Reunion of the Civil Service Officers, 1964 batch-27th to 30th May

27th May
Left for Mussoorie to attend Reunion of the Civil Service officers 1964 Batch by Shatabdi express  6.50 am. Boarded academy transport at Dehradun for journey to Mussoorie by road. We reached Mussoorie at about 2 pm due to traffic snarls. After lunch at Gyanshila Officers' Mess, we met at Gyanshila Lounge and shared our experiences during stay in the academy.. The reminiscences were sweet and touching. We continued parleys at dinner in the mess and then retired to sleep at about 2300 hours.

28th May
After breakfast, the inaugural ceremony of the Reunion of the Civil Service Officers 1964 Batch took place with Academy song and Welcome Address by the course coordinator, Nidhi Sharma, Deputy Director, an officer of Indian Revenue Service. The Academy officers and faculty were introduced followed by address by the Director of the Academy which is known as Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. We again shared our experiences '50 years ago'. The ceremony was closed with National Anthem. The group photograph followed at A.N.Jha Plaza with tea. We were taken around the Academy.  We could not recognize it in its present form as the old buildings had been demolished and new ones come up. The rooms of the probationers are equipped with t.v., hot running water and other modern facilities which did not exist during our time. We visited the gymnasium, riding ground, saw the horses and playgrounds. All are new but  the venue remains the same. It is just like the Ganges which remains the same but water changes every moment.
We were divided into groups. Each group had a different subject to discuss. Our group discussed the balancing of public policy vis a vis globalization and development. We drafted a report containing gist of our discussion and sent it to the Director. The Director invited us for dinner. There were drinks too but one had to pay for them. As a result, none got drunk. It continued till about 10.30 pm. I raised the subject of police reforms during informal conversations. In fact i had proposed it to be included as one of the subjects of discussions.  Retired to sleep at about midnight.

The picture on the right side shows how two of us of the group on the left 
side look after 50 years in 2014 now.
Shri Ishrat Aziz of the IFS did not attend the reunion 
and Shri UB Raghvendra Rao died in the meantime.

29th May
During breakfast, we celebrated the 75th birthday of Shri Kaushal Kishore Saxena, which all the batchmates and IAS officer trainees attended. Shri Saxena extinguished two little candles and cut the cake to the singing of Happy Birthday to him by all of us, about a hundred.

Shri Saxena is 75 today.

After breakfast we interacted with groups of officer trainees of the IAS. As I belong to the Assam-Meghalaya Cadre, my group of officer trainees consisted of North-Eastern states and Union Territories. The interaction was interesting. We told them our experiences and suggested them as to how to go about in their jobs when they go back to their state cadres. We had valedictory ceremony from 12-12.30 pm at Nehru Auditorium. It started with Academy song and ended with National Anthem. It was mainly a thanksgiving ceremony. After lunch, we left for the Dehradun railway station to catch the Shatabdi Express to Delhi at 5 pm. Retired to sleep at about midnight.

30th 
Went for half-an-hour walk. Visited PNB. In the chamber from about 12.30 to 5 pm. Retired to sleep at about 11.15 pm.