ACHAYI

November 30^th 2012. Mr O.K CHACKO (name changed) alias ACHAYI retired from the Kerala PWD after some three decades of meritorious service. Yesterday Achayi telephoned  and invited Susan and me for a small party in the evening at his residence. I was told that the party will begin at 5 in the evening.  On reaching the quiet hamlet of Thottakkad where Achayi lived, we had a big surprise waiting for us. “Small party”, I wondered. Such a big “pandal” for a small party?? More surprises were to follow.  Instead of the close relatives and friends like me, I found the entire Kerala PWD there !!! They all have come there leading Achu to the place where he belonged to. Every one looked very jubilant. Groups of people inside and outside the pandal were engaged in a variety of activities. From bla  bla bla to ‘shairy’ to music, every group was busy, not interfering with the activities of other groups. The Karaoke assisted music group was the most noisy !!! A group of some five ‘musicians’ was valiantly fighting Baburaj, Devarajan master or Dakshinamurthy swamy, .Relentless, the group of five, ‘sang ’in five sruthy, five tunes and a ‘mishra chapala (!)’ tal. There could not have been a better display of unity in diversity. Various groups and the common thread was inebriation !!! Seeing all these celebrations anyone would have loved to retire. Anyway what was on display was the enviable, unmatched and honest PWD Brotherhood. I wanted to bow my head before this unity but I didn't, as those standing there (some were sitting and yet  others were in 'sawasana') were  in obscurity !!!

I turned a little pensive and thought of my retirement. May 31^st, 2012. When I walked out of the Physics department of CMS college at about 4-30 pm on that day, there was none to see me off. While going down the wooden staircase , I thought of the day I first went up those stairs on August 17^th, 1981 following Prof Mohan Kurien. I did not expect anybody there to see me leaving. But today watching in awe the way Achayi was escorted to his place by the entire Kottayam PWD office in a Princely way, I could only envy him.
Did I lament in my mind "at least one of my students of 31 years could have been there"??
Gita Bakshi was my student during 1984-85. A passionate writer, she had wrote to me that she would like to meet me and talk to me. This she did during early 2012 and I wrote back, "Gita, I shall wait for you at the department of Physics, CMS college till 4 pm of the 31st of May 2012. Yes, that will be the time when I will be shown the door". I heard the door  shut behind me, but Gita was nowhere in sight. She could have come, no?? But then, why single out Gita. Any one of those avowed "followers" could have..................

Late News
December 1st.
By mid night even those in 'sawasana' resurrected  to join the mid night rally  through the village road of an otherwise sleepy  Thottakkad with slogans like "Thottakkadin Romancham, O.K Chacko Zindabad".
Now....now, I feel like shouting.....PWD Zindabad !!! I wish I were in the PWD so that I could have retired like a Prince instead of  in desolation.