Collector Office...
I remember the few visits we (as in me and my sister-with Dad) made to the collector office at Trichy to pretty much show that we exist and we are Canadians and ask will you please extend our visa (we don't actually do that though - the asking part I mean). The day we go is usually a week day, so we take a day off from school - yipeee! Going to the collector office was like a field trip. We dressed in our best, hair brushed up well and we looked like two pretty, cute, darling girls... We sure would have made good mannequins if anyone had such an idea. Of all the years we were there, we did the collector office trips two or three times only.
After we get ready, we go to the agent's office. There is a wait of a couple of hours there. We usually get ice-creams or juice coz the office is in a hotel complex so Dad takes us for a break - a break in waiting. Finally, the agent gets all the papers ready and sent his secretary with us. We have lunch inbetween as well.
We make it to the collector's office by lets say, around 1:30pm. There is a wait for a few hours until 5pm here. The collector's office is housed in a very old building. This building would have probably been built during the British Rule. The paint is peeling, the cemented floor is cracked up in many places and there are huge massive pillars everywhere. The main occupation of me and my sister is to try to hug one of the pillars, but they are so huge that we don't get to hug them fully. Oh, and there are bats as well sleeping on the ceiling. Watching them sleep is also a time pass for us while we wait to be escorted to his honor's presence. There are lots of ants too to watch - big black ones. We try to follow them sometimes and when they lead outside to the dumps, we stop coz its not safe to go inside thorn bushes.
Finally, the time comes for us to meet the Collector. The secretary asks us to speed up. We walk as though we are in a military parade. We step into the collector's office. Its got a nice red carpet, a very big wooden desk, strewn with papers and stationary, an Indian flag, a placard saying "Collector" and the collector's name which I dont remember, and a big cushioned chair behind the desk, on which sits the puny collector himself. The first thing I notice is, he's half-bald. The second thing I notice is, he wears glasses. The third thing I notice is, he's signing a lot of papers, so there is a secretary standing close by him and shifting the papers for him to sign. The fourth thing I notice is, he never raises his head as we walk by. All we do is march past him and go out again, and the guy doesn't even raise his head once. Maybe he may have had a glimpse of us when we left or something, I didn't notice anyway. The minute I realised that he is not going to look at us or talk to us or anything, I lost my interest in him. A whole day of waiting and all we get is to see the collector's half-bald head.
The minute we get out of the office, we start screaming to my Dad, "Daddy, he is sottai!*". The door to the collector's office hasn't closed fully yet so Dad and the secretary start to hush us up and try to get us out of the building. We are still excited and want to tell Dad everything. Once we get into the car, both me and my sister start talking simultaneously about what exactly happened inside and how the collector didn't even look at us - we both give a lot of complaints regarding this. We come back to the baldness of the collector as well. We get home and rush to Mom to tell the same thing we told Dad. The rest of the evening passes on with both of us chattering about our so-called "field trip to the collector's office". So much for a field trip... We got a day off from school so I guess I shouldn't complain now.
*"sottai" - means bald in Tamil.
After we get ready, we go to the agent's office. There is a wait of a couple of hours there. We usually get ice-creams or juice coz the office is in a hotel complex so Dad takes us for a break - a break in waiting. Finally, the agent gets all the papers ready and sent his secretary with us. We have lunch inbetween as well.
We make it to the collector's office by lets say, around 1:30pm. There is a wait for a few hours until 5pm here. The collector's office is housed in a very old building. This building would have probably been built during the British Rule. The paint is peeling, the cemented floor is cracked up in many places and there are huge massive pillars everywhere. The main occupation of me and my sister is to try to hug one of the pillars, but they are so huge that we don't get to hug them fully. Oh, and there are bats as well sleeping on the ceiling. Watching them sleep is also a time pass for us while we wait to be escorted to his honor's presence. There are lots of ants too to watch - big black ones. We try to follow them sometimes and when they lead outside to the dumps, we stop coz its not safe to go inside thorn bushes.
Finally, the time comes for us to meet the Collector. The secretary asks us to speed up. We walk as though we are in a military parade. We step into the collector's office. Its got a nice red carpet, a very big wooden desk, strewn with papers and stationary, an Indian flag, a placard saying "Collector" and the collector's name which I dont remember, and a big cushioned chair behind the desk, on which sits the puny collector himself. The first thing I notice is, he's half-bald. The second thing I notice is, he wears glasses. The third thing I notice is, he's signing a lot of papers, so there is a secretary standing close by him and shifting the papers for him to sign. The fourth thing I notice is, he never raises his head as we walk by. All we do is march past him and go out again, and the guy doesn't even raise his head once. Maybe he may have had a glimpse of us when we left or something, I didn't notice anyway. The minute I realised that he is not going to look at us or talk to us or anything, I lost my interest in him. A whole day of waiting and all we get is to see the collector's half-bald head.
The minute we get out of the office, we start screaming to my Dad, "Daddy, he is sottai!*". The door to the collector's office hasn't closed fully yet so Dad and the secretary start to hush us up and try to get us out of the building. We are still excited and want to tell Dad everything. Once we get into the car, both me and my sister start talking simultaneously about what exactly happened inside and how the collector didn't even look at us - we both give a lot of complaints regarding this. We come back to the baldness of the collector as well. We get home and rush to Mom to tell the same thing we told Dad. The rest of the evening passes on with both of us chattering about our so-called "field trip to the collector's office". So much for a field trip... We got a day off from school so I guess I shouldn't complain now.
*"sottai" - means bald in Tamil.
posted by Grace at 5:18 PM
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