Musings of another PM

well.....i am having a writers' block.......nothing exciting is happening at my end except that i have recently purchased an ironing press and my clothes do not seem as wrinkled now as they looked earlier.....if I had been skinny, people might have even mistaken me for a chenchu tribal person....

This article has been written by my former neighbor in IRMA and current Project Manager of ITDA Eturnagaram, Kamal. He is the unfortunate reason I landed up in this job....

Tribal experience + ves and –ves of my Job…..!!!

Well, the inspiration to write about nature of my job came from a friend of mine whom I was telling about the nature of my job……

…I am presently in Bhadrachalam (AP) nursery, would stay here tonight…I have to see the quality of the plants.

“But you are neither agri nor horticulture graduate, how could u judge a plant’s quality”

but I am in gvt organisation and mind you I have a horticulture officer, who is supposed to come here to see the quality. I told her. Though it was 8 pm and he was on the way…I don’t know how my horticulture officer gained this expertise to check plant’s quality in the acute darkness.

She asked –“which plant”…

“Mango”. But“why only mangoes?” Because… these plants only can survive here…..ok…so “what is your work exactly?”

I said- Presently my job is to ensure that pitting for mango plants is done soon (this soon word has saved us in many horticulture plantation review meetings)…

Well, how much profit do you earn?

…And this was the question that penetrated my subconscious mind and I began to reflect upon the nature of my job and thought of writing this nonsense stuff.

I thought sudhir’s blog would be the right platform to express this nonsense and thankfully sudhir added this to his blog where there is a collection of nonsensical things.

..this might be of some interest for those inquisitive minds who want to know how we are living and how we are alive…or those who need some thought provocative stuff to rationalize their irrational choice( ask Sudhir).

My day usually starts at 8 am with a bang on my door and a few unknown telagu words…It’s the attender, who has come with tea. Despite my attempts (in Hindi) to tell him that he disturbs or rather annoys me, the same intensity continues while banging the door.

I have stopped taking south Indian breakfast here.(Even in IRMA I used to wake up late on Sundays) …I switch on TV and enjoy the tea… I feel lucky that monkeys haven’t pulled the wire the previous night as was done in the world cup football final match.

Before we move, one or two lines about my place- It is 110 km far from Warangal district, the place is Eturnagaram… don’t entangle yourself in pronunciation. I,too felt the same awkwardness in pronouncing the name first. Many a times the word “Garam” is enunciated and my creative visualization turns these thoughts into images…however, I don’t feel disheartened as Francis always stands by me. (His place is Rampa-choda-varam….and now he says RCwaram…what a creative style to hide an apparently …… name)

A single room has been given by my organisation (“Integrated tribal development agency”), a part of AP gvt tribal welfare department) which resembles like IRMA-ETDC room.

Well,having seen some promos of recently released movies in TV, and after pouring 3, 4 buckets of water on my body, I get ready for my office. The clock hits 11 but unlike many friends of mine, I am nonchalant. My office is as near to my room as was the distance between f block from Irma mess.

“Sahib aa gaye”…..”Good morning saar”….these words greet me. People give me the way. It seems they are not aware about my contract period, sometimes I think they consider me AP group 1 service employee…anyways, many sectoral officers prefer to come to office by car, as it is the common feeling if one comes by car, it elevates one’s status. However, the proximity of my room to my office renders car useless.

My cabin looks like a micro corporate room. A note book has been given to me by my office (money has not been reimbursed so far).

This lappy is smart enough to catchWi-Fi and I start reading e-newspapers in my office. Unlike other offices when most of us (tribal people) are in office, there is no work…I remind my office attendant about my pending salary or vehicle allowance. As usual he promises to solve it repu( tomorrow)….Those days when I don’t go office, usually four to five days in a week are such. I go for field visit….when and where, is decided by me….I take my vehicle and driver (gvt has given 2 vehicles.One jeep for rural type roads and other, Indica for pukka roads) and set in for my short journey.

I see myself in the front mirror of car and think, what a great respect this job has given me. If only I had been some more fleshy, it would have suited my personality (like shashikant)

But in my last visit to Hyderabad, I have discovered the way to become like Shashikant ...Now I don’t claim that I am a teetotaller… Shashikant has never admired me as much as he admired me when I sipped beer for the first time in “Hard rock café” last month.

But trying some beer here in Eturnagaram, is a risky proposition…think of a situation when people see that at 11 pm, one PM (program manager) is stealthily going to get some beer, it would run like a wild fire in my office... I don’t know how sudhir has managed his PR in Srisailam.

Distraction…so while moving in the car, it’s a great experience to zoom past forests ….99% of the journey time goes in listening to songs or eating sweet corns/drinking tea from stalls on the way.

Coming to my actual work, we have been given 2,3 responsibilities apart from NREGS work (20%) I see roadworks (30%) and horticulture works (50%). Later, two programs are in convergence with NREGs. I inspect the road with a team of technical persons to verify quality and talk to the contractors to speed up the execution of road works while maintaining quality. So as of now, I have been regarded as a positive catalyst to speed up the process and reach the target.

Having reached the habitations, I conduct a meeting with the village people and our discussion usually roams round the questions-why are you late in completing pitting or have you got the wages for this work? Did our officer visit the area? Show me the plantation site/road work, I want to see whether quality work has been done?

For me, usually 150, 200 km journey has become a common thing( it takes around 2 hrs. to reach to one side)…..

Unlike pure gvt deptts (10am-5 pm), generally all staff members remain in the office till 7pm. MY PO( the big boss of my organisation) remains till 8 or 8.30 in the night. I too don’t feel like going home early….there are people in the office….while in my room I am the only one person.

After coming backagain I thank the monkeys for not creating “khalal” in my entertainment…by then dinner is ready… an attender comes with tiffin, the food is being prepared in my POs kitchen…I watch a movie on HBO/ star movies and sleep with zero tension…we r the monopoly in the market no fear of targets. Amul people (esp. Goel ) might feel a bit jealous.

Two, three lizards that routinely come to catch some flies, also go for sleep as soon as I switch off the light at 1 Am.

2 reasons why one should not opt for the job like me..If you have insect phobia- lizards, mosquito, ants, frogs..( Neha left because of this ) and second if you haven’t lived alone…(Bhardwaj left )

We create much hoopla in Facebook…about salary. It’s true!!.we get salary after 15,20 days delay.

I am the only person here in Eturnagaram or rather in this entire Warangal district who knows no telagu, staying away from home, doesn’t like rice and is a vegetarian… everything is true.

But it is equally true that we are doing a great job in development administration…after all which organisation pays you 42 k for spending money on people?

Confucius says:- “choose a job you love so that you will never have to work a day in your life”… …I love this job, I never work a day for it interests me but…it’s also true that I amcounting my days..

Before I sign off, some more news from tribal people-

1. Shashikantpail has found a hope to continue in tribal deptt .He is falling in love with someone.

2. Sudhir’s parents are impressed by his achievements .They had lost hopes when even after M.tech, he couldn’t get a decent job.Sudhir is waiting for 5^th may 2013( 3 yrs in tribal and ticket to World bank).

3. Ghattu is prodigy in his family. His parents are happy that in this tender age, he earns more than 40k…he is soon to attain marriageable age for boys.

Thanks IRMA!!!!!

Yours

Kamal Kishor Pandey