Almost 2 years to the date , I get to visit my old place of posting. This is an extremely rushed visit as I have had to leave behind overnight the latest addition to our family, against all good sense. I raved and ranted , cursed and cribbed about having to make this 8 hour long journey across the State. But I could not avoid it.
As it is with life, what you expect is rarely what you get. I had no idea that my hushed visit would evoke so much excitement amongst the few who knew of it. On the day of travel, even before i left, I started getting calls from them about my plans and lots of requests for more time (which , unfortunately i could not spare). As I entered the district boundary, I was flooded with memories.. my poor driver had to listen to stories of those glory days as we drove past villages and milestones. My well wishers waylaid me for a cup of tea with them at a roadside restaurant. I didn't have to do much more than ask how things are, and they poured out the status of all the works that had been undertaken in that period. To my delight, some of the blocked city projects, which took much effort to get back on track, had been completed or were about to be completed. A garden that I had discovered and re planned was now fully functional, a KV that was in demand and we managed to get started with great difficulty and many others. Lots of talk of people who were there then and how everyone was faring.. I wanted to linger on for a couple of hours, but had some more distance to cover, so gulped my tea and said good bye.
As I pulled into the porch of my place of stay, I am greeted with a surprise. Two of the most efficient people I have worked with, standing there, grinning away, waiting for me to reach. I am so delighted, I hug them and even though its 10 in the night, they accompany me to my room. I invite them to have dinner with me and we chat away till almost 12. The next morning, I get another flurry of visitors early morning. including one most unexpected - a vice president of a powerful association. Someone who I have only met once in the 2 years that I was there. Surprisingly, he talked of some of the tough decisions I had to take back then and appreciated it.. I had no clue I was being watched so carefully even by those behind the scenes. The day is hurried and rushed, but peppered with people I have never met but who recognize me and tell me how wonderful my tenure there was.
I say a sad good bye to my friends and rush home to my kids, ruing how short the trip was the whole time. I spent the 8 hour journey back thinking of the things we had accomplished in 3 years and calling those who I couldn't meet to apologize.. After a long time, it felt good to be me.. felt valued, loved and respected.. I wondered if this was just sycophancy on their part, but I realised, there were too many developments in the city pointing towards me for anyone to think their words were empty praise..
I have to go back, at leisure.. just to have a look at those works again.. and meet those who I couldn't.
