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Off to Himachal Pradesh

It came as a complete surprise to me when I was allocated to the HP cadre of the Service. My only experience of the mountains hitherto had been annual summer vacations to my grandparents' home in Kandaghat, a village some 35 km short of Shimla, on the Kalka Shimla Road. We made occasional visits to Simla (as it was then known) during our stay there .... and that was my only acquaintance with the hills. And now I was expected to spend the rest of my life in the Himalayas! Not a prospect I really looked forward to ....

Things seemed to be looking up when, during the last week of my training in Dehra Dun, I received a personal letter from the Chief Conservator of Forests, HP, welcoming me to the State and informing me that I was posted to Kotgarh for my initial field training.

There was no Google Maps then, so I had no option but to go to the Forestry HQ in Shimla to find out where Kotgarh was, and how to get there. Following directions, one fine day in July, I took the morning bus from Shimla, eagerly looking forward to my 3 hour journey to Bhareridhar where, I was told, someone from the Department would meet me.

My heart was in my mouth as the bus negotiated the narrow road to Theog, and then on to Narkanda, en route Kotgarh. Each turn of the road brought new views, along with frequent lurches of the stomach. It was beautiful and scary at the same time. I guess the bus conductor must have gotten fed up with the frequency with which I kept asking when we would reach Bhareridhar ... He finally asked me to shut up and trust him to offload me at the proper destination.

Sure enough, half an hour after a stop for 'kadi-chawal' at Narkanda, the bus ground to a stop and the conductor helped me unload my trunk and bedroll from the top of the bus. I looked around for somebody who wore a uniform, but could not spot any such individual. The bus left, and there I was ..... by myself, with my worldly belongings at my feet, and nowhere to go. Inquiry from the roadside shop revealed that there HAD been a guy from the Forest Office waiting for me, but he had boarded the very bus I had arrived on and departed.Fortunately the shop had a phone, and soon enough a jeep arrived, and transported me to the Kotgarh Division Forest Office, some 5 km away.

The DFO was not there, but the Head Clerk told me they had indeed deputed a Peon to meet the bus and escort me to the PWD Rest House at Thanedar. All wondered what had gone wrong. The mystery was soon solved, when Bholu Ram, the Peon in question, landed up at the office a couple of hours later, as I was having some much needed tea.

As Bholu Ram explained, the Sahib had not turned up, and he had gone on to the PWD RH to confirm whether the Sahib (me) had reached there. He stared at me in surprise when told that I was the 'Sahib' he had been sent to meet. It turned out that he had been expecting a much older person, in khaki uniform, and just could not relate to a 25 year old in jeans and T-shirt. I, on the other hand had been looking for a uniformed person, not a peon in blue coat and trousers, as Bholu Ram had been clothed. A 'Comedy of Errors' ... soon resolved, fortunately.

Bholu Ram served with me for the next eight months, while I underwent my field training, and a smile still comes to my face, whenever I think of the initial misunderstanding ....

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