On Being Self-Reliant!

You were not taken by surprise this time. When the new task of becoming self-reliant was announced, you had already aced the game by then.

Your office made you self-reliant first. It decided to enforce lockdown on office staff and then asked you to ensure entire office’s job. You never realized you were so important in mankind’s struggle against corona virus. Everyday you felt like going to war expecting your wife to put tilak on your forehead. When you came back, everyone had the glance of ‘this is the person who can bring back corona virus’. You sat in office for days in company of masks and sanitizers and washed your hand with soap, then disinfected it with sanitizer and then cleansed the sanitizer bottle with sanitizer. 

You were introduced to a world of Zoom VCs where ‘Am I audible’ accounted for 75% of words. You became an expert in entertaining yourself and laugh out aloud when participants displayed nasal hairs, showed closeup of their ears or tried to cross over to the other side of computer screen by coming close to the camera. 

Your sons also became self-reliant. Their schools started classes online and they could manage all their homework during the lockdown. They learnt the art of all arts and started copy pasting from internet with panache. They became explorers of digital devices and soon every gadget had versions of exotic computer viruses they sheltered them with pride. Since lockdown meant both of them stayed indoors, you became expert in deciding who won their boxing bouts. 

Your parents became corona experts. They found new cures averaging 2.7 in a day and between your family WhatsApp group, there were more than 10001 cures of Corona Virus. They also knew by heart, virtues of each ayurvedic medicine/Vitamins. You realized there was nothing new in Social distancing and you have led a socially distant life but your family learnt the art of being in a group even while being apart. They mingled with frenzied flat owners and joined competition of banging utensils or shining torchlights in this Corona War. 

You never knew entire body building could be done inside the house. You could work up your biceps mopping floors and you could do all the stretching with broom in hand. You also became an innovator and designed ergonomically better Brooms and Mops. You relished in praising yourself on sparkling floors and claimed pro level but your better half could still show you fifteen missed spots. 

Since everyone was becoming self-sufficient, your housing society decided it could not be left behind. It decided to interpret convoluted lockdown circulars in their own stride and found thirty-three explanations for each clause. There was a silent competition in RWAs to decide who was bigger Hitler in the town. They decided which essential item was essential at what time and when one was supposed to wear a mask and who was required to take a sanitizer bath. Residents found new ways to humiliate by clicking pictures of those walking out and naming/shaming them on WhatsApp. 

Everyone could locate bacteria/viruses and they had 1001 ideas about where virus could hide. People poured disinfectant in the drains, they threw disinfectant on the road and battery of all microorganisms/insects cursed Corona Virus. People took smaller breaths in the lift, used toothpicks to push lift buttons and then lost sleep imagining if even those had a human touch. Sound of coughing/sneezing in the vicinity created tremors of flight and there were thermal guns at every check point. 

People also became independent in finding cause of Covid-19. Some found it in bats, some in Chinese labs and many saw it emerging like all other evils (and ably aided by news channels), in particular creeds. 

After valiantly fighting Corona Virus for so many days, everyone was self-reliant. They could explain it was for their own protection to stay indoors when there were 100 cases. They now also knew it was for their own good to go out and embrace the world when more than 1,00,000 were carrying Corona Virus. 

You felt you could either laugh or cry but then decided to recommend Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Masque of Red Death’ to everyone who could read this far!Y

MCTP Day 12: Promises are the Sweetest Lies!

मैं अकेला ही चला था जानिब-ए-मंज़िल मगर

लोग साथ आते गए और कारवाँ बनता गया

This couplet by Majrooh Sultanpuri somewhat describes the trainings in LBSNAA. When I made the promise that I would write a blog every day, I felt I would have a lot of time here, with not many batch mates around. But then I made friends. 

Aren’t promises the sweetest lies!

So here we are, learning through movies, learning through games and learning through our experiences. A day was spent in taking and receiving feedbacks and that was fun. Another day was dedicated to emotional intelligence. Days like that come in and go by and evenings are dedicated for long walks with friends.

On last Saturday, we had a trek till Wishing Well (these destination names on hill stations never fail to amaze) and that was amazing. Most of the lectures were as good as they ought to be and we felt nothing less than being enriched. I guess academy is like parent’s place for a married girl; you may be whatever in the field, in LBSNAA you feel back in home.

There is a world outside and there is a world in the academy, and if you ask me now which one do I like, this is the place! 

Day 3 MCTP: The Story!

Phase III runs has participants from different batches and you suddenly realise that your story was also their story. All batches had similar events, similar issues and similar memories. It is just that the actors change.


Again we had group photo session, again we had cultural societies and again people were rushing for Hot Maggi outside at Ganga Dhaba. For us, we continued with our walks and treks. Todays trek was to a nearby Buddhist Monastry.

Academy on their end taught us or let us say tried to teach us Behavioural economics and art of giving feedbacks. Not all of us were convinced how feedback would be taken, including by the academy. This encouraged fellow officers to give honest feedback to each other creating social disharmony in an otherwise aloof group. But we should give credit where it is due and faculty did try their best to explain these concepts.



Taking liberty with a couplet of Abbas Tabish:

"ये academy की कहानी नहीं मरती लेकिन
लोग किरदार निभाते हुए मर जाते हैं "

Day 2 MCTP: Academy is 'the academy'!

And how can it be 'Happy Valley' when sleepy probationers are mandated to be there at 6 am in shivering Mussorie cold for morning PT? A big concern during our earlier phase in LBSNAA was mandatory morning physical activity. There, the roaring sound of PT instructor (mostly Ranaji, the big moustached, old young man) echoed. Mostly he was shouting at dozing Officer Trainees who tried to pass off uncoordinated limb movements as PT.

This time we missed it and were there by ourselves for in the PT ground(timing though now was 6.45am). Academy also gives multiple options like Gym, Cycling, Yoga, PT etc and for the first day we opted for Cycling. There is a cycle that we have seen and then there is a cycle with 3*8 gears and welcoming steep slopes of the mountain. We negotiated with the terrain and cold, but came back happy (and often boasting) to the Happy Valley.

Lectures reminded us that they still are the best lullaby. On a serious note, most were interesting. An instructor rated us the most critically analysing group in present politico-social eco system of the country. We were not sure what it meant but found it flattering. Then there were sessions on Eating right, iGOT and e-learning facility of DoPT. Always there are questions of fellow participants whose sole contribution is delays in tea break timing.

But despite all this academy is 'the academy'!


  

Day 1- MCTP LBSNAA

After more that ten years, I am back at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), this time for Phase III. I started blogging sometime in 2006 and most of my blog posts were during the period when I was at the academy (2007-09). This time let me try to write daily entries for four weeks I am at this place.

The first thought that comes being back is nostalgia of last time; oh here we sat sipping tea during session breaks, here we walked in the evenings and here was the last time we sat with a friend who is no more with us now. Also the thought that academy has changed significantly. The quality of rooms is much better this time (or may be we are somewhat senior). There are new hostels and buildings.

On the academic front, first day was not that hectic. Cabinet Secretary Sri Rajiv Gauba was here along with DoPT Secretary Sri C. Chandramouli. Their lectures were reassuring and they touched about the role and challenges for IAS as a service. Academy Director and other faculty were genuinely warm and good.

A long walk in the evening refreshed old memories. Mussoorie is beautiful (and cold too). It feels


good to be back at the learning desk, good to be a student again and great to be back at the academy!