Monday, October 17, 2011

From Orissa with love.

Today I'd come across a very simple gentleman from Orissa who goes by the name of Bidyadhar Rout. An armourer by profession, he'd prematurely retired a few years back only to return to the surroundings, familiar to him, by the call of his work. Today, he'd fetched up from Thiruvananthapuram at my place on duty and after its completion, had come to brief me about what he'd done for the day.

After finishing with the official requirements, I had enquired about his personal particulars, the details of which was an education of sorts, for me. He truly surprised me when he said that he'd seen me in a few of the activities, with the volunteers of my grandfather's foundation!

Bidyadhar was astonished to hear the names of some of the remotest villages and hamlets of Orissa that I'd visited as part of a relief team in the early 90s. Since the work, then, had spanned a period of almost a month my memories still remain fresh and I've a few hard core friends from the area - the district of Ganjam and nearabouts - who keep in touch.

 Incidentally, Bidyadhar is very keen on settling down in God's own country. His wife would rejoin him once the formality of admitting their only son at the engineering college in Bhubaneshwar is complete. His observation that the Malayalees are 'docile and helpful to others' sounded like music to my ears. And he has a disarmingly simple outlook about life in general!!

Hope he never changes that opinion, ever! 

No comments:

Post a Comment