The most interesting aspect of an administrator's job in India is the chance to frequent many places in the interior parts of the country. Many lodges in the form of resting places like inspection huts, rest houses, watch towers etc are available throughout the length and breadth of many states in Central India. A fascinating and enjoyable place used to be the forest department buildings deep in the reserve forests - a lone structure standing in the midst of woods with tall trees and bushes, mountains, valleys, pastures, rivers,high plateaus. Some of them were used by the erstwhile rulers for their hunting and entertaining their guests - both domestic and foreign.
A night or two in such surroundings was indeed a memorable stay for a person like me. I definitely enjoyed the tour of interior habitations, tried to solve their local problems and issues, finished the work of revenue and land records as well as developmental works and returned to the lodges for rest and stay for the night.
Many of those lodges were not blessed with electric lighting with the result one had to manage with lanterns, petromax and batteries or the natural moon light. As the magnificent Sun was down on the western sky and the night arrived, the entourage would start enjoying the hospitality of the staff posted there or that of the lady of my home with a few things brought from the Headquarters.
The menu used to consist of a dish made of chicken because that was the easily-available stuff in the interior villages and forests. The typical aroma and flavour of chicken curry I used to enjoy then I am unable to get even in Five-star Hotels of these days.
During the evening hours depending on the interest and the time at one's disposal the forest staff used to take us to those spots where wild-life was normally found. If one was lucky he / we used to watch the tigers, leopards, nielgais, sambhars, deers, elephants, peacocks, bears, cheetahs, etc. wandering or resting at several places to our heart's and eyes' content.
Back in the lodge one could enjoy dinner with chicken, fish or mutton curries, potato, tomato, pappad, salad etc. Of course being a teetotaller I didn't have the luxury of consuming hot drinks which some my colleagues invariably toasted and enjoyed during such sojourns.
During the night hours one could hear the roars or screaming of animals roaming in the vicinity. Early morning the waiter used to offer a hot cup of tea with some biscuits. The joy one had while sipping the tea in the verandah of the lodge is unimaginable indeed. I keep wondering whether a person can get or repeat such a luxury again in his lifetime.
Such tours and stays - I had the privilege of availing when I was working as the Sub-Divisional officer of Jashpur Nagar in erstwhile Raigarh District of Madhya Pradesh State(1973-75 -- the very beginning and the most productive period of my official life - I used to spend most of the time in tours, say, roughly 20 days in a Month - visited at least 300 out of 400 and odd villages in that subdivision during this period), Additional Collector of the then composite Raipur District(1975-77), Collector of Betul and Sagar Districts (1977-82) & Commissioner of Sagar and Ujjain Revenue Divisions (1990-92 & 2000) in Madhya Pradesh State.
Hail those days of memorable part of my eventful life and career in Nineteen Seventies and early Eighties!
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