Friday, July 30, 2010

A tribute to P G Tenzing

It was not a very appropriate time to share a reading experience. And it did not turn out to be so either. Sheela Thomas, secretary to the Chief Minister, only took some time off to talk to about P G Tenzing, a friend who always followed his heart - when he crash-landed into the Civil Services at age 22, when he waded through the bureaucratic labyrinth relying on his own instincts to function as a beacon light, when he junked the cozy IAS moorings to set off on an Enfield Thunderbird for those miles he had to go before he slept.

“The book is a reflection of the man he was, someone who took life head on and made inconveniences and difficulties seem like enjoyable escapades. A journey on a bike all around the country will not be all about fun, but he talks about things like the bike needing a repair as if it was part of the fun he was on the look out for.”

The Sikkim-born Palden Gyatso Tenzing, an officer in the Kerala cadre, happened to get acquainted with Sheela Thomas when they served as sub collectors in the neighbouring sub-divisions of Chengannur and Adoor. They became family friends who visited each other whenever they had a chance. When he was posted in Thiruvananthapuram in 2005, he chose to live in the same apartment as that of the Thomas family. “His voluntary retirement came as a bolt from the blue, many of us friends tried to dissuade him saying that it was a loss to the Civil Services and the State.”

Full report here New Indian Express

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