RANDOM REFLECTIONS …

RANDOM REFLECTIONS …

“There will be thousand eyes watching you, so you must behave befitting to IFS officers”. These were the cautious words by our CD, Anu madam during initial phase of training. This was the way she made us to understand the importance of discipline. It was a memorable journey of two years for all of us at IGNFA. I still distinctly remember our first day when the ball started rolling in the conference room. Since then we have been together and it is really difficult to separate from the intimate group and go to our respective cadres.

Initially we had argued with faculty members about the relevance of some of the subjects but at the end of training we are wiser and more matured. But the real joy of learning was in the tours and exercises. It all started with the introductory tour where we were exposed to the real field situations. The West India tour and Hill tour were memorable in many ways. In the hill tour studying PBs at different places made us to understand practical nuances of Forestry. All my friends would agree that visit to Leh was a great experience. It was at Ranthambore, I sighted tiger in the wild for the first time in my life. It was a wonderful experience for all of us. Apart from this, the interaction with the Hon’ble Governor of Chattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh was also eye opener for me. At times there were enthusiastic interactions in the bus during journeys. The “lively debates” in the bus are testimony to the talent of our batch. I am sure that those who were participants in these debates and those who were listeners will never forget those ‘animated’ discussions. South India tour had all the components of good forest areas to visit. Moments to remember are trek in the forests, visit to Periyar, Bandipur and Mudumalai, Tirupati, ITC Bhadrachalam etc. Visit to Bhutan was also memorable where we got the opportunity to witness the rich culture and hospitality of Bhutanese people. The exercise on map reading is still lingering in my mind. The GPS, compass and toposheets did not show us the way to reach destination! Mensuration exercise started with ‘Jai mensuration’ song by Bhutia and chorus. Cricket matches played at Kanasar are memorable owing to the new set of Kanasar rules of the game and must win’ attitude of players. And working plan exercise was really great learning experience to all of us where we applied the knowledge which we had gained during training.

The ‘Forest Gupp’ was new initiative of our batch. It was Nyali, who was instrumental in bringing such a novel idea and relentlessly writing variety of issues. Probationers and faculty members and their family members made it possible to release Forest Gupp successfully for almost one and half years. Now the onus is on our juniors to continue the trend to express their writing skills.

Gaju’s questions to the faculty members when others were searching for questions and Gubbi’s answer like questions was also interesting. It was Anshuman who had answers for all the questions. As a secretary of the club it was always very difficult to arrange Cultural programmes at IGNFA whenever madam asked us to do. Because I myself is not great talent, it was daunting task to influence others. The dance programme by Ashok & co and lady officers were really good. Funny part is that people still remember our dance more than anything else courtesy music system. Apart from this, Nyali and Bhutia’s songs, Renjitha’s Mohiniattam, Katwal and Kezang’s Bhutanese dance, Dilaraj’s single man shows, Anshuman’s old songs are still fresh in mind.

It was BSP’s (Basu, Sree Lakshmi and Padma) combined effort that enabled us to celebrate birthday functions of all our batchmates. Hats off to them for their love and affection which drove them to celebrate other’s birthdays. The memorable event towards the end of our training was volleyball and football matches between bachelors and married probationers. Somehow married probationers had upper hand barring few occasions. It was really fun playing such matches and even faculty members supported married people. Yoga in the end invigorated all of us. After East India tour, my batchmates started taking physical fitness very seriously (including lady officers) except for Kiran whose excuse was ‘We are fat but fit’’. MCTs and Reunion workshops provided us an opportunity to interact with our senior officers. In fact New Year – 2010 was celebrated along with MCT officers. Sometimes we were busy finding who is who of our cadres and knowing many things about our cadre states.

We are indeed fortunate to have Anu madam as our CD. She was cordial and accommodative to our requests. She made us to learn and understand different aspects of Forestry by arranging guest lectures and modules. We were always engaged even on Saturdays. Book review was an interesting innovation of our CD where she made us to read and/or listen to different kinds of books. In the end we had different events for communication prize which was interesting but too many to participate.

In the end, I would like to extend heartfelt gratitude to all the office bearers of IGNFA club - Gajendra, Santhosha, Basu, Dilraj, Bhutia, Ajit, Naidu and mess Secretaries Honna, Kartikeyan, Renjtha, Anshuman and Amit who were instrumental in successfully organizing various events for the probationers.

The journey of our’s (Probationers) to officers has only begun and I hope all of us will keep on striving for excellence.

- Vasantha Reddy, IFS (P)