Shangri-la

No twaddle and no buzzwords required… What can I say? Modern day Guwahati has simply been our Zion for the past couple of months here! I still remember a time when my wifey and I used to hanker for the tiniest of de vacaciones, but now that my posting has brought us to the Garden of Eden itself, our cravings have been briefly quelled. Other than the marvels of Guwahati, nearby places like Sonapur with a multitude of activity-packed resorts and hillside tea gardens, Chandrapur with scenic riverside hideaway auberges ideal for a day out, as well as wildlife sanctuaries like Pobitora with umpteen species of migratory birds and rhinos, are quite the catch! What more could one ask for in a world consumed by COVID yet again? Yeah… A new year and with it a new variant of the Corona virus… Enough already!

This time it is Omicron, first detected in South Africa and spreading inchmeal to eventually grip the world in the most infectious upsurge of the virus yet. Till date over 4% of the global population has been infected by one or the other form of the notorious Corona virus, leaving more than five and a half million dead in its wake! It has already been more than two years since this horror story began and memories of a COVID-free world have become truly obscure, with daily COVID cases in India climbing from a few thousand to over a quarter million within the first two mere weeks of 2022, ushering in its third wave. Vaccination of children has commenced, with frontline workers and senior citizens having co-morbidities being prescribed booster doses, and many brands which were basing their advertisements on the exit of the virus, having to revert back to their old commercials... How anti-climactic!

On the work front, I’m glad that my efforts at Panipat were finally officially recognized with a top grade in our annual ratings after a two year lull. And although this does not change the hard facts mentioned in some of my recent articles, it does hint that there are at least a handful of individuals even in a public sector like ours, ready to look past short sighted politics for overall betterment, to whom I’m grateful. Nevertheless, there is a long and tedious road ahead… As a fish named Dory once said: “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…” LOL!

On the personal front, one of my old colleagues who recently got hitched mentioned that the pressure to ‘enjoy’ is a lot… Haha! While family planning may have been the only priority for many amongst the past generations, enhanced prosperity and the resulting open-mindedness has led most of the present generation to reconsider the bucket list of stuff that were previously often ignored prior to parenthood, be it a career launch or simply touring some of the wonders of this world together without too many additional responsibilities. But it is time when it is time… Counting on your blessings o’Lord ;) 

My interaction with Hon'ble Chairman, IOCL during inauguration of our new DIP unit at Guwahati Refinery, as part of the core commissioning team!...