The shimmering runway stretches out into the bay. In a few hours, I will board a silver bird and fly back home, on my 75th flight for the year. That is considerably lower than the 130 odd that I boarded on an average, in previous years. This year, I have been living out of a suitcase for 157 days, much lower than the 200 days typically that I have been away from home, in previous years. This year, they were spent in areas as diverse as Mongolia, Timor Leste, Switzerland and Abu Dhabi It has been a wonderful year, tough and demanding on the professional front, as usual. Many milestones were reached, but the road ahead will have many twists and turns. Perhaps the greatest gain this year has been the teams that I have worked with. All my colleagues in the Avantika Foundation, the Accountability Initiative, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the World Bank and the UNDP have challenged and inspired me. I have sparred with politicians, bureaucrats and I suppose, on occasions, agreed with them as well. A lot of tough work gets done alone or in small groups, though. Its easy to talk, but difficult to write. I can look back with satisfaction on at least ten different documents, that define problems and attempt to think through solutions, to which I have contributed something. Maybe they will help in catalysing change, sometime, somewhere. I will be off for the rest of the year, to think over the future, do some carpentry, construction, lathe-work, learn more skills and get back to model making. Plus, I have not been in the silence of an Indian rain forest for a long long time now. Yes, it will be good to board that silver bird.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 03:27:48 +0000
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