Yesterday I met a young friend after a function. He is into international consultancy. The young man's analytical ability and power of expression have always been impressive.. He dislikes incompetence but is never an escapist. He is no high-flyer either. A happy family-man, he felt relieved when he rejected a lucrative job offer abroad. I think he told me about the closure of a few offices of International Donor Agencies in Bhubaneswar. My thoughts soon travelled to the Bore-Wells we sunk in saline belt of the state in early Eighties while I was Secretary in Housing and Urban Development Department in Government of Odisha. "Saline Sealing" was a welcome term I learnt. DANIDA was associated in the programme. DFID worked with us in Health, Education, Power, Administrative Reforms and Livelihood sectors.
Since the State's present development status is acknowledged far and wide, it was only natural that Donor Agencies would be in greater need elsewhere. Though I viewed the closure of these offices at Bhubaneswar as an inevitability of "development" of the state , there was a tinge of remorse for having lost a few friends.
In the evening before I retired, I checked up the mail- box. One mail was positively irritating. It was from one of those offshore scamsters who held out billions of dollars waiting for me. I quickly sent the message to the gutter; but I suspect it made an impact on me. It got into a complex chemistry with the news about the closure of donor offices in Bhubaneswar and got into my mind. The result was a Dream that I had last night. Before I forgot it, I thought of writing what it was about. Characters in a Dream can never be real. Dreams can be scary but can never be malicious either
Since the State's present development status is acknowledged far and wide, it was only natural that Donor Agencies would be in greater need elsewhere. Though I viewed the closure of these offices at Bhubaneswar as an inevitability of "development" of the state , there was a tinge of remorse for having lost a few friends.
In the evening before I retired, I checked up the mail- box. One mail was positively irritating. It was from one of those offshore scamsters who held out billions of dollars waiting for me. I quickly sent the message to the gutter; but I suspect it made an impact on me. It got into a complex chemistry with the news about the closure of donor offices in Bhubaneswar and got into my mind. The result was a Dream that I had last night. Before I forgot it, I thought of writing what it was about. Characters in a Dream can never be real. Dreams can be scary but can never be malicious either
The Dream:
Boss has reportedly started scrutinizing proposals received from international consultants appointed through a Search Committee that, people say, comprised Bhai and Bhatija. Since he is remaining awfully busy in serious matters, both mundane and spiritual, he no longer is able to concentrate on any minor subject written in fine print of more than 100 words. He has engaged a Visnhu Sharma who goes through the suggestions of the consultants, prepares a short version of them and presents the essence of the summary in a couple of sentences while the Boss is at the best state of receptiveness. Some say Vishnu Sharma does not place all the proposals before the Boss. He decides which ones and how many and when.
This time Boss wants the best programme that would fetch the maximum number of votes. He has been one of the best political managers of the country and has a knack of sensing what people love to have. He however does not underestimate his rivals and thinks on what they think. Rice scheme could be hijacked by the Direct Transfer of Benefit decision and the huge rice subsidy of centre could go to the householders direct through Jan Dhan Yojana. Dal could be without taste if Dal price shoots to/ beyond 300 Rupaiya per kilogram.
The market is now agog with the rumour that Vishnu Sharma while glancing through consultant's proposals, has hit the jack-pot. Boss is most likely to pick it up as the best vote-catcher. Every child enrolling in a school will have automatic promotion to the next class and also automatically pass even the Matriculation examination only on condition that the student writes in the answer-sheet nothing beyond his own name and the teacher certifies that the student's home has no electricity. Apart from winning votes, the scheme would make the state the most literate one in the world with least cost. Besides, the state will be combating carbon emission in a unique way; and would be even triggering a revolutionary bio engineering wonder of generating night vision capability in the youths of the state. All these advantages would make the Boss a serious contender for next year's Peace Nobel.
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17th October, 2015
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