C'est Fini Les Amis

A last push

I adopted a multi modal transport approach to arrive at Patiala after the valedictory ceremony. Why is that relevant? There are two aspects to the mode of travel and this day's events that are correlated. The valedictory gathering was addressed by the Honourable President of India. He exhorted the OTs of the 89th Foundation Course to adhere to the tenets of the Constitution, to be responsive to people and to be responsible for the development of the country. In the mass transport systems that I had availed of, a bus to Dehra Dun, a Vikram (7 seater auto) to the ISBT, a bus to Saharanpur, a general compartment train ride to Ambala, a Magic van (8 seater automobile) ride to Patiala, one rubbed shoulders with the people whose principal representative addressed the gathered OTs that very morning. In those ballooning delays, in the grit of the unkempt general compartment and the grime of the public utilities, in the disfunctioning anarchy of the system we misnamed as 'transport', in that dreamy disjointed multimodality, I found the reason for the existence and the cessation of the civil services.

The valedictory function went off without glitches. The Honourable President arrived at the Academy and has had a group photo taken with the officers of the 89th Foundation Course. The Honourable President then addressed the OTs, his employees in the literal sense. The valedictory ceremony was preceded by a mini drama of sorts involving course completion certificate, the OTs and a few palpitating hearts gripped by the fear of failure. The OTs were given a course completion certificate, a copy of the group photo taken few days ago and a sketch of the director's office building by a very talented artistic OT. 

The OTs with the highest marks in various subjects and the OTs who promoted the esprit de corps were awarded prizes by the Honourable President of India.

The 89th Foundation Course came to an end with a lunch in the Officers' Mess. 

Tears were shed, farewells were said, numbers exchanged, selfies clicked and without much ado, the 89th Foundation Course came to an end.

Heart's strings were plucked, a portion in the pit of the stomach went into knots encountering familiar and fond faces, knowing one would not see them as often as one would have wanted. Pretty faces, handsome faces, friendly faces, smiling faces, haughty faces, faces of civil servants all, they will remain in that portion of the brain which specializes in short term memories and will be over written by more immediate faces, a set of 180 faces, a fresh beginning of understanding old faces. What remains in the long term?

What remains in the long term is our conception of reluctant starts to friendships, of awkward remembering of faces and corresponding names, of human bonds and the surprising transformation that urgency has brought about in the nature of relationships. Would we have felt the same way if the Foundation Course was of 5 year duration?

The star ship Mycadea righted itself after the group photo, opened all the vents of the Karamshila Engine Complex, fired all its engines and achieved escape velocity within an hour of address by the First Citizen. However, 180 T-OTs were left behind and they looked on, many with moist eyes, heavy hearts, restless minds, looked on at the departing 104 T-OTs, their friends, lovers, philosophers and guides over the past 111 days.

Godspeed spacefarers!

PS:

As promised, this is the last post on this blog, Labhashana.blogspot.com regarding the 89th Foundation Course. While I debate whether to continue the same title and merely demarcate the Foundation Course section or to start a new blog with a new title and a different ethos, I would like to thank you dear readers for everything and nothing.

My personal objectives for the FC were realized in parts. Weight loss- yes but unsatisfactory. Books read- yes but far too few. Super power attained- Anonymity- worked well but only to an extent.

And that is all folks.

Post Script: I did decide to blog about the 1st Phase. You can read all about the 1st phase here.
https://firstphaser.wordpress.com

Schrodinger's Cat was a Cow and other Absurdities

24 days for the circus to leave the town. Would you shed some tears for the dearly departed?

It is always a good idea to write off when in anger and then trash it. Or put the post up in the probables list. Or dip the post in such caustic humour that it turns in to a pulp of vague references.

Anyway, it was a dreamy day. The sun light was sweet, straight and bright. It fell on the delicate shoulders and intelligent heads of the pretty lady OTs, giving an unintentional brilliant golden highlight to their hair, illuminating them as Madonnas on stained glass panels of medieval cathedrals. Just another day in the academy. The class rooms are neither cosy nor cold, they are just so. However, a filling breakfast of proteins, carbohydrates (hydrocarbons?) and fruit juices puts a generic gentleman OT in to a genial mood for sleep. Lectures on rights based legislation by explorers and pioneers or on macro economic policies by advisers to very important people of India get taught, while a head somewhere drops abrupt, a fresh entrant in to the world of the sitting sleepers.

Sometimes the 89th FC OTs get surprising guest lecturers. Shrimati Karenjit Kaur Vohra, a.k.a Shrimati Sunny Leone, an actress of some talent and an accomplished business person, visited the academy to deliver a lecture on the Ancient Art Forms Of India. A particular art form was referred to more than others. A clairvoyant's image of the artist captured the essence of the art and the artist's engagement with the audience. The guest lecturer asserted that the Ancient India was a place of high refinement in tastes. Cultural norms of the society of Ancient India were of a standard unsurpassed. The guest lecturer derided the current crop of civil servants for their pusillanimity in their imagination. She insisted that glorious, golden, halcyon days of the past can be regained once gain when the civil servants shed their inhibitions and take grand decisions, adopt bold positions on issues and come out on top, in general. The degradation in standards (of what was not specified) were a cause of concern to her. The guest lecturer concluded by exhorting the OTs to exert themselves (on what was not specified).

Shrimati Karenjit Kaur Vohra extolling the glorious days of Ancient India.

A gentle tap on the shoulder usually wakes a day dreaming OT before they embarrass themselves by exerting  in snoring during the classes. 

Apart from the exciting guest lecturers, the batch also receives unsolicited emails from well meaning citizens and/or civil servants. The emails are summaries of news, general impressions and opinions. Fearless fellow OTs however are not very amused by the voluminous mail as it only adds to the increasing sense of an impending showdown, a denouement of the FC, adds to the stress of unresolved issues, unread mails amidst a deluge of emails dreaming of achieving coordination via electronic media.

In other unrelated news, conclusive evidence emerged that the Schrodinger's cat was in fact a cow. Not any other average Joe cow but the very sacred one, a cash cow. The cow was supposed to answer the question 'when does the actual quantum state stop being a linear combination of states, each of which resembles different classical states, and instead begin to have a unique classical description?'

Disclaimer: None of the points stated in this post are true except this disclaimer. There was no such guest lecturer nor was Schrodinger's cat a cow.

On a Splendid Cultural Performance

A guest lecture dealt with the Dalit entrepreneurship as well as with the social and political thought of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. Can capitalism be a solution to casteism? The speaker thought so.

The 2nd edition of the cultural programme was entertaining through and through. The evening started off with a recitation of a shloka which was not clear. 

A Sufi song, Fuzon's 'Mora Saiyan' and a group song by the students of the NIVH received standing ovation from the audience. Of special note was the group song.

The performances by the NIVH students were followed by a Rajasthani dance by the lady OTs, dazzling in traditional dress and the very picture of poise and grace with pots balanced delicately on their heads. Theirs was a mesmerising performance.

The comperes, meanwhile, had started LBSNAA TV. The 'news' snippets of a certain lady OT who can talk for hours together (and yet find it not enough), a gentleman OT who wanted administrators with 'real experience' to teach at the academy, a gentleman OT whose questions are as lengthy as lectures etc kept the audience regaled with instant connect and recall.

A jugalbandi of old Hindi movie songs was next in order. There was a change of guard in the compere team and 'Mushie' and the lady OT kept the audience engaged for the rest of the session. A rather innovative dance by OTs from AP and Telangana had the audience asking for more. How innovative was it? Well, the gentleman OTs danced, even, to the ditty 'hamara Bajaj'!

A lady OT sang a soulful song. Pardon my ignorance but the song was an unfamiliar one.

To jazz up the evening, a peppy salsa number was next to follow. However, it gave raise to a lot of mirth owing to, how shall one put it, few too many left feet of certain gentleman OTs. Two of them specifically. :) The ladies simply sizzled.

A mimicry show riveted the attention of the audience next. Bollywood stars of yester years as well as the current Khan crop made an appearance. Usual suspect politicians, news anchors and movie stars were portrayed with easy and impressive talent by three gentlemen OTs. Who would have thought that the serious civil servant types can mimic?!

Santana got a place too with two gentleman OTs playing their own variation on Santana's piece. The OTs' talent with guitars was amazing.

A synthesis of Gujarati and Punjabi dance numbers enthused the audience with the catchy beats. The thoroughly entertaining evening was brought to a close with an invite by the 89th FC batch for a dandiya raas tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

Special mention and appreciation to the coordinators, backstage personnel, various clubs and societies which came together to make this cultural event a resounding success. Loved the mellow lights and perfect sound arrangements.

Cultural Day

The Cultural Day performances took off, true to the name 'Parwaaz.'

The 89th FC batch showcased their acting, dancing, singing skills, keeping the audience captivated for close to two hours in the first cultural event for this course. After the lamplighting by the senior faculty members of the academy and a spellbinding rendering of a devotional song, a skit depicted the travails that the UPSC Civils aspirants undergo both before and after crossing the academy gates. This was done through the use of mythological characters. The result was that the skit was the undoubted attraction of the evening. Few notable and popular characters were Narada, Shiva and Yama. The others contributed their best to deliver an entertaining programme.

The lady officers of the batch took us through a quick tour of a Bollywood heroine's evolution from the 1950s on till date with the help of illustrative dances. A jugalbandi between the ladies and gents team of clever, modified Bollywood songs was entertaining if a bit long. There were recitals of shayari, English and Urdu poems, a group dance, a group song (Dooba dooba!), a solo guitar performance-all were memorable. 

Kudos to the OTs who participated on stage and to those behind the screen. Kudos too to the comperes, they kept the audience engaged. Overall an evening well spent.

This batch truly deserves the tag 'Rainbow Batch.' If this were the preview one looks forward to more such scintillating performances in the future for India Day and other cultural days.

The cultural event was followed by a dinner hosted by the course faculty. There were a variety of savoury victuals that could have sated the most gluttonous OT.

Photographs of the event may be posted at a later date depending on their availability from fellow OTs.

Heritage walk, Debate, Cows and Red Tape

To break the monotony (and the physical exhaustion) of PT, we had a heritage walk, of sorts, near the academy. Walk is a relative term. For a few, a simple climb up a road may be a challenge enough.

Waverly houses an old and venerable institution, the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Musoorie. It was established in 1845. A road in front of the school leads to Hathi Paon. Sir George Everest's estate used to stand there. I hear it is now in ruins. This place may be a destination when I find time and motivation enough to trek to places unbid. It may be a closure to the book 'The Great Arc' by John Keay that I read.

A very old school

Somewhere to go

The highlight of the day must be the debate in which the OTs participated. The topic of the debate was 'Executive should have no say in the appointment of HC/SC judges.' The participants put in a splendid performance. I think I can speak for the audience in saying that we thoroughly enjoyed the debate. Kudos to the participants for sparing no punches on their opponents. :)

I have noticed that the cattle here have an attitude problem. Sample these two:

Whatcha lookin at?

 The bovines charged at two or three OTs during the trek to Kempty falls. One does not relish the thought of a senior civil servant being charged at by the cattle. But what would the poor cows know? They can not differentiate one fat human from the next, and can not certainly read our ID tags which also mention the service we have been allotted. A true blue bureaucrat may try out a project to educate the cows. If not outright reading of the name tags etc, at least to differentiate between the services by way of colour, smell or in any other manner. I am sure the primary reason for their anger at the bureaucrats may be the red tape.

So help me god...

Thus the oath was rounded off with a hope that deity or deities of one's faith would help an administrator bear allegiance to the Constitution of India. A clause for conscientious objectors was inserted advising them to only solemnly affirm.

The Honourable Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari, administered the oath to the Officer Trainees of the 89th Foundation Course. Prior to that, the inaugural ceremony started off with the national anthem, address by the Course Coordinator,  Director of the Academy, his Excellency the Governor of Uttarakhand and by the honourable Vice President. It may be of interest to note that the honourable VP is an alumnus of the institute having undergone the Foundation Course himself in 1961. One may find the gist of the dignitaries' speeches in news reports. Hence, I am skipping that part.

The course coordinator and the faculty introduced the course module to the OTs in rest of the sessions. A session on Official Language Policy was helpful in shattering myths and preconceived notions regarding the official language. The distinction between national language and official language (rashtra bhasha and raj bhasha) was clearly explained. The visiting faculty, Shmt. Veena Upadhyaya highlighted the nuances in various laws enacted to promote the official language. The question and answer session was informative as well, as the OTs brought in a contemporary perspective in understanding the language debate.

The inaugural ceremony and the orientation sessions were held in the Sampoornanand Auditorium located opposite to the reception area of the academy. The auditorium has an impressive octagonal roof and can seat, as per my estimate, close to 400 people at a time. The auditorium may double up as a theatre for one noticed the cluster of stage lamps overhead on the stage. I was reminded of my days as the lights boy for RK Hall (IIT KGP) dramatics team. It involved rotating a dial on the resistor from a cubby hole above the stage and out of view of the audience. I was a witness for many a fade in and a fade out and gimmicky light effects. The sound was crisp owing to the Bose sound system in place.

The OTs once free from the classes were seen clicking pictures of themselves in the ceremonial attire, around the campus. A point midway between Karmshila and Kalindi buildings (Karmshila houses the Officers' mess, Library, class rooms and Kalindi houses the VIP guest house) offers good view of the mountains all the way up to the Gangotri on a clear day, according to the guide to the peaks placed on a bronze plaque there.

The bandhgala is a tough dress to wear for long periods of time. I felt suffocated and hot all the while I was wearing it, for a good 8 hours. 

I got some time to explore the Gandhi Smriti Library. It is well stocked with journals, books, magazines, reference books, news papers, terminals for accessing the net etc. The feature that attracted my attention the most was the not insubstantial collection of fiction. The duration of Foundation Course, Phase 1 and 2 can be well spent with these books. 

The grind of the FC starts from tomorrow with the famed PT at the polo grounds at 5.55 am. The polo grounds are around 1.5 km from and below the Ganga hostel, reached by a steep path. The ascent will be a challenge. But then which ascent has not been a challenge? And it is not even the Everest, for crying out loud. It is a side of the Happy Valley. As a slogan goes, "No race, no rally, just enjoy the Happy Valley."

I clicked few photos of the campus. Next post, may be? However, I prefer my thousand words to my one blurry photo.

I do not see this daily blogging habit sustaining over a long time. May be this may turn in to a weekly update affair. Let us see how it goes.