Raja had a very unhappy beginning to his career. He reported in a godforsaken village in Gujarat and did not know what to do. A massive hall of a closed ginning factory with tin shed was his residence, with a couple of equally disgruntled colleagues for company among humans and rats and occasional snake among non humans. Being designated as ‘Agriculture Officer’ in the bank he had no other go but to live in the village. It was almost three decades ago when TV and PC were unheard of even in towns. Far away from his native Bangalore, the distance, separation from home, loneliness and the alien culture all added up to his misery.

Next day as he went to take bath in the common well people stared at the ‘foreigner’ and children giggled at his lungi. His Tamil accent of Hindi added to the comedy. Life was getting miserable to Raja till he met another Raja. Rajabhai D Parmar was the name of the five year old kid who wished him good morning in chaste English and offered barter. Barter of language.

The elder Raja under compulsion to learn Gujarati was willing to share his English. The little Raja started bringing various items of toy and learnt the names of animals and the elder learnt the names of vegetables and grains in Gujarati. Their relationship slowly grew with the elder choosing to play rubber ball cricket and trapping a field rat and the little Raja reciprocated as he soaped the cloths and brought food for the elder. Sheer innocence of questions on both sides helped the relationship to blossom. The younger was inquisitive about the eating manners, dressing, cosmetics and the hugeness of Bangalore city and the elder Raja though very literate was too ignorant of Gujarati customs and village life.

Raja had a motorcycle given by the bank and the little one was all too familiar with all the accessories and took upon himself to clean the vehicle everyday. The elder Raja had the benefit of the boy accompanying him everywhere. It was joy ride for the boy and a valuable guide to the man in the course of his inspection in the fields.
The boy however felt as if the vehicle was given more to him than to the officer. The possessive approach of the boy made Raja feel all the more attached to him. It was then the elder decided to get idli made for the boy.

Apart from the recipe he also fetched the molded pot from his native. Almost the entire village assembled to see idli getting ready and tiny Raja was the most inquisitive of all to know the color and shape of idli. It was a damp squib of an idli party for little Raja as the elder had spoken so much of missing it he thought it to be as colorful as faluda and as attractive as an ice cream in appearance. It was just a rice cake in a barren white color though as a consolation, sambar the side dish was a much better item for everyone to have.

Memories were fresh in the mind of Raja even after two decades as he was elevated as Regional Manager (Western region) that included Gujarat under his jurisdiction. His first thought on posting was little Raja. He vividly remembered the boy who cried on his leaving the village on his transfer also bringing tears to his eyes. At the earliest opportunity he made a visit to the village only to find none recognize him. People were busy with TV and PC. There was no knowledge gap between the city and village unlike his days.

Things had changed so much that none in the village branch knew that Raja started his career there. Incognito he wanted to visit the branch and much to his amazement remained so. Suppressing his disappointment, he went ahead with his review of performance, secretly searching for any customer by the name of Raja. He also searched during the course of visit to fields for a person who could be Raja. Somehow he did not want to share the fact that he started his career in that village.

It was Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra that were part of his jurisdiction. The biggest issue he had to settle was the issue of officers who were posted out of their native place. Though Raja had not forgotten his experience, the pressure of work and the responsibility to discharge his duties made him take a sterner stand on requests for transfer. Though drowned in the pressure of work, he also concentrated often in that village of his, both searching for Raja or other familiar names who could give a lead to the little Raja. As the time came for his leaving the place after a stint of three years, he was very disappointed and the HR head was after him to complete posting of transferee officers from other states. Raja was not happy to handle this work on the verge of his leaving and hence was irritated whenever a posting decision was sought. When he was in the heat of his irritation, one officer barged in with a transfer request and was shouted to ‘get out and the man almost on the verge of tears begged “Sir, I am RD Parmar, please post me to Mosali branch”. It took a while for Raja to realize that transfer is sought to the place where none want to go even today and as he recognized the man requesting it, he had a very pleasant surprise. It was Raja whom he was searching among the customers.



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