Living
in the Capital of my state had its own charm. Having stayed in small towns and
villages till now Bhubaneswar was a modern city. I used to go to New Delhi and
to Calcutta but it was for work, so for my family and me this began a new phase
in our lives. I took over from Shivaprasad not only his job but his house and
telephone too! Work wise it was a great period.
Here
all of my daughters lived with me. By now two were going to school. The eldest
one Anita (had been living with my in- laws) used to go by cycle. The second
one was dropped at the school, which was nearby. The funny thing was both went
to different schools and had different uniforms and this was a pattern they
followed throughout; not only that, they were of complete different nature - one
was an extrovert and the other an introvert!
During
this period my last daughter with no proper name died, while I was on tour to
Delhi. By the time I returned, my cousin Dhiren had supervised the burial in the Kuakhai
river bank. My in laws stayed for a couple of days for the formalities. There
was a Christian Mausi as neighbor who was of great solace to my wife. This was
the first death after one of my brother died when I was very young. It filled
me with a great sense of remorse and futility of life. After this my attachment
to the family also increased, and I became a friend to my daughters, much to
the chagrin of my mother.
Official
trips were very frequent now-I used to go on long trips to Sunabeda and
Phulbani on company business. Trips to Calcutta were also interesting and in
those days I was entitled to Air or AC I class travel and could stay in a hotel up to Rs 30,
a princely sum! The Grand used to charge Rs 35, Great Eastern Rs 30 and Spencer’s
only Rs 25 per day. The greatest rise was in Park with Rs 70! I used to travel
to Silchar and Gauhati in Assam for tendering a bridge on Barak, and on the way
stay at Calcutta. My brother in law was in Burma Shell and I used to visit him
on the last day and see one picture and one cabaret on Park Street.
In
1970 I purchased a new Ambassador car for Rs 20,000 (Till now I had a second
hand one) Green in color. It was meant for a minister whose ministry was
dissolved! This remained with me for seventeen years; the no was ORU 362(The earlier
one ORJ 345). This car took me all over India- Calcutta and Vizag, Kathmandu, Srinagar, Jaipur, Mathura, Gauhati and finally it went to Bombay
by train and I sold it at Nagothane in Maharashtra.
At
that time both petrol and aviation fuel were Rs 1.20 per liter, and
flying aeroplanes appeared to be cheaper and safer than car! Therefore I wrote
to Nagpur Flying club to purchase one A5 aircraft for Rs 5000, unfortunately it
was sold to some maharaja. After I passed all the exams and got my PPL in
1972 I was elected to be a member of the flying club with Biju Patnaik as president.
Incidentally he got his CPL in the year I was born, and his name was found on a
board at Delhi flying club. During this period I was elected as Joint Secretary
of Public sector officer’s association because of which I got transferred to
Talcher in 72….
I
met Biju Patnaik as Chief Minister and Chairman of governing body of REC in 1962, where
I was teaching then at Bhutmundi when I was building a bridge and again at
Ferrochrome plant when I was building a plant. This time I met him at the
flying club and then as Joint Secretary of the association. He asked me how I had
managed so many different roles.
The
lure of Rourkela steel plant had drawn three of my eight brothers, and I decided
to go for it. The interview was at Calcutta, and the DGM an IAS officer was a
sportsman. My technical interview was taken by the Chief Engineer who was
incidentally an electrical engineer. The interview was mainly on my flying
experience. I was selected as Zonal Engineer of a newly created structural
inspection group, with a promise that I be made a Superintendent Engineer after three years, which never
happened due to change in guard.
We
were in the construction department doing inspection, which was not ethical. In
1975 it came under the plant and my designation was changed to General Foreman,
a very lowly designation. During this time emergency was declared and
production went up, consequently we got a bonus of Rs 500 a month, which at
that time was substantial. Then there was a rise of petrol price from Rs 1.20
per liter to Rs 2.40 almost double. This resulted in pooling of cars which was
strictly against rules.
My
quarter was B-8 in sector 3, a three bedroom sprawling house with lawns,
servant quarters, and three air conditioners. The floors had been polished with
wax by the previous German expatriate. This sector was a small one having no
market of its own, but it was very near the biggest market of sector 4. I also
joined the Max-Muller Bhawan and studied German and passed GI, but was out of
town for the next one. There I read all the books available in subjects like
anthropology, geography and even the Vedas. This was the first heavy reading I did
after the Trivandrum public library. I also tried to get into masters degree in
the Engineering College but my chief would not permit. Was it because I could not persuade
him or myself I do not know!
I
also tried to open a branch of flying club at Rourkela, but the response was
poor. The job was interesting but boring after a couple of years. We used to
prepare volumes of inspection reports, but no rectification work was taken up
by construction department. Finally we were given staff for rectification
departmentally. My area was steel and fertilizer plants and I was often called
to the captive mines, and the technical contribution for the first inspection
team was remarkable, and till date no major mishaps have taken place.
These
six to seven years were tumultuous both emotionally and physically. There were
lots of exciting new things happening with pockets of sadness. There were a lot
of achievements and a few failures but like life it was sweet and sour and I
learnt to appreciate the sweetness due to the intermittent sourness…
