The soft spoken government officer in Datia

We had no idea that Damodar Sarang was a government officer when he messaged me on the Facebook messenger inviting us to paint in a school in Datia, Madhya Pradesh.

We have been planning to travel in Madhya Pradesh for many years and 2017 seemed to be apt for that. We had already covered Mumbai to Chennai via Goa then Bihar, Haryana, Kashmir, Gujrat and Rajasthan in previous years.

The only big state left to explore was Madhya pradesh, West Bengal and North east. We thought of doing MP and Jey did a random post on FB asking people to invite if they are interested.

Damodar sarang not only commented to invite but messaged us in private. We asked for numbers and talked to him. He sounded extremely polite on phone and explained that his son has opened a new school in Datia and it would be great if we can come and paint.

We always like to paint in schools which are new, not very fancy and are in places which doesn’t have access to the wider world. We have found kids in these school sincere, willing to learn and listen as they get less opportunities compared to established schools in cities.

We agreed to stay in Datia on our way to Bhopal, Indore, Satna and jabalpur. We made all the plans. The bullet was ready and we were excited but then we came to know about the big NEWS.

We were to be parents soon. We talked to our Doctor and we were told not to travel on motorcycle for long rides. That was the moment we abandoned the MP plan but we wanted to go to Datia as we had promised Damodarji.

We got the train tickets and reached datia on a very hot day. The house was simple and the family was welcoming. When we reached their home then I got to know that Damodarji is a government officer in Chhattisgarh. After the division of Madhya pradesh, he was transferred to Chhattisgarh and he never tried to get a transfer back to his area. According to him, to get a favorable transfer he had to butter some seniors and he was not inclined to do anything like that.

He was one of those kafkaesque characters who work and then leave the office in office. He had helped his son to open a small school in the area because as usual the govt school was in a bad shape. His son had worked in Mumbai but decided to come back and do something of his own in his homeland Datia.

The school had been around for three years and they have gathered around 70 students which made us feel that they are doing something right to get more kids in the area. Damodarji explained that they neither charge a huge fees nor fancy classes but invest in good teachers.

They saw us also as people who can give something different to think and learn for the teachers in his schools. An activity which can inspire teachers to engage students more. He had keenly followed us in our travels through Facebook without commenting much.

We painted with little kids in the schools and decided to make animals. In 2017 Meenakshi was fascinated with animals and at many places we ended up making animals so here we deliberately decided to make birds instead of more animals.

We involved the kids the way we do. Asking the little ones for hand prints and making a structure out of the hand prints and then taking the help of teachers to make the birds.

The interesting part in the Datia wall paintings is the proportion. Meenakshi normally makes fine designs but here she decided to make big imprints which will have a different kind of impact on kids. May be filling colors in big chunks were easy for the little kids.

Here we met a kid who was very keen on painting something. He didn’t asked us anything but he came to the school (he was not a student but known to the Damodar family) and saw us working and asking all of them to come and paint.

He silently picked up a pot and started painting. His brush strokes were steady and his face looked like he is meditating on the drawing he was painting. Then we realized he had only one hand and he was holding the color pot with his other half hand. A half hand made him concentrate more on the brush. We felt that he was trying to control the brush with all his body and that effort made his coloring very different and better than others.

We asked Damodarji about the guy and were told that he studies in Govt school and lives nearby. When we tried to talk to him, he turn out to be extremely shy and constantly evaded any chat except asking for colors and more space to fill colors.

That is how we all use to be in our small towns. Shy, evasive, all by ourself. We ended up painting three walls in two days listening to the stories of government work in Chhattisgarh which were at times funny and ironic.

While coming back we asked Damodarji about why he didn’t tell us that he is a govt officer and he replied with his wry humor, ‘ you never asked and even if you have asked..how does it matter. its just a job and I might take voluntary retirement soon as I am bored.’

In the time when a govt job is considered as a safety for future, that answer from someone who had worked for more than three decades in a govt setup tells us about life. Life is not a job….One should live life..not pass it in government jobs.