Mahesh Pandey had retired as a senior civil servant. He had headed the Administration of his state and over the years had seen the less educated politicians make the better qualified bureaucrats dance to their tune. There were times when Pandeyji felt frustrated and felt that he was wasting his time. The quest of joining civil service and changing his own fate and fate of other deprived people in the most backward of states remained a constant reminder. Not that this quest remained unfulfilled in its entirety. He had usually lived in big houses, drove in decent motor cars and had a retinue of helps at home and underlings in office.