It was the month of July 2014. I was posted at Gurgaon having a highly technical profile managing the Primary Data Centre and SAP ERP System of one of the largest Public Sector Enterprises of the country. Like all technical profiles at PSUs, the job had started getting monotonous. Somewhere deep down in my mind, I was looking for a change. Change of place or change of profile — but both were too good to openly ask for, as my posting was considered to be one of the best available postings in my company at that time.

Indian politics was going through a transformative phase. A new government had just taken over with an overwhelming mandate. People were hoping for big change and a series of reforms. Change in the way the country was used to being governed.

Use of social media in governance was one of the first such changes. And in that connection, during a regular team presentation on cloud computing (a relatively new and upcoming phenomenon at that time), I was asked by an Executive Director to report to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for an interview. Nothing was clear about the profile or the role. The job description included just three words — young, smart and dynamic. At the age of 30 I was unsure of possessing all three qualities.

But as they say, beggars are not choosers, so on Friday the 11th, I reported at Shastri Bhawan. I was taken to a Joint Secretary-level officer who was supposed to take my initial interview. But the short duration that I was in his cabin, along with a colleague of mine, can hardly be termed an interview. The toughest question I was asked was how far I stayed from Shastri Bhawan. Then we (myself and my colleague) were sent to another officer who was comparatively younger and much more receiving, who was the Chief of Staff of the Minister. By profession, he was a diplomat trying to fit into the administrative setup of a Ministry infamous for having a new Minister every alternate year. He also had just a brief discussion, gave a short description of what we were expected to do, and then requested another Joint Secretary-level officer to come to his cabin. This officer was one of the most dynamic officers I ever came across in my life. He was sharp — in fact, razor sharp — completely sure of what he wanted and how he wanted it, and came across as a tough taskmaster. After getting his green signal, both of us were asked to report to Shastri Bhawan from Monday, July the 14th.

On Monday, July the 14th, we reported to this new workplace of ours, which was totally different from our earlier workplace. It was full of chaos: public, media, cameras, reporters running with mikes — and outside, there was a parallel kingdom of monkeys. At times, the people and monkeys around the place appeared to be in a never-ending race toward a higher degree of randomness. On our first day in the corridor of power, we felt completely lost in the chaos. Apart from the guy who used to serve tea and coffee at regular intervals, no one was ready to even notice our presence. Nobody to tell us what to do for the entire day. It was very unusual for someone accustomed to working in a target- and timeline-oriented workplace. By the evening, I had started to question my decision. At around 5.30 in the evening, we thought of packing our bags and calling it a day. But we hardly knew that the day was far from over. At around 5.30 we were told to wait, as our ultimate boss — the Minister — had desired to meet the two newly imported clowns.

So we waited, and waited, till it was around 11.30 in the night, and finally a peon called out our names. We entered the office of the Minister, completely full of awe and some unknown fear. It was my first time face to face with a Central Minister. And then the unthinkable happened. My colleague just gave a glance at his digital watch. The Minister — who was, and I believe still is, a great observer of things around him — noticed it. A short interaction turned even shorter, with a warning: if we were not comfortable with the timings, we could opt out immediately. As a matter of fact, we both chose to stay, and never looked at our watches for our entire tenure with the Minister.

All characters in this short memoir are real. Events are based on recollections, so there are chances of slight variations in timings. The two Joint Secretary-level officers mentioned in the story are currently heading two of the most important ministries of the Government (Security and Energy Security, to be precise). The dynamic young diplomat is currently busy dealing with the tantrums of Mr. Donald Trump. And the Minister, despite all odds, is still a Minister. I am sure he is still not allowing his subordinates to look at their watches.