Binu Alex

I realised very early in my stint that government jobs may be boring but even small insignificant inconsequential employee can also make a difference if they have the daring and commitment to truth.

I am trying to weave through various characters that I have encountered while I was in the government department in the current series. Through them I am trying to see what I saw. Today I am recollecting a couple of more characters.

My first day in a government job and I am still confused. Is it going to be a smooth ride for me? Will they post me outside Ahmedabad? Will it be easy to work with such a large number of colleagues? In a large organisation? Will my dream of having a journalism career come to an end?

Continuing from where I left in the last Episode, today I am exploring how I made it to my first and the last government job which I initially thought was not my cup of tea. But then I lasted quite a few years here with much fun and made a lot of friends and of course my better half.

It was a strange coincidence that despite the cry to pursue a journalism career early in my life, I got into a government job. But during my time in the government job, I came across a number of characters. I will try to draw my stint here through the lens of these characters.

Attending someone else marriage function is a real pain for only a few, I guess. For most, it is one of the most awaited events. I was comparing of these functions between the place where I am - Ahmedabad - and that of the place where I come from - Kerala. I am sure this episode will have strong reservations but take it in your stride.

From cycle to moped to car. Credit for me learning to drive these goes to my best friends. Some at the expense of their vehicles. Today, let me pay a tribute to their finest gestures of standing with me in this journey of learning to make a vehicle move.

Last week I took two planes, went through two airports, stayed at a hotel and visited a few restaurants in Bangalore. All in the middle of this Covid scare. I observed and recorded my journey. Let me share that today.

We are discussing about anger. Last week I was discussing about a boy whose eye was damaged because he watched an upper caste owned TV. The boy’s mother had no anger. Why. Lets see in this episode how anger is defined separately in every case.

Anger is something which we cannot control. Or can we? I think it is an emotion that makes what you are. I am no stranger to anger. Today let's recollect some of those angry moments I went through.

We spoke about the annual pilgrimage to Kerala in the last episode. But despite innumerable trips, can we say we have seen the state better than your neighbour back here in Gujarat? Most probably no.

All of us used to have an annual pilgrimage to our native place Kerala every year. But how many explored the state in your hundreds of trips? Today I look back at those beautiful moments we missed and continue to make the same mistakes.

If we do not record the troubles that we faced while the new generation communications were coming to market, the next generation will never be able to know those troubles. This episode is dedicated to those trouble shootings.

I was thinking of people who keep shifting their place of stay regularly. In my entire life here in Ahmedabad I shifted residence three times. All three for some good reasons.

Today I go back to an age when I was just 8 or 10 years. Those good old days when we were satisfied despite having nothing. When we had no mobiles and used to write inland letters.

A school where teacher himself was a spy but as usual they could not locate him. We found the spy and many other related people in Landour, the place known for Ruskin Bond