Onno Kothao, Onno Konokhane

Ahhh..finally a long over-due uninterrupted blogging break..thanks to a half an hour delay in my flight schedule. Now I can finally get around to typing out the post that I started writing on pen and paper, and so it follows:
I have had a very hectic week at work which is nearly snapping at my mental energy level. I have been continuously on travel since Monday, packing in more than 10 hours of work days, in the company of a senior medical doctor who is sometimes forgets that there are people in his team other than HIMSELF. However, I don't deny that being part of a government health programme evaluation team has its advantages. In fact all the 'mai-baap' attitude put on display since our arrival on Monday morning is quite heady-along with the white ambi with stickers in front telling the world who we are,the obsequious smiles on the faces of the people around us, the air of expectation that hangs around the people we meet, the attention that our impromptu meetings in villages draw, the doors to the highest officials in the district opening magically..in fact its quite easy to understand the lure of a sarkari job in India. Who wouldn't love the attention, the best of all creature comforts that sarkari money can buy, the options of making some easy money on the side?
But I digress. The reason why I had this sudden urge to put pen on paper during a meeting with rural health workers is the emotional disconnect that I am currently feeling with the job at hand. I think I am mentally fatigued. My mind, always used to being stretched like an elastic to give more than hundred percent in my job, is finally rebelling. Therefore the meeting sees me pretending to write down the minutes, whereas I am furiously scribbling away, writing something else altogether. All that consumes my mind is where else would I like to be. And my mind throws up a prompt answer. Far away from here. Somewhere where the sky is blue, the sun shines bright, the pine-scented air blows across, and there is always the magic of the white mountains on the horizon. There. Where I can reach people but no one can reach me, me with my long walks through the wooded paths, waking up to birds chirping, and falling asleep in the balcony reading 'The Kindly Ones'. Yes, that's where I would like to be..not here, not here.