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People in the park avoid Surasen after a week or ten days. Morning walkers usually form into groups of four or five. In this park, majority of the walkers are retired employees or officers; most of them from government service. Their main purpose of coming to the park in the morning is to walk, and chat and gossip. The topics differ; they discuss from colony affairs to national or international politics or their own family affairs to general social and political issues. After walk of forty or forty-five minutes, they sit on the park bench for a few minutes or go to the nearby tea stall for a cup of tea. But Sursen cannot make himself part of any group or participate in their discussion.
Suresen has retired from
the Indian Administrative Service. He has joined as a state cadre officer, and been
selected to IAS at the end of his career. He lets you know within three or four
minutes of first meeting him that he has retired from the IAS. He has a clever
way of conveying. He does not speak straight; he speaks like this; ‘I had gone
to UP as an election observer,’ lest you cannot get the point, he will add,
‘Only IAS officers go as election observers.’ Or, he may say, ‘I was not
interested to go to the corporation. The chief secretary told me, Surasen Babu,
you have experience in finance matters, you have worked in the finance
department. You go to the corporation as M.D.; the corporation is in a bad shape;
you can set it right.’
Surasen will make you
feel you are not equal to him, though he walks with you, but his place is
higher than yours. Of course, many IAS officers, retired or in service, do not
come to this park for morning walk.
(The story originally published in Odia in SAKAAL on 7th July, 2024)
Surasen picks up a thread
when a discussion goes on amongst members of a group, and he gives examples
from his own life and career. He behaves like Mr. Know All, and attempts to prove
that he knows more, and has more experience than you. He always wants to speak
himself and not allow others to speak. He may say, ‘When I was in the education
department, I reply straight on face to the principal secretary. The secretary
doesn’t like, but I don’t bother.’ If there is a discussion on vigilance raid
on a corrupt officer, he says, ‘I have never accepted even five paise from
anyone in my service life; nobody can say so.’
If the walkers discuss about non-performing employees or officers of a
department, he will say, ‘I never leave the office before I clear all the files
of the day from my table. Some days, I have to sit in the office till nine or
ten, night.’ When there is a discussion on reemployment after retirement of a
government officer, he says, ‘The chief secretary proposed to extend my service
by two years; the minister also desired, but I declined. I told them I worked
for the government for more than thirty-three years. How long should I work? It’s enough. Post-retirement, I shall lead a
free life; I shall read and write.’
Gedu Mohanty has retired
as section officer having been promoted from the post of a clerk. He has worked
with many officers during his thirty-six years of service. He claims to have
known the veins and arteries of the officers. His realization is that one
should understand the opposite of what an officer says. The officer says one
thing, but does the other. If one officer says he never takes bribe, you should
infer the officer has not been caught while taking bribe; or vigilance has not
raided his house. Dishonesty is not a discretion, but why should one beat his
drum of honesty?
People in the park do not
like his boastful talks, and avoid Surasen. Better not to walk with him, rather
than getting bored in the morning. Surasen, perhaps, realizes, and has to walk alone.
After a few days, one
day, Surasen comes to them and says, ‘The government has appointed me as chairman
of an organization. An officer retired from the IAS is appointed for the post.
I was not interested, but the chief secretary insisted on my joining. The C.S. said,
“You can manage the organization well. You should work for the good of the
state.” I cannot decline.’
The morning walkers offered
him best wishes. After he went from them, Mohapatra said, ‘He was saying he had
worked thirty-three years for the government. How long should he work? He would
read and write. Then, how could he go for reemployment? It’s hardly six months
he has retired!’
Gedu Mohanty said, ‘A donkey was carrying an image of God. On the way, whoever saw the image, paid obeisance with folded hands. The donkey thought people greeted him with devotion. He was elated. The owner delivered the image of God to a temple priest, and returned with other burden on the donkey. On the way back, the donkey looked to the sides. No one greeted him. Being unmindful, he stumbled. The owner whipped him.
The bureaucrats are like
that; they get respect so long they have power like the donkey carrying the
image of God. They have respect, and also benefit. After the power is gone, who
cares them? Their mind gets imbalanced. Too difficult for them to cope with a
life devoid of power, like the donkey without carrying the image of God.’
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Surasen, after he joins
the organization, does not come to the park to walk with regular morning
walkers.
*****
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