GOLDEN MEMORIES OF A PLATINUM AFFAIR

To walk with Future every morn

With promises to guide you on

Is best by far than turning back

Dejected on a dismal track……

But oft it is a pleasure task

To take a peep and walk with Past

(From my book- ‘Daddy- A Bouquet of Memories’)

Perhaps the IRAS Platinum Jubilee Celebrations recently held in Mumbai proved a little too blinding for my husband Shanker. How else can one explain the sudden flashes in the eye symptoms that he experienced, immediately after the function? Thereafter he was advised instant surgery for a recurring retinal detachment. So, for the next few days, apart from Florence Nightingaling, it also became my mandatory duty to reinvent my reading skills.

The last time I had read out loud was during our Reading period in school where we were asked to enunciate exciting Enid Blyton paragraphs to test our pronunciation skills. This was different. For the first two days I had to literally stop myself from yawning when all I was told to read were excerpts from the Sports section of the newspapers. As if watching and hearing Cricket was not enough! When the Ganguly-Chappel row, Sachin’s Tennis elbow and the BCCI’s pathetic show finally started to unsettle my last nerve, I mildly suggested we take a different route- perhaps peep into the mysteries of ‘an untold story’. Belonging to the IRAS fraternity, the FA&CAO naturally and instantaneously agreed. Thus began our joint and interesting ‘walk with Past’.

Every first book, they say, is usually an autobiographical account. ‘IRAS- The Untold Story’ also qualifies as one- the difference being that it tracks down the recollections of not one but several authors. What is unusual about these writers is that they all belong to a unique group that believes in Propriety, Proficiency and Productivity- not of words but of figures. So naturally one assumes the literary aspect to be totally eclipsed by a conglomeration of tables and charts. One also expects dreary statistical statements and pompous bureaucratic testimonials. Yet when the pages are turned and the untold story is slowly unfolded, in the words of a popular Cola commercial, there is ‘nothing official about it.’ Instead, like its rival Bubbly’s maxim, ‘Yeh dil maange more’.

What makes the reading all the more endearing is the stark revelation of a period gone by. Of an unpretentious era, where a distinctive bonding between Juniors and the bosses coexisted and where in their working relationship, the reverence was conspicuous as was their marked affability. The entire book is lavishly sprinkled with anecdotes, thus eliminating the usual morbid image of an Accounts Officer. Instead, with a nostalgic and poignant portrayal of words, an astonishing aspect of their otherwise staid personalities is evoked and highlighted. In essence, it is a forthright, simple, straight- from- the- heart, ceremonial memoir.

Just as they began this year, the Platinum Jubilee celebrations will also end. In the years to follow many IRAS Officers will come. In the years to come many IRAS officers will go. But nothing can match the efforts of what the Western Region creative team has achieved. They have attempted and succeeded in freezing a few precious memories on the tracks of time. Henceforward, every time an ‘Untold Story’ will be picked up and read, emotions will be thawed and sentiments will flow. But they will still continue to exist- forever and a little more. A book, after all, is the best gift one can give to Posterity.

Nargis Natarajan.