Lady Flora was surprised to see her friend, Sir PM aka Pheroze studiously poring over a few sheets of paper; it was a typewritten one, and as she drew closer, she could hear him read out each word clearly, albeit softly. So as to not startle him, she quietly sat on a chair behind him inside St Thomas Cathedral. It was their summertime adda ever since the mercury levels hit the roof in the city.  She craned her neck to read what was taking all of Sir PM’s attention. Turned out, it was his curriculum vitae (bio data, for the uninitiated)! Unable to contain her surprise, she exclaimed, “Oh my! Pheroze, why are you reading your curriculum vitae?” Sir PM swung around, shocked to hear the familiar voice of his friend from right behind him. “My-y-y Lady! You are early…I was just; actually, I was meaning to tell you about this development,” he uttered, hoping to slowly break the news, and the mystery about the CV. Curious cat that she was, the suspense was killing her. “Hurry up, Pheroze, tell all,” she nudged him.

“I had heard whispers from my khabaris—I mean informers—that my former bosses were planning to establish a separate department to look into the environment, and this dreaded mega concern, climate change. It made me curious. It did have an environment department in the past but this is a full-fledged boost to getting things up and running, A few newspapers have also reported about it. So, I thought, why not throw my hat in the ring? After all, my robust body of work will be a bonus…” Sir PM proudly announced. Lady Flora was secretly impressed with her friend’s initiative and the idea in general, but being the more practical of the two, she interrupted him, “Tell me, Pheroze, what took them so long to get cracking? I mean, wasn’t that traumatic deluge nearly two decades ago?