THE DIGNITY OF THE OFFICE

RANDOM RAMBLINGS-XV

- Anirban Mukhopadhaya

The car changed gears with a jolt. Opening my eyes in the gathering dusk, I could see the red forests of dhak in bloom in the distance. The bridge on the river Ruparel swam into view, grey, sombre and ephemeral.

I closed my eyes, and in the silent darkness, images distant in time came flooding through. The bonnet of the beige jeep throbbed in the harsh sunlight of the afternoon. Ahead of me, I could see the red of the dhak forest in bloom and the bridge on the Ruparel, with its twisted and rusted railings and potholed single carriageway at the end of the black ribbon road. I had joined a few weeks earlier as the Sub Divisional Officer, (SDO), Alwar and was on my way to a tehsil inspection at Thanagazi with a night halt planned at the Forest Rest House at Sariska thereafter. Beside me sat my driver, Nathu, a salt and pepper haired veteran of the district administration, features inscrutable as ever, eyes focused on the road ahead.