I 10

After a long wait of more than a year, I finally acquired my set of four wheels. I wanted to and following some pursuasion, I got to pick it up on 'Dhanteras'. This day is supposed to the most religious of days in the Hindu calendar. Driving a new car is far trickier than driving the standard govt Gypsy. The journey from the showroom took double the time it normally takes. I am now trying to hone my driving skills in the campus. 

This year Diwali was better organised and more colourful than last year. We had organised it in the stadium with fireworks, both market bought and 'govt issue.' Unlike last year, we were more of us in our 'sports colony'.     

Murphy's law

After returning, I discovered that a lot of things had gone haywire. My laptop was on the blink, the TV was behaving erratically, the cupboards smelt as if they had been soaked in water and left on their own to dry and most of the eatables had fungus all over them. The humid weather of Bengal had taken its toll. It took some effort to get the laptop running again. I had to format the Hard Drive. This resulted in my losing all data and most importantly, my pre-loaded OS. With a locally loaded OS, the machine was on its feet, but with crutches. Another hurdle remained – loading drivers. This was again a Herculean task. Somehow, I got it working enough to connect it to the ‘net. The search is now on for the right drivers and software to protect it for malware. Lesson learnt – sometimes, you have to just let things go their own way. Too much of caring might result in a catastrophe. I had decided to leave behind the machine to protect it from ‘human’ viruses and because I did not think I would require it for a physical training course. But then Murphy was right when he said – if something has to go wrong, it will.  

            The weather here is turning pleasant as the days progress. This time, I think the winter will be comparatively more severe than what it was last time. Last time, the cold was palpable on around January. This time there is a nip in the air in the mornings in October itself. In the foothills, it was cold in the mornings and evenings. I spent a week in Dudhiya, overseeing an official event. In such outings one gets to meet other people from the Force, listen to divergent views, experience the richness and at times the paucity of human resource, have discussions on anomalies of the recommendations Sixth CPC, of how our 2IC is more burdened than his equivalent in the Armed Forces. Our Force requires a synergy at all levels of we have to take it forward.           

Alls well that ends well

Surprising how time passes by speedily when the going is good. After the Training schedule came to an end on 27 Sep, we were still not sure when we would be given our movement orders to return. In fact, on the evening of the 26^th, there were suddenly rumours flying thick that the course had been extended by a week, that all the tests would be conducted again, that the world was finally coming to an end (that was what was going through the minds of virtually everyone) that martians would be landing near the 26 feet wall and would be duplicating it on Mars (I made up the last one!). Rumours have always had their way in this course. They have cleaved their way through truth and sanity. Everyday, we used to wake up to some zany report from ‘Abdul’, seconded by some tormented soul. Most of the times, the rumours remained just that. On other times they turned out to be true. Anyway, coming back to the 27^th, even in the afternoon we were unsure of what was happening. Would we be stuck here for another week? At around 1500h, we finally got the go-ahead. Within a matter of hours, the premises were bereft of any human activity. That was the night we drunk ourselves to oblivion (at least I don’t remember reaching the room). Returning to Siliguri on the 1^st  , the rains, the downcast skies and the same old atmosphere welcomed me. Now, when I look back, all in all, we had a good time, only due to the fact that all of us were together through thick and thin. If not for the underlying camaraderie, the story would have been scripted otherwise. I say underlying because it was not so apparent on the surface. But it was always there whether on the occasion when we were given a lift by a ranting and raving ‘Gopu’ or when we ran long distances goading each other on. The ‘twenty-twenty’ club will be coming up shortly. Invitations are being sent. Please do make it a point to participate.