Looking back, I can’t even imagine my wife Lyn (short for Marilyn) did this. (Please read: ‘Lyn And I – Scene By Scene‘)
Mohan Ram Sir would vouch for it that his country cousin is as pious and innocent as they come. She is as far from being cunning and extra smart as Coimbatore is from Chicago.
l left her in the Kotah House Mess in New Delhi when I went on deputation to Spain. I told her that we appeared to be near the top of accommodation roster and she won’t have to suffer the Kotah House outhouse (initially meant for Raja of Kotah’s domestic staff) too long as we would be allotted a house soon.
“How soon?” She asked me before I boarded the Air India flight to Madrid.
“Latest by a month” I told her confidently.
She waited for a month and still no accommodation.
She put Arjun (not yet four years) and Arun (not yet two years) in an auto rickshaw with her and went to see the CAO (Chief Administrative Officer) of the rank of Major General or Joint Secretary.
After checking up, he confirmed that I was indeed on top of the roster and would be allotted a house as soon as it fell vacant.
Sounds like a reasonable response? Well, not to Lyn since in the last four weeks, on phone, she was given the same excuse again and again.
“Alright, Sir”, she told the General, “We can wait. But, since we are on the road, perhaps we can stay in your office until then.”
The Maj Gen looked up and saw Arun had already gone to sleep on his sofa and Arjun was actively converting all available papers in vicinity into planes and boats.
He shuddered at the thought of Ravi family converting his office into their home.
To cut a long story short, by evening the three of them shifted into A – type accommodation overseen by Maj Gen’s personal representative. Amongst other things he had given instructions to attend to small and big defects lest she should take another auto-rickshaw to visit his office.
