.
HN Das
The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie will complete half-a -century of service to the nation this year. During this period it has trained hundreds of IAS and other services probationers. Beside the induction courses, it has also offered mid-career refresher courses to officers of different services. Its faculty has carried out research in various areas of academic and service matters in search of excellence in administration.
I have very sweet memories of the year I spent in Mussoorie during 1961-62. As soon as our IAS examination results were out, I made preparations for joining the Academy. For me it was to be a novel experience because I have never stayed in a hostel before. I was apprehensive at first about losing my privacy and going to the hostel. But later I found the experience to be very refreshing.
In my enthusiasm to join the Academy, I decided to go to Delhi by plane although there was no hurry, nor any necessity to do so. I took the Dakota flight from Gauhati to Calcutta. In those days there was a very inexpensive Sky Master night mail service connecting the four metro cities of Calcutta (Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai) and Delhi. The four planes from the four cities would meet at Nagpur at about 2 am and exchange mail and passengers. Then they would take off from Nagpur back to the four metros. The Indian Airlines provided a sumptuous breakfast at Nagpur. I was exhilarated to have breakfast that early morning with the famous and then young wrestler Dara Singh who was travelling from Delhi to Bombay. This was my second time by air. This time I spent a couple of days in Delhi getting my riding breeches and woollen suites tailored. Then I took the train to Dehradun and a taxi from there to Mussoorie.
My most memorable experience in Mussoorie was that of horse riding. I had never ridden a horse before. Riding, however, was then compulsory and we had to pass the final examination after one year of training. At first I had difficulty in controlling the horse. But scrupulously following the directions given by Nawal Singh, our riding instructor, I was successful in the tests. Since then I have never touched a horse again.
To my mind the Academy’s most valuable service was the bringing together of so many of the country’s best talents. I cherished some of the friendships throughout life. After a quiet upbringing in a small city and among children whose parents and grandparents knew each other for generations, the Academy’s fraternity seemed to be cosmopolitan. Talking to such enlightened friends in the lounge, in the verandahs when it rained, and in the quaint, very English, cafes and eating places in the Mall, had a subtle sensory stimulus which I have carried throughout life. The music played in the restaurants, specially by the amateur bands who used to come up from Dehradun, still ring in my ears.
There was an opulent Ceylonese lady who gave dancing lessons to the probationers. I could never go beyond the fox trot and abandoned dancing for long walks in the Mall and the Camel’s Back Road. There was tennis in the mornings and billiard in the evenings. We talked about politics, careers, films and the arts. And also about life generally. We had great dreams for the future.
Winter was severe. The water pipes were clogged. The heating system often failed. Rain and sleet drenched the courtyards and the porticos. Snow covered the fields and killed the flowers. Our horses were walked down to Dehradun at the beginning of winter.
Winter was the time when we were taken on a long Bharat Darshan. We went in groups. We covered many places. But I particularly liked the visit to the deep south. Some of the places in the south I had seen before while on a university excursion. But the others were new for me. The visit to the Vivekananda Rock impressed me with its serene atmosphere. Among the places where we stayed I rated the BN Railway Hotel at Puri as the best. I still remember the puddings I had there. Even the apple pies and the caramel custards were splendid. Ice cream was rare in those days. Kulfis however were available. Another place I liked was the Great Eastern Hotel of Calcutta. It was decadent. But it retained its aristocratic and Victorian ambience. The prawn cocktails tasted divine. Many of the nights we slept or whiled away playing cards in the railway coach in sidings in big stations. I had an upper berth which I filled up with my collection of cheap souvenirs from different places.
Our Director was Amar Nath Jha, ICS. He was a fatherly figure. He was strict but very caring. He left the day-to-day administration to the two Deputy Directors — RK Trivedi and Brigadier Sheriff. Trivedi had gone on a whirlwind tour of several countries while we were in the Academy. He and his wife used to talk about the tours during off hours. My fascination for travel was aroused while listening to the Trivedis. I met Trivedi again, in the Gandhinagar Rajbhawan, when he was Governor of Gujarat. Sheriff was rather unpredictable. I remember that he sent me away to the government civil hospital for two days when I had a cold and cough.
There was an Administrative Officer named Narayanan who used to run the office. He was extremely nice and hospitable when my uncle (Radhika Ram Das) visited Mussoorie as a Minister of the Assam Government. That was the only time that I met the Civil Sub-divisional Officer of the UP Government who was assigned to receive and accompany my uncle during his visit. The impression of the Academy that I got was one of orderliness, cleanliness and neatness.
I liked the academics. Actually, I had studied all the subjects in my undergraduate and postgraduate classes, including law. The lectures in the Academy refreshed my memory.
I have been to Mussoorie twice during my service career. Once I went there as a Director of Pyrites, Phosphates and Chemicals Limited. I found many changes. Mussoorie had become much bigger and more crowded. The Savoy Hotel, where we stayed, looked grandiose and impersonal. It had lost its earlier cosiness. Later I was invited to deliver a lecture on the law-and-order situation in Assam in the wake of insurgency. That was when I was Chief Secretary to the Government of Assam (1990-95). I found that the Academy had become much bigger with new buildings, better classrooms, sprawling sports facilities and posh dining rooms. But riding was no longer compulsory. Horses were few. The riding ground had lost its past glory. Memories of my days in the Academy will never fade. These will remain ever green and fresh.
source: the sentinel assam
HN Das
The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie will complete half-a -century of service to the nation this year. During this period it has trained hundreds of IAS and other services probationers. Beside the induction courses, it has also offered mid-career refresher courses to officers of different services. Its faculty has carried out research in various areas of academic and service matters in search of excellence in administration.
I have very sweet memories of the year I spent in Mussoorie during 1961-62. As soon as our IAS examination results were out, I made preparations for joining the Academy. For me it was to be a novel experience because I have never stayed in a hostel before. I was apprehensive at first about losing my privacy and going to the hostel. But later I found the experience to be very refreshing.
In my enthusiasm to join the Academy, I decided to go to Delhi by plane although there was no hurry, nor any necessity to do so. I took the Dakota flight from Gauhati to Calcutta. In those days there was a very inexpensive Sky Master night mail service connecting the four metro cities of Calcutta (Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai) and Delhi. The four planes from the four cities would meet at Nagpur at about 2 am and exchange mail and passengers. Then they would take off from Nagpur back to the four metros. The Indian Airlines provided a sumptuous breakfast at Nagpur. I was exhilarated to have breakfast that early morning with the famous and then young wrestler Dara Singh who was travelling from Delhi to Bombay. This was my second time by air. This time I spent a couple of days in Delhi getting my riding breeches and woollen suites tailored. Then I took the train to Dehradun and a taxi from there to Mussoorie.
My most memorable experience in Mussoorie was that of horse riding. I had never ridden a horse before. Riding, however, was then compulsory and we had to pass the final examination after one year of training. At first I had difficulty in controlling the horse. But scrupulously following the directions given by Nawal Singh, our riding instructor, I was successful in the tests. Since then I have never touched a horse again.
To my mind the Academy’s most valuable service was the bringing together of so many of the country’s best talents. I cherished some of the friendships throughout life. After a quiet upbringing in a small city and among children whose parents and grandparents knew each other for generations, the Academy’s fraternity seemed to be cosmopolitan. Talking to such enlightened friends in the lounge, in the verandahs when it rained, and in the quaint, very English, cafes and eating places in the Mall, had a subtle sensory stimulus which I have carried throughout life. The music played in the restaurants, specially by the amateur bands who used to come up from Dehradun, still ring in my ears.
There was an opulent Ceylonese lady who gave dancing lessons to the probationers. I could never go beyond the fox trot and abandoned dancing for long walks in the Mall and the Camel’s Back Road. There was tennis in the mornings and billiard in the evenings. We talked about politics, careers, films and the arts. And also about life generally. We had great dreams for the future.
Winter was severe. The water pipes were clogged. The heating system often failed. Rain and sleet drenched the courtyards and the porticos. Snow covered the fields and killed the flowers. Our horses were walked down to Dehradun at the beginning of winter.
Winter was the time when we were taken on a long Bharat Darshan. We went in groups. We covered many places. But I particularly liked the visit to the deep south. Some of the places in the south I had seen before while on a university excursion. But the others were new for me. The visit to the Vivekananda Rock impressed me with its serene atmosphere. Among the places where we stayed I rated the BN Railway Hotel at Puri as the best. I still remember the puddings I had there. Even the apple pies and the caramel custards were splendid. Ice cream was rare in those days. Kulfis however were available. Another place I liked was the Great Eastern Hotel of Calcutta. It was decadent. But it retained its aristocratic and Victorian ambience. The prawn cocktails tasted divine. Many of the nights we slept or whiled away playing cards in the railway coach in sidings in big stations. I had an upper berth which I filled up with my collection of cheap souvenirs from different places.
Our Director was Amar Nath Jha, ICS. He was a fatherly figure. He was strict but very caring. He left the day-to-day administration to the two Deputy Directors — RK Trivedi and Brigadier Sheriff. Trivedi had gone on a whirlwind tour of several countries while we were in the Academy. He and his wife used to talk about the tours during off hours. My fascination for travel was aroused while listening to the Trivedis. I met Trivedi again, in the Gandhinagar Rajbhawan, when he was Governor of Gujarat. Sheriff was rather unpredictable. I remember that he sent me away to the government civil hospital for two days when I had a cold and cough.
There was an Administrative Officer named Narayanan who used to run the office. He was extremely nice and hospitable when my uncle (Radhika Ram Das) visited Mussoorie as a Minister of the Assam Government. That was the only time that I met the Civil Sub-divisional Officer of the UP Government who was assigned to receive and accompany my uncle during his visit. The impression of the Academy that I got was one of orderliness, cleanliness and neatness.
I liked the academics. Actually, I had studied all the subjects in my undergraduate and postgraduate classes, including law. The lectures in the Academy refreshed my memory.
I have been to Mussoorie twice during my service career. Once I went there as a Director of Pyrites, Phosphates and Chemicals Limited. I found many changes. Mussoorie had become much bigger and more crowded. The Savoy Hotel, where we stayed, looked grandiose and impersonal. It had lost its earlier cosiness. Later I was invited to deliver a lecture on the law-and-order situation in Assam in the wake of insurgency. That was when I was Chief Secretary to the Government of Assam (1990-95). I found that the Academy had become much bigger with new buildings, better classrooms, sprawling sports facilities and posh dining rooms. But riding was no longer compulsory. Horses were few. The riding ground had lost its past glory. Memories of my days in the Academy will never fade. These will remain ever green and fresh.
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