Chapter 1

Adheer watched as the truck pulled out of the drive way. That was the last of his belongings, all packed and set. Another move, another destination, another chapter in his life. He turned and walked back into the empty house, taking a last look at the bungalow that had been his home for two years. He paused at the window in his erstwhile study and looked out, his thoughts taking him back to the last ten years.

He had been on top of the world when he had qualified for the Indian Administrative Service. His grandfather, a doctor by qualification, had been a freedom fighter. His father, also a doctor, had been disappointed when Adheer had not chosen to follow in his footsteps. But he had been proud that his son was entering the civil services after securing the fifth rank at an all India level. Adheer remembered the day he left home to take charge of his first posting in Rajasthan. He had been raring to go and impatient when his father had wanted a word with him.

“Son, it is not an easy path you have chosen for yourself. Everyday will be a test – of your intelligence, tenacity and ethics. There maybe times when you will be overcome with self doubt. When your trust is shaken. Consider your choices carefully. And whatever decision you take, be sure that you can look yourself in the eye after that”. Those were the last words his father had said to him. Less than a month later, the good doctor had died of a massive cardiac arrest.

As it turned out, his father’s words had been prophetic. The last ten years were proof enough. Right from his first posting, Adheer had courted controversy.

Banswara, a district in southern Rajasthan, had been picturesque, with its jungles and hilly terrain. He took charge as the Assistant District Magistrate there, under the supervision of P.C. Rathod, the District Collector. For all his lofty sounding Rajput name, Rathod was a boulder. Nothing moved on his watch. Which meant that files did not move. Decisions on development works were kept pending, although funds got mysteriously spent. He tied Adheer’s hands with rules and procedures. Adheer however, was the irresistible force that toppled the immovable object.

When Rathod was sent for a two month training programme to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie, Adheer was left in charge as the acting district collector.  Not one to let a golden chance go by, Adheer put the power vested so temporarily in him to good use. Cracking the whip, he opened closed files, initiated enquiries and slapped vigilance cases left right and centre. Clerks, officers, executives, MLAs, MPs, he did not spare anyone. When Rathod returned, he was confronted with a battlefield. People he usually shielded and protected were up in arms. But the damage had been done. Adheer had to be taught a lesson.

The MP from that constituency was a master strategist. It was mostly his party workers that Adheer had thrown behind bars on different cases. He knew that harming Adheer in anyway would create a furore. An aspirant to Prime Ministership, he had to tread carefully in order to protect his image. Apart from the fact that Adheer had won the hearts of the local population, he was also the scion of a freedom fighter. So the MP did the only other thing he could. He rewarded Adheer for his exemplary work in bringing the corrupt to justice and recommended him for a promotion. At a public ceremony organised to honour Adheer, he praised him for his honesty and sincerity, thereby showing himself to be a man who defended and supported the upright. He then went on to ensure that Adheer was transferred out of Banswara, never to return.

The next ten years saw Adheer gaining the  reputation of being a ‘tough nut to crack’. An honest and upright civil servant, transfers became a way of life. Every now and again Adheer packed his bags and moved mostly because he had stepped on some important toes. Six transfers in a tenure of only ten years was a record of some sort.

Adheer guessed he should be happy that he was being true to himself and his conscience. He understood now what his father had tried to explain to him all those  years ago. And yet, he was beset with a strange feeling of disquiet. A feeling of restlessness that did not go away no matter how many transfers or new places he went to. Was that why his parents had named him Adheer? Or had he taken on the qualities of his name? Adheer, the restless one.

(to be continued....)