Kashmir trip - April'2025

Project Days!

Those who have earlier been in the NTPC stations like Korba, Vindhyachal, Rihand, Shaktinagar or others they know how beautiful the NTPC stations are and how sprawling & majestic the township & its quarters are! The most beautiful quarters are the D-types. They are like Bunglows with garden areas and beautiful fauna & flora of its own. Every quarter be it A,B,C or D; has it's own signature birds, animals & plants!

Well, the NKSTPS townships are in the making. In another couple of years NKSTPS will also be turned into a beautiful place in this whole area. Lets preserve its fauna & flora now. 

Meanwhile, let me remember few of my memories of my earlier station which are mostly similar and applicable to all of you who have been in projects...  

  

 

Yes. They have come back again: Two of them were fighting with each other so intensely that they did not notice when me and Daichi [my pet] was just standing below them. While one fell on my shoulder the other one landed in front of Daichi. Angry they were still looking out the other to fight. Daichi was totally confused whether to catch them or watch them. Suddenly they noticed us and utterly ashamed they flew & hid behind the Madmalati tree [also called helicopter flower] at the porch of my quarter. The tree has become quite big over the years. In the summer when it blooms, the area gets filled up with its sweet smell.

                                    Ever since the low frequency cell phone radiations have started invading the sky [900mhz and 1800 mhz] the small species like sparrows & honey bees have been missing since the last decade. But sure they have started reappearing again in the neighborhood! Their immune system must have been undergoing changes, the proof is here! In the tree’s labyrinth of bushes few dozens of sparrows have built their nests. Many a times I find them playing on terrace and now quarreling in oblivion of our very presence! 

                                    Sing saab, my next door neighbor always insisted me to cut off this tree as its smell attracts snakes which I never noticed neither I cared for as a result today it hosts  these tiny beautiful creatures!

 We must remember that this blue planet is also their place to live!

The umbrella comes back:  The other day it was raining in the morning amidst which I was continuing my daily dose of jogging. When I came back home I was totally wet. Daichi, my pet dog was waiting anxiously for me to come home and take him out for morning walk. My wife warned me not to wet Daichi in rain. Therefore, I took out my jumbo umbrella to protect Daichi while out in the rain. But who cares? Daichi is not at all comfortable under umbrella. Soon I find that it’s me who is below umbrella while Daichi is thoroughly getting wet in rain!

We crossed a little boy who was heading for school. It was raining and he does not have umbrella. Moreover he was more attentive in watching Daichi-in-action than for the way to school & shower. Immediately I handed him over the umbrella and told him to use it as it was no point for both of us now – I’m already wet and Daichi does not like it.

“Use it to go to school … ”, I yelled him over the heavy shower now.

…

Back home, my wife was not at all happy for giving away the umbrella to some unknown boy but I assured her that it would come back. In the evening when I came home after office , I found the jumbo umbrella was returned - neatly dried and packed. I asked my wife who returned it? She said a small boy came in search of “Daichi’s home” and found our quarter in no time. The boy played with Daichi for some time and then returned. He lives in the Nabajivan vihar area – about a kilometer outside the township.

 

After few days I meet the boy again in the morning. Seeing me,  he came running and the first thing he said to me – “Uncle, thank you for the umbrella that day, I returned it same day, have you got it?”

I said, ‘Yes, thank you, I got it, but you have not returned the favor!’

“What’s that?”, confused he looked at me.

 

“You have returned the umbrella, now you have to return the favor to somebody in need in some other day just like you that day, by giving away the useless umbrella of yours, and don’t worry , it will always come back”, I hope he understood what I meant.

 

“Yes uncle, sure I’ll do that” , He ran past me.

I wish I have planted a tiny seed of ‘giving’ in his tender mind.

 

After 10 PM: The number appeared in my cell is a Mumbai land line number. It must be some add or promotion call from some bank or money lending institution. I was on leave that day and I picked up the call.

‘Hello Sir, this is Jyoti from IC…. Bank and our bank offers you….’.

‘Hey Jyoti, I am busy now, can’t listen to your call’ , I interrupted her fusillade of attractive and never-so-before unique offers.

‘Sir, when can I call you ?’ she was persistent in her hope of a potential customer in me.

‘OK, after 10PM, tonight’, I offered her my candid proposition.

‘Sir, 10PM is too late, can I call you after 2 hours?’, she was still trying to raise the titanic out of water.

“Yes, you can after two hours but not today, day after tomorrow!”, I was nonchalant in my persuasion.

“Sir, can I call you back after 3 hours?”, She was trying a proverbial last stock.

“3 hours!, OK, then please call me tomorrow after 3 hours when I will have my lunch break”, I was trying her patience now.

“Sir, can you just give me 5 minutes, so that I can...”, She tried her last.

“5 minutes! OK call me after 7PM tonight when I will be free for the day”, I spoke stupidly.

 

Utterly frustrated the lady hung up finally!

...

Bera 

[comments are welcome]