Catch everyone!

After my selection to civil services, there was about a year of training at the National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie where all the probationers gathered. It was a confluence of youth from all corners of the country full of idealism, zeal and ambition. In due course, we all started feeling like one family. Even then some differences persisted like the one between the North and South. The Northerners often looked at us with certain condescension and called us Idlies though we did not refer to them as Chapatis.

We had to undergo and pass rigorous training in horse riding. I was simply no good at riding. I fell down once and badly hurt myself in one of the sessions. I could never again muster enough confidence to ride well again.

Lance Naik Naval Singh was in charge of riding and horses and was a tough riding master. One of our colleagues from Bengaluru, Shankarappa, was equally frightened of riding like me. One morning he fell from the horse and both the rider and the horse went in different directions. Naval Singh shouted “pakdo pakdo” (catch catch). Hearing this, the riding assistants ran after the horse to catch it. Then Naval Singh shouted “Ghode ko nahin, Sab ko pakdo”, (not the horse but catch the master). Thus, they ran after the bulky Sab and brought him back. It was a big joke in the Academy for quite some time.

Shankarappa was a jovial person by nature, always keen on making others happy with his jokes and pranks. He never took offence, even if the jokes were at his cost. Here is another story about him in which I was also involved. Trainees from all non-Hindi states had to learn Hindi but nobody really took the Hindi Professor seriously. It was a regular show by my friend to start arguing with him that South Indian trainees were exempted from Hindi class and he would produce a copy of the concerned Government order. One day, before Shankarappa sat down after his normal performance, I tried to set the chair right for him. Before I could place the chair correctly, he sat down and fell with a thud on to the wooden floor. The usually calm professor got really angry and threatened to report me to the Director. But Shankarappa nonchalantly got up with his normal smile and said it was entirely his fault and I was only trying to help him. Thus, saving me from serious disciplinary action. Such a good man was Shankarappa. This gentle giant passed away early after serving our state for quite a few years. He would not have liked us to cry for him. We cherish him with happy memories.