers laughing and most amused. I persuaded the driver to translate, which he did readily and happily, the essence was "just because we adopted the ideas and guidance of these guys, it does not mean they can keep coming here and interviewing us and thinking we were duffers before they came'. It really brought us down to mother earth.
Raghbir ji, hope you don't mind, these are happy memories! And some memories are to be shared later.
Happy Foundation Day Friends.
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